of such things or consider them necessary. But had it not been for those precautions, the entire future of the mission might even now have been in question. Sofi was still hidden by Earth’s curvature, but ground observation on the previous orbital pass had shown military units converging on the shuttle bases and support facilities. Electronic intercepts had revealed little more, but that was to be expected.
The captain reported from his station. “Final interlocks at ready and holding.” It meant they were ready to go.
A short distance away on Ormont’s other side, the chief of flight engineering scanned his summary displays. “Drive main and subs confirming. Compensators synched and responding.”
All heads around the bridge turned toward Ormont expectantly. A strange silence descended.
Ormont leaned forward to the console and drew the microphone closer on its flexible support. He had thought a lot about what he would say to those who were about to follow him when this moment arrived. Some of the sentiments and phrases that he had written down seemed, on rereading, too grandiose and lyrical, and when he tried to tone them down, pompous and pretentious. When he tried boiling things down to bare facts, the result carried all the human color and warmth of a military briefing. In the end, he decided to dispense with written notes altogether and let his thoughts speak themselves naturally, which accorded more with his style. He nodded to the bridge communications officer, who put out an announcement that the director in chief would address the ship. Ormont’s console camera lamp came on, indicating that his image was going out to all parts of the Aurora .
He began, “This is your director in chief speaking. Very soon now, in a matter of minutes, we will depart on what will possibly be the most stupendous, exciting, and fantastic adventure ever undertaken by members of the human race. One day in the distant future, our descendants will be the seed out of which will grow a new world of our kind. For that world to preserve all the variety, richness, and potential that our kind has come to represent through its millennia of history, we go not just as the Builders from Sofi, but as unique individuals bringing talents of every kind from remote regions of Earth, its nations, races, cultures, and peoples….”
“While we must never forget those to whom we owe our heritage, from this day onward the most important truth that should guide our thinking and our lives is that we are all united as Aurorans.”
Korshak and his companions sat listening in a room built of metal and strange-colored materials that they and the others already inside the white, smooth-skinned bird had been brought to after it arrived at the island flying high above the world. He had thought at first that the island was the ship that crossed the sky. But then the island had begun climbing higher, until the forests and mountains beneath were lost and the clouds themselves reduced to smears painted on a surface that shrank to reveal its curved edge, while above, the sky turned black, and stars appeared. And up there, the island had brought them to the Great Ship that Korshak had seen in the window carried by the metal beast that he had first met long ago. The wheel and its tapering axle grew larger as they approached, awesome in grandeur and line, vaster than any city, until the island was swallowed up in a cavern that opened to just a small part of it.
They were inside it now, moored between metal towers hung with pipes and cables, and constructions the like of which Korshak had never seen, behind huge doors that had closed behind them. It seemed that the ship was at that moment preparing to begin its voyage to another world, and disembarking from the island would be delayed until they were under way. Korshak was stunned. He and his party could never have reached Sofi in time. Yet the Builders had sent their white bird to bring them. Who were these
The captain reported from his station. “Final interlocks at ready and holding.” It meant they were ready to go.
A short distance away on Ormont’s other side, the chief of flight engineering scanned his summary displays. “Drive main and subs confirming. Compensators synched and responding.”
All heads around the bridge turned toward Ormont expectantly. A strange silence descended.
Ormont leaned forward to the console and drew the microphone closer on its flexible support. He had thought a lot about what he would say to those who were about to follow him when this moment arrived. Some of the sentiments and phrases that he had written down seemed, on rereading, too grandiose and lyrical, and when he tried to tone them down, pompous and pretentious. When he tried boiling things down to bare facts, the result carried all the human color and warmth of a military briefing. In the end, he decided to dispense with written notes altogether and let his thoughts speak themselves naturally, which accorded more with his style. He nodded to the bridge communications officer, who put out an announcement that the director in chief would address the ship. Ormont’s console camera lamp came on, indicating that his image was going out to all parts of the Aurora .
He began, “This is your director in chief speaking. Very soon now, in a matter of minutes, we will depart on what will possibly be the most stupendous, exciting, and fantastic adventure ever undertaken by members of the human race. One day in the distant future, our descendants will be the seed out of which will grow a new world of our kind. For that world to preserve all the variety, richness, and potential that our kind has come to represent through its millennia of history, we go not just as the Builders from Sofi, but as unique individuals bringing talents of every kind from remote regions of Earth, its nations, races, cultures, and peoples….”
“While we must never forget those to whom we owe our heritage, from this day onward the most important truth that should guide our thinking and our lives is that we are all united as Aurorans.”
Korshak and his companions sat listening in a room built of metal and strange-colored materials that they and the others already inside the white, smooth-skinned bird had been brought to after it arrived at the island flying high above the world. He had thought at first that the island was the ship that crossed the sky. But then the island had begun climbing higher, until the forests and mountains beneath were lost and the clouds themselves reduced to smears painted on a surface that shrank to reveal its curved edge, while above, the sky turned black, and stars appeared. And up there, the island had brought them to the Great Ship that Korshak had seen in the window carried by the metal beast that he had first met long ago. The wheel and its tapering axle grew larger as they approached, awesome in grandeur and line, vaster than any city, until the island was swallowed up in a cavern that opened to just a small part of it.
They were inside it now, moored between metal towers hung with pipes and cables, and constructions the like of which Korshak had never seen, behind huge doors that had closed behind them. It seemed that the ship was at that moment preparing to begin its voyage to another world, and disembarking from the island would be delayed until they were under way. Korshak was stunned. He and his party could never have reached Sofi in time. Yet the Builders had sent their white bird to bring them. Who were these
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