Sky-watching, Lessa thought sternly, ought to be congenial to the less flexible bronze and brown riders. Blue and green riders were not so prone to stand on dignity and tradition.
"F'lar," and G'narish rose to his feet so suddenly that F'lar motioned for him to go ahead, "there've been rumors in Igen that the Fireball was the result of diverting the Red Star!"
"Shards, I hope you stifled such idiocy," F'lar said, disgusted.
"By Aivas, there is absolutely no possibility of that, G'narish," Lytol replied in vigorous protest. "I have made an exhaustive study of the physics and mathematics of that remarkable effort. Aivas was a superb astrophysicist. He was especially thorough in the matter of possible perturbations and every single equation of effect was faultlessly accurate. Waiting until the planet was far enough from Pern to assure that displacements would be negligible was one of the main reasons we had to delay the blasts, to achieve the maximum effect."
Abruptly Jaxom started to choke, a reflex that had him sputtering until Sharra thumped him on the back and the spasm subsided.
"Another reason being that we had to learn many new techniques to do so," D'ram said, his tone slightly acerbic.
"But if Aivas knewwhere everything else around us was," G'dened began in his rambling way, "then why don't we just use his records and not have to bother with this sky watch… rigmarole."
"Because," F'lessan began urgently before anyone else, "comets keep coming through, from the Oort cloud or beyond, because meteors and asteroids collide and fragments-possibly one like our Fireball-can spread in all directions, and we need to know where they are and where they're going! It doesn't matter that we haven't figured out how to stopthem, but we certainly can learn how to spot them!"
Jaxom, N'ton, and D'ram cheered and clapped their hands,
Wansor positively beamed, Erragon looked immensely relieved, and even Lytol managed another smile.
"I think that should clarify the issue, G'dened," F'lar said, raising his hands for silence.
"It's certainly the plan we should present to the Council," D'ram said. "Put some heart into us, too, F'lessan! Do you happen to have any more prints like the one you showed G'dened? Perhaps a little clearer."
"We do," and he included Tai in his gesture, "so does Erragon from both Cove Hold and Stinar's link with the Yoko"Taking the prints in his hand, F'lessan glanced at each one before he began dealing them out to the Weyrleaders. "These are some that Tai has taken of what lies beyond our system." He shot a glance at Erragon. "She figured out how to do this 'unsharp masking' from her watches at Cove Hold. The technique reduces the intensity of the bright parts," he leaned over to tap the one in front of T'gellan, "and brings out sharp detail. That's a nebulosity-looks like a blob but there are stars imbedded in it. See? Those blurs are actually stars."
"Can stars be pink like that?" T'gellan asked, amazed and intrigued, holding the print up so that Mirrim and Talina could see it.
F'lessan chuckled. "Or blue, lavender, and white." He held up another for all to see. "We took this when we got the monitor up on the Honshu scope. This cartwheel is a galaxy far, far away. Actually, our sky is rather dark, apart from what Aivas called the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds."
"And these spirals?" asked Lessa, peering at the one in front of her. "There're so many." She was awed.
"Are these clusters all stars?" F'lar asked Tai, showing her the print he had picked up from the table.
"Global clusters," she replied.
"Good work," Erragon said, nodding approval. "You've made notes of time and position?"
"Of course, though these were random shots because I was actually experimenting with the filters Honshu has, trying to see more detail," Tai replied.
"And everyone can see these?" Mirrim regarded Tai with obvious respect. "You star-gaze for a reason?"
"That's part of it," Tai said, her dusky skin flushed with both pleasure and embarrassment.
"Just think what we could see and understand about the cosmos," F'lessan said, his eyes bright with such a visionary gleam that Lessa regarded the bronze rider with admiration, "if we had more observatories and people trained to watch."
G'dened grunted, unimpressed, flicking his fingers at the beautiful starscapes, and glared at F'lessan. "You said those were far, far away. Isn't it the nearby stuff you're supposed to be watching?"
"Oh, we do more of that." F'lessan splayed out another set of prints in front of the Oldtimer.
G'dened recoiled suspiciously. "Looks like a bug-eaten tuber." He picked up one, studied it briefly before discarding it contemptuously. "More holes than reef rock."
"Ah," and F'lessan waggled a finger at him. "Those asteroids are not far enough away. What looks bug-eaten is where other flying bits have made craters in the surface. Or where gases that were once in the asteroid blew out." Then F'lessan added, "The first one is ten kilometers long and the holey one is fifty. It's big enough to blow Pern apart."
G'dened swallowed, slowly turning his eyes to Erragon who nodded solemn affirmation.
"That's the whole point of tonight's meeting," Wansor said, "to establish a sky watch and train those who will keep their eyes on asteroids like that."
"There're only four scopes in the Catherine Caves," Lessa said, and wondered if they would be enough.
"Which," and F'lessan jumped to his feet, "makes me wonder if perhaps the Ancients hadn't planned to set up a sky watch of their own before Thread changed all their options."
"That has often occurred to me," Wansor said, nodding his round head thoughtfully. "And why there is no northern array. Though, of course, the Ancients had settled on the southern continent so they wouldn't have needed a northern array for many Turns."
"A northern array would have warned us of that storm," G'dened remarked sourly.
"Will four more scopes be sufficient?" K'van asked.
"It doesn't even take a large scope for night-watching, K'van," Erragon replied reassuringly. "Master Jancis has been making binoculars that many," and he turned to Jaxom, who nodded, "have been utilizing."
"All watch-riders use them and all of us have done our watches on Weyr Rims," N'ton added, glancing around for confirmation from the other Weyrleaders. "I think I can still name all the bright stars."
"Sadly, it's not the bright ones we have to watch, N'ton," Wansor said, "but they are important to recognize, to give the positions of the ones we must chart and register."
"It's also a very big sky, F'lessan," K'van remarked.
"Which is why it is such a very good idea for more dragon-riders to learn how to watch it," F'lessan said, giving K'van, the Southern Weyrleader, a challenge. "You've an admirable situation down there on the heights in your new Weyr."
"It's the sort of thing you young riders should do," G'dened said emphatically. Then he realized what he'd said. "You may be sure I'll encourage my riders."
"Before I Impressed Talmanth," Palla said, raising her hand, "I studied astronomy."
"Why, so you did," J'fery said, regarding his Weyrmate with surprise.
"An apprentice I was sorry to lose and would be delighted to encourage," Erragon said, nodding acceptance of her shy offer.
Aware that everyone was looking at her, she ducked her head and stared at her clasped hands. Lessa noticed that J'fery bent to say something in her ear and she gave him a quick smile, relaxing her hands.
"That sounds like it will take a lot of time," G'dened said, not sure he approved of such activity.
"Oh, it will," Erragon had to agree. "With your assistance, we will have a splendid register to present the Council. Already we have Master Idarolan quite willing to move anywhere he can be of assistance, in teaching or watching. He reminds me that most Fishmen use the stars to navigate and he isn't the only one who's retired."