Commander Steven Michael Sterling felt relief upon seeing the village, even though he had spoken to at least one person just two nights ago. . The past thirteen years had taught him to take nothing for granted, that nothing would be there. There were more troops there, some of them wearin g the Arimaki-Kakinuma veritech cyclone motorcycles in their armor mode.
Stecve walked through the gates. He can see tents and Quonsets propped up, the whole village was abut seven acres. He heard the sounds of various domestic animals. The people there were in happy spirits. The departure of the Invid Regency was obvious- even those people who were blind sensed it. This meant freedom to travel Earth, and even beyond Earth and the Sol system.
A woman in her twenties, with black hair and olive-complected skin, walked out from one of the Quonsets. She wears a simple blouse and skirt. With her were two boys, oner with dark brown hair, appearing to be five years old, the other was two years old, new to the world of walking on his own two feet.
"Is that her?" asked Steve.
"Yes," replied his wife, Miranda Sterling. She held a bvaby girl in swaddling clothes, with purple hair on her head. "Her name is Mirage."
The man went to the baby. "Daddy's here," he said touching her.
The baby Mirage opened her eyes and cried.
"She's trying to say hi," said Mirage's mother.
"Da da," said John.,
"Hi, Daddy," said Ben. "You make bad guys go away."
"Me and a lot of other people," answered his father.
"Hello there," said a male voice.
Steve looked and saw a man wearing MARPAT camouflage. He has rough-olive0-complected skin, black hair, and a white thick moustache. A nametape over his right breast pocket read US ARMY.
Steve read the nametape over the other man's left breast pocket.
"I am Benjamin Rios, Master Sergeant, Texas Army National Guard, 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team," said the older man. "Miranda's father, your father-in-law, and grandfather to your children."
"I am Steven Michael Sterling, Commander, United Nations Ocean Patrol, 4th Bullfrog Team, wife of Miranda Sterling, nee Rios, your son-in-law, and father of three of your grandchildren. Nice to meet you, sir."
"You outrank me. I should call you sir."
"Can we call each other sir?"
The two men shook hands.
Oooooo
Benjamin Rios sits down at the extended wooden dining table as Steven Michael Sterling, wearing an apron over his wool sweater, brings in a deep-fried turkey. He watches his son-0in-law carve up the juicy white meat from the turkey. Mr. Rios samples a small pice.
"Miranda taught you well," he says to Steve. "It was one of the skills I taught her."
"I am grateful for that," replies Steve. "Let us not forget the fries."
"Coming," says Ben Sterling, placing a plate of french fries on the table, which had been fried in the same cooking oil as the turkey. .
Steve sits down. It had been years since his wife, his father-in-law , and all of his children sat together for Christmas dinner, at the home that he made for himself and his family. Amber Nicole Sterling and Ashley Nadine Sterling had not even been born at the time they all had Christmas dinner at the Sterling family home just outside Sandusky, Ohio. The table has, in addition to the deep-fried turkey and the french fries, stuffing and biscuits and beer and wine and Petit cola. Nearby, a Christmas tree stands, with its colored lights glowing.
"I hadn't asked this yet, Grandpa," Ben says to the one of two people that he was named after, "but how was your flight?"
"Weather delayed my departure for six hours," answers his grandfather. "good thing the roads here were plowed the night before my plane landed. Of course, you fly through hyperspace."
"Yeah, you can't work on a crew of an interstellar cargo ship without doing that. I worked three weekends in a row, helping to deliver Christmas gifts, so I could be here tonight."
"When was the last time you were outside the Sol system, Dad?" asks Miranda. "It must have been three years ago."
"Yees, we all left Earth and went to visit Steve's parents for Christmas," says Mr. Rios. "Amber and Ashley were only four, I think."
"I think I remember being in the spaceship," says Ashley. "I remember Grandma and Grandpa's place, and Aunt Dana and Uncle George and my cousins."
"And your studies, Mirage?" asks Mr. Rios.
"Very stressful, Grandpa, along with playing basketball for the women's team," answers Mirage Sterling. "It does go with the Academy."
"Mirage does all this military marching," says Amber.
"And I'll have to make sure my junior cadets march correctly when I'm in my third year.."
"So you'll get to tell others what to do?" asks Ashley.
"I'll have to tell others what to do. I'll have to learn what to tell others what to do. It'll be my job as an officer."
"John seems to not have it as hard," says Amber.
"True enough," says John Sterling, slicing a moist, gray piece of turkey meat. "I mean, being on the road, I get to see the wilderness and stuff, visit cool places. But I do have to pay for fuel and maintenance and insurance, and that often means going on my laptop, connecting to the Internet, and reading my work e-mails and accessing my company's computer systems. Sometimes, for nine hours straight, I have e-mails and e-meetings and all this other stuff. Plus I had to study for my remote community college classes. I got here last week so I could take the proctored tests at the campus in town."
Benjamin Rios drinks some red win. "I can't imagine living in a van. Full-time. Living in a tent in the middle of nowhere when I deployed with the National Guard is tough enough."
"It can get cramped," replies his grandson. "Then again, I do have a lot saved up in investment and retirement accounts. It helps not having to pay rent or utilities, just fuel and maintenance and insurance. Sometimes a box of crackers is my lunch,. Though there was this time a few months ago when two friends of mine- they also live in a van- got married in this resort on the Atlantic coast in South Carolina. It was a few miles from Myrtle Beach. I got a suite and treated myself for three nights. It was expensive, but we were celebrating a special occasion for two great people."
"A wedding," says Miranda. "Which reminds me, we'd better look up clothes for your cousin Em's wedding next summer."
And the dinner continues amidst conversations about more details from other's lives, as well as hobbies.
"Hard to believe," says John, holding up his smart telephone. "Mr. and Mrs. Dixon are still alive. I mean..."
"What's the hurry?" replies Mr. Rios. "I'm mean, I'm in no hurry. I will reunite with Rebecca, with David, someday. I'm not in a hurry. It's not like they're not going anywhere."
"Let us remember those who couldn't be here," says Miranda, briefly remembering her mother and her older brother.
There is about five seconds of silence, even from the seven-year-old twins.
"There is some news from Tom," says Mr. Rios. "He can't be here, but we can still talk to him."
"I remember Uncle Tom getting married," says Ashley.
Her grandfather places an electronic device on the middle on the dining table, where the deep-fried turkey had been. It projects a hologram of a young, dark-haired man., appearing to be in his early thirties.
"Hi, Tom," says Miranda.
"Uncle Tom," say Amber and Ashley.
"Hi, Dad, Miranda, Steve," says Tomas Rios. "Merry Christmas to you all."
"And Merry Christmas," says a young woman standing next to Tom. "I haven't seen you all since our wedding last summer."
"You had a pretty dress," says Amber.
"Wait, your tummy," says Ashley.
Mr. Rios smiles.
"We're having a baby," says Tom.
"We're gonna have another cousin," says Amber.
"Congratulations," says Miranda, sipping some wine.
"Uncle Tom, Aunt Holly," says Mirage. "When will I meet my cousin?"
"Five months, more or less," replies her aunt.
"i remember that day, at that village next to the Rockies. I found out my sister was alive after all that time, and I had two nephews and a niece."
"We should all be glad," says Steven Michael Sterling, "that we are all here! And that we are having a merry Christmas!"