| abstract
| - Leone and Aristark completed their hyperspace jump and arrived in the h32 star system. Their spaceship automatically engaged the antimatter-powered drive and put them on course to the r121:23:45 d45:143:23 z1.9347 coordinates at standard acceleration. Aristark helped the spaceship's artificial intelligence set up parameters for a search strategy that might find a ship near the specified coordinates, or on a trajectory that had recently passed through those coordinates. At the same time, Leone was searching for an alternative target. Something from his dream about Kalid made Leone think that the coordinates were for a planet rather than a spaceship. But Leone had examined the data for the h32 system and had found that there was a significant asteroid belt with a minor component near 1.9 atronomical units. "Okay. I've initiated a scan for asteroids near the specified coordinates." Aristark said, "If Kalid is using the Haldus Order technology for hiding spaceships our scans may show us nothing." Leone agreed that was a worry. "I wonder if the Haldus Order might have developed another technology that allows you to penetrate their shield. Maybe the equipment that was installed on this ship has such a capability." Aristark complained, "As far as I can tell, the Haldus Order technology that we have on this ship is not under our control, so even if it has such a capacity, we do not know how to make use of it. In any case, it will take us most of a day to reach those coordinates. If Kalid has a ship there then from this distance we will only detect it if it is transmitting a navigation beacon." Leone examined the radio bands and saw that they were receiving an automated signal welcoming them to the h32 system and requesting that they transmit their flight plan. Of course, their ship had automatically done so as soon as they had jumped into the system. Leone said, "There does not seem to be much spaceship or communications traffic in this system." Aristark nodded, "I do not think I have ever previously visited such a low population star system before...this is a real "end of nowhere" destination. I wonder why anyone ever bothered to settle here." Leone examined the navigation records for the star system that had been transmitted to them along with the welcome. Leone knew from experience that for small systems like h32 the local navigation records were often more detailed than the limited information available in the standard astrogation database entries carried in ship's memory. Leone said, "Well there is a planet within the likely habitable zone for this star, right at one astronomical unit from the star. However, the records indicate that planet is not inhabited....but there is a small population on its airless moon." Aristark was reading through the same local navigation records. "The largest population in this system is on the fourth planet, a terraformed world with little water and little air." Leone examined the pattern of navigation beacons noted that most of the spaceship activity in the system was associated with the fourth planet, called "h32.4" in the navigation records. "Oh, I see! They are continually capturing water-containing comets and asteroids and sending them to the fourth planet. They are also sending water from the third planet to the fourth. Wow! The third planet is covered with water!" Aristark was surprised. "A water world with no human habitation? And they are doing major terraforming to get more water to the fourth planet? That makes no sense." "Oh my graviton!" Leone was horrified by a new realization. "The third planet is a Green planet!" Aristark asked, "Green goo? Well, that explains why nobody lives on the third planet. I wonder why the standard astrogation database entry for system h32 does not mention the existence of a Green Planet in this star system." "First Flammis and now this system." After decades of space travel and never having seen a Green planet, Leone was surprised to now be in a second star system with a Green planet so soon after having been to Flammis/Plato. "I'm starting to wonder if Green Planets are significantly more common than we are usually told." Aristark commented, "And I wonder if there is some special association between the Haldus Order and Green planets." Leone asked, "Why would there be such an association?" Aristark shrugged, "When we were at Flammis you suggested that a Green Planet might be a good place to hide a secret base. Maybe the Haldus Order routinely makes use of Green Planets as hiding places." "I've been thinking that if the Haldus Order originated on Earth, then maybe they would have selected a nearby and low-population system for their first base off of Earth. Maybe h32 was the location of the first Haldus Order training center off of Earth." Leone's thoughts swirled with possibilities. "There are many things we can ask Kalid." Aristark asked, "What was it about your dream that made you think that the coordinates are for a planet?" Leone could not put his feelings into words. "It was just a feeling. Early in the dream everything felt like there was another ship approaching our ship, then when the coordinates appeared, I was thinking about trees and mountains...scenes like the terrain of the part of Sakkara where I grew up. And there was something that had the feel of 'orbit'....I can't really explain it." Aristark suggested, "If we are looking for an orbiting asteroid at about 1.93 astronomical units from the center of this star system, then we can estimate the expected orbital speed for such an asteroid." Leone said, "Yes, we do not want to go