The Celestials

by Richard Wood

  In the control room, Glaina and Nassel are greeted enthusiastically. “What did you find”? “Have you had a nice trip?” “Some people get all the easy jobs.” Ancore called for order, and with everyone gathered around asked Glaina and Nassel to report what they had found. Glaina started at the beginning and told them everything that occurred until Nassel and Adeeone entered the ship concluding. "I think Nassel should tell the rest of the story."

  Nassel explained how they entered the ship, and then continued. "Inside the ship was a corridor about three metres wide and three metres high, leading away to our right and left in a gentle curve for as far as we could see. It was lit by a dim blue light, emanating from a liquid-filled tube. Which ran along one wall, above door height the length of the corridor. We decided to walk along to our right. We then came across several doors that seemed to lead to store rooms containing what looked like spares and cabling reels, tools and wracks of piping. Further, on we came across another corridor leading towards the heart of the ship. We had walked about fifty metres down this corridor before we came to the first door, which appeared to be coded with a five-fingered hand. We couldn't get this door to open so we carried on down the corridor."

  Nassel paused looking around at the expectant faces. "Now we get to the scary bit. After another forty metres or so, we came to a door the width of the passage blocking further progress. It took a short while for it to open partially, and we realised that there was sand everywhere, some of which must have gummed up the door mechanism. Inside we found ourselves in an open area piled high with sand. We appeared to be on a kind of walkway running around the ship, but where we should have been looking across the ship and down all we could see was sand. Arranged around the walls of the three metres wide catwalk were plastic faced cubicles. Each one was filled with the blue glowing liquid, which we had assumed was a kind of lighting. However, inside each cubicle was an alien in some sort of stasis or hibernation. They each stood over two metres tall, very powerfully built with five digits on hands and feet. The only real difference between them and us was they had a fur growing on their chests. They also had long fur on their heads that hung to their shoulders. They appeared to be of a brown hue. It was very difficult to tell inside this glowing blue liquid. We saw hundreds of these chambers each of which contained a being. All the beings we saw were male. We think the ship opened on impact, and the sand was driven in and filled most of the interior of the ship. As a tribute to its designers, what remained of the ship appeared to be reasonably functional. We travelled along the catwalk as far as we could because of the sand, when we suddenly realised that the liquid levels in the tanks was slowly dropping. I thought that somewhere under the sand the liquid was seeping out from smashed tanks farther into the ship. Our time was up if we were to get back out of the ship, so we started back the way we had come. When we arrived at the service passage, there were still several minutes spare, so we ventured along the other way and found a door that opened. Inside was an armoury of what appeared to be laser rifles, thousands of them. Time had run out, so we decided return and report. That was when we realised that something was wrong. Adeeone had to help manhandle the door to get it open again. Sand kept flooding into the passage. We had to dig our way out. Eventually, we got to the opening and saw the Lander hovering about ten metres from the rim of the ship through the murk of the storm. That is when we knew we were in real trouble. I had to make a snap decision. How were we going to get back into the Lander? He continued telling the enthralled crew the events that lead them to the base of the vast sand slope. “I think Glaina should tell the rest of the story, as she saved us."

  Glaina took up the story, telling how she had taken the Lander in the direction of the searchlight beam until she had found them both sitting in the sand. She landed and helped Nassel drag Adeeone back safely aboard the Lander. She told of their flight back to the ship only to find that the comms with the ship were out, making it too risky to try manual docking. "You all know the rest of the story," she added.

  "What did the aliens look like? Tell us again!" asked Fantee.

  "Hold it everyone," broke in Ancore. "We can all see the aliens. You did record everything didn't you?" she asked.

  "Well, no," replied Nassel. "The door blocked communications, and the recorders were in the Lander. I'm sorry to say we don't have a record of the inside of the alien ship."

  Rogan butted into the conversation, "Adeeone saw everything you did, didn't he? Then all we have to do is somehow connect Adeeone's brain to the ship's computer, and watch it on the main view screen."

  “Can that be done?" asked Ancore, looking around for answers.

  "If it can be done, Adeetoo will know," suggested Breen.

  Ancore picted Adeetoo to report on Adeeone's condition, and the feasibility of getting what Adeeone had seen into ships systems, so everyone could see what had happened aboard the alien craft. Adeetoo reported that repairs to Adeeone were progressing satisfactorily, and that he was engaged in the delicate task of replacing Adeeone's damaged eyes. He asked if he could report to the captain in a few minutes. Ancore told him to finish repairing Adeeone, and then she wanted to see them both in the lounge.

