“Yes, Kenji’s much more into his studies than I ever was. Did you know that your great grandmother used to help me with my homework in the yard just like she does to you? I couldn’t have made through half of them without her explaining and drilling them through this thick skull of mine!”
“Oh, don’t we all know it,” Elise said fondly as she lightly brushed a hand across Minato’s shoulders, “Remember how long it took for you to finally ask me to marry you?”
“I love you more than words can describe!” Minato said, “Especially those words. Don’t understand why people have focused on those ceremonies from the Earth archives and settler programs so much in recent years. My mothers never married, no one did back then. John and Anna certainly didn’t and they had plenty of children. Someone’s just taking those old files and rituals and making them more important than they have to be. We knew our feelings, why do we have to take on a label for it?”
“Agree to disagree,” Elise said lightly, “Still haven’t changed that thick head of yours, have we?”
She reached up and rubbed Minato’s forehead with her palm for a moment before letting go.
Minato smiled, “I suppose not. But now it’s done, I know enough to praise my beautiful… wife… rather than my dear Elise.”
“Oh, you…”
“Mom, dad, stop getting distracted again!” Kenji complained, “What were you saying about my…great grandma Emily, dad? She taught you math?”
“Oh, yes. Actually, it should be a few hours before we’re going over to your grandmothers’ place for dinner. Would you mind sitting with him, grandmother? I’m sure he’d enjoy you helping him.”
“Sure, Minato,” Emily said lightly, “We can go outside. Come along Kenji, I know all sorts of things. You couldn’t be a worse student than your father. If Fumiko wasn’t standing over him the whole time then he’d have played with his friends and learned nothing at all!”
“Ah, but it did end up being useful, son,” Minato added, “Calculating the amount of nutrients in the soil to provide proper growing conditions for the fields and how many seeds for planting. Recording the amount of crops to be harvested at certain times and in what order is much more complicated than I ever would have imagined it was when I was a boy. My math lessons have come in handy many times over the years when intuition wasn’t enough.”
“I know dad, I’m taking my studies seriously,” Kenji said, “Mom says that I’m three modules ahead of what I have to do already!”
“Yes, yes, Kenji,” Elise said, “Now go along. Don’t keep your great grandmother waiting.”
Emily and Kenji went outside and sat at the base of a strong and tall tree. As Kenji sat next to her and held up his datapad, Emily had a wave of nostalgia wash over her. It seemed like only a moment ago that it had been Minato here sitting with her. For a moment she almost believed she was back in one of those moments as the picture of the scene almost froze in time in her mind.
But then Kenji spoke and the illusion was broken.
“Okay,” he said in a self satisfied tone, “So I’m ahead on these three. I’m almost on the fourth module now. I haven’t really looked at it too much before. But maybe we could learn it together?”
“Sure,” Emily said, amused, “Let’s learn it together Kenji.”
The two of them went through the slightly more advanced algebra and Emily explained at a few points when Kenji had questions or struggled to grasp something. At first he was a bit skeptical, his questions pointed as if he was testing that she really knew what she was talking about. But once she proved herself about half way through by weathering his verbal assault flawlessly, he relaxed and started being more genuine. He seemed to enjoy solving the problems as they went through, smiling a bit when he’d solve a problem that had been challenging for him as Emily helped him along.
They finished another problem and Emily waited for Kenji to move on. But his finger was hovering above the screen and slowly lowered again.
“Emily? Are you really my great grandmother?” Kenji asked, looking at her and seeming to look a mix of confused and guilty.
“Yes,” Emily said calmly after taking a moment to recover, “Yes, Kenji. I’m your great grandmother. Grandmother Luna and Grandmother Fumiko are both my daughters. So are many other people in the villages.”
“How’s that possible?” Kenji said, “You look more like the women working in the fields. Young, I mean. Grandmother Luna and Fumiko are… old. They have wrinkles and stuff, they can’t work fully anymore so we all take care of them when they need to rest. And dad asks them for advice sometimes when he doesn’t know what to do as village chief.”
