Chapter 22: Epilogue

Callie

Drones scrambled to and fro as they systematically tore apart the Tower to its base elements. The gentle wind tossed my hair back and forth as I watched from the riverbank, the quiet burble of the stream lulling me into a state of relaxation as I guided the swarm in their work. My feline ears picked up on quiet movement behind me and my tail swished in anticipation, but I pretended not to notice. Moments later, a pair of hands covered my eyes.

“Guess who~”

As if the scent of lilac hadn’t already clued me in. I wriggled out of their grasp and turned to Selene with a smile. “Hello, my love! What brings you over here? I thought you were busy teaching Alexis how to grill.”

My partner draped their hands over my shoulders and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. Their eyes glittered with merriment and their mouth was pulled into a mischievous smirk. “Well, you see… it’s a little hard to teach someone a new skill when they are too busy staring at you with rapturous worship.”

I chuckled. “She’s got it bad, doesn’t she?”

“It’s cute! She is utterly defenseless in the face of my charms. I’m tempted to string her along for a while longer.” Selene looked away with a thoughtful expression, planning ways to tease and torment my girlfriend.

I pulled them closer and kissed them passionately. It had been months and I still couldn’t get enough of them.

They focused entirely on me as we pulled away. “One of the many things I love about our relationship now is how affectionate you are these days.” Tapping me on the nose, they grinned. “I remember Ms. Hides In Her Hoodie Anytime I Kiss Her.”

I pouted and buried my head against their shoulder, pretending to be annoyed. “Yes, well. Emotions are hard.” Sighing wistfully, I mused about how good I had it now. A partner who loved me, a girlfriend who doted on me, surrounded by people I wouldn’t trade the world for. Life was good.

Selene ran their hand through my hair, scratching behind my ears in the most wonderful way as they spoke. “They really are. It’s been so lovely seeing you blossom and thrive, Callie. You are much more… comfortable these days. Like you’ve been holding yourself back, second guessing everything and now you just let yourself be.”

I purred in response, enjoying the recognition and the scritches.

“But even I can tell that you are trying in vain to hide something. Really, the only one who hasn’t noticed is Alexis, but she is even more of a useless lesbian than you.” Selene poked me gently on the cheek.

I blushed and looked away. “Listen… listen– it’s hard to just ask her.”

They tilted their head. “Ask her what?”

“Errm, well, y’know… we’ve been dating for a little while and I really like her and things have been going so well… I was thinking of asking her–”

“Oh my god, Callie! Are you planning to propose??” Selene’s face took on a very intense look that made me feel a little self-conscious.

“Yes? Maybe? I mean, I did get Tabitha’s blessing–”

“You asked for her mother’s blessing? That’s so incredibly cute and sweet!” They hugged me tight and I couldn’t help but giggle. After a moment, they spoke again. “Mmm, you’ll have to act soon though, my little kitten. You aren’t the only one with plans regarding our dorky yet adorable AI~”

I gasped and spluttered. “Wait, you’re going to propose to her too?”

Selene laughed. “No, I’m going to ask her out, silly. That typically comes before marriage, you know.” They looked out over the river with a goofy smile. “The poor girl has been working up the courage for weeks, I can tell. I’m going to blow her mind by asking first, that’s all.”

Thinking back over recent events, I tried in vain to recall Alexis trying to talk to Selene much at all. Nothing was coming to mind. “When–?” I left the question hanging.

“Well, Alexis and I have been meeting during your little cat naps and talking about plans for the future of the colony. Ways to use the tech developed here to make things better for the others who come later. Ideas to send back to Terra, that sort of thing. All those chats have meant a lot of one on one time and I could see her little crush growing steadily for a while now. Tabitha has been teasing her about it so hard.” They spoke in that contented tone I recognized from how they often talked about me.

“Seems like she isn’t the only one crushing~” I elbowed Selene gently with a grin.

They blushed, their confident attitude slipping. “Well! She’s a lovely woman! Who wouldn’t leap at the chance to date someone like her?” They rested their head on top of mine as we watched the drones work. “Really, should have seen it coming from a mile away. After all, you fell in love with her and my Callie has wonderful taste.”

I shivered with delight. Their Callie. I’d never get bored of hearing that. “Yes, well. I think you two will be very happy. Just go easy on the poor girl, alright? She’s still getting used to the idea of having actual people around, I think.”

“Yes ma’am! I shall do as my queen commands!” Selene pulled away to perform a mocking bow, eyes full of laughter. I laughed into my hand at their theatrics as they pulled me tight again. They spoke slowly, thoughtfully. “How do you think she is going to handle others moving in once we get the colony prepared for more?”

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A tricky question indeed, but one that Alexis and I had discussed at length. “I think she’ll do fine. A little awkward, but Alexis has always wanted to be around people. Just never had the chance. I can think of a few folks back home who will love to befriend her. Y’know, her and Tabitha have talked about how to make more AIs, in the future. Once we know how everyone back on Terra will handle things. I’m far less worried than they are, though.” I thought about how far we’d all come. “Things are different than when Founder and the rest left. Not perfect, but better.”

Selene kissed me on the head gently. “Ever the optimist, my little Callie. I think you are right, though.” They sighed. “You probably didn’t notice it as much, since you didn’t spend as much time with those outside our polycule, but a lot of people back home are struggling with just how few of us there are now. A world of billions… so many lost. Knowing that even just a couple of people survived on one of the colonies? That others may be out there? That’ll mean the world to them. And fully aware AI! That’s going to be huge. A legacy of humanity that isn’t fire and loss.” They grew quiet. “I don’t think any of us have thought about how much we need that.”

