In the shadow of the stolen light
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There was a pause. Lora couldn’t see Derek’s eyes behind the dark glasses.
“Derek?” Lora was closely watching the young man, “Have you remembered something?”
He seemed to have plunged into his thoughts again as had happened many times until that moment..
“No,” answered Derek, “Anyway, I must go back. If your experts can’t find the answers on the onboard computer, I’ll find out everything myself on Earth.”
“You’ll have to cross half a galaxy to go back,” exclaimed Paul, “Literally.”
“Do I have a choice?” asked the guest.
“It’s important to wait for the test results from the IT department,” answered the captain calmly. “And, of course the medical department results as the return might not be safe…”
“What if there are survivors on Earth and they need help?!” Lora joined the conversation. “What if the old feud doesn’t matter anymore and we can go back home forever?!”
“Slow down, I don’t follow you,” said Paul.
“But I do,” Derek’s words resounded with unshakable confidence. “The only way to find out is to return to Earth.”
“Paul,” the girl looked at her friend, “We must speak to the Council!”
“Do you want…”
“To prepare an expedition to Earth!”
The young man raised his hands.
“Whoah! An expedition through half a galaxy? Based on bare assumptions?”
“We have nothing else,” Lora shrugged, “Why wait…”
“Two hundred years have passed,” the captain negatively shook his head, “Why should we hurry now?”
“We’re moving further and further away from Earth,” Lora found a sensible argument.
“Yes, but…”
“But the next Lactian year we’ll surely spend on Vistana’s orbit, collaborating with the Lactians. It’s our chance to fly to Earth and come back!”
“I’d like to address the Council myself,” the guest interrupted their argument. Lora looked at Derek. He sounded very confident. “Is it possible?”
“Of course,” she nodded.
“But what are you going to tell them?” asked Paul, “Ungrounded assumptions are not going to be enough. If only you had some facts…”
“My memories are still hidden from me. But when I heard Lora’s assumptions, they seemed very realistic. I can’t prove anything; but, in my opinion, waiting for the test results is a waste of time.”
“You’re both very stubborn,” suddenly smiled the captain. “I believe, if a sustainable expedition plan is devised the Council will give an affirmative answer.”
Lora nodded energetically.
“Will you help us?”
“On one condition, which you, I have no doubt, will find very reasonable,” Paul paused and stared at his companions. “It’s not the best idea to present a project like this to the Council at the peak of the evacuation. We’ll wait till our arrival on Vistana and then come forward with our suggestion.”
His companions didn’t think much.
“Sound logical,” Lora smiled, seeing that Derek also nodded in agreement.
“What are you doing after dinner?” Paul asked suddenly. He sensed Derek’s unhappy mood and wanted to cheer him up.
“We were going to the archive…” Lora pulled a plate with salad and a glass of juice closer.
“My crew is going to Gron, one of Taria’s moons, in two hours. We need to collect the equipment of the portable observatory back to Titanium. Would you like to come with us? I promise a walk in a spacesuit.”
“Are you serious?” Derek asked with excitement.
“Absolutely serious!”
The earthling turned to Lora.
“It’ll be nice to do something different together for a change,” she nodded smiling. “The spacesuits with neurocontrol are quite easy to use. Also we’ll show you the Equatorial transport terminal from inside!”
“Then I’ll be waiting for you at platform B-278 in an hour,” said the captain contentedly. “After a short training session, we’ll be ready to set off.”
Chapter 5
An hour later, Lora and Derek went out of the tele-cabin and onto the landing platform. The inner area of the Equatorial transport terminal, where they happened to be, was filled with air. Thousands of docking modules and landing platforms for the freight as well as the public space transport could be found there. A seven-kilometre wide circular system of gateways separated the spherical hangar, ninety kilometres in diameter, from the outer area, where there was no atmosphere and the ships arrived right after passing through the protective field. The young people were standing almost in the middle of the hangar, while the blue nucleus of the artificial planet was, as usual, glowing several thousand metres over their heads.
“So, I was brought on Titanium on board this beauty,” asked Derek, his hand gliding on the silver cover of the shuttle while he was observing the huge spacecraft with great interest.
“Yes, it’s series one hundred and one. Compared to the majority of ships, this is a tiny one,” explained the girl. “Paul calls her a whale.”
The young man looked at Lora questioningly.
“Its shape and smooth lines resemble the blue whale, living in the depth of the Earth’s oceans,” explained the captain appearing next to them as if by magic.
“Where did you come from?” said Lora surprised.
“We’re testing the teleport system on short distances,” smiled Paul. “Are you ready to come on board?”
The briefing and the flight to the moon passed in a friendly informal atmosphere. The shuttle crew clearly liked Derek, and the feeling was mutual. Also, the earthling showed great interest in the modern space technologies and listened carefully to everything Stan, the mechanical engineer, was telling him. Aswell as this, the panoramic glazing of the bridge was not left unnoticed either. When the shuttle left the transport terminal, Derek was watching with genuine amazement the blue glow of Titanium slowly melting in the darkness of the space and the sparkling lines of ships flocking towards it. However, the proximity of Tarias satellite deprived the earthling of the opportunity to enjoy the flight with all his heart. Very soon, the silver ship landed on the crater-covered moon.