to be a point zero two percent
variation so far. In other words, if we target something ten thousand
light years away, the destination aperture could show up exactly at that point,
or anywhere in a two light year spherical radius. Because of that, I
suggest we never aim right at where we want to go, but at least two point five
light years outside our target solar system for every ten thousand light years
we attempt to travel. I suggest that feature be automatic. It
shouldn’t have much impact, even if we come out four light years away, that’s
less than a minute at full speed FTL.
“Secondly, I suggest each wormhole drive be calibrated
independently, and at least every three months because of the minor variations
in emitters and energy signatures even though each part is built exactly the
same under tight tolerance.”
“Fair enough, I agree.”
Coming out inside a sun or other planetary body was less
likely than winning the lottery, but why take the chance?
I waited a moment as we walked in the dining room. He
didn’t have anything further to say so we grabbed some lunch…
Chapter
10
I looked down on a planet that wasn’t pretty, but was at the
same time. The water was a deep blue that lightened slightly around the
island chains. There were two tropical storms I could see from orbit and
wondered if that would be a constant issue. We could build for them, but
it would certainly make it harder to plant and farm.
About four fifths of the planet was covered in ocean, the
atmosphere was breathable, a little lower in oxygen than ours, and higher in
carbon dioxide, but not to toxic levels. I’d imagine some light
terraforming, plant life, trees and the like, would change that. The
atmospheric pressure was a little higher than Earth at sea level, and the gravity
was one point one of Earth’s gravity.
The island chains seemed to be stable, and there was very
little apparent volcanic activity. It actually made me wonder if the race
that had apparently seeded the galaxy with humanoid life, hadn’t had a hand in
the planets as well. Mostly, the life giving worlds we found were
suitable for human habitation. No thicker atmospheres, or gravity we
can’t live in, the list goes on.
I had no proof of course, but the coincidences associated
with life in the Milky Way galaxy just never seemed to end. Even the
axial tilt was similar to Earth, although a little smaller. It looked
like this planet would wobble between eighteen and twenty
degree tilt, opposed to the twenty-two to twenty-four degrees of
Earth. That would, I believe, make the seasonal changes a little milder,
but the North and South poles a little less livable than on Earth.
That was the limit of what our sensors could tell us,
compositions, forces, and elements. Several shuttles with scientists were
sent down for a survey, looking for any virus or bacteria that may be inimical
to human life or the kind of life, such as animal and plant, that we needed to
transport here to make it an independent colony.
The scientists of course would be wearing their skin suits
sealed up, and go through decontamination protocols when returning to the
ship. I was curious to go down there, but didn’t see the point if I
couldn’t breathe the air, so I’d wait. It shouldn’t take more than a
couple of days I’d imagine.
If the planet did pan out, and so far we’d seen no
indications it wouldn’t, the plans called for leaving behind twenty ships with
a rear admiral lower, and moving twenty platforms and five thousand Shield
missiles to the system. At that point… the civilians would get a shot at
creating Earth’s first colony. I was kind of excited about it, but at the
same time I knew I was getting ahead of myself, the planet needed to fully
check out first.
It would be about twelve hours. The various groups
would release a cloud of medical grade nanites to check for anything that might
be poisonous and couldn’t be
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