Man Of Earth
4
## The consoles back at Headquarters were afire with the flurry of activity. Words were cross-pollinated about the small area, but it was Susan at the Comms that showed a hiccup of efficiency ##
"Five Niner - sorry, I meant Four Niner -" She wiped the accumulated droplets from her forehead, stumbling over the controls.
"Susan. Take a break." insisted Dan Ward, leaning over to her. Susan looked to the consoles and all that returned was a blur of lights and colours, none of which she seemed to understand any more. She looked on the verge of tears, so Dan gripped her by the shoulders and led her a short way from the energetic melee.
"I'm sorry Dan." she tried between tears now running down her cheeks.
Dan pulled her closer, "Susan. This is not like you? What can be the matter, my dear?"
She took out a tissue and dabbed at the tears, calming down a little, “It's - I don't know! I was just thinking about Earth, and - Dan! What's wrong with me? I'm a wreck!" she exclaimed as fresh tears appeared.
"Oh, Susan! It’s nothing more than a little homesickness! You're missing Earth. It happens to us all - both myself and the Professor." explained Dan, stroking Susan's arms in comfort.
"Even you?" asked Susan, suddenly surprised.
"Yes Susan, even me. I shed the odd tear every now and then for what I left behind. It’s natural, girl! Trust me.” Dan kissed Susan gently on the forehead and wiped the remaining tears from her cheeks with his thumbs.
"Oh, Dan! What am I to do about it, though?"
Dan gripped her by the shoulders, "Look, tell you what. When the mission is finished, I may have one or two things to show you, then perhaps we can put this silliness into perspective, okay?" he smiled playfully.
Susan couldn't help but reciprocate the smile. It was the kind of truthful, trustful smile that demanded mirroring. She nodded, took a deep cleansing breath, then returned to the melee once more.
Once the rush had died down and the worst of it was over, Dan, as promised, pulled Susan aside, "I said I have one or two things to show you, for perspective, right?" he said with his usual smile. Susan nodded, "Then come with me for a little walk." Dan proffered his arm for Susan to take, which she did, and they left the heaviness and stress of the Headquarters behind, for a little while.
As they walked the long corridor of glossy walls, punctuated by the electric blue lights that ran down either side for the purpose of illumination, they came out into the City proper, where the same line of electric blue veined off in several directions at once, picking out the minarets and flat roofs of the City interior, where space was at a premium and the walls crowded each other, running crimson red in one direction and golden yellow in the other. Where there were mock towers to accentuate the properties of the City interior, they spiked into the sky, sharp corners and sharp tips finished with navy blue or black, very occasionally gold. The colours had faded from the gaudy nature of prosperity once evident about this, at one time, prosperous City - now tarnished by the conflict left for all of the people of White Haven to suffer, proved by the evidence of scorch marks here and there, left as a badge of strength to the invading force and as a constant warning, to be ever vigilant in these dark times. Mostly, and by the nature of the decorations that never faded, regardless of the action they suffered, everything looked like it had received a recent soak, though the rain had not touched this part of White Haven in some time. If an Earthly season could be given to it, one would possibly regard it as the end of spring, and somewhere in the burgeoning of summer. Wood, where it was evident, was hard and veined, much like the early to mid-age technology the planet and Sunray City in particular had reached before the invasion of the more technically minded Sigma Dissonance began tearing them apart. It was more akin to an Earthly European vacation spot, where were placed the old towns and the colourful tourists who ventured into the nightspots, that flashed gaudily for attention. Where there was metal, it tended toward the brass-like nodules and ornamental statues or tips for the stone-clad icons strategically placed about a City with a once vast and ancient history that was only remembered through architecture and the Halls of Remembrance, where were contained the complete histories of White Haven and beyond.
“It's busy today." remarked Susan, taking her lead from Dan.
They trotted down the steps that led to the Headquarters, stopping only to look to the north, "See that building there?" pointed Dan to Susan.
