With thanks to Tim McCleerey and to Anita Madson, Vickie Monroe, and Allen Brookshire for their helpful inputs.

Dr. Madison Forbes is spearheading a project to create an Original Settlers Monument/Freedom Museum in Luna City. She is hosting a luncheon at the Smedley Center to gather support. Because the Last Arrival mummy was found under a corner of our Embassy, Ambassador Clmntr and I are invited along with the Ambassadors from the 20 connected cities and wealthy prospective donors.

I have to mention that the Smedley Center, after 40 years of pretending that all beings are the same size and shape, has recently added seating to accommodate non-humanoids. Clmntr and I are comfortably seated on perches that do not fight with our tails. For the crocodilian Gilgot, if they were here (thankfully they are not...), seating shaped like a right triangle allows them to scamper up the slope positioning their faces level with everyone else's. The spherical Polarans (also not invited) have seating which also elevates them to everyone's level but also adjusts, once they are in position, so that they don't roll off. The Delitrians, who are sort of humanoid, but about ten-foot tall, have larger chairs and table trays that move their food up to a comfortable level for them. They also are not present. Since the Ratihinaconaxemuwezo have never actually attended an event at the Smedley Center, any specialized seating for them remains a mystery.

The Smedley Center's food, however, continues to be human-centric. Vegetables are the only sides and also contaminate a meat-containing casserole with cheese over the top, not friendly to obligate carnivores or the lactose-intolerant. Breads are supposed to fill in the hungry gaps but are not gluten-free. Tea and coffee, which, because of the caffeine content, are inebriating to Uralians, are the only non-water drinks available (I did enquire as to the availability of bouillon, but no - maybe in the future...) So, Clmntr and I are poking through the casserole for slivers of something non-vegetal and non-cheese contaminated and drinking water.

We will be visiting the FastFood when this is over...

I am seated between the New Toronto Ambassador and the New DC Ambassador. They keep looking sideways at me like they would look at a Gilgot. Again, thankfully, the Gilgot are not here. They tend to be loud, rambunctious, and messy eaters, and there is always the very real possibility that they might view one of your appendages as looking tastier that anything on their plate.

Not that I have ever heard of a Gilgot eating another Ambassador at a State function...

Just that it is not IMPOSSIBLE...

And there was that incident with one of the servers about three years ago...

At last, dessert - vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce. We would love the fat in the ice cream, although we can't taste the "sweet" component, and are puzzled as to why anyone would freeze food, but again the lactose thing, and chocolate sauce contains a bit of caffeine. We would not want to fall down dead drunk on the floor - such behavior is not recommended at Ambassadorial functions. We skip dessert.

Dr. Madison, very pregnant, calls the meeting to order.

"61 years ago, our ancestors, fleeing persecution on Earth, came to Luna."

I notice she is ignoring the people of New Haifa, who came here about 70 years ago. But that's OK... the people of New Haifa WANT to be ignored, left alone and forgotten.

"Our children learn the basic history of Earth and the Lunar migration in school," (well, at least Luna City and New Harvard children do. She may not have total information about the other 18 City-States) "but much of our heritage has been forgotten, possibly intentionally, over the years.

"Before this heritage is lost forever, we should create a way for citizens, especially children, to learn about this time in our history in a fun, yet informative, venue. The recent discovery of the Last Arrival brought this home to me.

"We need to create a monument to the brave Original Settlers, represented by the Last Arrival, and a museum to preserve and curate artifacts from this period. This museum would be invaluable in teaching new generations about the importance and fragility of freedom - a Freedom Museum.

"I propose that this be located here in Luna City, as the "home" of the Last Arrival for the past 60 years. Luna is also centrally-located among the connected Cities, and would be relatively accessible for all connected Lunars. But we would want to include the stories of all the City-States making research into these topics a one-stop-shop.

"This is my proposal, and I would welcome your input. Thank you." She sits to polite applause.

I have witnessed the Ambassadors in action in the Lunar Government. I have seen them working on other projects. They would not agree that the Lunar sky is black or that Luna is a sphere covered with a lot of craters. They can get pretty violent at times, a reminder of why the Lunars came here in the first place: violent Earth governments.

