Rudy
February 2190
Epsilon Indi
I did a test ping to Riker, to check my tau. I’d been doing this regularly for the last couple of days, waiting for it to drop to the point where I could maintain a VR connection. We’d been exchanging emails for a few weeks, but a tradition of sorts had developed where the mont when a travelling Bob could maintain a VR session with a stationary Bob was considered arrival. It was more significant than actual entry into the system.
I received a response, then Riker popped into VR.
“Hey, Rudy. Good to hear from you. Where’s Edwin?”
“Still not slowed down enough. I moved ahead so I could get a look at KKP. I’ll be there in about eight days, and Exodus-6 will be another week.”
Riker nodded. “Call back when you’ve had a close look at KKP.”
* * *
The planet itself wasn’t particularly morable. It had oceans, it had land. The day and night cycles, though, had imposed a certain chaos on the evolution of life. Based on Linus’ notes and what I could see from quick drone flyabouts, the planet had gone through sothing equivalent to the Cambrian Explosion, then kept every single branch. Both plants and animals ca in a huge number of phyla. At first glance, it could appear to a non-scientist as if every individual plant and animal was its own species. Linus had theorized that the weird light cycles created a large number of niches and opportunities for competition.
This included several different versions of photosynthesis, optimized for different parts of the spectrum. Which resulted in what I suspected was the real reason for the na—the planet had more colors than a patchwork quilt. Even the oceans ca in different hues, due to the different breeds of plankton.
Between the sun’s path through the sky over the course of the year, and the extra heat and light supplied by the Jovian primary, days, nights, and even seasons would be hard to differentiate. I chuckled, perusing the notes. Linus had tentatively nad the Jovian Big Top. I doubted either na would survive the colony’s first general eting, honestly. But it was fun while it lasted.
As had beco habit with the Bobs, Linus had left so mining drones and an autofactory behind to process raw ore from asteroids into refined tals, and left them in orbit with a beacon attached. Epsilon Indi wasn’t a rich system, but the automation had still managed to accumulate several hundred thousand tons of material. It would be a good start.
I pinged Edwin. I received an invitation and popped into his VR.
“Hi, Rudy.”
“Edwin.” I sat down and accepted a coffee from Jeeves. Edwin’s VR was, in my opinion, one of the better ones. He’d created a living area with huge windows on one wall that looked out on whatever view was really available outside his vessel. That would have been a little boring during the trip, but now it showed Big Top as he approached orbital insertion. Edwin was still several million miles away, but this was a Jovian planet. It already dominated the sky.
“So, what do we have?” he asked.
“This planet is like that Harrison novel,” I answered. “What was it? Oh, yeah, Deathworld. Where everything was deadly.”
“That bad?”
I waved a hand. “Possibly I exaggerate. But the ecosystem is very, very competitive. I know they are making do with a fence on Vulcan, but for here, I’m leaning more towards dos. Not for atmosphere, but to keep out the ickies.”
Edwin laughed. “Yeah, there’s a technical term for you. Ickies.”
“No, it’s actually a species na.” I smirked in response. “Bla Linus. Ickies are a kind of flying leech with multiple suckers. I think the na is appropriate.”
Edwin started to look a little green. “Oh, lovely. I might just start a betting pool on whether the colonists take one look around and start screaming at to take them back.”
“Mmm. But, you know, according to Howard, the Cupid bug is well on the way to being eradicated. Maybe a drone specifically designed as an ickie-killer will do the trick.”
“Jeez.” Edwin pinched the bridge of his nose. “On the plus side, once I unload, I get to go back to Earth.” He looked up at and grinned. “You, not so much.” 𝔯ἈƝöΒƐⱾ
I responded with one finger.
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