Chapter 1

Note: When the conversation is a telepathic exchange, it is indicated by italics font.

This story begins shortly after the Órarduine fleet arrived over planet Ananu in the Celia solar system. By Earth’s calendar this is 12 years and 17 days by Earth’s calendar since Sarah’s Clan arrived at Comrie on Earth. Due to Ananu longer calendar, this corresponds to 6 years, 5 months, and 1 clock cycle since arrival at Comrie since Ananu clock cycle is 30 hours long and its orbital period is 540.2 clock cycles.

Ananu time – 6^th year, 5^th month, 1^st clock cycle

It was early morning on board Dóchas over the planet Ananu in Celia system when Sarah rolled onto her back. Feeling her movement, Joyce moved closer and placed her head on Sarah’s shoulder. After a few moments she moved her hand so that she could caress Sarah’s nipple with her fingers. The caresses woke Sarah. When fully awake, Sarah shifted so that Joyce’s head lay in a more comfortable spot on her shoulder then began caressing her back. Sarah enjoyed Joyce’s caresses even though she thought she was a substitute for someone in Joyce’s dream.

Sensing that Sarah was awake, Aoife said, “Good morning Sarah.”

“Good morning Aoife. That was one of the best night’s sleep I’ve had in a long time.”

“I had a good sleep as well. Even so, it’s still early as we have two hours before we need to get ready for breakfast.”

“Well, I’m not inclined to lie in bed that long,” added Erin, “and good morning.”

“Good morning,” replied several others.

“I wouldn’t mind meditating here with all of you for a while,” added Alena. “Although with all that we need to attend to, two hours is a long time to be doing that.”

“I think it’s going to take a while for us to adjust to the longer day,” commented Alison.

“Well,” said Janet, “I think the difficult part will be redefining our feelings for the different segments of the day. Our breakfast period now occurs two hours later, at 08:00 hours Ananu time (AT), which is the time we used to think of as the beginning of the work day. That now it begins at 10:00 hours AT, which seems wrong even though it is not.”

“Having dinner at 22:00 hours AT is even stranger as it used to be the time we considered a normal bedtime,” replied Judy.

Jill added, “Actually, the only thing that has changed is the beginning and ending times for the morning, afternoon and evening.”

“So, you’re under the impression that the time shift changes the definition of what constitutes morning, afternoon, and evening, which will result in scheduling mistakes,” replied Erin.

“Yea, sort of.”

“I’m not sure that that is true. Shift changes are now at 00:00, 10:00 and 20:00 hours AT. Food Service decided to offer a fresh meal 3 hours before, and 2 hours after, each shift change. Ann’s Clan made the change so they could provide each shift with fresh food, and increase the variety. The dining area is still operating around the clock.

“It will likely take us a while to adjust how we associate actual time and the notional parts of a day. This shouldn’t cause any scheduling issues because we nearly always schedule an activity with a specific time rather than a notional time. For casual activities the notional times work fine, as morning still means between breakfast and lunch, afternoon means between lunch and dinner, and so forth. My impression is that this shouldn’t cause any problems.”

“I agree, and now I am not sure why I thought there would be an issue.”

“Well hopefully there won’t be,” replied several of the others.

“Claudette,” added Alison, “I’m glad you thought of adding ÓT and AT after the time to indicate whether it was Órarduine or Ananu time. I think that is better than just using Ó to indicate time base.”

“Well it will hopefully avoid some confusion. An Clochán has been advised of our change, so they are appending the appropriate reference acronym as well.”

“Good.”

“Since we have some time, how about exploring either Gaillimh Island or Tara Ardchlár before breakfast?” asked Maeve.

“I like that idea,” said Alena. “With the time we have, we can easily accomplish a dream walk around Tara Ardchlár. We wouldn’t have enough time to explore very much of Gaillimh Island before needing to return for breakfast.”

“Neat,” replied Jill, “that means we will be there when Celia peeks over the horizon.”

“We can go as soon as everyone is awake,” said Sarah.

