If we ever really wanted to, we could equip another asteroid; we still had the technology! That was a comforting thought.
Farewells
Work on the ship began immediately. Perhaps the roughest task was capturing an asteroid the right size to attach to the original ship. It took six weeks to tow it in to position and begin construction of the struts and braces that would keep it secured to the mother craft tightly enough to run the mining tunnels in without having to go through airlocks to get there. It would increase the capacities of the ship by one third. The new engines for the initial launch were no larger than the original engines but the similarity ended there. This ship would leave the system at a much greater speed than the original launch from Earth. It would build up its peak speed in less than a year; as opposed to the original ship having taken more than two years to do the same thing; still only achieving half that speed. I wondered if Earth had found our methods yet, or if Earth was still there now that I thought about it. I would have given a great deal to know why we weren’t hearing anything from them; what was happening there? Perhaps we’d never know within my lifetime. It really bothered me; I don’t know why it mattered so much to any of us but it did.
A total of three months and the ship was ready to go with the exception of restocking the Hydrop. We were able to add a few new varieties of plants to the mix to compensate for several that didn’t survive the original voyage. We also stocked them with cattle including some of our newly acquired Yak from the herd we had gathered while the ship was being prepared. We had also brought some of the Mulz from New Reesh to add to flocks for variety; the meat was similar to pork in flavor. The hardest part would be to watch some of the people that we loved go away, never to return to us. It was the first time I realized what it had been like for those we’d left behind all those years ago; now it was our turn.
Among those who were leaving were Ira Braun and Angie Duncan. Their choice to go was fought hard by Mom, but in the end she had no choice but to accept it. Surprisingly, there were about fifty of the Reeshian descendents including Ian and Mogi who chose the voyage, citing that their race also finally had its opportunity to spread out across the stars. I thought it interesting that there would be three races of humans by the time they reached their destination; as there would be here as well. That prospect was assuming that we could have some children from the mixed couples; what traits were going to dominate in these hybrids of Earth and Reesh descendents only time would tell.
Hero’s and Blurg’s people were invited for the voyage but not one of them had any desire to go. I thought it strange that only the Humans had that type of need; I was never sure what to make of it but, there it was.
The capture and transport of the two mile wide by three mile long asteroid was a massive operation involving four of our new type ships equipped with high intensity magnets and one inch steel cables. The rock had to have a lot of iron in it for the magnets to hold it in tow. The whole process of capturing, moving and attaching it to the old Astro II and cutting one side to fit tightly enough to be able to seal it to the ship with a foam epoxy along with anchors drilled into the old ship took all of our engineering skills and about three months to complete.
With that process going on under the watchful eye of Mike Dermot, the rest of us were busy with stocking the ship with supplies. I got to spend a few days helping to restock the Hydrop so that we had it back to the level it was at when we arrived at Olympus. The people traveling on would have a park that was as nice as or better than it was originally. We even added to the program for making it appear to have a real sky; the old program didn’t have enough variety. Now it would reflect day and night differences in all of its weather conditions instead of only in the daylight mode. We also added a few of the water trees that grew at the bottom of Zeus’ ocean/lake that made so much oxygen. The pond in the Hydrop was only a hundred feet deep seventy five feet in diameter so it could only hold six trees, but that was still enough to produce as much oxygen as about twenty regular trees; it seemed like a good thing to add.
On Olympus in our settlement we were making massive strides in developing our resources because of the needs of the ship. It’s funny how that works out but it seems like you always get a dividend from that sort of project. The need to stock the ship and the construction techniques we had to develop to do all of this made our organization go much smoother because we had a more pressing goal than if everything had just been for our immediate use.
The last week before their departure was a fairly somber time as most of the prep work was tapering off and people were performing their final tasks and beginning their goodbyes. The day before their departure we had a huge party with fireworks and all. I think many were having second thoughts at the last minute but only one couple actually changed their minds about going, while several couples decided at the last moment to go in their place so, in the end we lost four more residents to the new pioneers.
Hero was saddened by Nettie’s decision to go; he’d been very attached to her from the start and I could truly identify with him; she’d been a big part of my life and I would miss her.
I would also miss my baby sister Angie, and Ira, who had gotten married only four days before their departure. The good part was that they’d be in touch with us regularly for at least the first few years even with personal messages until they got the first quarter light year away, because even the individual communicators would have sufficient range for that. There’d be a steadily increasing time lag but it was still better than losing comm forever instantly.
