Ten years later

Pepper sat back happily in the wooden chair on the wooden dock next to their house, her fingers intertwined with Vanessa's who was sitting right next to her. It was a lovely evening, with the setting sun reflecting off the gas giant and illuminating the shallow sea before them. Sitting on the dock and enjoying the evening had become a daily occurrence for them, as the view was simply stunning. The karsts to the south stood out against the horizon, and the shallow sea glowed with the light from the bioluminescent coral and fish that inhabited the area.

"It's another gorgeous night," Pepper said with a happy sigh.

"Yeah, I don't think I'll ever get sick of these," Vanessa agreed, lifting Pepper's hand to kiss.

With the two of them stepping back from the day to day running of the settlement, they had plenty of time to build a new little village. It wasn't huge, but there were a dozen little houses there now, several of which were for people to come take a break in when they needed to get away from their day to day lives. Their goal had been to make a fishing village, and they had, but it had also become a little resort. Just looking to the north, they could see several other humans and Antuhsas relaxing on docks like theirs just enjoying the night. Nobody had any complaints.

New Atlantis, and indeed their whole new civilization, was doing quite well.

Which was more than could be said for Earth. Not that Earth itself was much different than normal, but they were the same squabbling countries they'd always been. The three prophets had all died, though it had taken three years and two small civil wars for the first two. The last one took the longest, and it only happened when he tried to commandeer one of the Australian cargo ships. The Australians had capitalized on the ships and had signed a treaty with the remaining members of the Mars colony, and together they had started mining the asteroid belt and were looking to see if they could do the same with any of the moons in the system.

None of the other countries could do much to stop them, unless they wanted a war that they couldn't win. Australia made it very clear that while their ships weren't armed, they were quite capable of grabbing an asteroid and dropping it on a city if they were attacked. The ships may not have guns, but they could still pack a punch.

So, the other countries just sat back and continued their age old rivalries while Australia quickly became the richest nation in the world. Depleting natural resources were an issue around the globe, and now they were the sole country with access to centuries of mining access unless the other countries thought they could get to space and do better with lesser ships.

That didn't seem likely. But at least there was relative peace. Maybe they would visit again someday to look for more settlers, but that didn't seem like a priority. Without the ability to screen their applicants that Jason had once provided, it would be a risk to damage the fragile system they had going. Not that there weren't arguments and fights, but the vast majority were able to be smoothed over quickly, and there were no hard feelings in the long run.

Everything wasn't perfect, of course, but what could be? Three years after the last batch of colonists came, they experienced their first losses. The settlers from Mars loved exploring Iluyanka to the point where plans to move the planet and terraform it had been scrapped. In their estimation, it could easily be a century or more before they had explored all the buried structures and found all the hidden treasures hidden there. But of course, that was dangerous too, and a collapsing floor led to four men dying there.

It was a shocking day, as there had been no warning, and the citizens as a whole came together to grieve. The Antuhsas had been sad too, though they were much less worried about death, seeing it as part of the natural circle of things. They never had a graveyard, always cremating their lost ones instead. The settlers did the same, with everyone joining in as the smoke rose and everyone paid tribute to the fallen.

But there was a lot of good too.

Those same explorer teams found all kinds of amazing things in the ruins, much of which was able to be reused. Dental equipment, new vehicles with power sources, holographic displays that put the ones on earth to shame and more were slowly added to the burgeoning town of New Atlantis and the smaller towns scattered around the island.

It was Emma that came up with the next idea though. Since she wasn't exploring Iluyanka anymore with the Martian teams there, she was learning all she could about the Aspis, like Viv had, and found a computer that explained all about terraforming. Now, that was something they had originally planned for Iluyanka, but with that off the table, it made more sense to her to put the water they'd taken from Europa into terraforming a second moon in orbit around the gas giant. The inner moon wasn't in a suitable space to support life, but the second one could if they added water, and they got oxygen generated to support life. They had the water, so now they just had to use it.

So, three years ago, they started. It would take time, but the water had already been dropped there, and the atmosphere was slowly building and stabilizing. They had put some seedling trees there to help, and a lot of algae, and there were guesses that within another 50 or so years, there would be a sister moon that would be perfect for more people, or to use for farming and natural resources. Regardless of what they used it for, the mere fact that it would be available was a huge boon.