“Talk about fulfilling a dream,” said Joyce. “My dream was about doing just that.”

“Was it a good dream?”

“Yes, from what I remember.”

“Are Sally and Rusty awake yet?”

“Close.”

“They kind of wore each other out last night.”

“Yea, along with the rest of us. It did feel good though. You know I find it very difficult to imagine life without being able to actively share thoughts and feelings.”

“Now that idea would scare a lot of our friends on Earth,” said Sally. “Well I don’t know that ‘scare’ is the right word ... hmm ... I guess it would be if they actually believed that we had the capability.”

“You’re awake.”

“Yea. Rusty will be awake in a few moments. I think I was hooked into Joyce’s dream. It was interesting.”

“The way you say interesting gives me the feeling that it was a premonition.”

“Possibly ... we can talk about that possibility later. I need to use the bathroom before we take a dream walk.”

“Darn good idea,” said Rusty.

“You’re awake.”

“You really expect me to sleep with all the energy bubbling around this room?”

“Not really. Let’s do it.”

“I thought you wanted to use the bathroom,” replied Jill with a bit of a grin.

“Jill, we ‘did it’ last night.”

“Well, we could ‘do it’ again.”

“Yes, but this time we have something else in mind. Are you still horny?”

“Not really, but...”

“Enough ... I’m using the restroom now.” They were chuckling at the ‘do it’ double entendre as they went to use the restroom.

“Jill, do you know where the phrase ‘do it’ gained its double entendre usage?” asked Judy.

“The occasion I remember was in the ‘Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman’ late night TV show. There could be other instances.”

“That is the one I was thinking of; too bad the show wasn’t on longer than it was. It was pretty comical.”

“I agree,” replied several others.

They were quickly back on their bed, sitting in a circle with their arms joined together behind their adjacent spouses. Forming an interwoven circle had become their preferred way of embarking on a dream-walk. While the interwoven circle wasn’t a necessity, it did give them a comfortable feeling.

With Aoife and Tara leading them their first stop was the settlement at Tara Ardchlár. The site was easy to see as they made their approach. This was due to the combination of moonlight and artificial light, coupled with their sensitive eyesight. They were a little surprised by the level of activity. Their first stop was the medical facility habitat. This was of special interest as it was one of the critical items requiring completion before they could begin moving forward with the settlement’s development. They were pleasantly surprised to find the facility was set up and operational.

As they were exiting the habitat Judy said, “Wow, I am really impressed as they are already operational.”

“You sound surprised.”

“Yes, I really am. They did tell us that the medical facility would be operational this morning. I didn’t question their statement, but I have to admit that I took it with a grain of salt.”

“We were able to complete this ahead of the original schedule because the recon teams had done a nice job of setting up the shell,” replied Claudette. “All that remained was some finishing on the interior. The equipment was moved in while that was being completed. There are a few other temporary facilities that are partially set up so with any luck it won’t take much to finish them. Hopefully, the rest of the new construction will continue to go as smoothly as setting these up did.”

“This being operational removes one of the constraints on the number of people working on the planet at one time.”

“The next unit to be completed will be the kitchen and dining area. That will really help.”

“Good.”

From there, they visited each of the different activities in progress. Sometimes those working in the area would pause and look in their direction. After seeing nothing nearby, they would return to their task. When Sarah’s Clan finished their tour of the site they were standing on the main east – west path through the settlement. Turning toward the east they could see the horizon just beginning to lighten as daybreak rapidly approached.

“I didn’t realize the ground rose so much going toward the east,” said Joyce.

“Neither did I,” added Janet as she turned, “but looking toward the west, the ground rises about the same amount, or at least it seems like it does.”

“When we viewed the survey videos of this area, it didn’t seem as though either rise was this much, so perhaps you don’t get a good feel for relative heights or sizes when looking at the videos.”

“I didn’t notice it on the topographical maps either, but maybe the contour lines were larger than the rise,” responded Rusty.

“The difference is likely due to not having a good frame of reference when watching the videos,” said Sally.

