It was Mission Day 455. Gergin and Ecurben were at the command console. The screen on the front wall displayed the image of their new home. The officers were initiating the orbit insertion sequence.
“Deceleration burn executed,” Ecurben said in a monotone.
“Prepare for circular orbit intercept,” Gergin intoned. A minute passed, then.
“Ready for circular orbit intercept. Three, two, one, intercept-burn executed.”
The image was now so clear that the blue light reflecting off the ocean and the white cloud cover above created a stunning picture. They could even see the faint outline of coastlines and islands.
“How are we for altitude?” Ecurben asked.
“We need to come down 4500.”
“OK. Let's do a couple of small velocity deltas. That will give us a precise gravity measurement and make specific orbital adjustments easier.”
“First, burn completed.”
“OK, that took the ship down 1480. Make the next one a little shorter.”
“A little shorter. OK! …Burn completed!”
“Perfect. I have calculated the acceleration due to gravity. Those astrophysics guys were close. I reset the computer, so you should get a more accurate burn value. Descend another 2295,” Gergin responded.
Moments later, the ship was orbiting at the desired altitude. Surface features were even more visible. Snow-capped mountains and twisting rivers revealed a varied landscape.
“Commander, we are in orbit. You’ve got to see the view. It's unlike any planet I have ever seen,” Gergin said, trying to suppress his emotion.
Both officers were hypnotized by the brilliant image on the screen. At this altitude, the ship was slowly circling their new home.
Commander Nireem glided into the Command Center and stopped behind the two officers. The screen showed rugged peaks, broad valleys, snaking rivers, and bodies of water, large and small. The beauty exceeded his expectations.
“Unbelievable.“ Nireem stood there gazing at the clear view of the surface below. Clouds obscured it in many places, but the variety of terrain was overwhelming.
“Is this on the screens in the passenger lounges?”
Gergin replied, “Not yet. We’ve been displaying a still frame from two days back.”
“I didn’t expect to see such clear views. The oceans are enormous, but there is still plenty of habitable terrain. Look… those must be extremely high mountains.”
“It would take a pretty advanced society to cross those barriers. On Tridon, anyone can hike over the hills or walk around the lakes,” Gergin noted.
“This planet makes Tridon look rather plain,” Ecurben said.
“We will need to be in orbit longer than I thought. Set up a way to assign coordinates to specific features for future reference. Our orbit angles across the axis of rotation. Correct the alignment.“
“Will do!” Gergin responded.
“When do you want to display this in the lounges?” Ecurben asked.
“I want to address everyone once they have all been up a day or two. I’ll show them the orbital view then.”
“Will do!”
“And let's start monitoring all communication frequencies. Better include those used by less-advanced cultures. I want to look for any signs of intelligent life.”
“What about radar? There might be satellites.”
“Good idea, Ecurben.”
“Oh. One last thing. Create a systematic procedure for studying the surface and selecting the best landing location.”
“Yes, sir,” Gergin answered.
“I’ll be in my cabin,” Nireem said, floating into the passageway.
“I’ve never seen the Commander so taken with the view from orbit of any planet,” Ecurben remarked.
“I know. I never expected anything like it. This planet has to have intelligent life. The conditions are perfect. We better get to work.”
“Right. Let's align our orbit with the planet's direction of rotation.”
Gergin selected a prominent surface landmark on the screen and flipped a console switch to track its path. Slowly, a dotted line marked where the route of the surface feature crossed the screen. The angle of the object's path with the fine verticle line on the screen showed how much the ship's orbital path had to be changed. Gergin entered the angle and had the computer calculate the thruster sequence.
“Ready to initiate burn sequence,” he said calmly.
“Execute,” Ecurben ordered. They watched as the dotted line slowly rotated to the verticle, indicating the orbital path was following the feature on the surface.
They repeated the process to confirm the ship was orbiting the planet around its axis of rotation.
“Looking good. Let's see if there are other objects orbiting up here,” Ecurben said as he reached overhead to the switch panel and hit the radar switches.
“Be nice to have the forward radars,” Gergin said.
“Yeah. But we’ll see anything up here anyway.”
“I’ll set up electromagnetic transmission detection,” Gergin added.
The ship could monitor electronic signals across a wide range of frequencies. The Senior Navigator flipped the switches, which started the computers recording everything detected. If anything emitted an electromagnetic signal, the system would record it. A log also showed when the system received something and its frequency.
Ecurben sat back for a while, watching the changing image of the surface below them. Their orbital velocity was faster than the planet's rotation, so over several hours, they would circumnavigate the surface below. He was thinking about how they should determine where to land.
“Gergin, the Commander asked us to devise a systematic procedure to select where to land. Let's start by dividing the planet's surface into eight semi-quadrants, four on each side of the rotational equator. Can you display our angular position on the screen?”
“Sure. We take the orbital period and map it to 360 degrees. We then designate someplace to be the starting point – angular position zero. All surface points with an angular value between 0 and 90 degrees are in one quadrant. Those left of our orbital path are in one semi-quadrant, and those on the right are in another.“
“Then we start by characterizing each semi-quadrant by its most significant features and pick out the semi-quadrants most inviting.”