"Yes?" she began, but Dan merely took to the stone steps once more and, when at the bottom, after a smile or two and the occasional greeting from the hurrying citizens, Dan led Susan toward that building. Once there, Dan opened the door.
Inside, there were a plethora of children, from a young age up to near adulthood, all singing, dancing, running about, playing games and exchanging debates on everything from politics to machinery.
"The Children's Home for Dispersed Souls." explained Dan with a sweep of his hand, "Every one of them dispersed from their homes, or from their parents, their family, their friends - all in one place, safe now; safe and secure, and loved. Very much loved. See those people over there?" Dan waved to a group of people who waved back and smiled. A number of those people were missing a limb or two, "The one on the right? He was saved from a raid not two weeks ago. You might not remember him by sight, but you remember him by name - Greffen."
Susan looked suddenly to Dan, "You mean -"
"Yes, the one you calmly talked back to base. The one who would have died - in fact he and eighteen of his crew would have died, if not for you, Susan. It is people like him - and a number of others you helped and saved - that volunteer for projects like this one. See that little girl over there? Her Father managed to return to her, to say goodbye before he was taken by his injuries, because you were present, because you were there." Susan began crying, and she was unable to speak. She gripped tighter onto Dan, clinging desperately, as though she were about to fall. Suddenly a small boy, perhaps no more than five, came to Susan and tugged at her dress. Susan dropped to a crouch, to be eye level with the boy.
"Excuse me!" sniffed the boy, "Are you Susan of Earth? Thank you! Mom said - she's gone now, but Mom said that if I was ever to see you to thank you! So, thank you, Susan of Earth!" Having said his piece, the boy ran off, back to the group of children he had been playing with. Susan lowered her head, still in a crouch as her body racked with fresh tears. Dan dropped to kneel beside her. He took her chin in his hand and brought her face to his.
"Are you alright?" he asked, quite pointlessly. Susan nodded and smiled, despite the tears that continued to fall, "Then come with me. We have so much more to see." With that, the two stood up and as they were leaving, Dan called out encouragingly to the children at play, waving too. The children and the volunteers returned the call, as Dan and Susan stepped through the door.
"I should hate you for that." muttered Susan as Dan led her away from the building.
"Why should you hate me?" asked Dan, surprised.
"You keep making me cry." she expressed.
"Tears of happiness? Tears of joy?" asked Dan carefully.
Susan thumped him on the arm, "Of course in happiness! Of course in joy!" she reprimanded him.
Dan chuckled to himself, "You know, I don't think I will ever understand you." he said, enough for her to thump him on the arm again.
They continued through walkways and thin alleyways, greeted and thanked everywhere they walked. It was as though every person of Sunray City was out this day, full of cheer and the brush of excitement, perhaps in some part for the Heroes of Earth that were out and about, in their neighbourhoods.
A song began in the distance, biting through the fervent undertow of conversation and the demands of commerce in varying levels of volume. Yet it called to all, soft and melodic in its bass tones, rising to a mezzo soprano in places, dancing into the realms of a simplistic yet tonal harmony. As Dan and Susan neared, the song grew clearer and more distinct, yet sung in a language neither of them recognised.
Once they cleared the throng of people and began the trek up the short run to the cooking and heating fires of Sunray City and its outlying homes, they caught the red light, dancing through the small ventilation windows halfway up the walls of the long and wide building. A heat haze emanated from the open roof, and was caught by the huge flumes that hung from the stanchions overhead, to be recycled and used for power.
"See that? The Professor helped with the design of it, making it more efficient and manageable. The song once was silent, but it began again when the furnaces were relit. They're singing of a joyous time, of an old legend of these people who came out of the sky and brought them to salvation, long before even the Sigma Dissonance was conceived of. They sing it in our honour, Susan. They sing it in thanks for what we have done for them. You see, everywhere I can take you in this Great City, even much of Verdant City, or New Dawn, there are similar points and people to see. Come on, there's someone I would like you to meet." said Dan, leading Susan away from the harmonious chorus and deeper into the City.