“Look ... the eastern sky is growing brighter, it won’t be long until Celia is above the horizon,” said Tara. “Let’s go east to the top of the rise to see if we have a better view. We have a good 45 minutes before the edge of Celia breaks the horizon.”

“I wonder if the glow and changing colors occurs every morning. It is a pretty sight.”

When Sarah’s Clan topped the rise, Celia hadn’t quite broken the horizon so they took a moment to scan their surroundings. It was then that they realized that the location was really a knoll surrounded by a large meadow. In looking around it seemed that they were a little higher than they had first thought. Seeing the meadow brought back memories of the secluded meadow on Comrie, a long time ago. It was in that meadow that their initial meeting with Star had occurred. After that they had visited the meadow many times and other significant events occurred there. Although this topology was distinctly different, none of them thought to question why seeing the meadow triggered those remembrances.

Facing east they moved to form a semi-circle, with Sarah and Rusty in the middle of their arc. With their arms around adjacent spouses, they watched the horizon grow brighter. While they quietly watched the sunrise, memories of their journey to this point surfaced. They began with the first meeting of Sarah, Rusty, Sally and Joyce, then Terry, and their subsequent evolution into Sarah’s Clan. Their memories resurfaced in sequence, beginning with that first meeting and rapidly progressing through key events of their journey. This resurgence of their memories lasted until Celia was fully above the horizon.

“Wow,” said Sarah breaking the silence. “The sunrise was beautiful.”

“Yes. It was,” replied her spouses.

“I wonder what prompted us to remember all of those events,” mused Janet.

“I don’t know,” replied Erin. “Occasionally one or two memories will resurface. Which ones seem to depend on current events. I’ve thought it was perhaps a way of reminding me of a similar or related situation I’ve experienced. I’ve never had so many bubble up at one time before.”

“I’ve had similar experiences,” added Sarah with many of her spouses nodding in agreement. “Like Erin, each time, the memories that surfaced were somewhat connected to current events. This morning, they seemed just like a review of our past.”

“That reminds me of a program,” said Joyce.

“You and your TV programs. The program was ‘This is your life’.”

“Yep.”

“Is a replay of our memories a way for us to keep ourselves anchored so that we remember our goal?” asked Aoife.

“A good question, but one that will be difficult, if not impossible, to answer definitively.”

“We need to be getting back,” said Aoife.

“Before we go,” said Jill, “is the word ‘sunrise’ the appropriate one for describing what we just saw?”

“Why not?” responded Allison. “To me the word ‘sun’ in this context refers to a star. In the past we associated it with Sol, and used sun as an alias for Sol. In this system, Celia is the sun.”

“I wonder if anyone else will raise the question.”

“I think Alison’s response was well thought out,” responded Sarah. “This is a lovely location. Should we suggest it to the ceremony’s organizers as a possibility?”

Claudette said, “Perhaps we should bounce the idea off the other Command Staffs first. If they agree, then we can point out the location to the task group organizing the ceremony.”

“Agreed,” replied her spouses.

When they turned to leave, they saw Aine and Brigit approaching them. “Good morning Aine, Brigit.”

“Good morning.”

“This is a surprise,” said Sarah. “What’s up?”

“Nothing special. We were up early, so we thought we would look around.”

“We woke up early as well. Early enough that we decided to explore the settlement before breakfast.”

“We noticed. So what did you think of the sunrise?”

“Ah,” said Erin, “Alison’s response is confirmed.”

“The sunrise was really neat,” responded Aoife with a smile. “The variety of colors seemed different to those I remember seeing on Earth.”

“We’ve seen differences in the colors at sunrise and sunset between the different worlds we’ve visited.”

“I would attribute those differences to the star’s color and the composition of the planet’s atmosphere,” added Jill.

“That makes sense,” replied Brigit.

Aine asked, “What’s this about Alison’s response?”

“Jill raised the issue of whether ‘sunrise’ was the appropriate word for describing Celia rising from behind Ananu. Alison indicated that in this context ‘sun’ was a star, and not a specific one.”

“That’s the way we think of it.”

