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Authors: Brian Wolfenden
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major strategic or life threatening decisions would be by secret ballot, majority applies. In the event of a tie, AJ will make the casting vote – there can be no abstentions. In AJ’s absence - and I don’t think he’s going anywhere – Martha will assume the role of mission commander and the same rules will apply.
‘Now I must remind you of the key instructions you must follow when investigating the SOS message which is still signalling to us here on Mars.
‘You must observe thoroughly and gather sufficient information to make controlled decisions.
‘You must obey the quarantine procedures to the letter.
‘You must be very careful not to interact with whatever is on that planet - this is a key interplanetary code.
‘Above all, your safety is paramount – if in doubt pull out and wait for LifeSeeker-2.
‘And so fellow astronauts, I wish you a successful mission and I will be watching your progress for as long as God permits me. Good luck and good–bye!’
With that his face disappeared and the whole dome started changing from black, through grey and then translucent. Suddenly outer space filled the horizon and what a spectacular sight awaited the astronauts.
BOOK THREE
CLOUD PLANET
Chapter 16
Survey
The astronauts sat spellbound. To the upper left of the dome a bright golden orb dominated the vista, illuminating its space with brilliant rays.
‘The star Seren is about 20 per cent bigger than our sun but of similar intensity, and is approximately 150 million kilometres away. Seren has seven orbiting planets, four of which are gas giants like Jupiter and two are ringed planets similar to Saturn.’
An arrow took their eye to the lower right of the dome, where there was a ball of multi-coloured swirling gases.
‘Four times the size of Jupiter and about 50 million kilometres from LifeSeeker 1 – I can already sense its huge gravitational field – this is as close as we get.’
The backdrop of space was an intense blue, deepening to purples and blacks and studded with specs of light.
‘The other stars of the constellation of Vircingetorix and, in the centre......’
Zec-C paused and the astronauts leaned forward in anticipation as anarrow highlighted a larger spec of light,
‘......our first view of Cloud Planet. She is about 30 million kilometres from us and 140 million from her star.’
‘Comparable to the distance between the Sun and Earth.’ Mused Scott to no one in particular and, then, he peered closer. ‘Is it my imagination or can I see faint streaks of light from the planet towards the star?’
By way of answer, Zec-C magnified the image incrementally until it occupied a large slice of the dome. The planet was truly remarkable with brilliant white caps at its poles and huge swathes of deep blue on either side of its equator. But most astounding was the huge collar of white and grey that completely encircled the strange world at its equator.
‘The planet is 50,000 kilometres in circumference at the equator, a little larger than earth, and the white collar is 2000 kilometres wide and approximately 50 kilometres above ‘sea’ level. It is rotating on an axis with its poles absolutely perpendicular to its star – that means the white collar points directly at Seren during each revolution which takes 20 of our hours.’
It was difficult to digest all these statistics because the astronauts were transfixed by the light shafts that emanated from within the collar. As they shot outwards in the direction of Seren, they seemed to merge into one shaft of light. However, as the eye moved towards the demarcation of day and night, so the light shafts stopped and the cloud collar became darker.
‘Is there a land mass beneath those clouds?’ this from Steve.
‘Yes, and it is approximately 2000 kilometres wide but we need to get nearer before I can penetrate that
‘Now I must remind you of the key instructions you must follow when investigating the SOS message which is still signalling to us here on Mars.
‘You must observe thoroughly and gather sufficient information to make controlled decisions.
‘You must obey the quarantine procedures to the letter.
‘You must be very careful not to interact with whatever is on that planet - this is a key interplanetary code.
‘Above all, your safety is paramount – if in doubt pull out and wait for LifeSeeker-2.
‘And so fellow astronauts, I wish you a successful mission and I will be watching your progress for as long as God permits me. Good luck and good–bye!’
With that his face disappeared and the whole dome started changing from black, through grey and then translucent. Suddenly outer space filled the horizon and what a spectacular sight awaited the astronauts.
BOOK THREE
CLOUD PLANET
Chapter 16
Survey
The astronauts sat spellbound. To the upper left of the dome a bright golden orb dominated the vista, illuminating its space with brilliant rays.
‘The star Seren is about 20 per cent bigger than our sun but of similar intensity, and is approximately 150 million kilometres away. Seren has seven orbiting planets, four of which are gas giants like Jupiter and two are ringed planets similar to Saturn.’
An arrow took their eye to the lower right of the dome, where there was a ball of multi-coloured swirling gases.
‘Four times the size of Jupiter and about 50 million kilometres from LifeSeeker 1 – I can already sense its huge gravitational field – this is as close as we get.’
The backdrop of space was an intense blue, deepening to purples and blacks and studded with specs of light.
‘The other stars of the constellation of Vircingetorix and, in the centre......’
Zec-C paused and the astronauts leaned forward in anticipation as anarrow highlighted a larger spec of light,
‘......our first view of Cloud Planet. She is about 30 million kilometres from us and 140 million from her star.’
‘Comparable to the distance between the Sun and Earth.’ Mused Scott to no one in particular and, then, he peered closer. ‘Is it my imagination or can I see faint streaks of light from the planet towards the star?’
By way of answer, Zec-C magnified the image incrementally until it occupied a large slice of the dome. The planet was truly remarkable with brilliant white caps at its poles and huge swathes of deep blue on either side of its equator. But most astounding was the huge collar of white and grey that completely encircled the strange world at its equator.
‘The planet is 50,000 kilometres in circumference at the equator, a little larger than earth, and the white collar is 2000 kilometres wide and approximately 50 kilometres above ‘sea’ level. It is rotating on an axis with its poles absolutely perpendicular to its star – that means the white collar points directly at Seren during each revolution which takes 20 of our hours.’
It was difficult to digest all these statistics because the astronauts were transfixed by the light shafts that emanated from within the collar. As they shot outwards in the direction of Seren, they seemed to merge into one shaft of light. However, as the eye moved towards the demarcation of day and night, so the light shafts stopped and the cloud collar became darker.
‘Is there a land mass beneath those clouds?’ this from Steve.
‘Yes, and it is approximately 2000 kilometres wide but we need to get nearer before I can penetrate that
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