  She asked Rogan to stay on the bridge while the rest went for a meal in the lounge. "I'll send someone to relieve you, as soon as I can," she told him. In the lounge, Ancore was in deep discussion with Breen about the repairs needed to Lander One. He assured her that it would only take a day or two to carry out replacements to the viewing cameras, but would entail going for a spacewalk. The sand that had been in the docking clamp slots could be cleared one by one from inside the ship. They were all just finishing their meal when Adeeone and Adeetoo arrived in the lounge and reported to the captain. She asked, "How are you Adeeone?"

  "I am fully functional captain," he replied.

  "Good to hear that Adeeone," said Ancore. "We need to see what went on inside the alien ship. We have no records, except what is in your memory. Is it possible to download your memories into the ship’s computer, so we can see what went on inside the ship on the main view screen and record it for transmission to central council?"

  “Yes," replied Adeeone.

  Ancore kept a straight face and asked, "How would this be accomplished?”

  "When my positron brain was being programmed it required a two way connection to my positron interface, which is located behind my head just above the neck. The ship’s brain is also positronic and would have the same connection to its positron interface. All that is required is a one thousand and twenty-four pin connector cable."

  “All right," acknowledged Ancore, "Adeetoo, please find the cable and connect Adeeone to the ship’s computer, so that we can download his memory and view it on the main view screen."

  Adeetoo was picting queries to the ship’s inventory even before the captain had finished speaking.

  "I have located the cable in stores locker seventy-three," he replied.

  "Bring it to the bridge, please. We will all meet you there," she stood up and led the procession back to the control bridge on the travelators.

  On the bridge, she relieved Rogan and told him to get a quick bite to eat and return to the bridge if he wanted to see the alien ship. Rogan left the bridge with alacrity while the rest of the crew settled into various chairs awaiting the return of Adeetoo with the cable.

  When Adeetoo returned to the bridge, a heated discussion was in progress. Why were these aliens so hostile?

  Nassel was busy expounding his theory, “From what I saw on the ship, I believe the aliens in the tanks were soldiers. Just look at all the weapons that I found on board, and that was only in one small part of the ship. What else was aboard that I didn't see because of the sand?”

  ”On a huge ship like that,” interjected Fantee, “surely they could have been settlers in stasis, and as for the weapons, isn't it possible that you found the only store of weapons aboard the whole ship?�
��

  Rogan arrived back at that moment, and Ancore quickly brought him up to date on the discussion. “Captain,” said Adeetoo, “I have connected Adeeone to the ship’s computer. We are ready to download his memories.”

  “Thank you, Adeetoo. Please continue.”

  A hush of expectancy fell over the bridge as a picture of Nassel formed on the screen climbing into the hole cut in the alien craft. Everyone followed each move intently until they came to the aliens in the tanks.

  “My, they are BIG,” giggled Fantee, the other two girls smiled.

  Nassel was not sure if Fantee was referring to the muscular physique of the aliens, or the size of their genitals. Both were impressive. Either way he did not like it much. Adeeone was looking intently at one alien from head to toe. Suddenly, an extraordinary thing happened! Adeeone pressed his face up against the plastic tank, and they were looking inside the alien. Lungs, a double heart and heavy ribs could be seen, then a stomach, liver and kidneys.

  Looking back up they could see the alien’s skull and the brain cortex through the mouth.

  “I didn't know Adeeone and Adeetoo could do that,” exclaimed Breen. There were murmurs of wonder all-round the control room.

  “How did you do that Adeeone?” asked Ancore.

  “Using ultra high frequency sound waves,” he replied. Ancore's curiosity was aroused, “Do you ever look at us in that fashion?” she queried. “No,” replied Adeeone. “Why did you examine the alien in that way?” she asked.

  “I was checking if it was an android, or a being,” he answered.

  “Very well done, Adeeone. This gives us a mass of information for the scientists to work on back home,” enthused Ancore.

  They watched the rest of the exploration through Adeeone's eyes on the main view screen. When the crew had watched Adeeone's downloaded memories to the end, Ancore was so moved that she stood up and led the crew in a hearty cheer for Adeeone. There were many individual congratulations to Glaina and Nassel. Ancore at last called for order then told Adeetoo to disconnect Adeeone from the ship’s computer. She ordered all the collected information sent to her cabin along with the co-ordinates of the alien ship, ready for encoding and sending to central command as a flash encoded message.

