Maysie's Galaxy ONC 2023

Epilogue

The Yoruban Maniac's smoldering fire consumed her on the edge of the world as many times as he could manage to find a new desolate place to make love to his wife. They abolished her contract with Édouard when enough of the technology they received from the other turtle finally turned the tides on the hollowness society wallowed in. That turn took nearly a decade to build, and 3 very beloved children to make.

Maysie loved counting by children, as they were the first in a mostly childless world to bring that laughter back into society, and they had plenty of children over the decades--as Talon begged of them. It turned out that the mutt ancestry in Maysie--as an American--wasn't easily replicated, and there was no guarantee that whatever made it so she could reach one man, light-years away could be passed on.

It was a difficulty on his end, as well--since they weren't sure what in him was the only one to respond to the beacon of light that was Maysie's soul.  It was a competition that ran through two distant beloveds as child after child connected across the depths of space. The trait that rang true through 4 generations. By that point, enough people were digging through the alien catalog while wearing a brain enhancer that if there was a chance that anyone else shared her ability to reach Talon or his children, it would have manifested.

It made Maysie wonder if she alone had this ability or if millions of Americans had this same mutation, but she alone survived.  Either way, she was a walking miracle.

The estimations for when the turtles would meet grew too long viss the catalogue, as Talon's first guesses were based on a woman who was isolated from distractions and rather quick to respond. In desperation, Talon pushed for doctors to increase the longevity of humanity because he desperately wanted to meet the light that gave his life meaning.

And they did meet. She was the first one to greet him as his ship landed in the open fields of Southern France. He embraced her, laughing and crying over the wrinkles that showed a life well lived. "What is this? You couldn't accept your age, showing me that young woman all this time?!"

She leaned on her cane, "You have no room to speak! How long have you been green?"

Talon shook his head, his accent thick with emotions, "It made sure I would live to meet you--and it can restore you, if you love me enough to stay."

Maysie shook her head, not in denial, but in amusement.

Talon knew that reaction well enough to not be confused. "Now where is that Yourban Maniac?  I need to meet the one who made you stronger than me."

Maysie's smile faltered for a moment before she steeled herself, making that tight-lipped expression she learned from her husband before she remembered to be open, for the sake of the one who made her life possible. "Talon, Ethan didn't make it. He died last year, but we had 150 years together because you fought so hard to bring us up to your people's standards."

Talon's shoulders slumped. "I failed you. I never meant..."

"No, no, no, olufẹ mi," whispered Maysie, as she pulled this man in for a hug, knowing she sounded just like her husband, "There's no amount of apologies that can bring him back--and I accept that. You gave me two lives with him, and I'm happy to share this final one with you, no matter where it leads us. We're all handed our own misery and strive to live through it, and I'm very favored that I get to find comfort in my only remaining beloved. So many pieces of my heart are missing, but you give me hope."

The Rebirth of Venus was every bit as undefeatable as the first, but far more pragmatic.

And she wasn't alone. Panning back into the sky, leaning on one of the artificial suns that orbited the turtle, looking down at this one small fallow field, it was a sea of first-time reunions as the descendants of The Yiurban Maniac mingled with very human-but-green aliens as beloveds.