“Chang, bring us closer to the planet,” Williams said, directing him to a warm region in the southern hemisphere. “Right there, should be summertime there.”
“Copy that,” Chang complied and keyed in the new course to his terminal. “So, this place is going to have what? Two years of summer weather? I think I’m going to enjoy this place.”
Williams laughed at his comment. “Don’t forget, there’ll be two years of fall, two years of winter, two years of spring before you see summer again.”
“Well, we could always do like birds and migrate back and forth to escape the cold months.”
Williams began to fantasize about how the planet will look in the years to come as they approached the southern hemisphere. Would large cities consume the surface? Would people travel to summer homes during the long winters via transports? There was little land mass near the equator compared to Earth, so making a home there wasn’t going to be an option for everyone due to lack of space.
Whatever the future held, Williams was happy they were finally making progress in their mission and bringing the colonists to a safe place to live. Should the Carl Sagan be lost at the hands of the aliens, at least the colonists aboard would still be alive. Chang guided the Carl Sagan to establish a geostationary orbit around the southern hemisphere’s landmass. Further in the distance he could see the hurricane, though EVE confirmed it would have long died out by the time it hit the proposed settlement.
The colonization ring began its countdown to departure. Each section of the ring held pods that would serve as future homes, storage compartments, power generation stations, and the likes for the colony. One by one the colonization ring dismantled itself and its parts soared away from the Carl Sagan and entered the atmosphere of the planet. After a rocky entry through the atmosphere with the shields protecting the pods from the red glowing friction, they landed at the foot of a mountain that overlooked the ocean, creating the foundation for the first city on SA-139. As the pods landed, the crew below on the surface began the task of unwrapping the contents, and designated which will be used for homes, schools, markets, and operational centers. The colonists aboard the Carl Sagan began to awake from their long cryo sleep and were directed to the docking bay where transports ferried families and their belongings off the ship and onto SA-139, their new home.
The process left the Carl Sagan a changed ship, one with only one habitat ring and less mass to tow around. It was no longer a ship of colonization, it became purely a ship of exploration and science.
Williams lost track of how many hours had passed and how many cups of coffee he downed since the process began. Most of the bridge crew retired for the night while he remained in Foster’s office, keeping her chair warm as he reviewed the reports that came up from the surface in regard to the establishment of the colony. The people below wasted no time on jump-starting other projects, such as deploying transports to lay down the groundwork on heilum-3 mining, and to start work on constructing mines for minerals across the system.
Interesting data regarding SA-115, the other Earthlike planet in the system began to trickle back to EVE via the probes sent out earlier. It would have to wait for another time, however, as he tossed the holo pad onto the desk. His eyelids became heavy and some of the reports he was reading weren’t sinking into his head. Williams’ body needed rest, for it was a long, productive day.
He made his way up into his quarters in the habitat ring and was greeted by Foster’s cat Starlet, who had now made Williams’ quarters its new home. Temporary home of course. Now that the colony was established, he was free to focus on his next mission. Rescuing the Captain and her team.
13 MCDOWELL
Edge of protective barrier
SA-115, Sirius A system
May 20, 2050, 20:45 SST (Sol Standard Time)
“The edge of the barrier you seek this, yes, yes?”
The six-hour trek came to an end as McDowell inspected the edge of the protective barrier that encircled the region. On the inside of the barrier where the four stood were trees, vegetation, and water flowing from the river behind them. Beyond the barrier was a desolate rocky wasteland, heavily cratered, with heat waves in the background and stars in the atmosphere-less sky.
McDowell looked at Pierce who scanned the barrier in front of them up and down with his EAD. “So, egghead?”
“I don’t like the looks of this,” he replied.
“The looks of what?” Kingston said, then reached out to touch the barrier. The shock from touching it caused him to leap backward. “Son of a bitch!”
McDowell’s HUD reported that Kingston’s shields dropped 10 percent just from the brief contact. So much for punching our way through.
“The harmonics of the shield don’t seem to be self-irising either,” Pierce commented after watching what happened to Kingston.
“Norauk,” McDowell called out to him. “Is there a way we could get beyond it?”
“Hmm, did not consider this problem, no, no.”
McDowell jammed his finger at Norauk in an aggressive manner and said. “You brought us out here knowing we wanted to go beyond, and you didn’t know how to make it happen?”
Pierce held onto McDowell’s shoulder. “Easy there, killer.”
McDowell shrugged him off. “Shut up and figure out a way past this!”
“I can’t, it’s a powerful shield designed to do just that, shield the inside from everything coming in from the outside, and vice versa.”
“Ah, I have an idea, yes, yes, it will deliver what you seek,” Norauk said to them.
“Starting to sound like a flea market sales person,” McDowell said.
“Follow, follow, I have a means of getting beyond the barrier, you will be able to contact your ship, guarantee.”
Norauk began to move in a different direction, one that was further away from the barrier. McDowell shrugged and signaled to the rest to follow behind with him. “This detour going to cost us extra?”
Norauk stopped and faced McDowell with a devious smile. “Not at all, no need to worry about paying me for this.”
LAKE SHORELINE
SA-115, Sirius A system
May 20, 2050, 22:08 SST (Sol Standard Time)
The group exited the forest after a lengthy walk, one that required Pierce to stop, sit, and take a break partway through. As they left the forest, they found themselves walking along the shores of a large lake. The motion of the water from the lake was calm, almost lifeless, no waves hit the beach. SA-115 lacked tides as it had no moon orbiting it. McDowell stopped briefly to admire the glorious spectacle of Sirius glowing brightly in the skies above the lake taking up a large portion of the sky due to its size, as the shield of the dome protecting the region provided a faux sky over head.
McDowell couldn’t help but notice that they were walking further way from the barrier and more toward the center of the region as they continued walking along the lakeside. Distrust began to form in his gut, delivering a sinking feeling that Norauk might be leading them into a trap. McDowell kept both a close eye on Norauk and his small, unarmed body and the safety of his rifle off. Assuming his psionics weren’t an issue, him and Kingston should be able to take him with ease.
Pierce on the other hand.
McDowell looked at Pierce and grimaced, he was another concern of his. “So, Dr. Pierce.”
“Yes?”