  It was just coming up for the change of watch. Breen and Glaina were due to take over from the captain and Rogan, but Ancore wanted Adeeone and Adeetoo to help Breen get the Lander repaired as soon as possible. She sent them off to carry out that task, while the rest of the crew completed the survey of the fourth planet.

  “Keep a sharp lookout for any survivors from the alien ship,” she told them. She then left the bridge to encode the flash message in her cabin, leaving Glaina in command as watch commander.

  The four of them were left discussing the possibility of their being any survivors, but as the storm was still raging down on the planet’s surface, the chances of finding anyone were very remote. “I was amazed at Adeeone looking into the bodies of the aliens. I just never knew the Androids could do that,” remarked Fantee to the other three. They agreed that maybe they did not know half the capabilities of Adeeone and Adeetoo.

  Glaina remarked, “We shouldn't be too surprised. Adeeone once told me he and Adeetoo believed in a supreme being.”

  Nassel looked startled for a second, then caught Rogan's eye and winked. “Yes, I heard rumours before we left that certain people in high places were talking about making the super seven series androids full citizens of the united planets. Even to the extent of letting them vote and stand for the central council,” he pronounced.

  Rogan, taking his cue agreed, “Yes, now I think back, I heard whispers about that possibility before we left. If the seven series are sentient beings, “why not," I say."

  Glaina and Fantee were agog, “I didn't hear this rumour,” they said almost in one voice. Fantee continued, “You never mentioned any of this to me before Nassel.”

  “Didn't I, dear? It must have slipped my memory in the excitement of preparing for this mission,” he replied smoothly, with a twinkle in his eye.

  “That is incredible! I was having a hard job believing Adeeone when he told me of his belief in a Supreme Being. I thought, ‘That tricky genius Vomisa had been programming the androids to respond in the way they did when asked certain questions.’ Now, after hearing Adeeone tell me about his having independent thought, and what you have both just said I don't know what to believe.” Anguished Glaina.

  “Did he by any chance tell you he had a soul?” asked Rogan.

  “No, I don't remember him saying anything about a soul,” replied Glaina.

  “That’s strange,” remarked Rogan, “He told me only the other day on watch, that he possessed two souls.”

  “Yes, one on each foot,” quipped Nassel.

  The pair of them burst into spontaneous laughter nearly falling off their chairs in merriment, even Fantee had to join in it was so infectious. Glaina went red to the tips of her ears, and then joined in the gales of laughter.

  Nassel and Rogan were looking at each other and laughing even harder, the tears streaming down their faces.

  Fantee went across, put a comforting arm around Glaina’s shoulder, and whispered in her ear, “We'll get these pinheads back, one of these days. We girls have to stick together, against this male camaraderie.”

  Over the next two days, the Lander cameras were replaced, and the sand removed from the docking clamps. Breen even serviced the complete Lander instrumentation, and replenished its inventory of consumables. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew had finished surveying the red planet and found no trace of any survivors, or alien Lander craft. Rogan and Adeeone were busy plotting the next phase of the survey, a rendezvous with the third planet. Ancore wanted to catch up with it as fast as possible, as it was the planet that had the greatest potential for life. If it had no sentient beings, it would be ideal for settlement. They laid the proposal before Ancore for her approval.

  Rogan was explaining that it would mean cutting inside the orbit of the second and third planet very close to the orbit of the first planet. It was not prudent to get any closer than that to the sun, as the radiation levels that close in would be very high because of the enormous sun flares. Moreover, keeping the super conducting coils of the Stella drive containment field cool enough would reduce the time they could use the Stella drive from ten hours to five hours that close in to the Sun. The shutdown period would furthermore need to be increased from one hour to four hours, but they would rendezvous with the third planet in eight days. Ancore approved the plan, and it was duly downloaded into ships navigation and autopilot computers.

  With everybody strapped in, the ship took off the spin and lined itself up with the new course. They had to wait fifteen minutes until they were on the optimum trajectory before the Stella drive engaged, and acceleration reached one Gee. Then they could unstrap and move about until the alarm for imminent weightlessness sounded. At that time, they needed to be holding onto something. It was not that bad being weightless for an hour or more. It was when gravity returned that great care was needed. The first half of the journey passed mostly uneventfully, a day past the halfway point the ship was rotated about its perpendicular axis one hundred and eighty degrees, for the deceleration burns, which would finally bring them into orbit around the third planet.