“I… I know,” Emily said softly, “They’re both over sixty years old now. They do have wrinkles, and I don’t, do I? You must know the stories about me of course?”
“I mean, yeah,” Kenji said, “But it can’t all be true, can it? Other planets, billions of people, all your crazy powers. You fighting off a Rentenula panther with just your bare hands to protect grandmother Luna. It just doesn’t make sense. It must be just a legend to make you important, so you can help us do the right thing, right? Like those fables with the lessons inside of them that mom told me when I was a kid.”
“This universe’s a crazy place,” Emily said, “Sometimes things just don’t make sense. And you’re only fourteen. You’re still a kid. Teen at the worst.”
“Am not. Fourteen years old’s not a kid,” Kenji protested, “But can you tell me? If it’s not true? I promise I won’t tell anyone else, I just want to know.”
“It is all true,” Emily said, “But I’m interested in what you think. I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone just not believe it before by your age. Tell me, why would I make up any of that? Why would your parents and grandparents and everyone else pretend that I’m somebody that I’m not? If I’m just some young woman here for some other reason?”
Kenji tilted his head and looked like he was thinking hard, putting the datapad onto the grass beside him. He seemed to be struggling to come up with an answer.
“Let’s make this easier,” Emily said as she saw that Kenji was getting frustrated with himself as he couldn’t come up with a good explanation, “Have your parents ever shown you their bellies?”
Kenji looked confused for a moment before his eyes lit up.
“Oh, yeah!” he said, “Mom has a little dimple on her stomach like me. A belly button she called it. Dad’s was just completely smooth. It was so strange. Some of my friends have it and others don’t.”
“That’s because your dad and many other people were born from the incubation machines,” Emily said, “When they’re growing in the machines, there’s no need for an umbilical cord. So they don’t get the little hole on their belly there after they’re born.”
“Umbilical cord? What’s that?”
“It’s like a tube to feed the baby nutrients when it’s growing. The point where your belly button is is where it was attached to you. When you’re born you don’t need it anymore now that you can eat other things, so it goes away, just leaving the little belly button behind where it used to be. Since your mother was pregnant with you rather than you growing in the machine, you needed an umbilical cord. So you have a belly button. People grown in the machine don't need it because the machine takes over that work for them.”
Kenji looked down and placed a hand through his shirt to press his finger into his belly button.
“I didn’t know that,” he said, sounding amazed at the revelation.
“I told you that I know a lot of things. Ask your grandmothers. Neither of them have belly buttons either. They were born from the machines too, unlike you and your mother who were born without it. Your grandmother Luna was the very first person ever born from a machine. The first person born on this planet. It’s one of many reasons why everyone treats her so respectfully all the time. Besides her leading the village as chief for so long.”
“The first? But surely there must have been some before? Who built the machine that gave birth to her if she was the first?”
“I did. I was the one that designed the machine. I was born a long time ago on the other planet. Earth. The same one that most of your learning programs comes from.”
Emily lifted her shirt slightly to show off her belly button to Kenji before lowering it again.
Kenji looked between her and the datapad.
“I’m sure you’ve noticed that some of the word problems don’t make any sense to you,” Emily continued, “How sometimes they refer to things that are just so strange or unfamiliar. Even after all this time, we always seem to miss a couple whenever we check again to get rid of them. Do you know what I’m talking about?”
Kenji nodded, “There was a problem that was talking about a… dog and cat? I’ve never heard of animals called that before, but the dog was chasing the cat and I think the cat was supposed to be smaller? It was very strange.”
“A dog and cat were animals back on Earth,” Emily said, “They both lived alongside people. Dogs liked to play, and to chase the cats around sometimes if they were in the right mood for it. We don’t have any animals like that here, so there’s nothing really comparable to it for you to refer to when thinking about it.”
