We visited Ife after The War. It was named in honor of the holy city and origin of the Yoruba people, the dominant power in Nigeria after they brought an end to half a millennium of Islamic Jihads. I help to take care of the Tree of Creation, a massive tree that symbolizes the birth of the Yoruba in ancient times. Under the branches of that tree, they welcome all the religions of the worlds to come and teach their Creation stories. I find the similarities amazing.
The Fermi Paradox asked why we hadn’t been Contacted. Some said that we had. Most of our older religions worshiped beings of great power that came from the sky. We called them gods. The worship of the gods, God, or even no God at all has dominated the path of our history. Civilizations have risen and fallen based on their beliefs, and few differences of opinion have been so explosive. Did we make them up, are they real, or were they simply aliens making Contact?
The Fins have a long history of fighting the Russians, being occupied by the Russians, rebelling from the Russians, and fighting them again. Shooting Russians is practically a national sport. So when the Russians entered The War, Finland joined in real quick. They sent a squadron to support us and Aneerin sent me to the Rauma. Named for some old Nordic seaport, that girl had fun going all Viking on us. She was a real spitfire that made us love coming home to her.
I’ve got copies of myself living on…well…more worlds than Jack can count. And on many worlds he’d rather not go to. Francia was one world he didn’t want to see. Me, I loved it. The French brought their love of art with them when they colonized the world, and I traveled there just to see their art museums. I liked them so much I stayed, and now I’m one of the curators. Sometimes I even drag Jack back.
The War was difficult for us. The aftermath was worse than we expected. We were cultural heroes. They did not like that. They owned the media and used that influence to attack us. They got us retired. Thanks to Marine leadership, we were honorably discharged. Marines do not take well to being pressured to dishonor their own. But that did not stop the media from attacking us. They tried to turn everybody against us. Those were rough times.