Their leaving day was tearful and exciting all at the same time. I went aboard for the last time the day of their departure. I visited my old apartment and room; they were empty so far, but wouldn’t remain so forever. It was Meeza’s first time aboard the ship, she was amazed at the amount of space there was inside. I think it was the first time she understood how we had lived our lives for so many generations. There were only three hundred twenty pioneers that day; the bravest of the brave, I thought as I left the ship. I remember seeing my friends and family members waving as I took off from the landing bay. We moved to the safe distance of five mile to watch them go. There was a faint glow from the rear of the craft that continued to leave a glowing trail for a short time; then their speed accelerated rapidly to an unbelievable rate in minutes. The responsiveness was far greater than the old design; they faded from visual range in less than five minutes. We returned to our world and stood on the deck of the new flight tower to survey the town.
Their journey had begun; as ours was truly beginning also. We were there without our ship for the first time; we were now permanent residents of Olympus. True we could leave the planet, but our ships were not interstellar in nature. We could still explore planets and visit the other colonies of humans or any of the other sentient peoples but short of starting over building an all new starship we were here forever. I put my arm around Meeza and we headed for Home.
THE END
. . . Of the beginning
Annex:
Characters, Planets,
And Ships
Colonists of Astro II
Eric’s family:
Eric Duncan (Electronics & Communications specialist)
Captain Byron Duncan (Eric’s father, Captain)
Rhonda Huston Duncan (Eric’s mother, Biologist)
Angel Duncan (Eric’s baby sister, math and physics genius).
Initial landing crews:
Aleiva (Lee) Hebron, aka Doc (Doctor for the Homer)
Alice Sanger (Astronavigator)
Annette “Nettie” Jordan (Sgt. / Eric’s best friend)
Doug Jonson (Pvt. / Communications)
Ira Braun (Pvt.)
John Hensley (Sgt. / co-pilot)
Joseph “Brad” Bradford ( Lt. / pilot)
Joshua Getz (Cpl.)
Mike Dermot (Engineer)
Olga Koenigsberg (Lt. / mission commander)
Sally Chen (Cook)
Sang Sun (Engineer / Professor)
Hester Freemont (Pvt.)
Captain Anton Pierce (Ship Captain after Byron Duncan)
Mayor Arthur Jordan (Nettie’s father)
Wade Turley (community leader / Senior Operator of the primary matter synthesizer)
Dr. Stuart Romney (Doctor for the Virgil)
Prof. Corley White ( geologist )
Prof. Bernard Starkey ( Botanist and Agronomist)
Sherman Lange (head of the settlement planning commission)
Prof. Nancy Arnold (archaeologist)
Dan Morley (pilot of the Virgil)
Patrick Marshal (Anti-alien instigator)
Native Residents & Language
Sasha—A Tersine
Reeshian Villagers
Ian & Mogi - First Reeshian visitors to Olympus (married)
Geeb Alori - Opponent to human settlement on Sne-az
Meeza— Ian’s sister
Saya—Meeza’s cousin; Brad’s love interest
Tava—Mike Dermot’s love interest
Old Nippa—Reeshian wise man
Fenninz
Oz —Chief of the first Fenninz settlement
Diz—Oz’s friend
Hero—Fenninz from the savage continent
Aziz—Fenninz sailor and trader
Lambroz (the Dragons) / Vortlepeg (self name)
Blurg—Civilized Vortlepeg of the Shabba tribe, from the savage continent
Gerbz—Lembroz of Oz’s continent
Eeyok—Garn (King) of the barbarian Toggi tribe of Vortlepeg
Native Vocabulary
Mulz - hippo-cows
Sizuz - “cats”
Zorpeg (Lambroz name for humans)
Drolpeg (Lambroz name for Fenninz)
Dovpeg (Lambroz name for sea people)
Ships and Planets
Astro II: The Asteroid Colony Ship from Earth
Homer: Olga’s second landing shuttle; later, Eric’s shuttle
Virgil: Twin shuttle to Homer
Andromeda: Colony ship to Na Reesh
Olympus: moon of Zeus, appears partially terraformed
Sne-az (planet # 4): Homeworld of the Fenninz and Lambroz. Also called Na Reesh, the new homeworld of the Reeshian race of humanoids
Romulus & Remus: Moons of Sne-az
Zeus (planet #5): Planet in the Olympus system where an insectoid saucer was studied
Enjoy the entire
Starborn Trilogy
by Haines Sigurdsson:
Starborn Odyssey
Starborn Odyssey:
The Voyage of Prometheus
Starborn Odyssey:
The Voyage of the Lost (coming soon!)
www.starbornodyssey.com
Starborn Odyssey (The Starborn Odyssey Trilogy Book 1) Page 34