Chapter 1

Aina time: sunset, 9:00 PM day 285 of year 1406, four days before summer solstice and the new year 1407

Mark finished his long day of work at the science lab complex and finally headed over to the dining lodge just as the sun was disappearing beneath the western horizon. He was very late for his planned dinner with Kara, and he was wondering if she had perhaps just eaten without him. But as he approached the lodge, he saw her standing by the door waiting for him in the twilight, and he was delighted to see a large beautiful flower woven into her hair.

"Hi gorgeous! Thanks for waiting for me! I was tuning the inverters on the main power grid and didn't want to stop before everything was balanced. You look beautiful!"

Kara gave him a beaming smile and kissed him. "So how did it go?"

"It's in great shape now. Nice clean sin waves at a full nominal load of 90 kW and even at an emergency pull of 130 kW with the fuel cell. The solar arrays and batteries, the wind towers, and the underground water turbine are all singing in perfect 60 Hz harmony."

They were soon sitting down in the community hall and eating a dinner of egg and potato salads, with a large assortment of local Aina fruits, nuts, and vegetables from the spring harvest. "Wow," said Kara, "this is great! The goats and chickens we brought over last year really make a huge difference. I love the goat cheese with these local fruits. Try it; it's fabulous! Ha! I remember the milk we used to get from the six-legged version of a plow oxen. It was really strange stuff..."

"Yeah... I think my stomach never could figure out how to digest it. Don't remind me..." They ate their meal in silence for a while, and then Mark commented, "You look very thoughtful tonight. Been thinking about things?"

"Oh yeah... I was thinking about the new year. What a year this one's been! It's hard to believe we first came to Aina just one Earth year ago! Va'an joined our marriage. Amy was born last spring, just before 1406. You started dating Anuhea a few days later, and now she's a part of our marriage too! Mayoni is growing up... So many changes..."

"You're right... And now we have the tribe deeply involved with Jumpstart. Big changes for everybody..."

"Another big change is all this light at the summer solstice. What do we get, eighteen hours of sunlight?"

"Yep," said Mark. "Eighteen hours of sunlight, out of a 23-hour 38-minute day. Uh, do you know about civil twilight?"

"Huh?"

"It's an Earth term, for when the sun less than six degrees below the horizon. We get forty minutes now, around each sunrise and sunset. There's only about four hours of real darkness each night. You're right, it's a lot of light... Say! Do you know why there's so much light?"

"Well, I would assume because it's almost summer and we're at high latitude," laughed Kara.

"It's not just that. I've been working with a teenage girl named Nalani using the Meade telescopes."

"Nalani? I know her! A really sweet and smart girl. And?"

"We've made some observations. Our latitude for the village is a bit less than forty- seven degrees, about what Bismarck, North Dakota is on Earth. I have cousins I used to visit there as a boy."

"I didn't know you'd have eighteen hours of sunlight in North Dakota."

"You don't. Bismarck gets a little less than sixteen hours at the summer solstice."

Kara looked puzzled. "I don't understand. What's going on?"

"Well, try to figure it out. What causes seasons and the light shifts?"

Kara thought for a moment and then smiled. "The Earth's tilt! Of course! So I take it Aina has more tilt? That sounds dangerous..."

"Aina does have more tilt! Earth is about 23.5 degrees, Aina has over ten degrees more. It gives us a huge amount of light now. Of course we pay the piper at the winter solstice... Why do you say dangerous?"

"Won't it make for more extreme climates?"

"Well, more extreme lows at the winter poles, sure. But it also broadens the tropical area, diffuses the maximum concentrations of heat. And each pole gets a burst of real warmth at summer. Net effect on the climate in the middle latitudes is probably very complex. And the faster year smoothes out the effect of the tilt. I wonder if this is why we're getting such good performance from the wind turbines. Maybe more tilt causes more wind..."

"I don't know Mark. It seems counter-intuitive, that a more extreme tilt would moderate the global climate..."

"Well, yeah... But consider Earth. It has a tilt that varies from 22 degrees to 24.5, over a 41,000 year cycle. The glacial periods occur during the minimum tilt, not the maximum. Maybe the summer burst of polar warmth is critical to prevent ice ages..."

As they were finishing their meal, Mark was somewhat surprised at how many of the tribe were stopping by their table to smile at them and wish them goodnight. He remarked to Kara, "Boy, everybody is so friendly tonight! The leap-day orations are just three days away. Do you think they're trying to show support for you running for tribal leader?"

"Well, I've gotten a lot of very supportive comments recently, from both men and women. But it's not that. I think it's my flower."

"Huh? Oh... It is very beautiful. Unusual to see a single flower like that, with so many different colors in it."

"Believe it or not, it's from the green-pepper bush. It's bizarre how that plant has so many diverse characteristics. It produces totally different flowers and vegetables at different times of the season. This flower is called * Pokole * Pua * It blooms for a single day. It's traditional for a Hopewell woman to wear it right before trying to conceive."

"Oh... All the guys and a lot of the women were winking at me." Mark blushed and whispered, "This is a little embarrassing."

"I'm too aroused to be embarrassed! I felt my left ovary twitch this morning. I'm pretty sure it ovulated. It's exactly the right day in my period cycle for it. Anuhea agrees it would be perfect timing if we tried to conceive tonight. Feeling frisky, big guy?"