Twenty years after ansible died, Mika's daughter—Amara, named for hope—took over Kepler-442 communications center. Mika retired. Ansible generation aging out. Light-speed generation taking control.
Amara reviewed colony status. Forty-seven colonies started. Thirty-nine still responding. Eight silent. Presumed dead or isolated.
Cultural drift: 22% average. Some colonies incomprehensible without translation assistance. Kepler-442 to Tau Ceti required AI translator. Same species. Incomprehensible.
Zara still in transit. Six more years until return. Would arrive speaking dialect from 2888. Amara was practicing. Learning dead language to welcome living fossil.
Threadkeepers reported: human colonies diverging faster than predicted. Within 200 years, mutual comprehension impossible. Within 1000, fully alien.
New generation accepted this. Old generation mourned. But acceptance was winning. More humans born after ansible than before. Isolation was normality now. Unity was mythology.
Amara sent universal broadcast: "This is Kepler-442 to all human colonies. Generation transition complete. Born-silent generation now majority. We accept isolation. We maintain connection through patient communication. We remember unity. We choose patience. Transmit so we know you live."
Forty-seven sent. Thirty-nine might respond. Eight probably wouldn't. This was human civilization twenty years after ansible.
Scattered. Patient. Accepting. Alone.
END CHAPTER 8