“Okay…” Kenji said, “Maybe Earth exists. But what about all of those people? They can’t have just all died. With so many of them working together they should have been able to solve whatever problems they had! How could it just be the ten of you with your powers left?”
“Kenji…” Emily said, before stopping herself. Kenji had no conception that everyone wouldn’t be working for the common good. Sure there were some selfish people, and people who didn’t contribute as much as they should. But with a whole planet available to settle and the wise stewardship of Luna and Minato as leaders and guides, there had been not even an inclination for the villages to fight one another so far even as the population swelled from hundreds decades ago to now in the low thousands.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
The worst Emily had ever seen to true conflict was a fistfight between two of the village chiefs during one of the councils of the seven main villages. And it turned out that had truly been because they were both pursuing the same woman, not because of anything to do with the discussion topic itself.
Kenji had no concept of war or large scale greed like how it had been on Earth.
“...they didn’t work together,” Emily eventually said, “They destroyed themselves because they cared more about making sure their attackers died with them than doing their best to survive themselves. Mutually assured destruction they called it back then. If I am to be destroyed then so shall be the world and anyone who ever dared to attack me. And eventually it happened despite all those billions of people living their own lives and pretending that it never would. Gaia is far too beautiful for thoughts like that. That’s why the parents don’t tell their children everything they know about Earth that I and the others told them. Earth is destroyed, and on this new world we can only hope that things will be better. Far better to let everyone be happy here than wallowing in what happened in the distant past hundreds of years ago.”
Kenji took in her story with wide eyes.
“Why’d you tell me that?” he said after a moment, “That’s… That’s what really happened? Hundreds of years ago? How old are you?”
“Yes. As for how old I am? I think I’m… Probably about three hundred years old now is my best guess? Almost five times as old as your grandmother Luna is right now. And I think you’re old enough to handle it. I’d rather you hear it from me than from somebody who doesn’t fully understand since they weren’t there.”
“Three hundred…” Kenji said, his doubt from before seeming to have evaporated into thin air, “And your powers? They keep you young even with it being so long?”
“That’s right. Haven’t aged a day,” Emily confirmed, “Probably won’t ever will. And I’ll have you know I did wrestle that beast with my bare hands. Your father absolutely loved that story when I told it to him. Would you like to hear it?”
Kenji nodded.
“Come closer,” Emily said and patted a spot closer to her. Kenji scooted so they were sitting hip to hip against the tree.
“So, there grandma Luna and I were walking in the woods together,” Emily said, “It was a beautiful day and Luna was looking into the river. We were having tons of fun and Luna was having the time of her life running around the path and exploring all the new sights and things. She was little, and had only seen a forest a few times before! But little did we know that the great beast had its eeeeevvvvilll eyes on us, and more importantly on my cute little daughter Luna! He just wanted gobble her up in one big bite! Yom nom nom!”
Kenji seemed a little weirded out as Emily acted out the story for him like she had used to do for Minato, even having improved her storytelling since back then. But about halfway through as she narrated her fight with the beast he grew more interested and seemed to be drawn into the story.
“So then with one final blow I smmmmacked it across the head one last time! “Don’t you attack my dear Luna!” I shouted as I struck the final blow. It led out a pitiful yoooooowwwwwwwlllll of defeat and finally fell to the ground unconscious at last. I went back to the plane and Peter Rose had the plane fly us out of there away from the unconscious beast.”
“I do think it’s a cool story,” Kenji admitted, “It’s even cooler since it’s true. Thanks for telling me, Emily. And that other stuff too…”
“Not at all, not at all. Glad you enjoyed the story,” Emily said, “It’s been a bit since I’ve told that one at the nursery.”
“Do you know any other stories?” Kenji asked, “About Earth? You’ve never told me anything about it before.”
“Oh sure. Let’s see. Let me think of an Earth fairytale. It’s been so long, I’ve forgotten some parts. Let’s see... Ah, I think you’re old enough for Knight George and the Dragon. Have I told you that one before?”
