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    Marhianna sat on the porch of her house.  It was a beautiful day.  She straightened her skirt for no real reason but for something to do.  It was nearly nighttime; the sun was going down over the horizon, casting colors of red and  yellow over the sky.
    Rhia was medium height.  She had long blonde hair that went down to her waist, bright blue eyes, and a sharp nose.  Usually, she didn't watch the sunsets because there were rumors that the demons rode the night, but tonight she wasn't thinking about that.
    "Rhia!" her mother called.  "Come in!"
    It was time for dinner, she knew.  Rhia slowly stood up and walked back into her house, a one-story white house with a small porch and three windows in the front.  She always thought of her house as a face and that she was about to be swallowed up.
    She walked in and took a long look at her house.  It wasn't very big.  On the right, there was the living room, then the dining room, three bedrooms, and the kitchen.  It wasn't a very big house, but the Marimel Clan wasn't known for its money and riches.  No one was poor, either.  It was a community Clan.
    "Rhia, are you coming or not?" insisted her mother.
    "Sorry, ma."  Rhia turned to her left and sat in her chair at the table between her older brother and mother.
    "Who's turn is it?" asked Solan, Rhia's older brother.
    "I do believe it's da's," replied Rhia.
    Quirke, Rhia's father, nodded.  He lifted his hand to show the four circles and said, "This sign protects us, guides us, shields us.  But just as it does, it tests us.  All signs are the same and all people are equal.  These marks are to distinguish under what laws we live and what territories we live on.  As people of this land, we know this and live by this."
    Liandral, Rhia's mother, lifted her hand and showed the marker to all.  "Agree."
    Solan did the same and Rhia followed.
    This was a tradition that all of Solmatiis and Rem followed.  They were to take this oath every time the family sat down to dinner--just a tradition and a long upheld one at that; not a law.  They took this oath so that the family would stay together and follow the laws of the Clan.  This oath is the same all over Solmatiis and Rem.
    They began to eat.  On the table was a simple meal of cooked meat, a mix of vegetables, and a pitcher of water.
    Rhia took something of everything.  The food was good, of course.
    Children went to school in these states on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and are off on Thursday and Saturday.  This day was Monday.
    "Oh, Lia!" exclaimed Quirke.  "I have terrible news.  Rhia, Sol, you might want to listen to this as well."
    Sol and Rhia nodded.
    Their father took a deep breath.  "Raylec Chandlen has been assassinated."
    Lia gasped.  "No!"
    Quirke nodded.  "And by a Flormekian dagger, too.  Lamen says we may go to war."
    "Da!  Where did you hear this?" asked Sol.
    "In The Dancing Bear.  Someone came running in, yelling hysterically and only saying jibberish.  When we finally were able to make out what he said, we ran and saw Chandlen, dead in an alley."  He paused.  "Oh, and whoever did it stole the Ring of the High Lords."
    "War..." Rhia breathed.
    "Don't worry, dear," said Lia.  "It'll be all right."
    "I'm not worried, ma.  I've never been in a war before, but--oh, I don't know."
    "Well," interrupted Quirke, "there's a Clan meeting tomorrow; I suggest we go.  I want to hear the whole story."
    "You mean, no school?" asked Sol.
    "I don't think you'll have school for three regular school days--at least," answered their father, "it's such a tragedy.  So, I think you next school day is at least one week from now."
    Sol laughed.  "Why can't you just say it right out?  Our next school day is Monday."
    Lia glared at Sol.  "Show respect for your elders, Solan.  Your father is just saying it so you won't get confused.  And anyway, it was a rude comment."
    "Sorry, ma."
    "This is terrible," said Rhia.  No one said anything for the rest of dinner. ~*~    ~*~    ~*~    ~*~ Solmatiis and Rem's Records
Scholar Tsinkals's Recreations of the Start of the World
January 6, 2349
Marlym Kalinger NASA Shuttle Launch Base
Announcer: "T minus ten, nine, eight..."
    The shuttle's name was Odysseus IV.  There were sixteen specially trained astronauts aboard this ship.  These people were very brave, for they were never to see home again.  They would neither see what they were going up to space for.
    The eight men on this space ship were John, Marc, Michael, Paul, Robert, Christopher, Isaac, and Sam.  When they had agreed to this, their last names along with the women's last names had disappeared.  Each man was between the ages of twenty-eight and thirty-six.
    The eight women were Jennifer, Stacy, Kendra, Calypso, Jolee, Karen, Christina, and Sara.  They were between the ages of twenty-nine and thirty-three because the latest studies at the time showed that more women around the same age work together over a long period of time.
    The mission was to start a new colony, one-hundred light-years from Earth, on a planet that can sustain life.  The trip would take more than one-hundred years on this ship.  The reason for that is the ship was slowed down by all the life-support systems and learned centers for these sixteen travelor's children and grandchildren.
    The builders who had gone over to the planet got there in three months, built a few buildings, and went home.  In total, those people were gone about three years.  But they traveled in a very expensive "space-jet" that had still been experimental at the time.  This ship needed to be bigger.
    "Three, two, one...  Lift-off."
    The engines started and a great flame surrounded the ship.  Then, to the naked eye, it disappeared.

    The Odysseus IV slowed after it left Earth's atmosphere.  The astronauts unbuckled and walked around, actually floated.
    Calypso, the Captain, turned on the gravity simulator.  "There."
    Everyone fell to the floor.
    "You know," said Isaac, "you could've give us some warning."
    "Sorry," Calypso apologized.
    "Well, that was it," stated Jolee.  "We're never seeing home again."
    Sam's face brightened.  "But just think of what we're about to do!  We're going to start a whole new civilization!"
    "Our grandchildren," corrected Jennifer.  "We and