When the second transmission got back to Earth. It was broadcast on the front page of the Valuestream. They delayed the broadcast for five seconds, the shortest of the delays until he was back in orbit around the planet.
"Hello world. I don't know how many of you are listening, but thank you. I feel like there are a few things that I should tell you about myself before I get started. This trip seemed like a good idea when I got started, but in my haste to make sure that I brought enough food, I forgot my study aid. I've been using cannabis to help me do research for a lot longer than I realized that is what I was doing. In a way I guess it is a good thing. I am losing my crutches.
"I've been thinking about these stories for a long time. When I began I classified all of these hypotheses as unverifiable. Those of you familiar with my philosophy are aware that I consider your answers to those questions matters of personal faith.
“I think that makes my sharing these stories my equivalent to reading a book of scripture. There is no reason that I believe these stories are true, but I do.
"One last aside before I begin. I feel like starting at the beginning. These are the stories that are the most preposterous, because they are the most ancient. Later we will come to stories that are easier to believe.
"The tribe that grew up in the Garden of Eden were called the Paerophites. They did not question how they came to live in a land where nothing toxic grew and nothing predatory prowled. They experienced what we would consider a remarkable longevity by subsisting on a diet of raw and prepared foods that grew in abundance in the valley where they lived.
"The valley itself was very long and moderately wide; a man could run its length in a day, if it were summer and he was very committed, and a child could walk its width in the same time. The main encampment was at the steepest end of the valley. Two large mountains met in what most people in the valley considered a perfect seam. Huge cliffs rimmed the valley on both sides. There lived a very old man at the base of the seam; his was the biggest house in the valley and the place where the tribe gathered at times of crisis.
"Of course, those times were rare. Occasionally someone would fall from a tree and break their leg. He was the man to whom they took the injured person. In the case of a large storm, they would gather in his house and tell stories about the days when animals could talk and people couldn't. The oldest people in the valley remembered that he had been slightly less old when they had been young, and that he had taught them many words, and lessons that he had said they should pass along to their children.
"So far as they could remember, he had never taken a mate or hurt a single living soul. So they had done as he asked and watched their children grow very strong, tall, and clever. The children invented stories to make each other laugh and stories to make each other cry. They had contests to see who could run down the valley the fastest, who could climb to the highest branch, and who could swim to the upriver the farthest.
"I should have told you of the river that ran through the heart of his house. In his home, it was very deep and strong, but as it ran down the seam in the mountains it grew gentle and wide so that at the base of the valley, children as young as 2 or 3 would play in its clear waters. That river ran, as did all rivers at that time, into the sea.
"Few fish swam in those waters, but a few times a year, the people of the valley would go into the old man's home and feast on the flesh of the fish of the river.
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"Those in the valley who were paying attention noticed that the most children were born nine months after the celebration.
"For most people in the valley life was an easy joy. A few generations passed that way, and the Paerophites prospered. Each generation had more children, and soon the old man knew in his heart that the day was coming soon when the valley would be too small for his tribe.
"He asked that all of the children of a certain age be brought to him. He told the oldest in the valley that he feared his death was near. He told those of a ripe age that he would teach the two children he chose to heal the hurts that he had been accustomed to heal. To the children themselves, he told nothing.
"As the children came before him, each with a parent near at hand, he just looked into the eyes of each child and sighed. Many years passed this way, and each year the children of a certain age would come before him for this unusual ceremony.”
A change took place upon Mr. Paine’s body at this point in his speech. It was not so simple as to say that tension entered the language of his body, but that was most obvious. At times during the remainder of the recitation, his body seemed to writhe with some emotion that he tried to, but did not succeed in restraining.
"Finally two children were brought before him that did not cause him to sigh. He asked the mother, who was there with them, to be brought to her home to dine with her entire family. With stammering acceptance the mother offered her arm to the old man. 'It cannot be tonight,' she said, 'for my home lies by the sands of the sea at the other end of the valley.'
"The man knew that he could not make the journey on foot at his age. So he did something that day that he had not done in the memory of the next oldest Paerophite. 'Wait here.' He left the hall through a door that no one in the town remembered seeing before. When he returned, it was not through the door, but it was on a boat through the crack in the mountain from which the river sprang. 'Step onto my ship, and we will see your husband before the sun sets.'
"They did, and they did.
"The children's father, who had chosen to live at the far end of the valley out of love for the setting of the sun on the ocean, was not expecting to see his family for another two days. He was sitting outside their home looking to the western sky as the sun approached the waves.
The children’s father loved best the quiet of the sea crashing onto the sand. Men in the town said that he loved the voice of the ocean better than he loved that of his wife. He knew that for a lie; but he knew also that he loved the ocean's voice better than he loved any save hers or his twins'.
"That night he looked down at the fish he was cleaning and felt something stirring in the depth of his mind. He was the only man in the valley who caught his own fish. Sometimes, the fish would come to watch the sunset when he did. They would grow still in the waters and wait for the sun to touch the ocean. If he waited until that moment, the fish would allow themselves to be caught by his toughened hands.
"He did not see the ship as it landed next to his home. When he heard the happy calls of his children, he did not see at first the old man. He swept both children up into his arms and turned with them into the sunset. The disk of the sun was half covered by the waters. Noticing the time, he spoke to his wife, 'So, wife, you did not go to the old man after all?'
"When she did not answer he turned and saw at last the craft that had brought them all home. The old man did not speak, he just looked into the father’s eyes. The father saw an apology there that made his stomach clench.
"'Daddy, daddy, the sea, the sea!" clamored his children. They were still in his embrace looking over his shoulder. He could tell from the heat on his back the sun had just dipped below the horizon.
"The children's father set down the twins and turned to the ocean that he loved. His children danced in circles at his feet and knew that his life would never be the same. A green glow lit the horizon from the north cliff to the south."