Return from Old Earth

"I told you. You never should have gone. Never should have allowed it." "What would you rather I did? Forbid them? Tell them 'no, you have to stay here, where if the undetonated bombs don't get you, the radiation will?" "We survived! Just fine!" "How many years? How many years did you and your people hole up in your mountains? Living off fungus and hydroponics? How many did you lose to the caves? To the darkness? And what did this world look like when you finally poked your head out?" "Easy now. No need to get all glowey and scare the children." ... "Look, I let them chase a myth, yes. A story our grandparent's grandparent's grandparents told themselves to make it sound like coming here wasn't a one-way trip. We found something different. Something better. And like it or not, we survived there. Then. And we thrived." "Until they would no longer be gulled by pretty faces and fine words. Until they rediscovered science and turned it your way. Now here you are! Back on our doorstep! Claiming territory my people fought and bled over for nearly two thousand years! Do you expect open arms and a feast of welcome!?" "Yes. I expect you to live up to the guesting laws. Though perhaps, not a feast for everyone. We breed slower, but we are not so few in number. And some...some no longer eat the foods of men." "And if I do this? If I beggar my people to feed yours?" "Then, once we have our feet, and trust me, some will be all too willing to leave your home under-mountain. Then we will go on our way. There are yet lands on this planet that you have not claimed." "If you want to kill yourself trying to resettle the Tainted Lands, by all means. Spend your people. Do not think you can come back here and expect to be taken in though." "As you say" --Recorded conversation, 2356 AGW