Elderman Fessel, one of a number of Eldermen about Sunray City and elsewhere, sat in his garden, a small affair no bigger than a large table top. The Eldermen once held council in Sunray City and elsewhere. They were the advisors to a world long since surpassed, but their words and their insights were too valuable to forget, so they became venerated these days as walking historians, holding the knowledge of the people, the tactics, the actual on-the-ground battles of the past, that of which the Halls of Remembrance merely recorded the figures and facts, rarely the stories of those actually there. With him sat the Democratic Prime, Rex Canon, also Ambassadors Able and Low. It was seemingly more than coincidence that they were here at this time. Two seats remained vacant; one for Susan and one for Dan.
"You won't know this," began the Elderman, as though in the midst of a conversation already started, "But before you came here, we were lost, scattered - inefficient. Before you came, we were all but capitulating with the enemy. We were weak, and sullen. Then, from out of nowhere, a craft - a strange craft fell from the sky. The one that lies within the Headquarters, in fact - the one mounted in your honour. See, you brought this planet back to life. We were stuck in our ways, not knowing how to face up to the responsibility before us. And three people, three people from a completely different world, a lifetime away - no, several lifetimes away - showed us how to live, how to survive, and how to think. If there were but another dozen of you Earthlings here now, the entire Galaxy would be sated. We owe you our lives, certainly, but we owe you so much more. We owe you our friendship. And just look at you now! Sat here, like you belonged! And you do, don't get me wrong, but I mean really belong, like it is your home too. If you were never to see your true home again, I hope, Susan of Earth, that you would find a small part of White Haven yours. Even, I might say, my own home, for you are forever welcome anywhere in Sunray City and beyond, because of your efforts, your conscientiousness, your strength, and - yes, though you cry now, Susan, my dear - your emotion, which reminds us all of what we have, and what we could have so easily lost, if you were not to arrive here when you did. Trust me when I tell you, for all it is and has to offer, White Haven is your home, and you are welcome."
Susan couldn't help herself, and in the moment, she leapt up and fell into Elderman Fessel's outstretched arms, nearly taking him from his seat in her exuberance, "Careful there girl!" laughed the old man, "I would love to hold you like this all day, but I am a little less - robust - than some of these other good fellows!" The Elderman gestured to Rex and the Ambassadors.
"Every word is the truth." agreed Rex Canon, the Democratic Prime of Sunray City, "And let me add, I have personally worked alongside the three of you Earthlings - and I would be saying this to the Professor too, if he wasn't so always busy - that I have learned so much from all of you. I have learned to laugh, to work, to enjoy the small things and cheer the large victories, most of which would not have happened without this man here, Captain Dan, and you, the voice of reason and sensibility, of truth and honour. You, Susan. Without you, we would be a fair amount less than we are now. Who knows? Perhaps we would even be a state of the Sigma Dissonance now, if not for you."
"So true, I have to agree." cut in Ambassador Able, "If I had not the aid of you, Dan and the Professor, I would never have known the good people of Sunray City, nor the good people of Verdant City, who, very much until you three arrived on this planet, were seen as enemies to each other."
Ambassador Low nodded, "Yes, we were once a warring planet, but your coming here rang the changes, and we are now allies, as we should have been all along. And you were instrumental in that yourself, Susan. For it was you who brokered the deal between myself and my very great friend here, Able."
"I don't know what to say -" tried Susan at last, unable to wipe the smile from her face. Her cheeks were beginning to ache, but it simply would not go.
"You don't have to say anything, Susan," expressed the Elderman, "Just know that anywhere you step on this great big planet of ours, you may call it home and no one would deny it."
It seemed that the praises were over, but just then, a large, heavy set woman walked up to the table they sat around and poured herself a drink, with no argument from the others, "Susan of Earth? Trader Jess at your service. Now I know them lot are just singing your heart, but I'm here for the practicalities. Sure, you helped rebuild a lacklustre world, and built strength and morale of the people, but you also, perhaps unknowingly, aided in the set up of trade routes, once forbidden because of petty squabbles. All the people of the planet now are fed, educated, protected - just from cute little you and your chums coming to our little planet, and helping out with this big, horrific conflict we find ourselves in. Come here, me dear! Give Jess a big old hug!" Susan did so, giggling a little at the grip Jess had.
