Bright Horizons

Chapter 21

26 August 2044

Kyle was lying on his bunk on board the Enterprise holding the communicator A'nacal gave him above his face when Cindy came back in the room. He was staring at the little silver disc that would allow him to communicate across the galaxy at a touch.

"How are Mom and Dad?" he asked without moving.

"They are great! Bill was late, as usual, so I didn't get to speak with him, but I will see him this weekend when we get back." She sat on the bed next to Kyle's and sighed.

"What's wrong, sis?" he asked as he sat up and looked at her.

"So many things have changed, Kyle, and I don't know where I fit in. When I was captured, I was an astronaut, one of a couple of dozen in space at any given moment. Now there are thousands of people in space all the time. I had an understanding of advanced engineering theories back then, and now I am like a child full of wonder every time I see something new. You don't even blink an eye at any of it," Cindy said as she fell back across the narrow mattress.

Kyle patted his sister's leg as he stood up. "Don't worry about it. In three months, I'll be asking you about everything again."

"Maybe. Probably," she said as she sat back up. "How did General Kitch take it?"

"Pretty good. She'll be fine without me, there are plenty of good officers for her to choose from to replace me. McKendree would be my recommendation."

"I can't believe you resigned your commission, Kyle. Isn't that going to be weird for you?"

Kyle nodded. He had been a marine for twenty nine years since he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy. It was the only life he had known, and to say it would be weird was just scratching the surface.

"I'll get to spend time with Sara, and Mom and Dad could use my help around the house. Plus, I can travel and see you in Florida and Bill in New York whenever I want a change of scenery." He held up the small silver disc. "Besides, I've already landed another job."

The door to their room opened and Alex walked in. "Hey, just heard why you were in there with General Kitch. Is it true, sir?"

Kyle nodded. "Yep. Better start getting used to calling me Kyle."

Alex shook his head. "I don't think I'll ever get used to that. What about the other part? Are you really going to be Earth's rep?"

"As long as the Earth Council approves."

"You are the most famous human in the galaxy and even India will be glad to let you have this job. I bet it's going to be a ton of reading and a bunch of boring meetings. Glad that you will be there, though," Alex said.

"Thanks... I think," Kyle said. "What do you know about the dinner NASA is going to throw?"

"Yeah, I was going to tell you about that. They are setting up the exhibit at Kennedy for us. They are going to have busts put up of Donovan, Nestor, Greene and Jennings. They rest of us are going to have have our photos put up. The plan is that when each of us die, they will replace the photo with a bust. Maybe we should have a Tontine."

"What would we put up?"

"A bottle of Cognac from 2042?"

"That might work, see what the others think," said Kyle. "We need to have Lon included in the memorial. Maybe Firtulm and Giric as well."

Alex nodded. "That's something we could talk to NASA about. If we have an exhibit for Earth's first contact, we should have the aliens that were there as part of it."