“What sort of simulation shall we start with?” the captain asked his crew, all of whom had just decided to die with their eyes open and their friends at their sides. “Manessa has memories from all over Nebador, and many places in deep space that are completely uninhabited and have not yet been assigned to a local universe.”
“Somewhere pretty!” Rini suggested.
Mati frowned slightly. “Except . . . not Satamia Star Station. That would make me too sad.”
“Me too,” several others echoed.
“Hmm . . .” Ilika pondered as he stroked Kibi’s matted hair. “Manessa, full simulation mode, Zekoria Comet Observation Platform. Stations, everyone.”
This time, they didn’t bolt to their consoles like excited children, but a subtle light of curiosity shone in their eyes, and perhaps a tiny bit of fear of the unknown.
While everyone else brought their stations to life and did their basic pre-flight checks, Sata searched for a chart of a place she had never seen or imagined. Her eyes opened wide as soon as she saw the large swaths of space colored red and marked Extreme Navigation Hazard.
Rini soon gave them simulated visual displays. “We’re on a landing platform beside a supply dome on a tiny airless planet.”
“Oh . . . wow . . . look at the sky!” Boro breathed.
They all tapped at their display selectors until they beheld a black sky
NEBADOR Book Five: Back to the Stars 174
streaked with twenty or more large, glowing comets, some plunging inward toward the system’s primary star, others moving away. No matter which direction they moved, their shimmering tails pointed into deep space. Even as the crew watched, two of the comets silently collided, sending a spray of glowing ice in all directions.
“Let’s get a closer look,” Ilika began. “Departure pattern two.”
Sata found the pre-defined flight plan in Manessa’s memory. “Channel five.”
Mati studied the plan. “It follows a band of space that’s protected from the comets by the fifth planet, a small gas giant. Anti-mass one and ion five, please.”
Just as Boro was announcing that the requested engines were ready, Kibi felt the hairs on the back of her neck tingle. She slowly turned her head to see what could have caused that sensation.
“Ilika . . . we have a passenger.”
Deep Learning Notes
The crew’s preparations for death marked the end of one phase of their lives, and the beginning of another. How can this be seen in their behavior in this chapter?