by Buzz Aldrin
Years of practice had made her as adroit at reading Tiberian script as her own handwriting.
“Greetings, lost brothers and sisters. We, the people of New Hope, came here in the 6891st year since the First Bombardment, and we found that the knowledge we have of our ancestors is true. We cannot spend much time on our dead past; we have returned to New Hope and we are pushing on with starships of our own, to twenty more worlds soon. It would give us such joy, lost ones of our species, if you came and joined us.” Directions followed for how to read the memory contained in the little white box—millennia of history from these people.
“Clio, what is it?” Sanetomo asked, mounting the statue beside her. She showed him, and then everyone. With slowly dawning wonder, he said, “Then … some of them lived a long time, at least. They may still be out there. And New Hope is … er—”
“Shame on an astronomer,” Clio said, “It’s Zeta Tucanae. About four times as far from here as we are from home.”
He took the little box from her and reverently sealed it into a sample carrier; there would be plenty of time to read it later. As he closed it up, he said, “So … we’ve come all this way just to find out that we’ve only started?”
Clio looked up at Juno, stretching far across the sky to the east of them, halfway down to the horizon and most of the way up to the zenith. The dark was now creeping across its face on its upper, west side; at any moment the brightening sky underneath it, to the east of them, would reveal Alpha Centauri A, as big as and the same shade of amber as Earth’s Sun, climbing steadily into the sky from the land out behind the ancient city of Kaleps, the place she had come to for the first time after decades of studying it.
She waited for her first chance to see the alien sun come up behind those strange towers and to feel its warmth on her face. Finally she said, “Yes, we have come all this way just to find out that we have farther to go. And who would want it any other way?”
Dawn was everything she had hoped for and expected: dust in the air colored it deep red, and the spires and towers of Kaleps were etched against it, shimmering in the heat that rose as soon as the light touched the black dust. And yet, already, she was wondering how soon they could shake this dust from their feet and set off again. Somewhere out there was a species they needed to catch up with and join; and after that, still, they would be just beginning.
Acknowledgments
THIS BOOK WOULD HAVE been impossible without a vast amount of technical assistance and information from a very large number of experts. We would especially like to thank:
Neil Armstrong and Mike Collins for the experience of a lifetime
Arthur C. Clarke for strong words of encouragement during times when we really needed them
Andy Andres for preparation of final art
Dana Andrews for profound insights into the next generation of spacecraft—and several generations after that
Dr. Gregory Benford for consultations, speculations, and arguments without number
John Blaha for expertise and extensive consultation on space shuttle evacuations
Professor Winberg Chai for advice on Chinese politics
Major John G. Cotter of the California Air National Guard for information about the 144th Fighter Wing
Dr. John Connolly for a most helpful review of mission planning concepts for the Moon and Mars
Hubert Davis for engineering wisdom and the loan of his name
Dr. Mike Duke for notes on space physics and planetary science
Dr. Robert Forward for inspiration and many very advanced concepts in physics
Dr. Steve Gillett for agreeing that our worldbuilding wasn’t completely implausible
Dr. William K. Hartmann for notes on solar system astronomy
Dr. Robert Jastrow for extensive discussion of astronomy
Dr. Gene Mallove for information about the ongoing research into cold fusion and potential starship drives
Dr. Gregory Matloff for his extensive discussion and advice on starship propulsion, and for telling us about the Casimir effect in the first place
Dr. Tom McDonough for superb guidance on SETI and radio astronomy issues
Chris McKay for information about Martian surface conditions
Steve Merihew for orbital mechanics above and beyond the call of duty
Story Musgrave for an example of astronaut dedication
Paul Penzo of JPL for Mars trajectory calculating
Dr. Carl Sagan for Contact, and for his many years of devoted effort for a cause we share
John Solie for sketches and discussions on alien biology
John Spencer for tremendous help on art
Robert Staehle for advice about lunar oxygen
Chauncy Uphoff for cycles orbit mechanics and insight into Chinese politics
Robert M. Zubrin for a fine eye for detail and a great deal of information about Mars
A Biography of Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin (b. 1930) is an American astronaut and retired United States Air Force (USAF) pilot. On July 20, 1969, he became the second person to step foot on the Moon.
Aldrin was born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr. on January 20, 1930, in Montclair, New Jersey, to Edwin Eugene Aldrin Sr., a colonel in the USAF, and Marion Aldrin (née Moon). Aldrin’s older sister mispronounced “brother” as “buzzer” as a child, and the nickname, shortened to Buzz, stuck. Aldrin legally changed his name in 1988. After graduating from Montclair High School in 1946, Aldrin turned down a scholarship from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point. He graduated third in his class in 1951, with a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering.
