Approaching Omega Read Online Free Page A
Author: Eric Brown
everything going on when we awoke, it never occurred to me."
"Nor me," Latimer admitted. "Go on."
"Well," Li said, "according to the log, we've been in flight for a little over one thousand and eighty years. In that time we've covered not quite two hundred light years."
Latimer nodded. The figures were an abstraction he had no real hope of understanding. They had travelled farther than any human before them — they were pushing the limits of exploration in a way that, twenty-five years ago, before the development of the Hanson-Spirek coil, no one would have thought possible.
Such a fragile cargo of life in the infinite depths of space.
Guessing where this was leading, Latimer said: "Two hundred light years — so how many planetary systems did we investigate?"
Li glanced at Renfrew, then said: "Twenty."
"Twenty?" he echoed. What had Omega forecast? That the chances were they would discover a habitable planet — or at least a planet that might prove adaptable — within ten attempts?
"And not one of them matched Omega's wide criteria for a liveable planet," Li went on. "Not one. Nothing." She gestured to the screen. "It's all there, planet after barren, hostile planet. Twenty worlds matched the criteria insofar as distance from primary, but all failed when it came to biosphere make-up and atmosphere content. There wasn't even one world back there we could terraform with any hope of success."
"Jesus Christ," Latimer said. The parameters that the Omega Corporation had set for terraforming had been pretty elastic. With the cold sleep facility, the colonists could wait out something in the order of twenty thousand years, while a planet was remade, before systems degradation kicked in.
Into the following silence, Emecheta said: "So where does that leave us?"
"I've made a few calculations," Li said, "extrapolating from the data gathered so far. I don't know... I can't be sure... I'd really like Central to back me up on this, but Central's down, so..."
"Jenny," Latimer said, exasperated.
"Well, I calculated that going by the data gathered so far, then it might be another thirty thousand years before we find a suitable Earth-like, or even terraformable, planet."
In the sudden silence, Latimer could hear the ticking of his heart, the slight movement of Renfrew's chair as she rocked back and forth, and Emecheta's heavy breathing.
He nodded. "Okay, thanks for that, Jenny." He sat down and looked around at his team. "Does anyone have any comments?"
Emecheta merely stared down at his big hands. Renfrew just shook her head, appalled. Li could not meet his gaze.
"Jenny?" he asked.
"Well, I just wondered... I thought maybe we might consider the possibility of turning back."
The words seemed to freeze the very air of the chamber.
After perhaps five seconds, Emecheta laughed. "Turn back to what, girl? Get real. Earth's probably blown itself to hell and back!"
Latimer said: "We can't turn back, even if we knew Earth was AOK." He paused, gathering his thoughts. "So you think we won't come across a habitable planet for thirty thousand years, based on data gathered so far. But that doesn't rule out the chance that we might — just might — come across something within the next twenty thousand years before degradation sets in. We've got to keep on."
Li looked forlorn. "But how long do we go on before we decide that enough's enough? What if we haven't come across a suitable planet in that time? The cold sleep system will be so degraded it'll be useless, with no hope of repair. What then?"
"We'll have found a suitable planet by that time, Jenny. You studied Omega's predictions. We all agreed with them back then."
"Predictions," the Korean countered. "What we're faced with now are hard facts. Evidence."
Latimer took a deep breath. "So okay, we turn back. We return to Earth — if it's still there — in what? Far longer than the thousand years it took us to get this far, now that we're travelling on one drive. Can you
"Nor me," Latimer admitted. "Go on."
"Well," Li said, "according to the log, we've been in flight for a little over one thousand and eighty years. In that time we've covered not quite two hundred light years."
Latimer nodded. The figures were an abstraction he had no real hope of understanding. They had travelled farther than any human before them — they were pushing the limits of exploration in a way that, twenty-five years ago, before the development of the Hanson-Spirek coil, no one would have thought possible.
Such a fragile cargo of life in the infinite depths of space.
Guessing where this was leading, Latimer said: "Two hundred light years — so how many planetary systems did we investigate?"
Li glanced at Renfrew, then said: "Twenty."
"Twenty?" he echoed. What had Omega forecast? That the chances were they would discover a habitable planet — or at least a planet that might prove adaptable — within ten attempts?
"And not one of them matched Omega's wide criteria for a liveable planet," Li went on. "Not one. Nothing." She gestured to the screen. "It's all there, planet after barren, hostile planet. Twenty worlds matched the criteria insofar as distance from primary, but all failed when it came to biosphere make-up and atmosphere content. There wasn't even one world back there we could terraform with any hope of success."
"Jesus Christ," Latimer said. The parameters that the Omega Corporation had set for terraforming had been pretty elastic. With the cold sleep facility, the colonists could wait out something in the order of twenty thousand years, while a planet was remade, before systems degradation kicked in.
Into the following silence, Emecheta said: "So where does that leave us?"
"I've made a few calculations," Li said, "extrapolating from the data gathered so far. I don't know... I can't be sure... I'd really like Central to back me up on this, but Central's down, so..."
"Jenny," Latimer said, exasperated.
"Well, I calculated that going by the data gathered so far, then it might be another thirty thousand years before we find a suitable Earth-like, or even terraformable, planet."
In the sudden silence, Latimer could hear the ticking of his heart, the slight movement of Renfrew's chair as she rocked back and forth, and Emecheta's heavy breathing.
He nodded. "Okay, thanks for that, Jenny." He sat down and looked around at his team. "Does anyone have any comments?"
Emecheta merely stared down at his big hands. Renfrew just shook her head, appalled. Li could not meet his gaze.
"Jenny?" he asked.
"Well, I just wondered... I thought maybe we might consider the possibility of turning back."
The words seemed to freeze the very air of the chamber.
After perhaps five seconds, Emecheta laughed. "Turn back to what, girl? Get real. Earth's probably blown itself to hell and back!"
Latimer said: "We can't turn back, even if we knew Earth was AOK." He paused, gathering his thoughts. "So you think we won't come across a habitable planet for thirty thousand years, based on data gathered so far. But that doesn't rule out the chance that we might — just might — come across something within the next twenty thousand years before degradation sets in. We've got to keep on."
Li looked forlorn. "But how long do we go on before we decide that enough's enough? What if we haven't come across a suitable planet in that time? The cold sleep system will be so degraded it'll be useless, with no hope of repair. What then?"
"We'll have found a suitable planet by that time, Jenny. You studied Omega's predictions. We all agreed with them back then."
"Predictions," the Korean countered. "What we're faced with now are hard facts. Evidence."
Latimer took a deep breath. "So okay, we turn back. We return to Earth — if it's still there — in what? Far longer than the thousand years it took us to get this far, now that we're travelling on one drive. Can you
Readers choose
Danielle Foxton
Tracy Brown
Eliza Stout
Laurie Alice Eakes
Kimberly Malone
Tom Perrotta
Michael Baron
Joe Bruno
Tracy Brogan