OPPOSIT-ION: MAKING SK-ISLAND

POWER VISION

Jude and Shinrah had concerns over an important issue. The light arriving at the earth from other stars had taken a long time from the originating point. Things could be different than what they saw from the earth's sky. Tau Ceti was their current target. It was chosen since it was close to many other possible stars to visit, and Shinrah liked its flavor. Something about it just kept her attention.

Since the distance was under twelve light years, their travel time should be about three weeks. Accelerate halfway, reverse to slow down, and arrive close enough to enter solar orbit. Then take a good look at what else was spinning around that sun. That was the general plan. Overall it worked well. They braked just shy of the solar system by about three times the distance of Pluto from earth's sun. The star was still just a twinkle, but now it was the brightest twinkle in their sky.

Everyone came out during their 'night' sky to get a first look. While the whole skyscape was filled with twinkles, everything was different. Jude confirmed that the beacon with the earth was still working perfectly. That was amazing because they were nearly twelve light years from earth, so how was the beacon acting like it was right next to their island? Jude started thinking about quantum physics, but the immediate concern was mapping the system before them. Jude and Shinrah agreed and set up a mapping system to have a live data space map wherever they explored.

This system would be entered into the database, becoming the second live entry, after earth's solar system, to be logged and recorded. That is after it was mapped out first. There were reports from earth scientists that four planets might be found in orbit around the sun here. Before their launch, Jude and Shinrah worked with others to make an initial remote probe. It had a video camera system, atmosphere analyzer, temp, pressure, gravity, suspended matter in the atmosphere, be it biological or not, and more features. It could test all the data they might need to determine if unshielded exploration was possible if and when they found a prospective earth-type planet.

They kept their eyes and equipment peeled for everything as they approached the Tau Ceti sun. There were asteroids farther out than Sol's Pluto, but they were minor trapped asteroids, nothing like a planetary body. In closer, they found the first planetary body. It was about eighty times the size of the earth, and its surface was estimated to be frozen ammonia blowing in winds often at many hundreds of miles per hour. Shinrah sent out a probe and confirmed it. The entire planet's surface was miles thick layers of different textures of the stuff, from fine powder to hard pack. There was no need to go down in person, and the probe recording systems generally mapped out the surface layout. It wasn't habitable by man for many reasons. There were supposed to be three more planets here, so they would keep looking.

Planet number two was in that range the earth astronomers called 'the goldilocks zone.' This sun was only about seventy-nine percent the size of the earth's sun, so the zone was closer to the sun by a relative distance. The planet was beautiful to behold from a high orbit. There were apparent oceans and landmasses. There was a visible aura that spoke to an atmosphere of some kind. There were cloud systems, and the planet had two moons.

One was about two and a half times bigger than the other, orbiting far nearer to the exciting new world. The other lesser moon appeared to be nearly three times the orbit distance of the larger one. It also moved at a slower orbit speed than the larger one. All of that made sense scientifically. Both moons appeared to be simple dead space bodies, showing no atmosphere or liquid surface conditions, no molten core, or significant magnetic field. Airless dust had long ago covered both lifeless bodies, not unlike earth's moon.