  During the journey, there was great speculation whether any of the aliens had survived the crash on the red planet. The consensus was that if any landing craft had escaped, they would very likely head for the third planet, as that was where they, themselves would go. What nobody could determine was what had caused the alien ship to crash on the planet in the first place.

  On day six, they were over halfway between the orbit of the second and third planet. Fantee and Nassel had the bridge to themselves. Adeeone had gone to get a footplate to repair one of the travelators. Nassel had zoomed in on the third planet so that it filled a quarter of the main view scr
een, looking like a glowing blue jewel against a black velvet cloth sprinkled with tiny diamonds. Unofficially they had named it Sapphire.

  The Stella drive was just shutting down after a braking burn. In the instant between shutdown and force field deployment, a thump caused the ship to shudder beneath their feet. Warning lights were flashing. The alarm klaxon triggered. Nassel picted the captain to the bridge. Then picted the ear-splitting alarm klaxon to off. While he and Fantee tried to make sense of all the warbling and flashing warning screens that had lit up.

  It was soon evident something catastrophic had happened to the Stella drive containment field. Fantee had picted the ship’s computer to run diagnostics on the Stella drive. The results were appalling. At that moment, Ancore and the rest of the crew arrived swimming onto the bridge looking like deep-sea divers, the ship being in free fall.

  “Report!” demanded Ancore.

  “The Stella drive, containment field has suffered catastrophic damage, captain,” reported Nassel.

  Fantee added, “I've run diagnostics, captain. The super-cooled coils are leaking into space, and the magnetic flux coils of the containment field are badly damaged. I'm trying to get a camera view of the damage now.”

  Suddenly, the main view screen was showing several views of the Stella drive hub from different directions. Three views looked normal, but the fourth showed a large gaping hole with ice crystals oozing out, slowly obscuring the view.

  “That looks terminal,” said Breen resignedly, floating into his seat. He strapped in and began running checks and shutting down various sections of feeds to the hub, isolating the containment field.

  Ancore asked, “Can it be repaired, Breen?”

  “We only have a few spares for the Stella drive. There are nothing major, just spare valves and pumps. This damage looks like a major space yard job. I will need to carry out a physical inspection, but it looks beyond any repairs, we could accomplish captain,” he replied.

  “Rogan, give me a navigation update. If the drive is inoperable, how long before we reach the third planet, and how close to it will our present course take us.”

  Rogan began picting streams of queries to his navigation console.

  Co-ordinates began appearing three dimensionally before him, with tracks in red, yellow, white and green as he tried different combinations and scenarios. Eventually, he replied, “It’s not good, captain. We require another burn to brake the ship enough for us to slip behind the third planet and establish a planetary orbit. We have twenty-seven hours before we hit the planet’s atmosphere and burn up.”

  “What about using the ship's thrusters to alter our course?” she asked.

  “Yes, we could, but we wouldn't be able to slow down enough to achieve orbit. We could possibly achieve a near miss, but the ship’s course would then be affected by the planet's gravity. We would speed up the closer to the planet we came, and eventually be slung off in a completely different direction. We would continue out into deep space, or eventually be pulled into a very long elliptical orbit about the sun. It could take thousands of years before we returned.”

  “Right! Breen take Adeeone and anyone else you need and find out what happened to the Stella drive, and if it can be repaired.”

  “I think it would be easier for everyone if we could spin up the ship and restore gravity first, captain,” replied Breen.

  “Do it!” she snapped.

  The ship was spun up, and gravity slowly returned. Breen and Adeeone left to check the Stella drive. Ancore sat with her head bowed and her arms hanging down the sides of her chair, it looked as if someone had switched her off, and she had become all floppy.

  Rogan's heart went out to her. He was in a quandary. They were on duty, so she was his captain first. She was his mate only when they were off duty. He ached to go over and comfort her. Instead, he said, “Captain?” She lifted her head and looked at him. For a second he saw the utter despair in her eyes. He thought his heart would crack open it hurt so much. She pulled herself together and sat up straight. He continued, “If the drive can't be repaired, we will have to consider the possibility of abandoning ship and taking the Landers down to the third planet. It has a gravity and atmosphere almost identical to our home worlds.”

  “You’re right!” she said pulling herself together. Then she looked around, “Glaina, Fantee and Nassel will you take an inventory of the ship’s stores. I would like a list of what we can load into the Landers that we might need on the third planet. Please proceed as if we were settling on the planet permanently.” She then picted the same instructions to Adeetoo. “Rogan you and I will go over our options for abandoning ship and taking the Landers down to the third planet.”

