Chapter 8

"We remember.

"We remember those who we have lost. We remember those who have lost us. We remember the names, the faces, of friends and family left behind. We remember our home, the cities, nations, worlds, that formed us. We remember all, that they never be forgotten.

"Let us remember."

Daium closed her eyes, Anthony's words flowing through her bowed head. She stood with the others, hand in hand, circled around the Sacred Tree. Justin held her left hand, her cousin Rinda her right. They were her family. Her ... people. Gone were the Orang. Gone. Her father was dead. This, she knew. She had seen him, on the floor of their home. Had said the rites over him. Was her sister still alive, somewhere, out there? Rinda's father? Were ANY Orang out there in the universe?

Justin squeezed her hand. His family was back on Earth. All the humans had left, unwillingly, loved ones. Friends. They were alone in a universe nothing like where they were born.

They were together. Human and Orang.

Daium's eyes opened. A granite stone marker sat on the ground before her, a carved ball with the continents of Tanah etched in. Next to it, a brown stone with her father's name. A stone with Justin's parent's names. And so on. A memorial, Melinda had called it. A memorial to the dead, and the lost. They ringed the Sacred Tree of her home world. Someday, someday far away, she hoped, she would have a marker here. Her children would come, with their children, and stand in remembrance.

Humans amazed her. Daium had talked to Chuck a lot of late, about religion, faith. About the faith of the humans. The fact that there were so many on Earth, that the humans here were themselves so diverse. Chuck had said humans adapted. They adapted to the land, adapted the land to them, and most of all adapted their faiths to the situation. When beliefs no longer served the needs of a group, what was good was kept, with new rules and rituals added to help the community survive. And so they had started to do here.

Remembrance Day.

The first new Holy Day of this world. The humans had kept some from the old world, adapted to the new 371 day calendar: Christmas, Thanksgiving, Maulud Nabi, and 4th of July. Daium and Rinda had given the group Hari Kebangsaan. More would come, as their families grew. As ... their new race grew.

Justin squeezed her hand once more, releasing it. Daium looked up, surprised. His eyes were wet behind his glasses, but he smiled at her.

"'Amen' means it's over."

"I didn't even hear it." Daium shrugged, apologetically. Alicia, stepping around their husband, rolled her eyes.

"At least it was short. I never was one for church."

As her wife took one of her hands, leading her towards the collection of waiting infants, Daium glanced once more at her father's marker. What would he think? Would he be happy, that she had found love? Found love, not just with two mostly hairless aliens, but with a woman as well as a man? Would he love her son, who had two eyes instead of four, with only a trace of hair on his body over brown human skin? Alicia's hand released hers, her bare arm instead going around Daium's waist, pulling her close.

"Come on, Daium. It's time to focus on the now. We've done the ritual. For the next year ... we can live."

Anthony thanked Jesus he made it through the prayer without fucking up.

He wasn't the most religious man, nor the most respectable. He was, to be quite honest, the most average store manager you could get for $30,000 a year, plus bonuses. A public speaker? If it was a lighthearted talk on how to deal with bitchy customers, yes. Marriages? Well, he had performed a half dozen or so, the whole Daium/Justin/Alicia thing requiring three to get them all sorted out. Chuck, Melinda and Rinda had tied the knots as soon as Mr. Stud had knocked them up the first time. Glancing over at the trio, Chuck holding both kids, he could see the baby bumps prominently displayed on both women. The still somewhat chubby Chuck was going to provide most of the world's genetic material if they weren't careful. Scary.

Hannah touched his arm. His wife held their son, Paul., who was desperately trying to pull the neck of her shirt down, as if trying to get to the milk inside. Didn't blame him.

"So, did I mangle it too badly?" He grinned at her, hand going out to distract Paul. The kid let go of the shirt and grabbed at the offered fingers. Strong grip...

"Oh, you'll never be a Rabbi, but none of us want to do it." Her eyes sparkled.

"That's how most tyrants first get the job," he agreed. "You going to join us, or are you going with the kids?"

"Oh, I'm coming," Hannah said, turning to motion to Mary. "There's no way I'm going to miss this." The almost fifteen year old came over, taking her baby brother Paul with a smile. Anthony saw the other parents pass their children to the other two teens. He spoke up.

"OK. Everyone who wants to take part in the fun, let's get this over with."

The two squirrels stood at the base of the hill.

Anthony sighed.

Squirrels.

He thought they were rid of them. Oh, Chuck and the others had laughed at his opinion, but he had seriously thought they were done with the human penis crazed religious nuts. After all, the temple was gone, vanished, leaving just a large patch of dirt they now had planted with this year's crops, and Sarah SEEMED to have gotten over the whole thing. Seemed, when last they saw her and the other one leaving in the small spacecraft, to have understood there would be no mass breeding between humans and squirrels.

So, why then had a honking big spaceship landed yesterday evening?

Good question. And he wanted answers.

Anthony walked slowly down the stone steps cut into the hill. They were a little steep, with no railings. That would probably be the next project, or at least a project. So much to do, colonizing an empty world. He had never thought about it before, and here he was doing it. It would make for good resume filler. They had, the first summer and fall, built all the main buildings they thought they'd need: residences, dining hall, storage. Winter had showed the need for enclosed walkways. They were from Buffalo, and well used to snow, but letting everyone gather easily without shoveling was more important than proving how tough they were. They hadn't figured out what to do about that yet: Alicia's suggestion of moving two of the houses could be the most sensible, although Chuck's tunnel idea was cool.