Susan kissed her softly on the cheek, "That ones for you." she smiled.
Jess laughed heartily, "Go on girl! Don't hang around with us old ones! Go with the old Captain here! I think he has more to show you!" she laughed, clapping Susan a little hard on her shoulder.
"She's right. Get going, the pair of you!" gestured the Elderman. Dan stood and the two made their escape, just as Trader Jess took one of the vacated seats and began to admonish Rex Canon about something or other. Dan led Susan to the Bell Tower of the Sky Harmony, one of the tallest places in the City. At the top, there was a walkway, allowing the two of them to see all the City had to offer. From one spot, Dan pointed down to a tree.
"The Tree of Freedom. Remember when we planted it? How it grew? These unusual trees, so I am told, were once all over the surface of the planet, in many places, now burned or destroyed by war. But that one? Come!" expressed Dan pulling Susan gently by the arm and down the steps to the City below. They made a dash, then, to the tree, tall, bold - a symbol of the freedom all now enjoyed. But Dan wasn't finished.
"Isn't this it? Isn't this what you wanted to show me?" she asked, but Dan merely smiled.
"No, Susan. It's what lays beyond it!" They moved around the tree, stepping over its long and strong roots.
It led to a garden, secluded, secure, and just a little bit special.
"I've been working on this for a while and I was going to wait until I had finished it to show you -"
Susan put up a hand and walked in. Tears fell uncontrollably then, but the jolt of sorrow was missing. She haphazardly threw her shoes off and danced about the garden with joy, "No! It's absolutely perfect!" she expressed with abandon, sighing to the sky in her excitement.
Dan Ward simply looked on, himself full of happiness. Not for him, but for her. Now she had a little bit of home she could go to, whenever she desired.
## The consoles back at Headquarters were afire with the flurry of activity. Words were cross-pollinated about the small area, but it was Susan at the Comms that showed a hiccup of efficiency ##
"Five Niner - sorry, I meant Four Niner -" She wiped the accumulated droplets from her forehead, stumbling over the controls.
"Susan. Take a break." insisted Dan Ward, leaning over to her. Susan looked to the consoles and all that returned was a blur of lights and colours, none of which she seemed to understand any more. She looked on the verge of tears, so Dan gripped her by the shoulders and led her a short way from the energetic melee.
"I'm sorry Dan." she tried between tears now running down her cheeks.
Dan pulled her closer, "Susan. This is not like you? What can be the matter, my dear?"
She took out a tissue and dabbed at the tears, calming down a little, “It's - I don't know! I was just thinking about Earth, and - Dan! What's wrong with me? I'm a wreck!" she exclaimed as fresh tears appeared.
"Oh, Susan! It’s nothing more than a little homesickness! You're missing Earth. It happens to us all - both myself and the Professor." explained Dan, stroking Susan's arms in comfort.
"Even you?" asked Susan, suddenly surprised.
"Yes Susan, even me. I shed the odd tear every now and then for what I left behind. It’s natural, girl! Trust me.” Dan kissed Susan gently on the forehead and wiped the remaining tears from her cheeks with his thumbs.
"Oh, Dan! What am I to do about it, though?"
Dan gripped her by the shoulders, "Look, tell you what. When the mission is finished, I may have one or two things to show you, then perhaps we can put this silliness into perspective, okay?" he smiled playfully.
Susan couldn't help but reciprocate the smile. It was the kind of truthful, trustful smile that demanded mirroring. She nodded, took a deep cleansing breath, then returned to the melee once more.
#
Once the rush had died down and the worst of it was over, Dan, as promised, pulled Susan aside, "I said I have one or two things to show you, for perspective, right?" he said with his usual smile. Susan nodded, "Then come with me for a little walk." Dan proffered his arm for Susan to take, which she did, and they left the heaviness and stress of the Headquarters behind, for a little while.
