Shepherd Moon, 2nd Edition

Part Five

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When Things Start To Feel Real

- with a nod to the masters of space opera: J. Michael Straczynski, Larry Niven, David Brin, E.E. (Doc) Smith, Iain M. Banks, and, of course, George Lucas.

My thanks. And my apologies.

“In the history of Humanity, there have only been a handful of events that equal today - the establishment of the Greek and the Roman Empires, the births of Jesus and Mohammed, the unification of China, the Italian Renaissance, the discovery of the New World, the first circumnavigation of the Earth, the beginning of spaceflight, the colonization of the Solar System, the Global Armistice, the inauguration of the New United Nations, the commissioning of the first of the Seren stations, and the launch of Earthship Two.

“Today will go down in history as momentous and as significant to mankind as these have been.

“But in truth, today was not un-anticipated. It all began with that first intercepted signal from our neighbors, which turned out to be humdrum housekeeping traffic between a Dixx signal operator and an Elyran shuttle pilot.

“Those two individuals probably had no inkling about what they would set in motion, but here we are, at the conclusion of what they had started.

“We are here now. We are here to officially recognize and acknowledge our neighbors, and to welcome their representatives.

“Please join me in welcoming our new friends to the home of Humanity.”

- excerpt from the welcome speech of Alexandra Romarkin,

Secretary-General of the New United Nations,

during the arrival rites for the first GFA, Earth, 2302