The morning sun warmed the cool morning desert air. Nisha and Rachel woke up. For a moment they forgot they had moved to right outside of Bok’s colony. When they looked out of the tent, they remembered they had moved.

Nisha rubbed her eyes, so she could be sure of what she saw.

“Bok’s towers must be over 1,000 feet tall. Millions of drones are making a bigger one like the towers in the elder’s colony. It’s already taller than the others. Construction might be halfway done.”

“Not bad for a bunch of teenagers.” Rachel said.

“Yeah, not bad at all.”

Bok walked over to talk with them.

“I’m glad you’re here,” he said. “This movement is getting out of hand and I’m not sure what to do.”

“What do you mean?” Nisha said.

“150,000 already moved in. A million are now on the waiting list.”

“Oh, that’s way over your 1% cutoff number of 550,000,” Rachel said. “Did the elders say anything to you?”

“They’ve said nothing, but it’s only a matter of time. There’s too much momentum. I don’t think I can stop it.”

“This is what happens when you set something into motion,” Nisha said. “Did you study different forms of government?”

“Yes, last night Beedee and I did an extensive survey of Omanji, ancient Yoot, and human governments. We also studied the failed governments of those planets we visited where most life had been destroyed. We analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of each system and synthesized an ideal system.”

“I’m not surprised, are you Rachel?” Nisha said.

“No, not at all.”

“Bok, this is a good start,” Nisha said. “However, you’re dealing with live thinking beings with newly independent minds. History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes. Also, you’re on a new planet. You might think this is the ideal system. However, for whom is this ideal?”

Bok was silent for a long time.

“I understand your point. That’s a variable I hadn’t included in my analysis. What should I do?”

“First, you need to make sure you realize there’s no ideal government. The most crucial factor is making sure one individual, or a small group cannot assume too much power. If you give one individual more power than the others, it should be for a brief time and limits on the power must be pre-set. That includes your power. We call this system checks and balances.”

“I read about that. This is more complicated than it seems,” Bok said. “I understand what you’re saying. I’m going to integrate this into the system.”

Bok fell silent and walked away, but not out of sight. He telepathically discussed something with someone. He turned red.

“He doesn’t mess around.” Nisha said, not seeing Bok’s red color.

“Yeah, he goes right after every new bit of knowledge he gets,” Rachel said. “It’s fascinating to watch him think through a problem. He acts decisively. He’s willing to change his mind when he gets added information.”

“He seems mature and logical for his age,” Nisha said. “But I’m still anxious about this split. What if there’s trouble with the Esteemed Elders? After hearing the stories of how violent they can be, I’m worried.”

“Nisha, think of all the times you’ve worried about something. When you were a kid, you worried about friends and homework. When you were in high school, you worried about friends, boys, and homework. In college, you worried about friends, boys, careers, and homework. Once you got your boy, you worried about everything else. Worries go on forever. How many of those things did you need to worry about? Few.”

“This makes logical sense under normal circumstances, but what about now?” Nisha said. “This is something worth worrying about.”

“Maybe, but let’s worry about one thing at a time. We need to keep Bok from doing anything to turn a good situation bad.”

Bok walked back over to them. Soon thereafter, a sphere appeared on the horizon. Everyone turned to watch it.

“What’s that Bok?” Rachel said.

“It’s what I don’t want right now. It’s who I just spoke with.”

Nisha raised an eyebrow.

“What don’t you want?”

“I don’t want, them,” Bok said while pointing his three top fingers to the decelerating sphere. “It’s my parents.”

The sphere set down silently on the crunchy sand uncomfortably close to them. Two large Omanji emerged through the silvery surface of the sphere, making the now familiar pattern of a rock making ripples on still pond on a calm morning. They walked up to Nisha and Rachel first, inspecting them closely with those independently moving and bulging eyes. The women stood their ground and examined them back. The parents remained neutral gray in color, which made the women relax a bit. They turned around to face Bok. The gray color replaced by a dull red. Nisha and Rachel glanced at each other like kids who were caught doing something they shouldn’t be doing.

They walked over to Bok and communicated silently, but their body language became animated at times. This went on for about 10 minutes. Nisha and Rachel stood by, motionless, afraid to disrupt the conversation. The parents turned a deep red, and so did Bok a few moments later. They moved their arms this way and that, obviously agitated. Bok’s nose stiffened. The parents marched over to Nisha and the smaller one of them briefly flashed bright red and shoved her to the ground. Bok turned red and rushed over to Nisha. The parents walked into the sphere and accelerated silently into the sky, producing a sonic boom a few seconds later.

“Are you okay?” Bok asked Nisha as he helped her to her feet.

She brushed off the dust.

“I’m okay.”

Bok stood there, silent, and alone as his red color faded to gray. Nisha and Rachel stood for a while in silence too. Bok didn’t seem to want to talk. Then, one eye looked up at Nisha and Rachel. He walked away without saying a word.

“What do you think happened?” Rachel said.

“It didn’t go well. I guess Bok stood his ground and his parents didn’t budge. I’m glad our culture isn’t like that. I can’t imagine cutting off Priya in that way. I guess in their culture, Bok deciding not to merge is worthy of excommunication like we see in religion. So, part of our culture is like that.”

“Check out all those racers and other contraptions arriving at this new colony,” Rachel said. “This is turning into a mass exodus.”

“Yeah, Bok’s right. This is evolving beyond his control. He’s encapsulating some deep-rooted drive in the Omanji to be independent, but the entire society is set up to be connected. No wonder he’s worried.”

They walked back to the tent and spent the rest of the day and evening arranging for transportation of the Yoots to their home in the redwoods. Nisha worried about events spiraling out of control.