The morning had fully awakened.
Smoke drifted lazily above the valley as wagons rolled toward the fields. Horses leaned into their harnesses. Milkmaids crossed the lanes with bright tin pails. Children hurried toward the schoolhouse while farmers disappeared into endless rows of tomatoes, cabbage, wheat, and oats.
Samuel, Galileo Maestro, Elias Hawking, and Buck Rogers sat together on a bench overlooking it all.
No one spoke for several minutes.
Sometimes a quiet morning deserved to remain quiet.
Finally Galileo smiled.
"Isn't it curious?"
The others turned toward him.
"Every human being ever born has traveled through space from the day they entered this world until the day they left it."
Buck raised an eyebrow.
Galileo continued.
"While Earth circled the Sun, we raced through space at astonishing speed. Yet because we were born upon it, no one ever thought about the journey."
He looked toward Saturn suspended in the dark heavens beyond the Glove.
"It simply felt normal."
Samuel nodded.
"And now?"
Galileo smiled.
"Now we've changed our route."
Buck chuckled.
"But we're still traveling."
"Exactly."
Elias folded his arms.
"For centuries people imagined building a spaceship large enough to carry humanity."
Buck laughed.
"Instead, humanity discovered it was already riding aboard the finest spaceship ever built."
Samuel watched children laughing as they crossed the bridge toward the schoolhouse.
"The remarkable thing," he said quietly,
"is that we never had to leave home."
Galileo reached down and picked up a handful of rich black soil.
Most of it slipped slowly between his fingers.
"People imagine spaceships made of steel."
He pointed toward the forest.
"But where would you cut an oak tree for a barn?"
He pointed toward the dairy.
"Where would your cattle graze?"
Toward the wheat fields.
"Where would horses pull a plow?"
Toward the creek.
"Where would children catch frogs on a warm afternoon?"
Toward the orchards.
"Where would they climb an apple tree?"
He smiled.
"Steel walls can preserve life."
He opened his hand, letting the last of the soil fall back to the earth.
"Living soil creates life."
No one answered.
There wasn't anything to add.
Samuel looked across the valley.
Smoke.
Barns.
Families.
Fields.
Work.
Laughter.
Everything a civilization truly needed.
A smile crossed his face.
"Turns out..."
he said quietly,
"the best spaceship ever built already came with forests... rivers... farms... and families aboard."