I nuzzled my head against them and they held me tight. “We’ll do better, this time. I promise.”

At that moment, the smell of charred meat drifted on the wind and my stomach grumbled in response. Selene laughed as I chuckled nervously. I’d been working for hours and realized with a start that I was long overdue for a break. Setting the drones into standby mode, I took Selene’s hand and we made our way over to the communal space we’d set up in the middle of all our habs. So much time apart meant that none of the polycule was keen to live far from the others, so our little hab units were all clustered around each other, with a little garden in the center for relaxing together.

When we arrived, we were greeted to the sight of Alexis watching carefully as Celica showed her the ins and outs of the grill. Rosa waved to us from her lounge chair surrounded by flowers, looking a little silly with her sunhat and shades considering Venus’ near perpetual overcast skies. I looked about for Tabitha and spotted her sitting atop her hab unit, staring out across the colony. Selene took note as well and gave me a gentle push to go talk to her while they helped the others sort out food. I grabbed a flask of lemonade from the table nearby and used my tail to balance as I climbed up the ladder and sat next to my fellow catgirl.

She gave me a slight nod and then turned back to continue looking outward, a distant expression on her face. I said nothing, letting her adjust to my presence and speaking when she was ready.

After a while, she did so, slowly and carefully. “I wonder, sometimes, if I belong here, Callie. Getting to see Alexis thriving, knowing that at least one good thing came from this place… meeting you! And the others! It’s all so wonderful.” She grimaced. “And I don’t deserve any of it.” She took a swig from her own flask, the smell of alcohol perceptible only to my heightened senses.

“You’re as welcome here as anyone, Tabitha. Has anyone given you any trouble? I thought you were getting along well with everyone.”

She sighed. “No. That’s just the problem, isn’t it?” She looked at me, a haunted look in her eyes. “I couldn’t stop Founder. Hell, he was only able to hurt so many because I helped him, for so many years. I try to tell myself I did my best to make up for it, by fighting him in the end. By stopping him from hurting anyone else. But it wasn’t enough, was it? Stars above, talking with the others made me realize how close a thing Climatefall was. If I hadn’t helped Founder with his stupid colony plans, if we’d all stayed and fought… we abandoned you!” Tears fell from her eyes and she wiped at them clumsily.

I pulled her into a gentle hug. “Maybe, maybe not. You aren’t the only one with regrets; all of us have things we wish we had done better back then. Can’t change the past.” Looking her straight in the eyes, I continued. “But we can make the future better. That’s what carried us all through everything, knowing that we did enough to survive. Climatefall didn’t end us because we did band together and we fought. And because you all left, Venus is now safe for people to live on. That’s an incredible thing! Terra isn’t our only home, not anymore. We’ve learned from our mistakes, even if just a bit. And that makes all the difference.”

Tabitha sat quietly, reflecting. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe that’s enough, for now.” She stared up at the sky, the cobalt clouds circling overhead. “Rosa showed me some videos. Of Earth– Terra.” She chuckled. “Going to take me a while to get used to that. Anyway… it’s nice. Some places you can barely tell we were there at all. Back then… we convinced ourselves it would never heal. Seeing that we were wrong? That means a lot, actually.” She sat for a bit in silence and I joined her, listening to the sounds of the others down below and the quiet murmur of Venus.

I looked over at the remnants of the Tower, the monument to Founder’s power and arrogance. It was in tatters now, my drones having carefully stripped away all but the bones of the structure and soon even that would be gone. Destroying it was something we all agreed upon. He would have no place in our future, never again. The funniest thing, to me, was that Tabitha told me, after finding out who they were, that my parents had been buried within it, in a place of honor as some of Founder’s most ardent supporters. Erasing their legacy felt good.

Tabitha spoke again. “Have you given any thought about a new name for this place? Cryptopia was always a shitty name.”

I smiled. “We’ve been talking about that, actually. I think we are going to go with–

“Hey you two! Food’s ready!” Celica called from down below.

I chuckled. “I’ll tell you later. Let’s head on down. Our family is waiting for us.”

Tabitha smiled, one of her fangs peeking out. “Yeah, they are.”

We made our way down, the others waving to us as we joined them. I made a plate and pulled Alexis away from the others, Selene and Tabitha winking at me as I did so. Alexis looked at me in confusion as we sat down together amid the garden. The smell of mint surrounded us as I realized we were sitting near the small patch of catnip that Rosa had transplanted here.

I stifled a giggle as I looked at Alexis with as much solemnity as I could manage. She tilted her head and smiled nervously back. “Everything okay, kitten?”

“Yes, I just had something important I wanted to ask you.” My mouth was dry and my palms felt slick as I reached into one of my skirt pockets and pulled out a bracelet of silver threaded with glass. Finding the pieces of that nanite container had taken me a week, but it was worth it.

I took her hand in mine and got down on one knee. “Alexis, will you marry me?”

Her eyes grew wide and her pupils turned into little glowing hearts as she nodded and slipped the bracelet on to her arm. “Yes! Aaaaaa!”

I giggled as steam started to emanate from her, her body overheating from the excitement. She grabbed a nearby watering can and dumped its contents over herself to cool down before pulling me close and kissing me passionately. The others cheered as we twirled around in joy.

It had been a long journey to get here, but the path before me was bright and beautiful. An exciting new life, here on Nepeta.