Chapter 33

It turned out to be three weeks after the LRS return when Sarah’s Clan moved toward the podium in An Clochán’s auditorium. Except for minimal crew on each of the Órarduine ships all the Órarduine family was present. Although their picket line was not detecting anyone approaching, the five Dóchas class ships were at readiness level 4. All of those from the ships were wearing environmental suits, to speed their exit in case of emergency. All the shuttles were near the settlement ready for immediate departure if an emergency arose that required the crews to return to their ships.

Seeing Sarah’s Clan approaching the podium the room became very quiet as every one’s attention shifted to them. Sarah’s Clan looked out over the gathering of Órarduine, before saying, “Good afternoon,” in unison.

“Good afternoon,” came the reply.

“Welcome to our first Órarduine family assembly. For our visitors, we frequently hold family meetings that include everyone via video conferencing. This meeting is unique, in that this is the first time we have gathered in one location since An Clochán was established. Well not quite all of us, as we do have some family members on each ship filling key positions. In the event of an emergency, many of us will depart immediately for our ships. That is why many of us are wearing these suits, and the shuttles are outside. Also, our ships are in a heightened state of readiness.

“The primary reason for this gathering is to consider moving to the Celia system. We believe everyone has seen the information posted by the survey team, and the subsequent discussions. Even so, Amy will now provided a review the information we have on the system.”

Amy stepped up to the podium and began a review of the information they had on the Celia system. As she began speaking, four large holograms formed in the room, showing the Celia system. She pointed out each of the planets in the system, and noted that the Celia system lacked any Jupiter-sized planets. She warned that the lack of these increased the potential risk of a large asteroid striking either A-Celia or B-Celia, and that this was particularly true for B-Celia due to its higher orbital angle relative to the star’s equatorial plane. To counter this increased risk she proposed that a system for monitoring asteroid activity should be established, similar to the picket line that had been set up around this solar system. Amy then went through the environmental information they had gathered on both planets, and closed her presentation with a series of images taken on both planets. When her presentation finished, the crowd immediately began applauding and cheering. Amy blushed.

When the applause ended, Amy said, “I trust your applause was for the crew that went with me.”

“You bet!” came a voice from the back of the room. This was quickly followed by more applause.

“Questions?” asked Amy, when the second round of applause ended.

Amy, along with other members of the LRS crew, answered questions for over an hour before they began to taper off.

Sarah joined Amy at the podium and said, “Are there any more questions?”

Seeing none, she continued with, “Are we ready to vote on moving to the Celia system?”

She watched as many heads nodded yes, then two hands waved in the back. Sarah pointed to the couple and nodded. “A clarification. If we move to Celia, are we still going to look for other viable systems?”

“Yes,” replied Amy. “Currently we are outfitting two Badb cruisers so that they can fill that role, and provide them with better defensive capability. The next exploration trip will take place as soon as the ships are ready, which, we think, will be in about 40 clock cycles. Besides looking for other candidate planets, we will use this trip to train two more groups in exploration techniques. If you’re interested in being part of an exploration group, tell Staffing.”

“Good. What would we do if we found something better, after beginning preparations to move to the Celia system, or even after having moved there?”

Amy looked toward Sarah, who then said, “It would depend on what we decide as a group. My expectations are that the move to the Celia system is considerably more than two years off. Once we are in the Celia system, it will take some time for us to establish the initial settlement, develop an understanding of the biosphere and begin moving down to the planet. So, being a technically orientated family, I think our decision would depend upon how far along we were in settling A-Celia and the advantages of the other system. Depending on timing, another possible response could be to establish a settlement in both systems. Does that answer your question?”

“Yes, especially with seeing all the heads nodding affirmatively as you spoke. Our clan is in favor of moving to A-Celia.”

“Perhaps everyone realizes this, but in settling a new planet you don’t just show up and move in unless that is your only option. It can be done, but there can be severe consequences. Ideally you should have an idea of the weather variation and how your body reacts to the new biosphere. The more data you have the fewer catastrophic surprises that are likely to occur. This is one of the reasons we went back to Celia system and extended our time there.”

“Any more questions?”

Seeing none, Sarah continued with, “It is time for each of us to tell Star whether you agree with moving to A-Celia or not.”

After several minutes, Star said, “The vote was 16,793 in favor with 29 abstentions.”

“Good. Would anyone abstaining care to comment?”

A woman stood and waved her hand before saying, “We like what the new system offers and we like it here. So basically we don’t like the thought of moving, although we see a definite benefit of being on a more hospitable planet.”

Her comment caused a chorus of ‘Amens’ from the crowd, which was followed by some laughter.

Grinning she added, “Having said that, we will go with our family.”

There was a smattering of applause then Sarah said, “Any more comments or questions?”