Kenji shook his head.
Emily told the story of the wandering knight George (He had been a saint in the original version of the story) coming across the village who had almost run out of food. The dragon had been demanding tribute from them, and eating their livestock and food stores when it emerged from the cave. But with no more food left to tribute to the dragon this time, the beast demanded one of the villagers to eat instead. The village chief was too old and stringy according to the dragon despite the man volunteering himself to go. So his daughter bravely volunteered to take his place instead and go to the cave when the time for tribute came and the Dragon agreed.
A week or so later, the day of tribute arrived in the village. But as she walked crying on the road, Knight George came upon her. She begged him to flee the terrible dragon and leave her before the dragon emerged from its cave to eat the kind knight alongside her. But Knight George raised his sword in his shining armor and went to the cave, enraged by the wicked and foul actions of the dragon he’d heard from the chief’s daughter as she told him her story.
And so the knight in armor fought the dragon with its tough scale hide and breathing great gouts of flame from its mouth that George blocked on his metal shield. And eventually George just barely managed to slay the evil dragon in the end. Inside the great cave were great treasures and all sorts of beautiful crafted objects that the Dragon had bullied others into giving it. All of them stacked in great piles and stacks so they seemed as if they were filling the whole cave. When the villagers came to the cave at the urging of the chief’s daughter, they were amazed by Knight George’s victory and insisted that he take the enormous wealth of the cave as his reward. But Knight George shook his head and instead said that it belonged to the village chief’s daughter and her alone as a reward for her selfless sacrifice for her people instead of him for merely doing his duty.
And so everyone thanked Knight George, and word spread to every village in the land of his deeds. But George did not stay with the thankful villagers for long. Because there was still more injustice and evil beasts in the land, and a knight’s work was never done. So he set out on the road once more, on to the next adventure.
“What’s a knight? What does it mean?” Kenji asked once Emily finished the whole story, “Why didn’t he take at least some of the valuable things? He did kill the big bad beast who was threatening everyone. He deserves something for his hard work.”
“Being a knight was a code of honor in the stories,” Emily said, “They promised to themselves that they would follow certain rules and dedicated their lives to carrying them out. There’s all sorts of variations of rules a knight can follow. But they generally swear to carry out justice and help those they see who need it. Many also could swear to hunt down beasts who threaten people and protect any villages they came across from them. All of that and more. One of the big rules that knights followed often was not being rewarded monetarily for their good deeds. They thought that it wasn’t truly a good deed if they were being paid for it. A silly idea really, but people like Knight George followed it to the letter. He wanted to help people for the sake of it, not because he thought that he’d become wealthy or for more selfish reasons. And despite even many of the villagers that they saved thinking the whole concept silly too, that the knights didn’t want to be rewarded, everyone still respected them because they were so honorable and steadfast in their beliefs and in following their own code.”
Kenji didn’t say anything for a while, looking thoughtful.
“I’m glad we don’t have any dragons to deal with,” he eventually said, “Could you write down the stories you know and put them in the datapad archives? I’ve never ever heard of knights before. They sound so interesting. You must have so many stories everyone doesn’t know because only one person heard it or you forgot to record it somewhere. What if you forgot something as great as that story and no one ever got to hear it again? That’d be awful.”
“Write it down?” Emily said in surprise, “Oh, I don’t know. I’ve always enjoyed just telling the stories myself. I’ll just tell them again if someone forgets. I’ll just need something to jog my memory and I’ll be fine.”
“Can you write down Knight George and the Dragon for me at least?” Kenji insisted, “Please? What if I want to read the story and you’re busy and don’t have time to tell it to me?”
Emily stared down at Kenji. How had Minato and Elise managed to make a kid like this? He was a lot smarter than Emily thought she’d ever given him credit for in the past.
“Okay, Kenji,” Emily said, “I’ll write up Knight George and the Dragon for you. Maybe some of the others that I remember. It’s a good idea, I’m glad you liked the story so much.”
