Entering the forward cabin, they climbed to the command and control center, where Stasz was already strapped into his couch with Shelley in the nav — com position beside him. The vessel lurched again, nearly knocking Ian off his feet. Climbing up the ladder, he finally came up along side of Ellen, who was peering over Stasz's shoulder at a display board that was all but incomprehensible to him.
"How bad is it?" Ian whispered.
"Bad? It's fantastic," Shelley exulted. "We might have something."
"What!"
"Hang on a minute, Doc," Stasz muttered as his fingers raced across the control panel. Hooking on his mike, he watched the display for a moment then started calling up more data.
"Confirm, configuration, ship relative 21.34.45.01 hours R.A., 00, 02 Dec."
Within seconds the data design snapped across the largest of the monitors on the display board.
"Jesus, it's a thousand K across," Stasz murmured. "I think we've definitely got something here."
"What is?" Ellen asked.
"That's why the alarm went off. I programmed ship's nav to sound an alarm and automatically home onto any largely metallic, object we encountered. Well, here we are."
Stasz looked over his shoulder and smiled at Ian.
"You're in luck, Doc, I think we've just found your first colony."
"But a thousand K across? They never built anything that big," Ian muttered.
"Yes they did," Shelley said meekly, fearful at cor recting her mentor. "Solar sails."
"But out here, why keep them deployed? The solar wind is negligible. There isn't any evidence of a laser drive base behind them."
"We'll soon find out why," Stasz interjected. "Our ship has already locked on and is three days out with only a mild deviation from our original course."
He scanned the display board again, called for a re confirm, then looked back at Ian with a puzzled expres sion.
"Curious."
"What's that?"
"They're heading inbound toward Earth at point zero one two L.S. I thought you said all these guys were trying to get away. This one is hanging sails to the wind where there is no wind and running inbound."
Ian looked at the display showing him that soon he would come face to face with a world out of the past.
He felt the cold stir of fear.
Chapter 5
Colonial Unit 181
First Completion Date: 2031
Primary Function: Standard Japanese Colonial/Manufac turing Unit
Evacuation Date: Estimated June 2083, one of the first units recorded to have completed its conversion and departure.
Overall Design: Standard Mitsubishi Design Unit Double Torus. Maximum Population Potential (MPP) of 37,500 with standard mix of software/hardware industry and experimental design work on self-replicating processing system.
Propulsion: Solar Sail with matter/antimatter boost.
Course: Galactic Core.
Political/Social Orientation: Hierarchical Corporate Model with head of each family responding to subsystem leader. Standard Social Orientation and Interactive Systems.
"Program engage, jump-down to match V-l, target Al pha, close to point zero zero one A.U., engage."
Stasz turned in his couch and smiled at the rest of the crew. "Be sure you're strapped in," he said with a laugh. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the half-chewed stub of an unlit cigar and waved it at Shelley.
"You sure that belt is strapped tight? I don't want you falling out of your couch, the way you did last time," He reached over as if to help her, but she hurriedly showed him that it was snugged in tight around her hips and the cross belting of the shoulder harness was properly se cured.
A high-pitched warning Klaxon sounded-the thirty- second mark to jump down.
"Don't worry, folks, this one ain't so dangerous. Only a point twenty-four percent probability of disintegration."
"How reassuring," Ellen whispered.
It was their second jump of the day, the last one having been completed only minutes earlier. They had closed in on their target and jumped down to a relative speed of zero in relation to their original trajectory. But since the target was in fact inbound toward Earth, they were taking a short jump to close to maneuvering range.
"Ten seconds and sequencing start."
Ian could feel the inertia-dampening system hum to life, and it was almost a signal for his stomach to get ready with its usual reaction.
The jump-down hit. Overall velocity was still sublight so the effects weren't too bad, but it still took Shelley several minutes to help Ian with his post-jump cleanup.
Ian could hear the soft gasps of astonishment from Richard and Ellen, and looking past his own tragic prob lems, he saw a sight that was stunning, after weeks of Doppler-shifted light.
Even from thousands of K out, the sails of the vessel filled a good part of their visual range.
"Look, Ian, I think it's a double torus," Shelley said.
Ian realized that for the first time she wasn't calling him Dr. Lacklin.
Ian looked to Stasz's radar display and Shelley's keen vision was confirmed by the screen. A standard double torus. Not the most efficient design, but fairly popular nevertheless.
"Do you have any idea which one it is?" Ellen asked.
"Too early to tell. Shelley, could you access my ship configuration data file? Cross-check it with known double torus designs that headed out on this trajectory."
She started working while the others fell into silence as the vessel and its sails filled an ever-larger portion of their field of view. Stasz had programmed their jump to perfection, with just enough residual velocity so they could safely close in.
Ian suddenly realized he was trembling. He wasn't sure if it was from fear, anticipation, or, most likely, a healthy mixture of both.
"I know how you feel, my dear friend," Richard said, patting him on the shoulder. "The first night of my mar riage to Ethel, I was trembling just like you."
"And she was most likely trembling with disgust until she finally got that divorce," Ellen whispered sotto voce.
It broke the tension enough that all of them could laugh for a minute.
As they watched, the double ring came closer into view, so that its central support shaft could soon be made out in the faint glow of deep space starlight.
"Have you set the radio for the frequencies I suggested?" Ian asked.
"The signal will pulse out on all frequencies you mentioned, along with several I think might be worth looking into."
Ian activated his headset and nodded for Stasz to open the line.
He looked around at his colleagues and tried to conjure up the correct words in Old English.
"This is Earth vessel Discovery calling, Earth vessel Discovery. Please respond."
Nothing.
"Asleep at the switchboard most likely," Stasz said in a reassuring voice. "Hell, there can be times when no one is on the com for hours. I daresay they don't expect a visitor to drop in every day, the way we do."
"This is Earth research vessel Discovery approaching and requesting docking information."
"Ah, Dr. Lacklin, try Japanese," Shelley said.
"How's that?"
"According to your data, there were twenty-three double torus designs, of which eight used sails. And of those eight, six were Japanese."
He tried to remember his Old Japanese, and after a minute or so, he believed he got off a reasonable message. Still no response, so Stasz looped recording of lan's re quest while they settled back.
"These ships have automatic piloting systems that detect and give alarm for any object bigger than a pea that approaches within ten thousand K," Ian said softly. "It could be that no one has gotten into the control room yet. If anyone's alive in there."
"There's significant damage to the sail area," Stasz interjected. "Number of lines parted, numerous punctures, I detect holes larger than one K in the central area. And I think we're picking up a reading here that indicates a significant holing on the main shaft of the vessel."