Chapter 9 - Epilogue - 4 July 2005

Starbuck was sitting in a lawn chair not far from a lit grill. The aroma of steaks cooking filled the early summer evening air. He lifted his beer bottle to his lips and took in a long pull. He had just finished telling his good friend, Apollo, about the early days of his time on Earth twenty five years ago. Now, he was older, greyer, and much wiser. He was also much happier than he had ever been. His life before coming to Earth had been much more chaotic. He had learned about the comfort and stability of a good marriage with his wife Theresa. A slight smile formed on his face as he thought about his wife, inside talking with Sheba while preparing the other foods necessary for an Independence Day cook-out. Starbuck and Theresa had come down from the Moon Base to visit Apollo at his new home in Nebraska for the July 4th Independence Day celebration.

"I supposed the 'angel' that had spoke to the leader of the 13th tribe was a certain John we both know of," Apollo said from a chair next to him. He too was older, greyer, and wiser. More wrinkles showed on his face as he had to bear more command responsibility during the twenty five year flight from the Colonies to Earth.

Since September the preceding year, the passengers and crews of the Rag Tag Fleet had taken up their residences in the three company towns that Colonial Industries had set up to be some of their manufacturing facilities on Earth. Apollo could now relax and enjoy a more mundane life. Though he was getting a little bored with life on the prairie. He had started training to be a police officer as he still felt the need to serve and protect his people. For now, Colonial Industries was providing a police force for their company towns.

"The log didn't mention his name, though I suspect it may have been another one named Michael," Starbuck replied then he went on. "During the following months we surveyed the interior of the base and reestablished the power and life support systems. We learned that all of the ships of the 13th Tribe were fully repaired and placed into "mothball" storage while the low tech colony was established in what is now Iraq. We had to move the ships out to the Asteroid Belt; we landed them on Ceres, to make room for the new warships we were building. We also learned that the colony was established around the year 2950 BC and that not long afterward a comet struck the Earth in the Indian Ocean which flooded out the whole of southern Asia and may have been the source of the Noah's Ark chapter in the Bible and similar texts such as the Legend of Gilgamesh. The moon base's tracking system was still working then on automatic."

"Wow, I wonder who might have had a hand in that," Apollo said suspiciously.

"I know what you mean," Starbuck replied. "The timing is intriguing. Anyway, the comet created what is now called the Burckle Crater."

"So, the 13th tribe makes it all the way to Earth and then gets wiped out," Apollo said with a shake of his head.

"Not quite," Starbuck replied. "We looked into the historical records quite closely and we figure a large remnant survived and made their way to one of the 13th Tribes outposts on the island of Thera. They had quite an influence on the Mediterranean peoples; pyramids in Egypt, mythology, language, etcetera. Then about a thousand years later Thera, a volcanic island, exploded, but not before all the inhabitants could evacuate. The people there then dispersed and mixed in with the neighboring nations."

"There is something that doesn't make sense," Apollo added after a minute of thought. "The log said that the Earth was already inhabited when the 13th Tribe arrived."

"That's right," Starbuck replied.

"Then how did they get here if Kobol is the home of humanity?"

"That is a mystery," Starbuck said wistfully. "We'll find out some day."