The Manessa Kwi stayed near the third colony ship for almost half a Satamia day, studying it in every way they could, describing what they saw to those with little or no vision, and discussing the findings.
Eventually nothing remained to be learned without prying open a hatch and creeping down the corridors. They all laughed and agreed that if they tried that on this ship, doors that closed behind them would be the least of their worries.
With course and hull-pitting information from three different ships, Tizoromulia worked with Sata to refine his calculations and determine, as closely as anyone could, the point of origin. Rini watched and nodded. Boro, Kibi, and Mati watched, sometimes nodding, and sometimes frowning.
After a light meal, all the passengers and crew got comfortable for star transit. Mati let Timorazonia issue the final command that activated the star drive.
They found themselves in the outskirts of a solar system far from any other, which had a number on Sata’s charts, but no name. It didn’t take long to determine that the seventh, sixth, and fifth planets were all gas giants with no insect life.
The fourth planet slowly grew larger on their screens. Although mostly white, a couple of small oceans still glimmered deep blue at their centers.
“High equatorial orbit,” Ilika ordered.
NEBADOR Book Seven: The Local Universe 48
As soon as Sata sent the orbit calculations, Mati reached up to rearrange her display. “You ready for this, Zonia?”
“I’ve never . . . piloted anything into . . . orbit.”
“See the altitude and speed graphs? Just follow those with your flight control and your ion drive level.”
“B-both at once?”
“Yep.”
“Won’t that take . . . two brains?”
Mati smiled. “Want me to do speed so you can concentrate on direction?”
“Um . . . please. I only have one brain.”
The senior pilot didn’t mention the fact that humans had three.
“It’s bitter cold even on the equator,” Rini reported. “Three hundred sixty-four degrees absolute. Thirty-five below freezing. Poles are even colder.”
“This couldn’t be the home-world of hive insects!” M’palta declared from the passenger area.
“Any warm spots at all, even around geothermal vents or in heated buildings?” Ilika asked, looking over Rini’s shoulder.
Rini increased the magnification of his infra-red display and entered a search request. “Not in this hemisphere.”
Ilika stepped back to the command chair. “Finish an orbit, Mati, and then if Rini doesn’t see anywhere sapient insects could have lived, we’ll go look at the third planet.”
The pilot nodded, and continued to keep one eye on her orbit profile.
Finding nowhere above freezing, the Manessa Kwi departed for the third planet of the lonely solar system.
It turned out to be bone dry, airless, and lifeless, and had clearly been that way for millions of years.
Just to be sure, they peeked at the second planet. Volcanic activity covered nearly the entire surface, and no higher life forms were detected.
Ilika was at the big table with the mission team, wondering what to do next, when Rini suddenly started bouncing up and down in his chair.
NEBADOR Book Seven: The Local Universe 49
“We were looking for the wrong thing! There was nowhere and nothing warm on the fourth planet, but I was bored so I started looking at the pictures under highest magnification, and look what I found! Buildings! Huge buildings mostly covered by ice and snow!”
Ilika was quickly at the watch station, and a moment later several Ti’ias hovered nearby, chittering with curiosity. Timorafilia, still without sight, whimpered from her chair.
“Some of them,” Rini continued, “are big enough to . . . you know . . .
assemble space ships.”
“Okay,” Ilika said with renewed hope, “pick out the most visible, and send them to Kibi’s big screen.” Ilika looked around the bridge. “Boro, you have command. Low orbit, fourth planet.”
The engineer’s eyes grew large, and he had to swallow several times before he could find the courage to move to the command chair.
Sata, who already had the necessary charts on the main bridge screen, glanced at him and grinned with pride. Mati turned and looked at him with reassuring eyes and a slight nod.
Timorazonia, not knowing what a huge moment this was for Boro, did flips in the air above the pilot’s console.