Sarah said, “We need to be heading back as we still need to exercise and freshen up before breakfast. You are welcome to join us.”

“We would like that. We’ll meet you there.”

A few moments later in their suite on Dóchas Sarah’s Clan began to move about. As she moved to stretch Joyce said, “I really like Tara Ardchlár. I’m glad we were able to see the sunrise.”

“I wonder if the sunrise is always so colorful,” said Tara as they moved off their bed.

“Morrigan told us that this planet has some colorful sunrises and sunsets,” replied Aine as she and Brigit appeared.

“Has she been here before?” asked Terry as they moved to the exercise benches.

“I had the impression that she was here a long time ago. It was likely more than a couple of hundred orbits.”

“We haven’t seen any evidence of past inhabitants. Do you know why she was here?”

“No. You should ask her.”

“We feel a little uncomfortable asking any of you where you’ve been. We really don’t want to pry into your activities.”

“I don’t see it as prying,” replied Brigit. “I’m sure the others agree with me. We aren’t used to sharing the highlights of our trips, and we aren’t sure that you would find them very interesting. If we can’t talk about a trip, we will likely say so or change the subject. In thinking about it, since we’ve begun living here there have only been a few times when I would’ve avoided an answer.”

“Well I would be interested in hearing of your adventures,” responded Joyce.

“We will share them when we can. Be sure and prompt us, as we aren’t used to doing that. Before we started staying with you between trips, we didn’t see each other very often.”

“When I see Morrigan, I’ll ask her what she remembers of Ananu,” said Sally.

As Sarah’s Clan walked toward the dining hall Siobhan’s Clan asked, “What are you planning to talk about this morning?”

“Just that we took a dream-walk to Tara Ardchlár. While we were there we visited the knoll at the east of the settlement. We found it to be a great place to watch the sun rise. There is a similar rise to the west, so that may provide a great view of sunset.”

“How about we connect to Dóchas when you tell of your visit to Tara Ardchlár and the sunrise?” queried Siobhan.

“That is a good idea as there will be a lot of interaction between the different groups today. As far as we know the time change went smoothly. About the only other thing we think we have on the agenda is answering questions as the schedules are set, unless there are any last minute issues.”

“There may be some questions about the Tigsu visit.”

“True, but I think most will be about moving to Ananu.”

“The medical facility is operational so that constraint on activities is removed.”

“Good point.”

“Agreed. We sense all eight clans are in this link, so I think we are all in agreement.”

“Yes.”

“By the way, we would like for all of us to meet at 10:00 hours AT on the knoll east of Tara Ardchlár.”

“So you are thinking that would be a good place for the ceremony to take place?”

“Yes. We thought it might be a good choice. All of us need to see it, then, if we agree, we can suggest it to those making the arrangements for the ceremony. We’ll have several hours before we need to be back for lunch although I don’t think we will need that much time.”

“How much site preparation will be needed?”

“From our perspective, it is fine the way it is. However, we should leave those details in the hands of the organizers.”

“Agreed. There will potentially be over 20,000 at the ceremony.”

“That’s true. See you later.”

As Sarah’s Clan entered the suite after dinner a couple of days later Jill said, “It will be nice to have a couple days to relax.”

Alena said, “Well since our children are on Phoenix tonight, I think we should...” Her comment was cut off by Erin’s lips covering hers as she began a kiss.

“Yes,” she continued as Alena wrapped her arms around Erin. “This is just what I had in mind.” As their kiss continued they were lightly caressing each other with their fingers.

Their spouses paired off as they all moved onto the sleeping pad. Sarah and Aoife took turns giving each other light kisses on the others’ face as they caressed each other. Joyce put her arms on Rusty’s shoulders pushing herself up and wrapping her legs around his waist. In doing so she had trapped his cock between them and had it nestled between the lips of her labia.

Joyce kissed him as she said, “That feels good and it will feel even better inside.”

“In a hurry?”