Dr. Madison's project is actually pretty well-received. The Last Arrival Monument in Luna City seems to be pretty unanimous - in favor. The Original Settlers Freedom Museum is more controversial - why should it be in Luna City? A more generally favorable variation seems to be that each City-State will have their own Museum, highlighting the "why we fled Earth" and "first settler" experiences of each. Luna City could act as a central clearing-house of information for researchers, but each City-State wants to preserve and curate their own artifacts and present information in their own way.

This modified plan is finally introduced as a motion (a motion...? Lunar-standard speech can seem so strange) and passed with only New LA abstaining (they maintain that due to an unfortunate accident about 30 years ago, they have no artifacts, but they still DO want to tell their own story, and they are nearly as far from Luna City as New Petrograd, so they really DO need their own Museum, but they are still abstaining because New LA likes to do things their own way...)

Dr. Madison is jubilant. As the other Ambassadors mob her for congratulations, Clmntr and I sneak out and go to the FastFood.

***

It is my-days-in-Luna day 2233. Dr. Madison, Clmntr and I are in the shared kitchen of the apartments floor of the Embassy. Kitty is eating her dry food from an elevated bowl on a mat in the corner. Her water is in an elevated bowl on a mat in ANOTHER corner. She doesn't like her water to be anywhere near her food.

People tend to think that we eat only chicken nuggets from the FastFood, but that is not totally true. We have daily deliveries from a food service specializing in "xeno" food, which theoretically brings food "native to our planet." But, since the plants, animals, and minerals native to our Lian star system are not available on Luna, what we actually receive is Lunar food that won't kill us. They generally do a good job; the Gilgot get raw meat (they prefer it alive, but Lunars are not up for that.) We get cooked meat or fish dishes with no milk or grain products and no sweets or caffeine. Once we got the Polaran's delivery by mistake - since they are vegans, that was not a huge success. We considered getting daily FastFood deliveries after that but eventually decided against it.

We are snacking, sitting on perches and a human chair around a table very similar to a Lian table. Tables seem to be universal, although some are shorter, some are taller. But not chairs!!

Dr. Madison is nibbling some (what our food service calls) fish jerky. She appears unconvinced that it is actually edible, but is making a brave effort.

"So the meeting seemed successful...?" I suggest.

"Yes, I think we can make it happen, if we can find the funding."

"Did any donors come forward with firm offers?" Clmntr asks. As an accountant, she knows you have to get things funded, and you have to get your funding nailed down.

"I already had two Luna City donors. Now that it has expanded to the other Cities, additional funding will have to be found." She sighs. Dr. Madison's life has been spent trying to get funding for various history classes, historical research, and historical projects. History, as she alluded to in her speech, especially Earth history and Early Settler times is something most Lunars would like to forget. She's talented at getting funding for her ideas, but doesn't particularly enjoy it. "I don't have contacts in many of the other City-States, so they are kind of on their own. I'll help, but..."

We nod sympathetically. Funding the Uralian Embassy, before the Uralian Split, was always a challenge. It's why we have such a small Embassy building at the edge of the settlement. Of course, now, with funding from SafeGuard and Botslean, we could move to better quarters. But... the Lian system is hardly Gilgot or Feyar or even the Xx - we don't trade to the galaxy or control most of the galaxy, or make everything the galaxy uses. An elderly and scarred building with a hole under one corner of it located on the remote edge of town is fine for us.

"Botslean has some extra funds, if you need anything..." suggests Clmntr.

Dr. Madison drops her jerky and smiles. "New Nuuk has no hope of finding a donor. And their invasion story would be particularly interesting...It needs to be told."

"Let's see what can be arranged."

***

Dr. Madison has told us a fair amount about the Lunars' home planet: Earth and how the Lunars came to be on Luna. Earth was (maybe still is) composed of many States. The majority of the Lunar City-States' refugees were originally from an Earth State called "the United States of America" (or "the United States" or "America" or "the USA" or "the US" for short.) Like the Feyar, the US was strong, powerful, rich, and because of this, they basically ran the Earth. Then, like things do everywhere, things fell apart. The governments of Earth became dictatorial and violent - violent against each other, and even against their own citizens.