directly to the coordinates that were given in the dream. The asteroid would have moved on in its orbit to a new location." Aristark used the Thot interface to adjust their flight path slightly. "Okay, I asked Thot to make an adjustment to our course. We are now on route to the best guess estimate of where such an asteroid should be." Leone was pleased that Aristark seemed willing to be guided even by Leone's hunches. "I've requested from the inhabitants of this system any records they have for the positions of asteroids near 1.9 astronomical units from the center of the system. The asteroid we are looking for might be in their database already." Aristark was not much impressed by Leone's reasons for suspecting that their target was an asteroid. "If it is an asteroid we are looking for. I still expect Kalid to be in a spaceship. I do not understand why he would be sitting on some asteroid in the middle of nowhere." Leone suggested, "Most of the inhabitants of this system live in space stations or in bases on airless moons and asteroids. It might be perfectly normal for Kalid to be at such an asteroid base in this system, maybe a base long used by the Haldus Order." "But would Kalid give out the coordinates to such a base? Now we have broadcast our destination as being those coordinates. If the Haldus Order is so secretive, surely Kalid would not send us to the location of a secret base, not when we have to broadcast our destination for all to see." "Yes, I agree with your analysis. Maybe these coordinates are just a safe destination for us, some place that Kalid does not mind having us reveal. We shall see. Maybe Kalid will contact us before we reach those coordinates and re-direct us to another destination." Aristark chuckled, "Maybe you should sleep in case Kalid wants to contact you again." Leone grinned. "I expect our next communication from Kalid will come by conventional radio communication. But maybe if I exercise now I will be ready to get to bed early and wake about the time we reach a sensible scanning distance from our destination." Leone went to the gym and exercised for two hours. When he returned to the main control room, Aristark had news. "You were right. Our destination is a microplanet called Esclangon. It has a population of about three million people." Leone was pleased. "Really? I actually dreamed the coordinates of a known planet?" Aristark provided additional information from the extensive insystem asteroid-tracking database. "Esclangon is a small asteroid, but it even has a moon. They sent us a request for more details on our flight plan. They want to know if we intend to land on Esclangon, go into orbit, or if we will just be passing by." Leone sat down, connected to the Thot interface and reviewed the data that had been received from Esclangon. "Of course, everything depends on Kalid. I'm tempted to send a reply asking if Kalid is a resident of Esclangon." Aristark suggested, "Maybe we should just request permission to land on Esclangon. If Kalid contacts us before we land then we can change our flight plan at that time. I've been on this ship for nearly a week and I'm more than ready to get off for a while and see some new sights. I'm not the great space traveler that you are." Leone chuckled. It was true that he had spent a large part of his life traveling around the galaxy. Before becoming Planetary Counselor for Transportation, Leone had served as a traveling Sakkaran trade negotiator, arranging for interstellar trade with other planets around the galaxy. Even while serving as Planetary Counselor Leone had logged more space flight time than any other head of Transportation. However, it was also true that a typical space flight involved just a few days on a spaceship and then you were at your destination and had a chance to get off your ship for a while. "Okay, I'll just tell them that we intend to land. I'll emphasize that I am an official of the Sakkaran Department of Transportation and let them imagine a reason for our visit....I won't mention Kalid." A short while later Leone said, "Okay, I sent a reply to 'Esclangon', but I still do not see the name 'Esclangon' in the navigation database....that name is only in the radio message we received." Aristark explained, "The database just uses a number code for the asteroid. Apparently the local residents have a name for the rock they live on." "Yes, I see the asteroid '1509' in the database and its orbital parameters clearly are the same as those of Esclangon. In my experience, system navigation databases usually include the local names of planets, but even their major population center, the fourth planet, is only given a number designation...'h32.4'. It is almost as if they have purposefully not put common names into their database." Aristark wondered, "Maybe that is the local custom. Where I grew up on Sakkara adjacent towns did not agree on names for the roads, so most people just used the numerical street numbers designated by the district authorities rather than the different street names used by each town." Leone said, "Hmm, I guess it is possible that multiple groups of settlers came to this system from Earth and each group gave the planets different names. For example, I see that Esclangon is classified as a member of the 'Hungaria' asteroids. In my reading of Earth history I noticed that there was a national group called the 'Hungarians' in Standard Galactic. This star system is so close to Earth that it may have been colonized before the Standard Galactic language was widely adopted."
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