Following his graduation, Aldrin joined the USAF and served as a jet fighter pilot during the Korean War, where he flew F-86 Sabre jets in sixty-six combat missions and shot down two MiG-15s. He was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross and commissioned as a second lieutenant. Following the end of the war in 1953, Aldrin completed a tour of duty in Germany flying F-100 Super Sabres before returning home. In 1963, once he returned to the United States, Aldrin earned a doctor of science degree in astronautics from MIT, where he wrote his thesis entitled “Line-of-sight guidance techniques for manned orbital rendezvous.” The techniques Aldrin constructed for spacecraft in Earth and lunar orbit were part of the reason he was selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), soon after graduation, to attempt to pioneer space flight. The first astronaut to be selected with a doctorate, Aldrin was known around NASA as “Dr. Rendezvous,” and his theories became critical to the success of the Gemini and Apollo programs.
On July 20, 1969, Aldrin and Neil Armstrong took the Apollo 11 spaceflight to the Moon, and became the first two humans to set foot on another planet. An estimated 600 million people witnessed their historic trip. Upon returning from the Moon, Aldrin was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. Following the ceremony, Aldrin took a forty-five-day international goodwill tour and received numerous accolades from twenty-three other countries. He is also the namesake of an asteroid, 6470 Aldrin, and an impact crater, Aldrin, on the Moon.
In March 1972, Aldrin retired from active duty after twenty-one years of service, and served as the commandant of the USAF Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Aldrin once again turned to studying advancements in space technology, ultimately working on spacecraft systems for missions to Mars, and potential space stations. He also founded ShareSpace Foundation, with the goal to advance scientific research and space exploration.
Aldrin is the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir, Magnificent Desolation (2009); an autobiography, Return to Earth (1973); several children’s books including Reaching for the Moon (2005) and Look to the Stars (2009); two science fiction novels, The Return (2000) and Encounter with Tiber (1996); and an account of the moon landing, Men from Earth (1989).
Now in his eighties, Aldrin continues
to give lectures and make television appearances, such as his recent cameos on Dancing with the Stars, 30 Rock, and WWE Raw. In 2009, he collaborated with the rapper Snoop Dogg on the song “Rocket Experience” to promote space exploration to young people. Aldrin recently took a ride with President Obama aboard Air Force One to the Space Conference at Kennedy Space Center.
Buzz Aldrin currently lives in Los Angeles, California, and has three children: Janice, Andrew, and James.
Aldrin at age two.
Young Aldrin with his maternal aunt Madeline Moon Sternberg and his uncle Walter Sternberg in 1932.
Aldrin with his extended family in 1932.
Teenaged Aldrin with his father, Edwin, on vacation at the lake.
Aldrin in his 1946 Montclair High School football uniform.
Aldrin in his United States Military Academy (West Point) uniform in 1951.
Aldrin in the USAF, where he became second lieutenant following the Korean War, in 1953.
Aldrin’s wedding to Joan Archer on April 4, 1955. Joan is the biological mother of his three children. Aldrin went on to marry Beverly Zile, then Lois Driggs Cannon. He finalized his divorce to Cannon in 2012.
Aldrin floating in space during extra-vehicular activity (EVA) on the Gemini 12 mission in 1966.
NASA’s 1968 Apollo 11 zero gravity publicity shot.
Aldrin on the Moon in 1969. He and Armstrong spent twenty-one hours on the lunar surface and returned with forty-six pounds of moon rocks.
A famous image of Aldrin in his space gear.
Aldrin with Mohammad Ali and Arnold Schwarzenegger, following his trip to the Moon.
Aldrin with a whale shark in 2010. He was a prominent proponent of training astronauts underwater in order to prepare them for space.
A recent headshot of Aldrin.
About John Barnes
John Barnes is the author of more than thirty novels and numerous short stories. His most popular novels include the national bestseller Encounter with Tiber (co-written with Buzz Aldrin), Mother of Storms (finalist for both the Hugo and Nebula awards), Orbital Resonance and A Million Open Doors (Nebula Award finalists), Tales of the Madman Underground (winner of the Michael L. Printz Award) and One for the Morning Glory, among others.
Barnes received his doctorate of philosophy in theater arts at the University of Pittsburgh, and has taught college courses in English, speech, communications, theater, general humanities, and mathematics. He is a statistical semiotics consultant for business and industry, and blogs about the math of marketing analysis at the CMO Site and AllAnalytics. His personal blog is at thatjohnbarnes.blogspot.com.
Diane Talbot
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Interior illustrations by Andy Andres (pp. 3, 25, 29, 74, 101, 110, 153, 174, 175, 197, 223, 372, 465, 560) and John Solie (pp. 174, 175)
Copyright © 1996 by Buzz Aldrin and John Barnes
Foreword copyright © 1996 by Serendib BV
Cover design by Andrea C. Uva
978-1-4804-2153-0
This edition published in 2013 by Open Road Integrated Media
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