The Feyar had actually put out an advisory many years earlier that Earth (although they did not know then that that was the name of the planet) should be avoided due to a sudden (although small) increase in radioactive isotopes in the atmosphere. Now, of course, we know that Earthers had exploded an atomic weapon (actually several,) the only species known to have actually done so.

Of course, the Gilgot, always open to new trading opportunities, ignored this advisory, and (thankfully) came to Luna. Their trade, bringing air, water, and necessary goods, is the only thing that kept the Lunar settlements alive.

In case you are asking: "The FEYAR?? You haven't mentioned them. They have no Ambassador on Luna..."

You are, of course, right. You see, the majority of sapient species are aquatic. On most planets, life starts in water. On many planets, life, for the most part, stays there. Barring disasters like snowball Earth and the chemical disaster in the oceans of Uralia, the oceans are where sapient life generally starts, and it typically stays there. But, it is really uncomfortable for aquatics to travel to other planets. Just consider: you are used to swimming around your planet's oceans at will. Now you are limited to a 10-foot-cube containing the only environment you are comfortable in. Then you land, and you are still limited to your 10-foot-cube container. Even landing on a planet with oceans, the water would not have the same chemistry, so you must remain in a container with your home ocean water in it. Land-dwelling species (who also are forced to move between planets in a small container) on embarkation can move around the new planet freely, maybe having to wear a protective suit, but still free to move.

So, an aquatic species, the Feyar, very early on, developed the quantum entanglement communication system we all now use to communicate across the galaxy (since the Setow aren't sharing their communication technique with us.) Without it, the communication between one planet and another would take years to arrive (the speed-of-light thing.) Using space trade routes, communications arrive faster (within a few days), compared to space travel (which generally takes a few weeks between systems) but inter-planetary conversation would still be impossible.

The modern aquatic species Ambassadors all connect and communicate with the other sapient species using this communication system. They don't have to leave their comfy aquatic homes.

The rest of us? Well, we use the communication system, and are glad for it, but most of us actually like to meet members of the other species and interact with them. I think you can learn a lot more about another species, seeing their planet, eating their food, sitting on their furniture, than you can over the com.

So, that is why the Feyar, although very powerful, are not actually represented on Luna. (Other than in every com unit on the planetoid...)

Getting back to Earth history, it was during this violent period that all of the refugees (including New Haifa) left to find safety on Luna... well actually they left to find safety on Mars, but that hadn't worked out well, so they settled permanently on Luna. And the Lunar City-States, except for Luna City, had been named after cities or universities in the US from which the refugees had fled. (Luna City would have been New New York... The settlers preferred "Luna City.")

The US prided itself on being a democratic State: all registered citizens could vote in elections. There was freedom of speech, freedom of assembly. It sounds much like Uralia before the Great and Sacred Leader. But, just as Uralia no longer enjoys those freedoms, the US lost them.

The Lunar refugees UNIVERSALLY (whether from the US or not) wanted those lost freedoms to be Lunar freedoms. The Lunar Government (composed of Ambassadors from each of the connected City-States) and the Lunar Courts (composed of judges and lawyers from each of the connected City-States) had, for 60 years, defended those freedoms. But, coming from an Earth where those freedoms had been lost, Lunar citizens had been vigilant.

It made a great deal of sense that Dr. Madison's Museum project, with its goal of educating younger generations that freedoms are important and can be lost, would be popular.

In Luna City, the Last Arrival Monument was relocated from the front door of our Embassy (thankfully) to the plaza outside the "first" building closest to the city center.

The Original Settlers had first excavated a small, low-ceilinged flat camping site just beyond the space docks. It had to be very small - they only had the air from their transport ships.

The VERY first buildings were hollowed out of the "wall" at the edge of the excavated space. These were hollowed out inside to be multi-story apartment buildings with shops and businesses on the ground floor. These could not be constructed until the Gilgot traders brought additional Earth-chemistry air to the settlements.