As they walked the long corridor of glossy walls, punctuated by the electric blue lights that ran down either side for the purpose of illumination, they came out into the City proper, where the same line of electric blue veined off in several directions at once, picking out the minarets and flat roofs of the City interior, where space was at a premium and the walls crowded each other, running crimson red in one direction and golden yellow in the other. Where there were mock towers to accentuate the properties of the City interior, they spiked into the sky, sharp corners and sharp tips finished with navy blue or black, very occasionally gold. The colours had faded from the gaudy nature of prosperity once evident about this, at one time, prosperous City - now tarnished by the conflict left for all of the people of White Haven to suffer, proved by the evidence of scorch marks here and there, left as a badge of strength to the invading force and as a constant warning, to be ever vigilant in these dark times. Mostly, and by the nature of the decorations that never faded, regardless of the action they suffered, everything looked like it had received a recent soak, though the rain had not touched this part of White Haven in some time. If an Earthly season could be given to it, one would possibly regard it as the end of spring, and somewhere in the burgeoning of summer. Wood, where it was evident, was hard and veined, much like the early to mid-age technology the planet and Sunray City in particular had reached before the invasion of the more technically minded Sigma Dissonance began tearing them apart. It was more akin to an Earthly European vacation spot, where were placed the old towns and the colourful tourists who ventured into the nightspots, that flashed gaudily for attention. Where there was metal, it tended toward the brass-like nodules and ornamental statues or tips for the stone-clad icons strategically placed about a City with a once vast and ancient history that was only remembered through architecture and the Halls of Remembrance, where were contained the complete histories of White Haven and beyond.
“It's busy today." remarked Susan, taking her lead from Dan.
They trotted down the steps that led to the Headquarters, stopping only to look to the north, "See that building there?" pointed Dan to Susan.
"Yes?" she began, but Dan merely took to the stone steps once more and, when at the bottom, after a smile or two and the occasional greeting from the hurrying citizens, Dan led Susan toward that building. Once there, Dan opened the door.
Inside, there were a plethora of children, from a young age up to near adulthood, all singing, dancing, running about, playing games and exchanging debates on everything from politics to machinery.
"The Children's Home for Dispersed Souls." explained Dan with a sweep of his hand, "Every one of them dispersed from their homes, or from their parents, their family, their friends - all in one place, safe now; safe and secure, and loved. Very much loved. See those people over there?" Dan waved to a group of people who waved back and smiled. A number of those people were missing a limb or two, "The one on the right? He was saved from a raid not two weeks ago. You might not remember him by sight, but you remember him by name - Greffen."
Susan looked suddenly to Dan, "You mean -"
"Yes, the one you calmly talked back to base. The one who would have died - in fact he and eighteen of his crew would have died, if not for you, Susan. It is people like him - and a number of others you helped and saved - that volunteer for projects like this one. See that little girl over there? Her Father managed to return to her, to say goodbye before he was taken by his injuries, because you were present, because you were there." Susan began crying, and she was unable to speak. She gripped tighter onto Dan, clinging desperately, as though she were about to fall. Suddenly a small boy, perhaps no more than five, came to Susan and tugged at her dress. Susan dropped to a crouch, to be eye level with the boy.
"Excuse me!" sniffed the boy, "Are you Susan of Earth? Thank you! Mom said - she's gone now, but Mom said that if I was ever to see you to thank you! So, thank you, Susan of Earth!" Having said his piece, the boy ran off, back to the group of children he had been playing with. Susan lowered her head, still in a crouch as her body racked with fresh tears. Dan dropped to kneel beside her. He took her chin in his hand and brought her face to his.
"Are you alright?" he asked, quite pointlessly. Susan nodded and smiled, despite the tears that continued to fall, "Then come with me. We have so much more to see." With that, the two stood up and as they were leaving, Dan called out encouragingly to the children at play, waving too. The children and the volunteers returned the call, as Dan and Susan stepped through the door.