“That's a start! Let's get Nerrawin and Retepin up here to work on the first cut. I bet some semi-quadrants will be mostly water and easy to eliminate,” Gergin said enthusiastically.
“We still need to pick the zero-point. Any thoughts?
“Let's wait and see what characterizes each semi-quadrant. Then we can narrow it down from there.”
“OK. I sent a message to Nerrawin and Retepin,” Ecurben added.
“I will take a break if you don’t need me? Gergin asked.
“Go. We are finished here.”
Down in the Crew Galley
Gergin called Enaida and asked if she could take a break and come up. She was on her way immediately. Her passengers, just out of sleep mode, didn’t require her attention. They were all in decent physical shape and knew the exercise routine.
She saw Gergin filling a drink container in the Crew Galley and glided towards him. He saw her, and a smile filled his face. He was excited to tell her about their new planet home.
“Hi,” she said, greeting him with a loving smile. “I was bored with little to do. You called at the perfect time.”
He removed her eyepiece so he could gaze into both eyes. Her eye color was unusual, an orange shade compared to the more common dark red. His thoughts as he looked at her were: She is so beautiful!
He touched her hand, gave a gentle squeeze, and then touched her neck with his three fingers, running it through the short hair that covered it.
“I wanted to show you our new home,” he whispered in her ear.
Gergin had been busy with the approach to their destination for the last four days, and she hadn’t seen much of him. It had been over a week since their previous rendezvous, and she missed lying close to him in the darkened descent vehicle.
She longed for his strong arms pressing her tight to him. The memory of their faces pressed cheek to cheek and his warm breath had been on her mind. She wanted more than their brief encounters allowed and hoped their relationship could be more open once they landed.
Sitting together, Gergin grinned what she called his guilty grin. “We are in orbit, and the views of this planet are breathtaking—vast bodies of water, enormous forests, and high mountains. The mountains on Tridon are just jagged rock spires compared to these. And we’ve only seen a small part of the surface.”
She could feel his enthusiasm. “Have you picked our landing site?”
“No, we are just mapping the predominant features. Then, we will use that to study a few areas in greater detail. We only get one chance to pick where we land.”
“You guys are so methodical. Does it make that much difference?”
“This planet is much bigger than Tridon. We have to land where we will find food and water. Some areas are all water, and some mountains are so rugged we would crash. We are still deciding on the critical characteristics of our landing site.”
“Do you think there is intelligent life down there?”
“I hope not, but the conditions for life couldn’t be better. So, we are monitoring all electromagnetic transmission frequencies and scanning for satellites. The Commander isn’t going to rush the landing.”
“The gravity must be much stronger if the planet is much larger.” She said, thinking about the civilians who were in poor physical shape.
“Yes. The gravity is about 10 percent more than the scientists estimated.”
“How does the light spectrum compare? Will we have to use our eyepiece filters as we did on that dreadful moon mission?”
“That was a horror show! No, our instruments indicate the light spectrum is a close fit. It's a little brighter here but less ultraviolet. We should be OK.”
“When can we see it? I know our passengers are excited and realize that the picture on their screens hasn’t been updated. They are starting to ask questions.”
“The Commander wants to talk to them when everyone is up and clear-headed. Then, he will show them the visuals we are studying. I don’t know what he will tell them, but I know he has been thinking about this for a long time.”
“We have one more group to get up, so everyone will be ready in two days. But, unfortunately, this last group is the weakest, and I worry most will not be able to endure the landing G-forces,” Enaida said.
“I hope you’re wrong, but many failed to exercise despite everything we said.”
“Has the Commander decided who would be on each landing vehicle?”
“I don’t think so.. He's focused on who will be on each Advance Team. He and Ecurben will command the two descent vehicles. That's all I know.”.
“We have to be on the same one. I couldn’t stand not being with you. The landers might not come down close to one another,” she said, desperation in her eyes.
Gergin took her hand. “Don’t worry. The other officers know about us. Come, let's get some food.”
“Everyone's been eating these meal bars and drinks made with flavored powders forever. I wonder what preparing a meal from plants and animals is like?”
“What brought that out?” Gergin asked.
“One of my passengers, an Amilikut woman, told me how they made meals. It sounded much more inviting than our ‘rip a packet and swallow’ fare.”
“That will be a big change. For a hundred years, the Mamlaka have controlled all food on Tridon. Everyone gets the prescribed food packets. That's all anyone knows.”
“Well, once we land, life will be very different. The food the ship brought will not last long. Do you think the passengers have any idea of what's ahead?
”The Amilikut understand. Survival is how they have always lived. But the Mamlaka and Rabizut don’t. So there is going to be a lot of complaining.”
Gergin and Enaida took empty food containers to a dispenser in the galley. Pressing it onto a coupling, it filled with a concoction, the consistency of hot oatmeal cereal, flavored with their favorite blend of spices and additives. When they finished eating, they returned the containers to a machine that cleaned and held them for future use. This kind of automated, standardized food system was what everyone knew. Even the astronauts had no idea of how they would eat after landing.