“No, but I am already very ready for you. If you will lift me up a bit more we can place it where it should be, then we can take our time.” With that, Rusty lifted her up enough for his cock to slide between her labia. When its head slipped between her lips, she flexed her muscles to guide him toward her entrance. Feeling his cock sliding toward its target he slowly lowered her. Joyce sighed.

“That is one of the grandest feelings.”

“What?”

“Feeling you sliding into me. It is like a special link between us. Our feelings for each other seem more intense when we are coupled in this way. Well, maybe ‘more’ isn’t the quite right word.”

“I know what you mean. So how do you want to continue?”

“Just sit back on the pad, and then I can sit on your lap for a while with my legs wrapped around you.”

“How is this?”

“Perfect. Now let’s see how long we can make this special time last.” As she was sharing her thought, she covered his lips with hers to give him a passionate kiss. Their tongues dueled for a bit, then they separated and began to give each other light kisses. During this they were lightly caressing each other. While they kissed and caressed, Joyce was massaging his cock with the contractions of the muscles in her vaginal sheath and those in her labia. Both of them found this very stimulating.

Joyce laid her head on his shoulder as she hugged him. From this vantage point she could see her other spouses engaged in various ways with each other. “Did you notice that tonight is a little different?”

“How so?”

“We’ve physically paired off but we are sharing everything. Isn’t the scene surrounding us an erotic sight?”

“Yes. Between it and your caresses, it won’t be long before our orgasms crest.”

“I think we will be last though.”

“We may be swimming in your cream before then.”

“I can feel it. When we cum, I may squirt. Besides, I don’t think it will be all that long because I can feel you swelling and getting hotter.”

As she was sharing her thoughts, Rusty held her head as he lightly nibbled on her lips. He followed this with kisses on her nose and eyes and then gave her a passionate kiss while their tongues dueled. When their lips parted they took turns kissing and nibbling along the others neck from their shoulders to their ears.

“I’m close,” said Rusty.

“I know. So am I.” Right after Joyce responded their spouses began to moan as their orgasms crested. Each one was shared, causing the subsequent ones to be more intense and reverberate among them.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes. Fill me up stud.” With that Rusty’s cum spurted into Joyce, triggering her orgasm as she squirted her cream onto him. Their orgasm triggered another in their spouses.

After a few moments Tara said, “Now that was interesting. Rusty, can we try it?”

“Sure, but I am not sure how soon.”

“Well I wasn’t thinking of right now. Maybe later, or tomorrow.”

“Sure.”

Sarah said, “Rusty, would you roll Joyce over onto her back? I want to clean her up.”

“Sure.”

“I’ll clean up Rusty,” added Aoife.

“With as much cream as I felt her release, there should be enough for everyone to have some.”

“Holy cow,” said Tara after Rusty and Joyce moved. “There is a puddle where he was sitting.” As she was speaking, she slid her hand across the area and then began licking it. Several others mimicked her actions.

Jill said, “It tastes better when you can taste it closer to the source.”

“Yes, it does, but it is still tasty.”

After freshening up their sleep area Janet said, “Besides Aikido tomorrow after breakfast, what else do we want to do?”

Alison said, “How about using the IPTPs to get a close-up look at Tara Ardchlár?”

“Sounds like a good idea,” responded Rusty. “Is this something anyone can do?”

Sally said, “From a security perspective, it should be done in groups. Other than that I don’t see an issue. It is a good topic for our next Command Staff meeting.”

“If we have time let’s take a shuttle and do a slow look at the island,” said Maeve. “We might want to invite the children and lions to join us.”

“They would like that,” said Alena. “But why the lions?”

“I suspect they have a pretty good idea of what the island is like, so they could give us suggestions on where to go. Besides, security would be happier if they were with us.”

“Think there will be enough time for all of that?”

“Well if we eat at Tara Ardchlár we could probably see a lot more. If there was something we thought needed a second look, we could go again the next day.”

“Remember we are spending the afternoon two days from now with Maureen’s and Keriann’s Clans.”

“We also need to exercise our psionic abilities,” added Terry.

“There should be time and opportunity when we are out,” responded Aoife.