"I should hate you for that." muttered Susan as Dan led her away from the building.
"Why should you hate me?" asked Dan, surprised.
"You keep making me cry." she expressed.
"Tears of happiness? Tears of joy?" asked Dan carefully.
Susan thumped him on the arm, "Of course in happiness! Of course in joy!" she reprimanded him.
Dan chuckled to himself, "You know, I don't think I will ever understand you." he said, enough for her to thump him on the arm again.
They continued through walkways and thin alleyways, greeted and thanked everywhere they walked. It was as though every person of Sunray City was out this day, full of cheer and the brush of excitement, perhaps in some part for the Heroes of Earth that were out and about, in their neighbourhoods.
A song began in the distance, biting through the fervent undertow of conversation and the demands of commerce in varying levels of volume. Yet it called to all, soft and melodic in its bass tones, rising to a mezzo soprano in places, dancing into the realms of a simplistic yet tonal harmony. As Dan and Susan neared, the song grew clearer and more distinct, yet sung in a language neither of them recognised.
Once they cleared the throng of people and began the trek up the short run to the cooking and heating fires of Sunray City and its outlying homes, they caught the red light, dancing through the small ventilation windows halfway up the walls of the long and wide building. A heat haze emanated from the open roof, and was caught by the huge flumes that hung from the stanchions overhead, to be recycled and used for power.
"See that? The Professor helped with the design of it, making it more efficient and manageable. The song once was silent, but it began again when the furnaces were relit. They're singing of a joyous time, of an old legend of these people who came out of the sky and brought them to salvation, long before even the Sigma Dissonance was conceived of. They sing it in our honour, Susan. They sing it in thanks for what we have done for them. You see, everywhere I can take you in this Great City, even much of Verdant City, or New Dawn, there are similar points and people to see. Come on, there's someone I would like you to meet." said Dan, leading Susan away from the harmonious chorus and deeper into the City.
Elderman Fessel, one of a number of Eldermen about Sunray City and elsewhere, sat in his garden, a small affair no bigger than a large table top. The Eldermen once held council in Sunray City and elsewhere. They were the advisors to a world long since surpassed, but their words and their insights were too valuable to forget, so they became venerated these days as walking historians, holding the knowledge of the people, the tactics, the actual on-the-ground battles of the past, that of which the Halls of Remembrance merely recorded the figures and facts, rarely the stories of those actually there. With him sat the Democratic Prime, Rex Canon, also Ambassadors Able and Low. It was seemingly more than coincidence that they were here at this time. Two seats remained vacant; one for Susan and one for Dan.
"You won't know this," began the Elderman, as though in the midst of a conversation already started, "But before you came here, we were lost, scattered - inefficient. Before you came, we were all but capitulating with the enemy. We were weak, and sullen. Then, from out of nowhere, a craft - a strange craft fell from the sky. The one that lies within the Headquarters, in fact - the one mounted in your honour. See, you brought this planet back to life. We were stuck in our ways, not knowing how to face up to the responsibility before us. And three people, three people from a completely different world, a lifetime away - no, several lifetimes away - showed us how to live, how to survive, and how to think. If there were but another dozen of you Earthlings here now, the entire Galaxy would be sated. We owe you our lives, certainly, but we owe you so much more. We owe you our friendship. And just look at you now! Sat here, like you belonged! And you do, don't get me wrong, but I mean really belong, like it is your home too. If you were never to see your true home again, I hope, Susan of Earth, that you would find a small part of White Haven yours. Even, I might say, my own home, for you are forever welcome anywhere in Sunray City and beyond, because of your efforts, your conscientiousness, your strength, and - yes, though you cry now, Susan, my dear - your emotion, which reminds us all of what we have, and what we could have so easily lost, if you were not to arrive here when you did. Trust me when I tell you, for all it is and has to offer, White Haven is your home, and you are welcome."
