Legacy by Scott McElhaney

the memories of that other Braxton. I clearly remembered how beautiful she once was and actually how beautiful she still was if I cared to admit it.
     
    “ They stimulated all your muscles in utero, so you should have no problems getting up. If we stay on this ship, we’ll be dead in about two more six-lunes I imagine. The oxygen and electricity are nearly depleted,” she said, waving me toward the door, “But if we head to Legacy, which is really our only option, we still risk the chance of being killed.”
     
    I stood up and wondered for a moment whether or not it was an act of cruelty for her to ‘revive’ me as she called it. I wasn’t sure if this was a curse or a blessing.
     
    “ Why is this ship empty and why would we be killed?” I asked.
     
    “ Now that is a long story that covers some thirty-one harvests,” she said, motioning again for me to join her in the hallway, “But I’m not quite sure if you really want to hear it all.”
     
    “ Try me,” I replied.
     

 
     
    43 rd Luna – Harvest Season –986
     
     
     
    We have decided to start the USSC Embassy Log today, 43HS 986, since this would probably be considered our first official day with a fully established USSC Embassy on the planet Legacy. In reality, this is the official date of our first ever USSC Embassy on any other planet. I imagine that this date will be celebrated as a holiday in years to come, so we might as well begin documenting it all today.
     
    As with all Embassy Logs, this will remain an anonymous log even if the writer shifts from “we” to “I” throughout the log. There will be no notoriety for any individuals now or for years to come. We are the USSC and that is all that matters.
     
    The colony of Legacy measures their years in “harvests” which like Earth, is the season of reaping each year. Although Legacy doesn’t experience a true winter in the sense that we understand it on Earth, it does have a season marked by its aphelion of about 14 Earth-weeks known as “rest” or “resting season” and a perihelion spanning a comparable 14-week span known as “growth” or “growth season”. The others, of course, being “harvest” and “planting season”. And if you do the math, you’ll understand that they have a fifty-six-week year using Earth-comparable dating. It’s actually 55.1 Earth-weeks in the truest measurement.
     
    As we are now living on Legacy, we will abide by their calendar and we’ll respect the laws they have in place. Although the planet has four continents, the colonists are only aware of two of them. They have titled these Green and Blaze. There are actually around 200 people living on another unnamed continent, but we have no real information on them. The USSC Embassy is located on the Green Continent and we are currently in the process of building an embassy on Blaze.
     
    We haven’t received any messages from the USSC on Earth since their last direction to establish a ground base. We will continue efforts to build relations with the people of Legacy until further instruction come from the USSC.
     

 
     
    11
     
    Diana
     
    USSC Foothold
     
     
     
    Braxton was managing fairly well for someone who experienced no passage of time between his scan over thirty harvests ago to his arrival into a derelict ship today. I’d expected more disbelief that I was actually getting from him.
     
    “ The people of the Foothold were eventually welcomed quite well in Green. It wasn’t an easy transition by any means, but once our people saw what they had to offer in knowledge, technology, and medical advancement… well, it didn’t take a whole lot of convincing after that,” I said, pausing a moment in the dimly lit corridor as I tried to remember which of the two sets of stairways led to the shuttle bay.
     
    “ How about Blaze? I imagine the Earthians never received a welcome there,” Braxton said.
     
    “ Earthlings ,” I corrected, recalling suddenly that the last time I