Sarah looked around the room before saying, “Now that we have decided to move to A-Celia we need to discuss how we want to implement the move.” As soon as she finished speaking, several people stood up.

Sarah nodded to a woman who began with, “Our clan saw the preliminary plan for sending two Dóchas ships to the Celia system to do an in-depth survey, while preparations to move were taking place here.” Sarah’s clan nodded. “Having two of our Dóchas class ships 7 parsecs away makes us very uncomfortable. We think it spreads us too thin, much too thin, especially if they are Dóchas and Phoenix.”

Another person stood and added, “We have the same concern, which is probably heightened by the worry regarding future visitors. We have no doubt that Keriann’s Clan would do an excellent job leading those here, as would any of our Command Staffs. Our preference is for us to move all at one time.”

Judy stepped up to the podium and said, “The motivation was to shorten the time between our arrival in the Celia system and being able to settle A-Celia. As Amy alluded to, there is an amazing amount of information we need regarding A-Celia’s ecosystem before we begin settling. We agree that security is an issue at both places.”

“If we go as a single group, there is a concern regarding how much of a wake we will make in the interstellar gas,” said Sally.

“Sally, when we reviewed the WP and picket line data of Dóchas, Phoenix and Eagle traveling together across this solar system, we found that their wake was less than would be created by a small asteroid,” replied one of the family.

Several attendees stood together, with one waving for attention. Sarah pointed to them, and the spokeswoman began speaking, “My name is Karleigh, and I am part of the planning group on An Clochán. For those that are not familiar with us, our group tries to make sure our activities dovetail together. When we saw the proposed moving schedule, we began running strategies, looking to optimize the time for preparing to move to Celia system. We think our Command Staffs were under the impression it would take at least 36 Ó months before we could move. One of the plans we have worked out should have us ready to move within about 24 Ó months. Could we show that now?” Karleigh paused, waiting for an indication from Sarah’s Clan before proceeding.

Aoife said, “Karleigh, please continue before this group reaches a critical curiosity threshold!” Many in the room chuckled on hearing her comment.

“Breacadh, please show planning document A-Celia-z2523-09.” Three of the holograms switched to show the projected plan as a Gantt chart, while the fourth continued showing A-Celia. “Thank you Breacadh.

“The key features for the plan are as follows: Dóchas5 and Dóchas6 are the last ships to be built here. Once they are launched, we begin disassembling unused equipment and ready it for transfer to a ship.

“While this is taking place, we would send two reconfigured Badb cruisers to the Celia system every 2 Ó months. Their primary mission would be to collect data from the monitors we have there. Other tasks would be to evaluate potential sites for our initial settlement and collect biological samples.

“As soon as Dóchas5 and Dóchas6 are launched, we begin moving to our ships. Simultaneously, as each sector is vacated, parts of An Clochán would be placed in standby mode. In fact, we have already done this to a limited extent.

“The last item before departure is a shakedown cruise for Dóchas5 and Dóchas6. While they are doing that we would finish placing An Clochán in standby or hibernation.

“This plan indicates that it would take us about 24 months to be ready to depart, presuming no distractions or surprises. It calls for several things to be done in parallel in finishing the ships. This is a preliminary plan and needs to be carefully reviewed to be sure that safety is not compromised.

“My last comment gets a little out of our area of expertise, but as already mentioned wouldn’t the seven ships flying in formation leave a wake similar to an asteroid?” When Karleigh finished, she looked around the room and then back toward the podium. The quietness of the crowd unnerved her. She could sense many of the group checking through the details of the plan.

Siobhan broke the silence with, “Your initial assumption was correct. One of the reasons behind having two ships make a preliminary visit was that we thought it would take at least 36 months before we could really begin packing for our move. Do you believe that your time estimate is correct?”

“Yes. Shortening the time is dependent on borrowing crew from each of the active ships as tasks on Dóchas5 and Dóchas6 warrant the assistance. The level of crew sharing in the plan is much more extensive than we are currently doing.”

“If we can be ready to leave in 24 months, or even slightly longer,” said Keriann, “then I am all for it. However, doing that also reduces the information on A-Celia, which could mean extending the time before beginning a settlement. As to how much wake we create, we just need to get the group that has already looked into this to verify and confirm the results.”

Amy said, “While I am as anxious to move to a more hospitable planet as anyone else, based on our experience it would be wise to have at least two years of environmental data before we leave here. Our arrival there needs to be timed so that it is just before the beginning of the growing season. This will give us time to establish ourselves before cold weather. An A-Celia year is 1.1 times ours in terms of days which is due an orbital period of 540 days. However when you add in the effect of the longer day it is 1.4 times an Ó year.”