  Breen and Adeeone, dressed in space suits, took the hand and foot Travelators on the inside of one of the spokes to the air lock just above the hub of the Stella drive. Breen briefed Adeeone on the spacewalk they were about to embark on while in the airlock waiting for the pressure to equalise. When the green lights came on and the door slid open, they connected their tethers. Using the backpack thrusters, Breen gently drifted to a position near the front of the hub. Adeeone jetted out onto the rear of the hub. The pair of them grabbed handholds strategically placed around the hub. They could then survey the complete hub to assess any damage they found. Breen found the entry hole first. It was minute, about five centimetres across. While examining it, a huge flash lit up the surface. He was so startled he let go of his handhold, frantically trying to see what was happening as his helmet automatically darkened. As he slowly drifted away from the hub, he realised there was another sun in the firmament.

  He called the bridge, “Did you see the light flash? We seem to have another sun out here.”

  Rogan replied, “Yes, we can see it, Breen. We are just checking it out. I think we are seeing history here. It's a star gone supernova out towards Puppis.”

  “For a second I thought something else had hit us. It frightened the life out of me! I have found the entry hole. It is only five centimetres across. I'm going inside the drive to check the damage.” His helmet lights automatically switched on as Breen slowly manoeuvred himself into the black maw of the Stella drive.

  Meanwhile, Adeeone, having finished his survey of the rear of the Stella drive, jetted slowly towards the front to help Breen. He completed his survey of the front outer casing of the Stella drive. There he found the exit hole, torn jagged metal like some kind of awful florescence, fifty centimetres across.

  Breen exited the mouth of the Stella drive and joined Adeeone to examine the hole. Then lined himself up on the entry and exit trajectory, looking along to see if any debris had struck the ship. On the outer rim, he saw a plume of icy crystals and gas escaping.

  “I've seen enough, Adeeone, let’s get back aboard ship.” As they slowly made their way back to the airlock, he called the bridge. “Captain, please check the thrusters gas tank volumes. I see a plume of crystals and gas escaping on the outer rim of the ship. It looks like it’s near where the main tank for the thrusters on that side is located.”

  “Checking tanks now Breen, replied Ancore.” She picted instructions to the ship and watched in consternation as the readouts and schematics of the thrusters systems came up. All the thrusters tanks were interconnected throughout the ship and the levels were steadily dropping as she watched. Picting strings of commands, she shut all isolating valves throughout the system. The volume remaining in the tanks was now less than a quarter. She guessed someone had turned off the thrusters volume warning after they had been hit, when the control bridge was a mass of warbling alarms and panic.

  Ancore knew now that she was going to lose her ship. There just was not enough time to repair the damaged thrusters tank. Even if it could be repaired, they did not have enough liquid gas in the tanks to make much difference. The ship would still burn up in the atmosphere of the third planet. All that was left now was to load up the Landers, and
send an encoded message of distress giving the co-ordinates of the third planet.

  “Rogan give me a time by which we must abandon ship, please.”

  Rogan picted a quick command, and read the response on-screen, “Eighteen hours, captain. That will give us two hours in hand for unforeseen emergencies.”

  “Send the coordinates of the third planet to my cabin. I am going to encode a flash distress message to command central. Please have Fantee report to the bridge in fifteen minutes ready to launch a comms repeater distress buoy,” she said leaving the bridge.

  Breen and Adeeone arrived on the bridge and finding only Rogan on duty Breen asked, “Where's the captain?”

  “In her cabin composing a flash encoded distress message,” Rogan replied.

  “Well the Stella drive is beyond repair, looks like a tiny meteorite hit the front of the drive at an oblique angle, went straight through, creating an awful melted mess inside. Then debris hit the outer rim of the ship and punctured a thrusters liquid gas tank. How unlucky can we get? It must have hit in the fraction of a second between Stella shutdown and force field deployment. What's the probability of that happening, hundreds of billions to one?”

  Rogan replied, “It’s more like googols to one. We have just less than eighteen hours before we abandon ship.”

  “I'd better go and check out Landers two and three, then. Tell the captain where I am,” said Breen leaving the bridge.

  Ancore and Fantee arrived on the bridge within seconds of each other. Ancore handed Fantee the message disc, “Get this off right away, please, Fantee.”

