"G-Grandpa..."
"Great-grandfather, sir..."
To establish their credibility, the visitors had actually brought their family genealogies and shown them to Milos and Barty on the spot. Faced with irrefutable proof, the two leaders of the "Lost Lands" could only awkwardly acknowledge their relatives.
They were reluctant inside, yet had to look thrilled and excited. It could hardly have been more awkward.
They had spent years as the top dogs, only to find themselves suddenly obliged to bow and scrape like grandsons... actual grandsons, at that. Anyone would have felt uncomfortable!
The vast majority of the immigrants selected by Twin Stars had been unemployed people with no family or attachments, who had signed up to try their luck in an unknown new galaxy.
But a considerable number had also been advance teams sent by major conglomerates and families to seek their fortunes in the new frontier. These people still retained countless ties to Twin Stars' parent civilization.
A mere two or three generations were not enough to sever those family ties completely.
More importantly, although these people accounted for less than one percent of the immigrants, they generally held high positions. In terms of the power and resources they controlled, their share exceeded eighty percent.
Although turmoil had followed the loss of contact with their parent civilization, dynasties lasted centuries while great families endured for millennia. Entrenched class divisions and the vested interests' "right to rule" were not so easily shaken.
The history of the "Lost Lands" had proved that once again.
After the turmoil, the rich still controlled vast wealth, while the poor remained poor.
Under completely isolated conditions, it had even produced "second-generation military elites" like Milos and Barty, establishing a typical military government.
In fact, the situation in the "Lost Lands" had not surprised the Twin Stars Congress.
With