The ceiling over the flat camping area was raised to the level of the Luna City "sky", and, as the excavation expanded out, the "first" buildings were constructed. These "first" buildings, few in number (there are only 8 in Luna City), were parts of the original stone left unexcavated when the settlement cavern was being dug. They generally reach from the ground to the "sky." Most of the buildings in our neighborhood are of this type. It is one reason why our neighborhood is dark (aside from our permanently-flickering or burned out fluorescent day-lights) - there is no way for the light to get past the tops of these buildings.

This is the Luna City I saw when I came here about 50 years ago for the SafeGuard treatments. At that time, there were a little over 100 inhabitants.

Our Embassy, constructed after my visit, was actually made of stone blocks and is located, we had discovered, on the original flat settler camping site, the first excavation just beyond the docks.

Any of the "first" buildings would have been a good choice for the Monument and Museum, and the project would improve the tone of the neighborhood. But, our neighborhood is not considered "safe" by Luna City Administrative Law Enforcement. Compared to Earth, it is very safe indeed, but our local entrepreneurs (hookers, drug pushers, etc.) would probably consider a museum to be an obstruction of trade.

The project chose the "first" building closest to the city center to be both more convenient and safer. Of course, this particular building (farthest from the docks) was probably the last "first" building to be constructed. It only reaches partially to the "sky," so it is more similar to the constructed buildings.

The Monument part of the project was the easiest. The Last Arrival was reinterred (with his mummifying regolith) in the plaza with a nice stone monument explaining who he was (although his name is unknown.) The pendant and paper with his weapons order would be one of the primary exhibits in the Museum.

But... there are always problems.

One of the Original Settlers in Luna City had been the Assistant Director for Archives and Manuscripts of the New York Public Library. The Library owned copies of two important American documents: a Holt broadside of the Declaration of Independence and a Dunlap/Claypoole broadside of the Constitution. Both documents had been originally handwritten on parchment, but the broadsides were printed copies on paper. The archivist had "liberated" the documents when he fled to Luna.

Naturally, such important documents should be displayed in the Original Settlers Freedom Museum.

Naturally, they are nowhere to be found.

Naturally, Lt. Forbes, chief solver-of-mysteries, figurer-out-of-puzzles, and finder-of-missing-things in Luna City is assigned the task of finding them.

It is now an all-in-the-Forbes-family project.

***

Valuable Luna City paper documents dating from Original Settler times would normally be preserved in the Luna City Public Library. The Director for Archives and Manuscripts of the Luna City Public Library (Vickie Adams) in fact was the person who had originally told Dr. Madison that the documents, or at least copies of them, would be great exhibits for the Museum. She had seen them listed under Library Holdings.

But when Dr. Madison and the Director for Archives and Manuscripts went looking for them (in their locked, climate-controlled safe, in their secure box in the safe, in their secure folder in the box in the safe), there was nothing there.

Other important documents (the Luna City Charter, the first contract with Gilgot traders, the SafeGuard contract) were there; only the Earth documents were missing.

Librarians, volunteers, Administrative Law Enforcement personnel all scoured the Library with no results (they did find a box containing the original voting slips for the first Luna City Ambassadorial election in a closet hidden behind a filing cabinet. That also might make a good exhibit...)

The search expanded beyond the Library.

Since housing is at a premium in Luna, the "wall" apartments and all 8 of the "first" buildings are still occupied, although one large unoccupied "wall" apartment seems to be being used unofficially by neighborhood folk as a sort of local, non-gilded Relaxation Station.

Administrative Law Enforcement searches all of these. Most of the inhabitants, while irritated, submit with good grace. The searchers move as few things as possible; they are strictly looking for secret compartments or boxes/chests that had not been opened since the present occupants assumed occupancy. In other words, they believe the documents are LOST not STOLEN.

Dr. Madison, the Director, Clmntr, Lnbršr and I are in the Library paging listlessly through large books and file cabinets hunting for the lost items. The Declaration document is about 15.5" x 11.25", so it could not be hidden in a regular-sized book. The Constitution is slightly larger, is four pages and folded, so it would be harder to hide.