Molly stood and waited to be recognized. When Sarah pointed to her, she said, “With respect to wake, we need to do some modeling on this proposal. As has already been said, and from what I remember of the data, when our three ships traveled across this solar system our wake was barely detectable by us. One approach that we think works the best is to have each ship cloak, and then take a path perpendicular to Sol’s equatorial plane until just outside the heliosphere. From our rendezvous there, we would FTL at a fairly low LS multiple, say 3 or 4, on the first leg of our journey. We could still do the multiple stops as was proposed, but each segment should look like a rock plummeting through space.”

“Molly,” said Cathal of Alana’s Clan, “interstellar flying is not my forte, as many of you know.” When the laughter ended, he continued with, “If I understand your proposal correctly, our group of seven ships would appear to be a disturbance in the solar gas similar to that created by an asteroid. This disturbance would start over Sol’s pole and end near Celia’s pole, with a couple of changes apparently caused by passing other galaxies.”

“That is correct.”

“In that case, it seems like a good idea.”

“How do we know that cloaking is effective?” asked a woman.

Maureen said, “We only know that active detection systems used by the Connemare and Earth can’t see us. Whether it is effective beyond that we won’t know until we have visitors.”

“How do we know there are visitors coming?”

“Probability, based on what we’ve learned from our library, the way points, the sentinel line and the LRS journey,” replied Tara. “We believe the probability is high. Our systems should detect anyone approaching as well as any reconnaissance probes.”

“I don’t see how you can use probability as the basis for that,” responded the person in a condescending tone.

“There are trends in events around solar systems prior to out-world visitors arriving. The activity in this system mimics those in other systems prior to them having visitors. Intuitively several of us expect that there will be two groups arrive in the next 2 to 3 Ó years. A more accurate time will not be known until it is closer to their arrival or they are detected by our picket line.”

“You really believe that?” replied the woman, with a look of disdain.

“Guys,” said Sally to the Command Staffs, “those making the comments are two of those that security has been closely monitoring. They believe both are here primarily to spy on our activities and are not sure whether they are telepathically aware.”

“We are getting off topic,” said Sarah. “There is an aspect of our psionic ability that we used to do that probability assessment. We believe everyone here is familiar with telepathic exchange of thoughts, which is one of several psionic abilities. If you are telepathically active, you should realize the potential for other psionic abilities.

“If anyone is interested in continuing the discussion of psionic abilities, just tell Star and she will arrange a discussion session.”

“I’d like to summarize this meeting,” said Siobhan. “We want to evaluate the plan Karleigh presented. Its key features are: Sending small groups to pick up data in Celia system. All of us to travel there as a group. The reconnaissance groups, besides picking up data, will complete other tasks to prepare for our move. Once its feasibility is confirmed, we will add detail to the plan and begin its implementation. One caveat that is understood but not stated, this will all be done safely even it causes a delay. Agreed?”

“Yes,” came the reply.

“Star, do we need to vote?”

“Not from what I have recorded,” replied Star.

“Family, if anyone wants a formal vote, inform Star.”

It was quiet for several minutes before Star said, “There aren’t any requests.”

“Earlier Karleigh referred to Dóchas5 and Dóchas6,” said Claudette. “According to the name list we created some time ago, they are to be named Marthanóir and Fiontar, respectively. In English that means Survivor and Enterprise, respectively.”

“Anything else?” asked Sarah.

“Yes. Karleigh, would you go through your plan in more detail?”

“Sure.” With that, Karleigh began going through the segments of the preparation plan. Her group assisted her with answering questions on its various aspects. It was nearly dinner time by the time they finished.

“Thank you, Karleigh and your group,” said Tara, as they finished reviewing the detail of the plan. When the cheering and clapping ended, she added “I trust that was to compliment them on the excellent work.”

“Yes,” came the reply.

“I am almost afraid to ask if there are any other topics to cover, as it is almost time for dinner.”

Leann said, “Just some information to add in support of our decision. While Karleigh’s group was reviewing their proposal, we spent a little time looking at the wake issue. The good news is that we confirmed several comments made earlier about the size of our wake when flying as a group. The data indicates that we can move as a group with little or no detectable wake. More modeling needs to be done, but based on the flight of three Dóchas-class ships in formation; it appears that we create less wake than an asteroid with a volume of two ships would create at sublight velocity (SLV) factor 8, or 18750 km/s.”

“Thank you. Anything else?”

“We thank you for your enthusiastic participation and contributions this afternoon.”

“We thank you,” replied the crowd.

As the Órarduine began leaving the auditorium, the six Command Staffs watched them from the stage. “That was the most amazing meeting I have ever participated in,” said Sarah. “I never thought this many people could take part in a discussion like we just had. On top of that, we have a workable plan for moving to the Celia system.”