Emma was one of the new members of the leadership council, as were both of her wives who had done great things with getting new ships and vehicles built on Viv's part and entertainment on Lexi's part. Matteo had proven leadership on Mars, and he was on the council as well, along with Xavier and Lena and several of the Antuhsas. Miles had become the leader of the council, which everyone was fine with, and so far, the group had been working out well. They kept Pepper and Vanessa in the loop, and the pair would occasionally offer suggestions, but the women were more than content to sit by the sea, or swim out into the warm water to see the amazing marine life.

They kept active with their kids, Jason and Scarlett were teens now, and very active travelling back and forth from the seaside to New Atlantis on the high speed hover rails to see friends and take classes while Cash was a bit younger and stayed with them more. They also did a lot of snorkeling as a family off their little boat that was powered by the same engines as the utility vehicles that Emma had found years ago in the repair facility. They were great children and made their moms proud. They may not have as many kids as Emma and her family with their seven including Bree, but they adored their little family, and liked being able to enjoy their life with them. Emma and her family had nothing on Kajna and Radali though, who had given birth to 13 little ones in several litters in the last ten years.

That was a very lively house to visit!

Kajna and Radali were two of the best pilots around though, along with young Bree who had followed in Emma's footsteps. Lena and Emma had retired from flying unless it was more of a pleasure flight with their families. Many times, that involved them leaving their kids with their respective aunts so they could go up for a wild night of pleasure with an amazing space view, which Pepper and Vanessa heartily endorsed since they had fond memories of doing that very thing in the past. Even now in their forties, the pair were in great shape thanks to the medical beds and were still very active in their own bed.

Which their kids hated.

"What do you think, should we head into town for a night?" Pepper asked. It was easy enough to take their little shuttle into the bustling town and have food with their friends or watch movies on the huge holographic screens that Lexi had set up for people to enjoy movie nights. It was an entire complex where many people could watch movies on beds and comfy couches in what was designed in the style of an old Roman amphitheater, and many times they even spent the night just falling asleep watching whatever was on. They usually went in every few days just to keep up to date with the news, but many times it was better to just have privacy at home for a snuggles and smooches night.

"Not tonight, honey. I was thinking we'd have dinner here, and then I could spend the night enjoying you for dessert. I might have arranged for the kids to have a night at the cinema, so we have our house to ourselves." Their house was made of stone, and quite soundproof thankfully!

"Did you now?" Pepper asked with a smile. "My lovely Nessa, always taking care of me."

"How could I not? Your little discovery got this life for us and the thousands of others living here. You allowed us to bring their history to the Antuhsas and brought two species together in harmony. You, my wife, will be taught about for as long as this civilization of ours exists."

Pepper blushed at the praise before standing up and moving over onto Vanessa's lap. "You can say that all you like, Nessa, but we both know that nothing would have happened had you not championed what I found and got your father on board. I don't want to be in a history book unless you're in it with me."

"Then I'll be there too, I'm okay being mentioned in the same paragraph as you for centuries. I'd never want to be remembered without you."

"In many ways, I don't think my life started until the day I met you," Pepper whispered while leaning in to softly kiss Nessa. "I was bored, just going along with the flow, and then everything changed that day. And there have been so many wonderful things happening in our lives since then that make my old life seem like such an empty thing. Even if we had just stayed back on Earth, I think I would still be thrilled to be by your side."

Vanessa smiled, then pulled Pepper closer for several minutes of gentle kisses. "I agree," she said when they pulled away. "But tell me this isn't better than back on Earth." She gestured to the pristine landscape as they breathed in the clean air. "We are so lucky to be here, and I love it so much that you're the one sharing it all with me. I love you so much, Pepper."

"I love you too, Nessa. Thank you for loving me and making our family so wonderful. I could never have imagined this for our life, but I'm so happy that it turned out like this." Pepper felt hot trails of happy tears slip over her cheeks, and leaned in, placing her head on Nessa's shoulder. "Would you mind loving me forever?"

"There is nothing I'd rather do, honey."

***

A/N - That is the end of The Outer Moon. I'm sorry it took so long to get to, but I'm pretty horrible about getting to sequels, as I usually end up writing something new instead. Thanks for sticking with me though!