It was thus a highly emotional crowd who sat once more to watch Hannah take her place behind the lectern and hear her read from the first volume of The Book of Earth. And when she closed the book and fell silent there was a hush that, in its way, was as moving and as deep a response as that which had greeted Ben’s symphony, before, once again, the crowd rose to its feet and applauded her, a tumultuous wave of applause that went on and on until Hannah had to raise a hand and, laughing, plead for them to stop.
And so the evening ended, with friends embracing and waving goodbye to each other on the pad.
And three days later, when the elected Council met, it was decided that they would finally change the calendar and would call that evening, when Hannah read from the History and Ben first performed the Song For Eridani, the first day of the first year of Eridani.