Exploring the Stars

Chapter 4 - Another Star to Visit

(There are italicized words in this chapter that are foreign. Knowing their meaning isn't needed, but it helps know the characters using them a bit more. The final chapter of this book is a listing of these words with their meanings.)

Ksenia was excited. They would soon be dropping out of FTL – that was one of the things she wanted to discuss with Emeka and Dannay; was there already a term for the FTL space? Fiction had terms like "warp space" or "hyper space". She remembered one series that called it "slip space". She smiled thinking that maybe they could pick their own name for it.

Anyway, they would drop out of FTL shortly, which would place them in 86 G's stellar system. The team was all in the bridge again, and enjoying the view of the star they were approaching.

Ksenia was readying everything for her next actions, when Dannay said, "Ksenia, you have the screens set to filter out the majority of the sun's light, yes?"

"Da, it will allow us to look at it directly. But we are far enough out that we should not need full black-out. Also, once we get into the system, I would like to do a scan, then make a jump up by no more than pi by six so we can find anomalies."

Hari nodded, "That makes sense. This will give us a chance to see local objects using their parallax. Any reason for jumping up instead of some other direction?"

"Da, Hari. Down would work as well, but if we jump to either side, our scan may not pick up objects that are ... uh, under our noses."

Dannay nodded, saying, "Well thought out, Ksenia." Then she grinned and added, "'Make it so, Number One,'" and everyone else groaned.

And with that, Hari touched his soft controls and took the ship out of FTL. Ksenia saw the new stellar system in all its glory – she saw the primary, and at least one planet, a gas giant, in front of them all. Hari asked, "Mita, if you would do your magic?"

"Certainly, Hari. Scan progressing. It will be done in 20 seconds."

Emeka said, "That always concerned me about you, Mita. You know more exact information, but you never give us exact units, regardless of what we might be requesting information on."

Mita said, "Emeka, would you truly wish me to tell you exact units? If so, I can, but I will be tedious to talk to, I can assure you. And the scan is complete – two pi on the plane, and up and down pi by eight. Considering the distance to the primary, I believe this will give us sufficient opportunity to see 99 point 99427 percent of the available system mass, not counting 86 G herself."

Emeka groaned. "OK, I see how that could be an issue. Forget I said anything, Mita."

"But Emeka, you sweet man, you know I don't forget anything unless someone wipes my memory. And Sweetheart, I'll give you a mild warning – Do. Not. Touch. My. Memory. Bad things happen when my memory gets touched. Do you want to find out what they are, Emeka, you darling, you?" she finished in a syrupy voice. Everyone but Emeka was chortling quietly.

"Hmm, you know, Mita," squeaked Ekema, "I think I'll just keep my hands away from your memory. Do you think that might be a workable plan?"

They heard Mita chuckling. "Such a good boy. Dannay, you picked him well – I had a feeling he could be trained."

Dannay said through her chuckling, "Now, Ksenia, dear, you wanted a jump upward?"

"Da, Kapitan. Hari, if you could move us up about three AU? We appear to be about ten AU from 86 G, so that should be well under pi by six, but still sufficient for our requirements."

Hari checked some of his controls, then said, "That can be done – current speed is nominal, 6000 klicks. Vertical jump of half a million klicks in three ... two ... one," and he pressed the control. They suddenly appeared looking down on the star, and Hari adjusted the ship's nose down so it was looking straight at the star again. "Jump complete. Mita, thank you; you were smooth as silk."