Page 32 of Jorhee

“What? Where?” Then I saw it. “Dogs are to get a home cooked Sunday dinner? We don’t have the same weekdays as on earth, do we?”

“We have thirteen months that are five weeks long, which each having six days. Each day is simply First Day, Second Day, and so on, until the count starts over. As for the months, no one has named those yet either.”

“So you’re just using the human names? There are seven days in our weeks.”

“No one likes Mondays, so I simply eliminated it from the proposed calendar.”

“Sounds as good as any other system, and it will make New Haven feel more familiar to our human settlers. I am approving this.”

“And the months? There’s an extra month there!"

“I have calculated an approximation of the seasons so I could adjust the start and stop of each month accordingly, allowing for the extra month, which I have placed at the beginning of the year, with day One being Founder’s Day. With that in mind, I have proposed calling it Phanestion. Phanes was an ancient god who hatched from a cosmic egg, and thus the universe came into being.”

“Uh huh, that makes as much sense as my people’s naming them after old gods hardly anyone worships anymore and haven’t for over a thousand years, I guess.”

“Which is why I picked new names for the rest of the months too, so New Haven would have something unique. Our calendar will be as original as it is similar.”

A soft ping let me know a new document had popped up. I closed the current one and opened this one. Johree and I read the suggestions silently. Bob had gone all out, making a little chart with heading graphics and everything.

“Um, wow. You’ve certainly put a lot of thought into this,” I said carefully, trying to decide how I felt about it.

Memorizing this and learning to spell them all is gonna be a son of a bitch.

“Xeranos helped.”

Of course he did.

“These are all named after human gods. Shouldn’t we have some Dragonii stuff?” I asked.

“Greek ones, yes,” Bob confirmed.

“By treaty, the dating and time keeping conventions are to be human. The Dragonii colonists on the participating worlds were all in agreement,” Johree informed me.

“Oh, well, in that case, this is pretty cool, and I really like it, even if it’s going to be fun to learn to spell and all that. The Cronus thing has a whole Father Time vibe, and we can do Father Time and Baby New Year themed costumes at an end of the year festival. One marking the change from the old year to the new.”

I loved me a good party, and festivals and fairs were always fun, so this had that going for it in my books.

“A two day festival,” Johree said, nodding, a smile lighting his face up. “One for Father Time turning the hands of a celestial clock, the next celebrating the birth of the new year and the celebration of the colony’s founding.”

“I’ve added those to the calendar of events,” Bob said. “So, I take it this is approved?”

“Send it to me, and I will add my signature and thumbprint once we return to our quarters.”

“TheRenewed Hopeis in orbit requesting permission to land.”

“We’ll be there momentarily.” Johree turned his attention back to the construction foreman who was busy reprogramming a small bot so it would make something different than it hadbeen, or the same in a different size, or whatever. I wasn’t sure, and now was not the time to ask. “The freighter is here.”

Yithym straightened, turning to give a low bow. “Please comm me if there’s anything you need to have me change.”

“Will do,” I replied breezily. Then, taking Johree’s hand and gently tugging him away, I said, “Let’s go meet the new folks and give them a big ole New Haven welcome.”

21

JOHREE

Jesse was happily recording his vid stream with the assistance of Kiprr, Buster happily loping along with his tail whipping from side to side.

“And here’s the stasis container filled with the roses that will adorn the arch. You can see them through that viewing window on the side. Such a beautiful, deep shade of red! And fastened to the top, the much smaller one holding the boutonnieres for us to wear. Wow, between seeing the arch, chairs, and the stasis container holding our cake earlier, it’s really hitting me hard that in just a few short days, I’m going to be marrying Johree. And yeah, I know, by law we’re already legally mated on paper because of how the treaty was worded, and the papers we both signed before getting tested and all, but the act of actually saying vows under the open sky makes it feel truly real, you know?