As he came to the end of the steps, and the start of a brick path leading towards home, Anthony took a look at the two visitors. He wasn't going to say all Squirrels looked the same. After all, you had your different fur coloring, the size of the ears, and other differentiating marks. However, he still considered them ... alien. Not like Daium and Rinda. No sir. For all the four eyed, furry monkey-like women were, yes, monkey-like aliens, they were family. You looked at them as you would any other human. Same with all the half human's now here. Not just the babies, naturally, but furry Goldie, walking as she usually did on all fours with her human head held high, and older brother Danny with his snout nose and half circle ears on top of his head. They were ... well, no different than Justin's brown skin, or Alicia's blonde hair. Quirks.

Squirrels, though, were still squirrels.

Anthony stopped before them. Sarah was wearing the same white dress she had before, its simple two pieces tied at the shoulder and waist, baring her sides and black fur. Her tail had a tinge of grey, as did her chest, her eyes brown and sparkling. She bowed, low. Her companion, with light brown fur and a white tail, bowed even lower. Anthony got a good look at that one's breasts, her white dress being rather loose. He nodded to them. The two women, not the breasts.

"Sarah. Good morning."

"Good morning, Anthony." She didn't call him 'Lord', which was good. She raised her head, hand indicating her companion. "You remember Hedva."

"It has been awhile, but yes. Morning, Hedva."

"Good morning." Her voice had some of the old awe in it. He sighed. That wasn't good. As the others came down the mountain behind him, Anthony folded his arms across his chest.

"I think we have some talking to do."

"Or, at least," Chuck added, arms around both Melinda and Rinda's waists, "you two do. Shall we go to the dining hall?"

Chuck took a sip of beer.

They were calling it beer, at least. It wasn't, though. The last real beer had vanished down their throats well over a year ago, as well as the pop, fruit juice, even Kool-aid. Even the water now was alien, although luckily it tasted about the same as Earth water. The beer ... well, it tasted good. Different, but good. As Tammy and Nona passed out the cups, he glanced out the large picture window towards the fields. Half their seeds for the fruit and hops needed for this drink was now in the ground. That was his goal, so far as planting went: only risk half the seeds, whatever that amount might be. If this year's crop went well, they could hold even more back next year. Build up a good surplus, for the droughts and blights that were sure to come.

Until then, there was still the beer from last year.

Anthony stood at the end of the dining room table, mug in hand.

"OK everyone, sit down. Let's do this."

"Who died and made you manager?" Melinda snickered. Reaching under the table, Chuck squeezed her thigh in appreciation. The mustached manager just shook his head.

"The last person to make that joke. Now," he said, turning to the two squirrels standing beside him, "first, thank you for letting us put this off till today. You arrived at ... well, an inconvenient time."

That was putting it mildly. The stupid ship had shown up, unannounced, as they were having Remembrance Eve dinner, swapping stories of the old life. Creating tradition. Squirrel timing had never been good.

Actually, that wasn't true. It was too easy, Chuck thought, to go off on the squirrels. Humans, and Orang, seemed to need an "other" to consider inferior, and since they weren't around the furry tailed race had come to be it. It was unfair.

But, then, so was life.

Tammy and Nona pulled two chairs over behind Sarah and Hedva, indicating they should sit. Hedva did, smiling nervously at the couple as they made their way to their seats. Sarah remained standing.

"So," Anthony said, taking his seat, turning the chair to face the newcomers, "what brings you to our little planet?"

Sarah took a breath, slowly letting it out. She then turned her almond shaped brown eyes on him.

"For the past year, I have traveled through many nearby star systems. With the ship you so graciously gave us, I contacted the other acolytes, those of us not in the temple when it vanished. I told them of all that has happened, that the order is no more, that we will NOT be attempting to bridge the gap between universes, that it just brings pain, death."

Chuck looked first at Melinda, then Rinda. They returned his skeptical expression. He had a bad feeling about this. He leaned forward, elbows on the table.

"What's in the extremely large ship, Sarah?"

She glanced at them, suddenly nervous.

"My sisters..."

Hannah put her head in her hands.

"They aren't all on the ship, are they?"

Jack sat nude on the beach while the Witch and Sam's sister fought.

They always fought. Big things, little things. Didn't matter. Two strong willed women forced to stay together, because to part would mean death. Wendy because, while smart, she was not the most resourceful or active person in the world. Polly, because with a baby, first inside her, now outside and crying, she needed a support system. As for Jack, he'd be fine. No problem. Loneliness would be a factor, true, but as it was he mostly survived on the memory of Sam. He'd leave Wendy, if not Polly, in an instant.

If it wasn't for the whole magical binding thing.

He looked down at his soft cock. Stupid thing. It was its fault he was a slave. Something in the white substance inside him was a source of magic for those with ability, and he had been taken, modified. Brain stuffed with spells, memories tossed out to make room. Wendy owned him. If not "used", the power in him built up to a painful level. Thus...

Jack glanced over at the two. The pain, now, never got that bad. It was as if magic was lessened in this part of the world. Maybe ... maybe he COULD leave. Learn to live with what pain there was. It would mean leaving Sam's sister, and nephew, but maybe they could leave together. Abandon the Witch.