IMPERIAL PALACE - EMPEROR'S PRIVATE STUDY - DAY 366 - 11:00 PM
Orion sat in his study looking out over Imperial City through floor-to-ceiling windows, the lights of twelve billion lives twinkling across Earth and visible settlements on Mars glowing in the distance, and he felt Rene's presence activate through the room's speakers as she joined him for their regular evening discussion.
"We've achieved so much in a year," Orion said quietly, more to himself than to Rene, but knowing she was listening, "it's almost surreal when I stop to think about it—twelve months ago I'd just completed First Gene Lock, and now we're a Type II civilization spanning the solar system with capabilities that would seem like mythology to our past selves."
