Zara began return journey. Lira honored. Memorial transmitted. Promise fulfilled. Now: twelve years subjective back to Kepler-442. Nineteen objective. Arriving 2925. She'd be eighty. Colony would be thirty-eight years changed from when she'd left.
Hibernation again. Frozen sleep while home aged. While language evolved. While culture drifted beyond her recognition.
Worth it. She'd done what she'd promised. Told Lira humanity survived. Told her verification had been right. Told her memory was honored.
Now returning to future. To alien home. To life as living history.
Sleep. Travel. Time passing at two speeds.
Homeward. To world she wouldn't recognize. Speaking language she wouldn't understand. Living among people who'd view her as archaeological curiosity.
But alive. Having honored the dead. Having maintained memory. Having proven that remembering mattered enough to cost decades.
Pilgrimage complete. Return begun.
Distance measured in years. Connection maintained through determination.
Human. Aging. Patient. Alone.
Returning.
END CHAPTER 7