Epilogue

“I, say your name here, renounce totally & completely any & all previous allegiances I was subject to & pledge my allegiance now & forevermore to Arkadia & what it stands for: One People United & Equal before God, living together in Peace & Prosperity. I will follow Arkadia Laws and be true, faithful, and fulfill my responsibilities as a citizen of Arkadia in protecting our nation, our people & our way of life. With God & all here as my witnesses, I so swear.”

“Good morning and congratulations citizens of Arkadia! And a happy Settler’s Day to everyone here at GC Stadium (Guardian City Stadium) and to all those watching at home! Yes, with 88% of the total vote tabulated on ArkNet (Arkadia Internet), “Settler’s Day”, was the name YOU all chose for commemorating our arrival here 1 year ago today on 12 August! Settler’s Day will now and forevermore be the name of our National holiday! I know it is hard to believe that 1 year has passed already.” All the people in the stadium start cheering and clapping loudly!

“As a new people we overcame much here in the 1^st year, starting with getting used to 26 hour days! I thank you all for your patience while we got enough 26-hour watches and clocks made for everyone! It’s always the seemingly “little things” that get forgotten! And keeping track of time was one of them!

So many good things have happened in the last year, from the 1^st baby being conceived and born on Arkadia, to having a news media that reports factual news not slanted, biased or misleading news, to the new sports YOU came up with! I mean whoever heard of Team Trac Ball? I had never heard of normal Trac Ball before but someone saw the equipment on the archived Earth internet, sent a request to have some of the equipment made, and now it’s played in every neighborhood along with the more well-known sports such as football (soccer), golf, and hockey.

And I personally want to thank everyone for making my 126,738 Mer refugees from Elven welcome here while another almost 500,000 Mer are seeing if it is possible to rejuvenate the waters on their home planet. I know most of you have never seen one of the Mer since they prefer living in water, but if you do please continue to make them feel welcome. I know after trying the seafood we brought here from Elven, my taste buds are hoping they can cultivate the seafood they are famous for here in Arkadian waters too.

I know everyone will welcome and help the new arrivals from Earth get acclimated to Arkadia and Guardian City when they arrive in a couple weeks as well! Remember these new arrivals don’t have the option of returning to Earth after 11 months like we did so lend a hand when you can.

I will also tell you now that among the new settlers that will be arriving there are several groups of people that are VERY familiar with the Design and Creation of Winter Resorts! I have already asked these groups if they would be interested in creating Nordica, the ultimate in year-round Winter Resorts, here on Arkadia! They are very excited about doing so and for anyone that is interested in being a part of it, information will be posted soon on ArkNet!

While things have been very good for the most part, there have been a few ups and downs too, though not many. We arrived here with 253,886 people and at the 11-month mark, there were 1,206 that were returned to Earth. Some because they asked to be returned for whatever reason, and some because they didn’t want to live by our laws.

There was some, what used to be called “petty crime”, for a short time after everyone arrived, but that quickly stopped when people found out the stated punishments would be enforced and weren’t just words they read. I guess I shouldn’t say it “stopped” as there still is an occurrence every once in a while.

Unfortunately, there was also the execution of 3 people who thought it was ok to steal and destroy the property of others. I don’t know why they would think they wouldn’t be punished according to our laws. I do regret allowing them to come at the last minute, but as they say, hindsight is 20-20.

There is more good news though! For a few of us anyway! On the day we left Earth I gave our good Mayor, Marsha Masters, 2 envelopes to hold for me. I asked her yesterday if she could bring them to the ceremony today, and if she would kindly bring them to me now, I will conclude my little speech as quickly as I can and let you all get on with the festivities.”

The crowd gives Marsha a raucous welcome whistling and clapping. “Please let’s hear it for Mayor Marsha! She has kept Guardian City running like a Swiss watch allowing me to gallivant around the cosmos to places like Elven and Mer,” I say as she brings the envelopes to me. I give her a hug and thank her for everything she has been doing.

“Stay with me here please Marsha. Now I gave these 2 sealed envelopes to Mayor Marsha 1 year ago before we arrived here and I see they are still sealed. I had decided a little more than a year ago that I wanted to make 2 presentations on our 1^st anniversary here on Arkadia, and no one knew about them, not even my wives. Yes, yes I know that was a dangerous thing to do! Hahaha. I’m going to ask Marsha to open this first envelope and read what I wrote on the paper inside it a little more than 1 year ago.”