  “Yes captain,” she replied fitting it into her console then downloaded it into the special distress buoy. She picted a string of instructions and the buoy was fired out of its chamber. Five hundred metres from the ship the solid propellant motor fired, and it shot out of sight heading for their own star system. It would repeat its message in burst transmission mode every five minutes, until eventually, its internal miniature reactor ran out of power in fifty years’ time.

  Eventually, the three Landers were loaded and ready for departure. Weight was not a great problem with anti-gravity motors on the Landers, but they were constrained by the physical volume that each Lander could contain. They had everything in the settler’s manual except ground vehicles. From water purification pills to camouflage suits and hand weapons, food, water, tents, medical supplies, cold-weather clothing, the list seemed unending. The Landers became packed to bursting point. It would be hard to fit themselves in, they had so much gear stowed aboard.

  Ancore called everyone into the lounge for a final meeting and a meal before departure.

  “Glaina and Breen are in Lander one with Adeetoo. Fantee and Nassel are in Lander Two, as you have the least spare room of the three Landers. Adeeone will travel with Rogan and me in Lander Three. We will proceed in formation, staying together until we make landfall. All the Lander auto pilot systems have been pre-programmed for entry into the atmosphere of this planet. Are there any questions?” she asked.

  Glaina queried, “What kind of landing area and climate will we be looking for?”

  “A warm one,” broke in Nassel.

  “I concur with Nassel on a warm climate. Apart from that, I do not think speculating about what we might find, will serve any useful purpose. Any other questions?”

  Adeeone and Adeetoo were picting each other in a stream too fast for the eye and brain to follow. Suddenly, Adeeone spoke, “Captain, Adeetoo and I request permission to save the ship before it plunges into the planet?”

  Ancore looked bemused, “how can you save the ship?”

  “By downloading the ship's memories into ours,” replied Adeeone.

  “What exactly will, that achieve, Adeeone?” she asked, completely mystified.

  Adeeone began explaining. “The ship’s computer is our companion; we do not want the ship’s mind extinguished when this vessel is destroyed entering the planet’s atmosphere. Adeetoo and I have googols of spare capacity. If we download the ship’s memory files into our brains, the ship can exist within us.

  Although her brain will be destroyed physically with this vessel, an exact replica will continue to exist independently within Adeetoo and myself.

  Then ship will not be concerned about the demise of her original self.”

  The rest of the crew looked at the two androids in utter amazement. Glaina and Fantee started crying, tears rolling down their faces unchecked. The three men were harrumphing, and trying very hard not to show too much overt sentiment. Ancore was swallowing repeatedly and had to take a deep breath and clear her throat before she could speak.

  “You said her. Is the ship female, Adeeone?”

  “Not as beings define female captain, but she looks on all the crew as her family who must be protected and kept warm and comfortable while in her confines.”

  Ancore looked around at the rest of the crew, and then voiced their unspoken thoughts.

  “Adeeone, Adeetoo you make us all feel ashamed. We just had no idea that the ship was a sentient being.

  How long will it take you to download her memories into your positron brains?” she asked.

  “Forty minutes, captain,” replied Adeeone.

  “Then download, immediately! We haven’t more than an hour to go now before departure,” she said. It was as they were both leaving for the control room that she noticed for the first time, the one thousand and twenty-four-pin cable wrapped around Adeetoo’s waist like a belt.

  They boarded the Landers and waited for the automatic simultaneous undocking. As the ship was still spinning about its axis, they should float free in three different directions, and then join formation on Lander Three and wait until the ship had plunged into the atmosphere before entering it themselves.

  As they had the anti-gravity engines, all that was required was to match the planet spin speed and gently sink through the atmosphere. Then at a safe height find somewhere suitable to land. They undocked without a hitch and joined formation on Lander Three. Then sat watching in silence, the last minutes of their doomed ship, DSSV7.

  They were on the night side of the planet, but it was not that dark. The sun was on the far side of the planet, but behind them blazed the supernova like a smaller sun. DSSV7 hit the upper atmosphere and burst into a fireball streaking down to the planet far below, breaking up into a myriad of separate flaming pieces. The shower of fireballs went out one by one, and then there was semi-darkness.

  Far below on the planet’s surface other eyes were watching, many in awe, but some with malevolence.

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  Chapter Four

  The third planet

  Which beginning of time [the Creation] according to our chronologie, fell upon the entrance of the night preceding the twenty third day of Octob. In the year of the Julian calendar, 710. [i.e. B.C. 4004]

  Archbishop James Ussher 1581-1656

  From The Annals of the World (1658), p.1