“And tomorrow night,” said Tara, “there will be more sharing of our affection!”

“You mean we have to wait until tomorrow night.”

“Did I say anything about waiting? I was just pointing out the opportunity, and that we shouldn’t wear ourselves out during the day so we can come back here to cuddle and...”

“But we do that every night,” responded Janet.

“Yes, but sometimes...”

“ ... sometimes we are sort of distracted,” added Claudette finishing her sentence. “But even distracted, it feels good, comforting, and a wonderful way to finish off the day.”

“Yes, it does. Now I’m sleepy.”

It was approaching noon the following day when the shuttle carrying Sarah’s Clan set down in the transit area at Tara Ardchlár. When Alena stepped out of it she saw their children coming across the field. As Sarah and Joyce joined her they began running toward them.

When the children were close Moya said, “We thought you all would be here before now.”

Sarah said, “How long have you been waiting?”

Deirdre responded with, “Not long, maybe a half hour. Our shuttle is two over; we need to get our things.”

“Okay. Have you had lunch?”

“No. We were sort of waiting for you all.”

Corey said, “I think the group working at the site expects us to join them for lunch.”

“Okay. In that case, why don’t you move your stuff to this shuttle and then we’ll go eat, and perhaps look around.”

“Cool,” replied Jordana as the group ran to get their stuff.

“Can we ‘can’ it?”

“What?”

“All that energy,” responded Janet.

Joyce said, “I don’t think so. Likely the best we can do is guide it in good directions.”

“We think you all do a good job,” responded Marnia as she walked up.

“That was quick,” said Alena.

“Well mom, I knew we would need to transfer our stuff so I stopped there first.”

“Still thinking ahead?”

“We all try too. Sometimes it is hard to do as the best path is often not easy to see, or anticipate. Besides, ever since you asked us this morning to go sightseeing, it has been hard to think about anything else.”

“Why is that?”

“It’s something we’ve never done.”

“What about those trips to Earth?”

By then most of the children had returned carrying their packs. “We see this as something unique that we are going to do together.”

Earnán asked, “Did you bring the IPTPs?”

Ignoring him, Alena said, “Well we thought you all would enjoy going with us.”

“Anytime,” replied Marina, “as it is always fun to do things with you all.”

Joyce said, “Earnán, it is not nice to interrupt a conversation.”

“I’m sorry.”

“To answer your question, yes we brought the IPTPs. The lions are joining us after we have lunch, so once your things are stowed, we will walk over to the site for lunch.”

As they walked over to their base camp the parents chatted with their children about their evening and morning with Maureen’s and Keriann’s Clans.

Corey said, “We had fun playing with the children in Maureen’s Clan. Karen and the others are always a lot of fun to be around. I sort of miss them being with us all the time.”

Keri added, “And we offered to help Siobhan’s Clan with their babies. They are really anxious for them to be born.”

“That is normal when the delivery time is near. They’re due in about three weeks, right?”

“Yes,” replied Judy.

“I wonder if those planning the ceremony realize that.”

“We know some of the group,” responded Jordana. “I’ll suggest that they might want to put it off until Siobhan’s Clan has their babies.”

Keri said, “Based on what I heard they will likely jump at the opportunity.”

“Why?” asked Tara.

“‘Cause they aren’t sure they can have everything ready as soon as they wanted to.”

“So how do you know all of this?”

“We listen,” responded several of the children before sticking their tongues out.

Sarah said, “Well, it is a fair question.”

“It was fair but ... you are often chiding us for not listening,” said Iris.

“Ah ... but the circumstances are distinctly different.”

“To give you a less flippant answer,” said Keri, “they, like us, like to talk about our daily activities when we socialize. Several times we’ve seen where that discussion helped resolve an issue.”

“True,” said Rusty. “Talking about your work with your friends can often give you an insight into solving or dealing with a current issue. However, it isn’t usually productive when it turns into a whining session.”

Sally said, “You know it’s still pretty early for lunch, so we could take a ride on the IPTPs before then. This will give us a close-up look at the plateau.”