Sirius D system in thirty tics. I suggest you all be seated and harnessed in. Sometimes these returns to normal space can hit some turbulence.”
We all sat down and buckled up. I focused on the view screen. We were still in anti-space but the area in front of us was getting narrower and narrower, almost closing in around us. It was like we were being rocketed through a tube that was constricting more and more by the tic. The entire sphere started to shake. I had been in a 5.9 earthquake once visiting my cousin in San Francisco. This shaking felt worse. It never felt like this in simulations. I held on to the chair. I didn’t have to look at my knuckles to tell they were white.
“Uh, SC, this feels different,” I said.
“Different from what?” SC said.
“Different from simulations,” Kymm said.
“This is not a simulation.” SC said. I’m not sure if he was trying to be reassuring, but he wasn’t.
As the Searcher moved closer and closer toward the end of the anti-space tube, a veil seemed to separate the two universes. The closer we got, the more we rocked, and I don’t mean rocked in a good way. Energy sparked all around us, crackling as if it was either mad at us or laughing at us. I fought the urge to close my eyes. If we were going break apart and die, I wanted to see it happen.
We hit the veil. The stars glowed white and the space between them was dark. The shaking had stopped. We were back in normal space. In the Sirius system. At least I assumed it was the Sirius system. It actually didn’t look that different from our own galaxy. We were about 80 million miles from a bright yellow sun, roughly the size of our sun. We were between the second and third planets of the eight that circled that sun.
Actually it was kind of an anticlimax.
“So is this it?” Zenna asked.
There was a slight pause. “Yes, my readings confirm that this is the Sirius D system,” SC said.
Elvin pushed a button. A console popped up in front of him. He ran his hands over the screen.
“Yes, I confirm SC’s confirmation,” Elvin said.
“Thank you,” SC said, “though it wasn’t needed.”
GiS went into his mentor, I-am-smarter-than-you mode. He unbuckled his harness and stood up. He pointed to the screen.
“SC, please split the screen and show us a diagram of this solar system.”
“No need to split the screen,” SC said. “I will give you a holographic representation.”
A mini-holographic sun appeared in the middle of the room. The sun was circled by two small planets, two earth size planets and four huge planets. There was a red dot flashing between the second and third planets, which I assumed was our position.
“This is the Sirius D solar system,” GiS said, even though I was pretty certain we had known that.
“Oh!” said Zenna, you could almost see the light bulb go on inside her head. Okay, maybe we
all
hadn’t gotten it.
“Currently we are located between the second and third of the eight planets in this solar system,” GiS said. “They are both Earth-sized planets though neither of them is capable of supporting life, at least not life as we know it, as they each have extremely high concentrations of iron in their atmosphere and very strong magnetic fields. These strong magnetic fields create a sensor blocking zone between the two planets. That is why we are here, we should be invisible to any possible enemies looking for us while we scan for the Explorer.”
Elvin and Lobi each raised their hands at the same time. GiS looked at them with a raised eyebrow. He knew they each had the same question. We all (except for maybe Zenna) had the same question. The rest of us just knew GiS would answer the question without us having to ask it. Deep down, Elvin and Lobi had to know this also, but they were so caught up in having to be the smartest they couldn’t risk not asking, just on that slim chance that nobody else had thought of it.
“I know what you’re thinking,” GiS said cautiously.
We all sat down and buckled up. I focused on the view screen. We were still in anti-space but the area in front of us was getting narrower and narrower, almost closing in around us. It was like we were being rocketed through a tube that was constricting more and more by the tic. The entire sphere started to shake. I had been in a 5.9 earthquake once visiting my cousin in San Francisco. This shaking felt worse. It never felt like this in simulations. I held on to the chair. I didn’t have to look at my knuckles to tell they were white.
“Uh, SC, this feels different,” I said.
“Different from what?” SC said.
“Different from simulations,” Kymm said.
“This is not a simulation.” SC said. I’m not sure if he was trying to be reassuring, but he wasn’t.
As the Searcher moved closer and closer toward the end of the anti-space tube, a veil seemed to separate the two universes. The closer we got, the more we rocked, and I don’t mean rocked in a good way. Energy sparked all around us, crackling as if it was either mad at us or laughing at us. I fought the urge to close my eyes. If we were going break apart and die, I wanted to see it happen.
We hit the veil. The stars glowed white and the space between them was dark. The shaking had stopped. We were back in normal space. In the Sirius system. At least I assumed it was the Sirius system. It actually didn’t look that different from our own galaxy. We were about 80 million miles from a bright yellow sun, roughly the size of our sun. We were between the second and third planets of the eight that circled that sun.
Actually it was kind of an anticlimax.
“So is this it?” Zenna asked.
There was a slight pause. “Yes, my readings confirm that this is the Sirius D system,” SC said.
Elvin pushed a button. A console popped up in front of him. He ran his hands over the screen.
“Yes, I confirm SC’s confirmation,” Elvin said.
“Thank you,” SC said, “though it wasn’t needed.”
GiS went into his mentor, I-am-smarter-than-you mode. He unbuckled his harness and stood up. He pointed to the screen.
“SC, please split the screen and show us a diagram of this solar system.”
“No need to split the screen,” SC said. “I will give you a holographic representation.”
A mini-holographic sun appeared in the middle of the room. The sun was circled by two small planets, two earth size planets and four huge planets. There was a red dot flashing between the second and third planets, which I assumed was our position.
“This is the Sirius D solar system,” GiS said, even though I was pretty certain we had known that.
“Oh!” said Zenna, you could almost see the light bulb go on inside her head. Okay, maybe we
all
hadn’t gotten it.
“Currently we are located between the second and third of the eight planets in this solar system,” GiS said. “They are both Earth-sized planets though neither of them is capable of supporting life, at least not life as we know it, as they each have extremely high concentrations of iron in their atmosphere and very strong magnetic fields. These strong magnetic fields create a sensor blocking zone between the two planets. That is why we are here, we should be invisible to any possible enemies looking for us while we scan for the Explorer.”
Elvin and Lobi each raised their hands at the same time. GiS looked at them with a raised eyebrow. He knew they each had the same question. We all (except for maybe Zenna) had the same question. The rest of us just knew GiS would answer the question without us having to ask it. Deep down, Elvin and Lobi had to know this also, but they were so caught up in having to be the smartest they couldn’t risk not asking, just on that slim chance that nobody else had thought of it.
“I know what you’re thinking,” GiS said cautiously.
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