“Emily! Kenji!”
The two of them looked up to see Elise standing in front of Minato and her house staring at them.
“Change of plans,” Elise continued at a lower volume as she walked towards them, “Fumiko just came in. Seems like she’s ready to have us come over earlier. We were going to leave in a few minutes.”
Kenji grabbed his datapad and stood to his feet and looked vaguely disappointed as the three of them went back into the house.
“So, how’d it go? Sorry it got cut a little short,” Elise asked Kenji.
“Good,” Kenji replied, “Emily told me a lot of things I never knew before. And about Knight George and the Dragon! I’ve never heard anything like it before, it was a great story! Emily promised that she’d write it down so I’d be able to read it whenever I wanted.”
“Writing them down?” Minato said as he rounded the corner into the room, “What a great idea grandma! Why, I’ve tried to tell Kenji some of the ones that you told me as a boy and they don’t come out half as good. And I’m sure you’ve forgotten more stories than I’ve ever heard.”
Emily was a little stunned by Minato’s enthusiasm for the idea.
“Dear…” Elise said, “Perhaps you just want to hear the story of her fighting off the Rentenula Panther again? You’re obsessed with that old tale. I’m sure you could recite from heart yourself with how many times Emily’s told you it just with me here. You could probably write it down yourself.”
“It’s a good story, better than all of the others because it’s completely true!” Minato said easily, “I never get tired of hearing it. Maybe I should write it down. With grandmother to check it over to make sure that it matches the original of course… Well, I think we should go. Mom went off ahead, and we don’t want to keep her and mom Luna waiting around for too long.”
The four of them walked outside and went towards Fumiko and Luna’s old house. And it was old now, only having been renovated twice in the last forty years or so.
The group reached the house and Emily stopped walking as she saw a wrinkled and old Fumiko and Luna sitting next to each other on the bench-like swing that they’d installed on their front porch. Just like the house, Emily’s daughters were getting old.
The moment broke as the two sixty year old women smiled and stood up energetically. At the sign of their continued good health despite their age, Emily let out a quick exhale and kept walking.
“Minato, Elise, Kenji. Nice to have you over again,” Luna said as the two groups collided and Luna and Fumiko began trading hugs with everyone Emily included.
“Mom,” Luna continued, “How was the big trip? It’s been a while since you’ve left the village for months at a time like that.”
“Yeah, it was that mess with the incubation machine that was having problems,” Emily said, “I just felt awful for all of them over there. Now that the machines are fixed they’ll have to wait another year for any more children on top of having to deal with what happened since they accidentally let those bacteria inside to contaminate the machine… I’m sure you’ll hear about it for the Reunion Festival next year. But dealing with that situation took a lot of time, and making sure that no one would be so careless when working with those things again. Too bad the Reunion Festival’s been moved to only be once every three years now, I thought it was fun having it every year.”
“That does sound horrible. I knew it was something like that, but I’ll have to talk to their chief. I’m sure they’re struggling with what to do with that woman who caused all of it with her negligence in the maintenance… Anyway, for the festival. You say that once a year is fun now,” Luna said, “But organizing it was an absolute nightmare. But the party will only be bigger now that we have more time to prepare. With how large our population now I’m surprised we even managed to fit everyone in our village last time.”
They all walked into the house together and Emily saw the large pot of soup simmering on the electric stovetop.
“Soup was ready earlier than we thought it would be,” Luna said, “So I guess we’ll be having some early dinner if you’re all hungry.”
They all sat down after serving some soup for themselves and started eating even if it was a bit earlier than usual.
“Glad you’re back from your trip, mom,” Fumiko said after they all had some slurps from their soup with their spoons, “Felt strange without you here in the village.”
“I’m glad that I’m back too,” Emily said as she smiled slightly back at Fumiko, “It felt strange for me too. Hopefully they’ll be able to handle it in the future. No more long trips for me if I can help it. I’ll be right here from now on.”