Exploring the Stars

Chapter 11 - Going Home

(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.)

After they finished exploring the equatorial region of Samyraz, they'd returned to the archipelago they first landed in. They spent several days at one of the less populated (meaning, no large dangerous land animals) islands just to enjoy the quiet time.

After those few days of peace and quiet, the crew was on the bridge going over things, when Hari said, "So, Dannay, we've pretty much exhausted what we can do while we're here – what's next?"

"I figure we need to head back to Terra so we can do a few things. First, we get our pretty vessel reconfigured for a larger crew. Second, we talk to the powers that be about what that additional crew should be. Third, we recruit that crew. And finally, we decide what we want to do next.

"The way I see it, the Foundation is going to want to send out crews in the cardinal directions of our galaxy – we just went inward, so they'll want explorations outward, spinward, and anti-spinward. We can continue in our original direction, and check out this gem with a larger crew, or we can traipse off in one of the unexplored pathways."

Emeka piped up, "Well, if it's up for a vote, I want to come back here. I'd love to hear what our new crew is able to discover."

Gamal said, "Personally, other than the mild challenge that a neo-xenobiologist runs into here, I'd like to see if we can find traces of older civilizations. But we can do that moving inward as well as we can going any other direction."

Hari said, "Dannay, since we're bound for home regardless, I'd like to say we table this discussion until we're bound for home."

"You know, Hari, that makes perfect sense – we'll have more time for gabbing than we'll know what to do with. So, with that Mister Solovyova, take us home, if you please."

Ksenia smiled, saying, "Da, Kapitan, On my count, then. Three ... two ... one."

– o O o –

During their nearly two weeks of travel, they continued their discussion of pros and cons of what their next destination should be. They also found time to check some of the asteroids they'd accumulated (Ksenia found an interesting one that appeared to be a large diamond), and to study the samples of 'life' they'd collected (being extremely careful to never open them to the ship's air). In the end, they figured that other experts would need to study everything they'd gathered from Samyraz.

This information segued on their last afternoon to a discussion of additional crew composition and ship configuration. In the end, they decided on several fields they'd need to include in their next outing, which meant that Udyamita would need to be refit for hosting the additional crew.

Dannay said, "So we pretty much agree we're going to need an actual ship's complement, not just five good friends out on a lark. Sadly, that's what the Foundation wanted to start with so it'll be an easy sell. However, I like what I got, an' I don' wanna play nice," and she pouted.

Gamal put her arm around her and said, "It's OK little girl. You can get your own playthings, and they can't make you do anything you don't want to with them."

"Yeah, but I'd have to figure out a way to justify them."

Hari said, "Dearie, with the knowledge we gathered on this mission alone, they won't be able to do much that you won't let them do."

Emeka added, "Yeah, you could staff our new ship with people we vet, ones we know will play well together. Then we can still have fun with whomever we happen to run into in the pool ..."