It All Started With Magnets

.Epilogue.

Six years later

The sky was clear, the temperature was perfect, and the air was almost sweet as I took a deep inhale as I got out of the small cruiser. Gal got out of his side and I waited with a small smile as he walked around and stopped beside me. "Shall we?" He gestured to the path and I nodded.

"We shall." I started down the path, Gal falling into step beside me. Over the years I had learned to take longer strides and he learned to take shorter ones so we were fairly even in our pace. Taking a walk through a park was a hobby we picked up four years ago after Luke and Mare-aidee made their relationship official. I had started it because it got me out of the house while Luke and Mare were... otherwise occupied, and Gal had taken to joining me. Which he said was to keep me company. Which was funny and redundant because I always had at least two of the guys with me at all times.

My eyes flicked over to where Iris and Sarge were scanning the park, keeping their eyes on me as they did so. Always vigilant, even after over half a decade, well three years for those two lovebirds, everyone else was six years by my side. I never went anywhere without them, although over the years I had earned more space and freedoms, which had been nice. But I had accepted Gal'rug's flimsy excuse of keeping me company and the habit of park walks had stuck and we tried to do it at least twice a week. Although the current park was our favourite to take a small trip around. It was always nicely shaded with trees, the planets were always vibrant, and the air always smelled so nice. It was always consistent and I found that was something I needed.

Things had... changed over the past six years. Not necessarily in a bad way, in some ways the change was good, great even, in others it was a bit... it was hard to explain but it left me feeling a touch disappointed with a touch of disquiet. The biggest disappointment was that I was still not allowed to return to earth. There were a few countries that were holding out on signing the Accords, refusing to comply with the terms and were honestly overly bitter about the fact there was really no negotiation for them. I knew the US was a big one. It shouldn't have surprised me as much as it had, or disappointed me, but after Canada and most of Europe signed the Accords, I had expected the US to follow suit.

It hadn't happened.

I knew realistically why. They wanted to negotiate, they wanted their terms to be heard, they wanted to continue on how they were but it wasn't going to happen. The GU stated out what they felt was acceptable and there was no compromise with it. From the GU's perspective, if you wanted to be part of their society and take advantage of the benefits, you had to abide by the rules of that society. The US hadn't liked that and were digging in their heels. I knew Bianca fought with them a lot and I knew it was just plain old stubbornness, that and the nationalism was fairly bad and the xenophobia was too

Although I knew there were cracks forming in the dissenters. Other countries were finding their life expectancies growing, illnesses being eradicated, and their lives becoming over all easier. The technology advancement weren't allowed on earth but they still reaped the benefits of being a member of the GU. That quality of life was overly clear when things were looked at side by side. I knew the public dissent was getting worse and the discontent was growing. By far the biggest was the healthcare.

Medical tourism to the GU was a massive industry for the countries who signed onto the Accords and even the individuals who applied. The education was free, the technology was massively superior, the treatment was far and above what was on earth. And it wasn't hard to choose between getting a three month life expectancy diagnosis due to cancer where the treatment would bankrupt your family in the USA and then going to the GU, having treatments where the nanites cleaned out the cancer, and you be declared completely cancer free within a few hours, all for a low cost. Or no cost for those who signed onto the GU's citizens agreement.