Susan couldn't help herself, and in the moment, she leapt up and fell into Elderman Fessel's outstretched arms, nearly taking him from his seat in her exuberance, "Careful there girl!" laughed the old man, "I would love to hold you like this all day, but I am a little less - robust - than some of these other good fellows!" The Elderman gestured to Rex and the Ambassadors.
"Every word is the truth." agreed Rex Canon, the Democratic Prime of Sunray City, "And let me add, I have personally worked alongside the three of you Earthlings - and I would be saying this to the Professor too, if he wasn't so always busy - that I have learned so much from all of you. I have learned to laugh, to work, to enjoy the small things and cheer the large victories, most of which would not have happened without this man here, Captain Dan, and you, the voice of reason and sensibility, of truth and honour. You, Susan. Without you, we would be a fair amount less than we are now. Who knows? Perhaps we would even be a state of the Sigma Dissonance now, if not for you."
"So true, I have to agree." cut in Ambassador Able, "If I had not the aid of you, Dan and the Professor, I would never have known the good people of Sunray City, nor the good people of Verdant City, who, very much until you three arrived on this planet, were seen as enemies to each other."
Ambassador Low nodded, "Yes, we were once a warring planet, but your coming here rang the changes, and we are now allies, as we should have been all along. And you were instrumental in that yourself, Susan. For it was you who brokered the deal between myself and my very great friend here, Able."
"I don't know what to say -" tried Susan at last, unable to wipe the smile from her face. Her cheeks were beginning to ache, but it simply would not go.
"You don't have to say anything, Susan," expressed the Elderman, "Just know that anywhere you step on this great big planet of ours, you may call it home and no one would deny it."
It seemed that the praises were over, but just then, a large, heavy set woman walked up to the table they sat around and poured herself a drink, with no argument from the others, "Susan of Earth? Trader Jess at your service. Now I know them lot are just singing your heart, but I'm here for the practicalities. Sure, you helped rebuild a lacklustre world, and built strength and morale of the people, but you also, perhaps unknowingly, aided in the set up of trade routes, once forbidden because of petty squabbles. All the people of the planet now are fed, educated, protected - just from cute little you and your chums coming to our little planet, and helping out with this big, horrific conflict we find ourselves in. Come here, me dear! Give Jess a big old hug!" Susan did so, giggling a little at the grip Jess had.
Susan kissed her softly on the cheek, "That ones for you." she smiled.
Jess laughed heartily, "Go on girl! Don't hang around with us old ones! Go with the old Captain here! I think he has more to show you!" she laughed, clapping Susan a little hard on her shoulder.
"She's right. Get going, the pair of you!" gestured the Elderman. Dan stood and the two made their escape, just as Trader Jess took one of the vacated seats and began to admonish Rex Canon about something or other. Dan led Susan to the Bell Tower of the Sky Harmony, one of the tallest places in the City. At the top, there was a walkway, allowing the two of them to see all the City had to offer. From one spot, Dan pointed down to a tree.
"The Tree of Freedom. Remember when we planted it? How it grew? These unusual trees, so I am told, were once all over the surface of the planet, in many places, now burned or destroyed by war. But that one? Come!" expressed Dan pulling Susan gently by the arm and down the steps to the City below. They made a dash, then, to the tree, tall, bold - a symbol of the freedom all now enjoyed. But Dan wasn't finished.
"Isn't this it? Isn't this what you wanted to show me?" she asked, but Dan merely smiled.
"No, Susan. It's what lays beyond it!" They moved around the tree, stepping over its long and strong roots.
It led to a garden, secluded, secure, and just a little bit special.
"I've been working on this for a while and I was going to wait until I had finished it to show you -"
Susan put up a hand and walked in. Tears fell uncontrollably then, but the jolt of sorrow was missing. She haphazardly threw her shoes off and danced about the garden with joy, "No! It's absolutely perfect!" she expressed with abandon, sighing to the sky in her excitement.
Dan Ward simply looked on, himself full of happiness. Not for him, but for her. Now she had a little bit of home she could go to, whenever she desired.
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