Onboard the Eos

Personal ship of Team Leader Michael A. Sorenson

Stars sang in his eyes as the ship dropped from the jump path into normal space. The pressure on his insides eased, and slowly his body returned to normal. Michael took a deep breath, relieved to be out of jump at last. He started to reach for the navigation console, but the ship was already changing direction.

“Setting course for Iolanthe orbit. ETA in approximately fifteen hours, forty-three minutes, and twenty seconds.”

Fifteen hours! Restlessness filled him at the thought of yet more travel. To distract himself, he queued up the autopilot, commanding, “Eos, give me a visual on Iolanthe.”

“Accessing Iolanthian satellite imagery.”

For several seconds, the viewscreen remained blank but for the operational data scrolling across the starry background of space, and then the satellite feeds connected. His mouth dropped open. All restlessness, all impatience, all sentiments save for one fell away from his mind in a single instant.

“Stars save us.”