Actually, there are few paper books on Luna. Because Luna is not forested (although all cities have some cherished trees), anything wood or paper has to have been brought from Earth by the Original Settlers or come in trade from another planet. For instance, the wooden floors in the Smedley Center and the Relaxation Station were imported at great cost. And the weapons order paper found with the Last Arrival mummy had to have been given to him by the Gilgot.

Of course, most books (whether from Earth, Luna, or another planet) are available in doc form on any com.

We are finding nothing... when Dr. Madison suddenly sits upright and says, "Oh!"

The next thing we know, we are rushing Dr. Madison to the Birthing Center connected to the Luna City Hospital. Lt. Forbes meets us there. Or, more accurately, he meets HER there; we are not on his radar at that point.

The Forbes have two children, so the experience is not going to be a total mystery to them. As non-family members are universally banned from these events, we are all sitting in a waiting area feeling useless but not willing to go elsewhere and risk missing anything.

I am chatting with Vickie Adams. She is telling me the history of the Library - how the original books came with the Original Settlers, either as particular books they wanted to bring, or merely as what they were reading at the time of the evacuation. She tells me about how the Library had been relocated to a new building from the original "wall" building Library I remembered from my earlier visit. Actually, that larger "apartment" Library is being used as the local Relaxation Station now. Searchers have gone over the rooms with a fine toothcomb (whatever that is) irritating the "Relaxers" no end. They have found no hidden niches (but they did find a secret entrance coming up from the sewers.)

As we talk further, I realize the present Library near the Park is NOT the second Library location but is actually the THIRD. Where was the SECOND Library?

The Director thinks for a moment. "Well, it was near the docks, but in a CONSTRUCTED building... It was the first actual constructed building in Luna City... I think it's an Embassy or something now..."

My heart is dropping into my feet. An Embassy... near the docks... yes, once again the Lian Embassy is the focal point of a mystery. Maybe I'm not a Mgrfs - a jinx... but maybe our Embassy is?

I call Administrative Law Enforcement (since calling Lt. Forbes would not be useful) and let them know they need to tear our Embassy apart. I then call the Embassy and let Wan (who answers) know about the imminent invasion.

***

And they find under the staircase to Clmntr's apartment a broom closet - in the darkness, we never noticed a second door. This door opens into a staircase leading down to a large, hollowed-out basement under the Embassy's stone floor. This space is HUGE and expands the available space in our building by about 30%. We could open a bowling alley. I don't know what bowling is, but humans seem to enjoy it.

Not only are the valuable documents there (and who knows why? Just forgotten during the move?) but a collection of memoirs and diaries by Original Settlers is also cached there. The cool, dry climate of Luna has kept them safe from decay.

We bring chicken nuggets to the Forbes home for a celebration.

Dr. Madison is almost as excited by this find as by her new baby girl.

Lt. Madison and the kids are strictly excited by the baby.

Although for the kids, the chicken nuggets are a close second.

***

It is my-day-in-Luna 2296. We are attending the dedication of the Luna City Original Settlers Freedom Museum. There are five major exhibits:

     the American Story (with COPIES of the broadsides of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution - the originals are now safe in their safe in the Library),

     the story of the Last Arrival (with the pendant and weapons order, and a life-size reconstructed model of what the Last Arrival must have looked like before mummification)

     Original Settler Memoirs (with the Director and Lnbršr (who has a nice voice) reading selections from the Diaries and also photographs of Original Settlers and replicas of the original ships they arrived in that the kids can climb around in)

     The First Election (with a pile of voting slips and a wall poster found in someone's attic and a copy of the Luna City Charter)

     Gilgot trade (including a copy of the first contract)

There is also a gift shop with replicas of the documents (printed by the Xx) and models of the original settler ships (also manufactured by the Xx.) Kids can collect the full set of original ship models from each of the Cities as their museums open. Dolls dressed in Original Settler costumes are also available with seasonal costumes planned for the future.

The kids seem to enjoy it. I think it will be a hit.

As to whether it will ensure continued freedom... well, coming from a culture that lost it, and regained it only because we were not valued, I can only hope...