Chapter 35

Earth time: 4:44:46 PM Monday, April 25, 2033 (EST)

Earth time: 5:44:46 PM Monday, April 25, 2033 (Eastern Daylight Savings Time)

Aina time: 5:33:34 PM day 253 of 1436

"Time mark!" called the technician on the intercom. "Path minus five minutes."

"Acknowledged," said Mark calmly at the bottom of the Blue Spirit well. Mark looked at his mother and smiled, and then glanced up. More than ten meters above the floor was the roof of their hexagonal tunnel. Directly in front of them was the blue hexagonal ring, 6 meters to a side. Measured from the ring, twelve meters behind them was the entrance to Level-one of Spirit House, a massive six-level hexagonal structure firmly anchored to the top of Blue Spirit Mountain. The building had full 2010 Earth technology and amenities, and was the pride of the nation.

Each level was in the shape of a hexagon twelve meters for each side. Levels one (the lowest level) and four (flush with the stone top-surface of Blue Spirit Mountain) were twelve meters in height, to accommodate future cargo transfers to and from Earth and Aina. Levels two and three were below mountaintop level. Level-two contained ring diagnostic equipment and the control system for the series of airlocks between Aina and Earth. The top enclosed level (Level-six) was a bit whimsical. It contained twelve small bedrooms along four of the hexagon's six sides. The other two sides housed a large conference / dining room with two banks of windows presenting beautiful views of the Aina countryside. Level-seven was a rooftop garden and picnic area. A large but discretely decorated conduit provided all the building's power, water, and sewer needs. The dedicated power feeds ran directly to Big River dam.

Behind the last airlock in Level-one, the rest of the away team members were waiting for Ellen to complete her duty as first-contact. Mark smiled at the cleanliness of the tunnel, and he ran his hand along the polished marble and granite. He remembered how different everything was when he first showed the original tunnel to Kara the day after Christmas in 2008..."

"How are you doing mom?" Mark asked.

"Me? I'm fine. A little excited. Seeing Earth again... I can hardly wait..." Ellen looked up and kissed her son. "I feel a little proud too, to be a part of this mission. Your father would be so proud of me. Eighty-two and still packing a punch!"

"Remember, mission control has a live feed on all the Geiger counters you're carrying. If they call red status, just run back in here."

"Oh, I know... These path openings are so amazing. They always occur at the same time of the year on Aina, and the same time of day on Earth. But they occur at wildly different times of the day on Aina, and wildly different times of the year on Earth."

Mark smiled. "That's because an Aina orbital year is very close to an integer number of Earth days, 285 days and 2 seconds, and the Blue Ring likes to play with numbers and open at the integer Aina-year marks... You're right, the asymmetries are kind of interesting... And this particular interface is particularly nice. We're about at mid-spring at both planets, and the times of day have lined up too. A fluke, but a nice one..."

Ellen smiled at her son and nodded. The moments passed quietly.

"One minute," sounded the intercom.

As the final seconds passed, Ellen felt her heart begin to race, just a bit. Her senses seemed super sharp, the colors brighter and she could hear the soft hiss of the air conditioning blowing cool dry air into bottom of the tunnel. Until Ellen's part mission was completed, the mission plan called for blowing air towards Earth, in order to reduce any chance of contaminating the tunnel...

Before she thought a minute had passed, the intercom sounded "Mark zero" just as the tunnel popped into existence before her eyes. "My gosh Mark! Look where we are!" Ellen gulped and then remembered to point her instruments down the short but cavernous cave to the outside beyond. The lighting in the opening was consistent with late afternoon on a very cloudy day.

Mark called excitedly on the intercom. "Leon! Lois! You getting video on this? Recognize where we are?!"

"Sure do!" said Lois. "It's the Grotto, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I think this is a fantastic piece of luck!"

A few minutes later, the intercom spoke again. "All ring processes appear normal. There are minimal readings on the counters. Ellen, you are clear to exit to Earth. Walk slowly as discussed. We will be monitoring you all the way."

"Thank you mission control." Ellen began to walk through the Grotto, forcing herself to keep a slow pace. Mark fed out the data cable line behind her, making the walk easy.

In less than a minute Ellen completed her walk and emerged into Earth's daylight. It was a humid afternoon day, the temperature about 80F, and the air smelled... interesting. "Mission control, I'm standing about twenty feet outside the tunnel entrance, as planned. The weather is very cloudy, but not raining. The place appears pristine. It's the Grotto, a different part of the box canyon. I think we're about three kilometers from Blue Spirit Mountain of Earth."

"Acknowledged Ellen. Your counters are giving very low readings, the best we had hoped for. Please remain where you are. We'll go for the full five-minute scan. Your audio and video are coming through fine. We measure ambient air temperature at 78F, 76% relative humidity."

"Ah, it seems just a bit warmer. Thanks! I had forgotten for a moment how many sensors I'm carrying..."

"Yes. The rest of the away team is assembling at the bottom of the well. We expect to clear them for Earth in about four minutes. Remember to come back in immediately if you sense any danger."

"Yes, of course. Thank you."

The remaining time passed quietly for Ellen. She gazed out at the familiar countryside of her younger life, breathing in the smells and the sounds of her long forgotten Earth, her mind filled with memories of her husband, and the picnics they use to have in the grotto when her children were still kids. Before she realized it was time, her children and their families were coming out of the tunnel. Amy helped Ellen remove the harness of sensors.

"Well mom," said Mark. "This is better we could have hoped for. You can say out here with the blue team if you want. Perhaps if you get tired though, you might want to nap in Spirit House. It's just a two minute trip through the tunnel."

"Right. Mark, Leon, Lois, everybody, take care of yourselves. Don't be heroes. Be sure to get back here on time. Kiana, Kahoku, this goes for you too. Tom and I both considered you our adopted children, the years you were at Berkeley." Kiana nodded and hugged Ellen, and then prepared to leave for Cider Junction with the rest of the away team.

"Mission control," called Mark, "the expedition is about to depart. Can you give us a final report from the sensors?"

Mark recognized Hiapo's voice on the comm link. "Not bad at all. Better than when we left in 1425. Cosmic radiation is the same of course, about thirty millirem a year, mostly muons and a few gamma rays. Terrestrial radiation is about another sixty millirem a year, about double what Aina or a clean Earth would be. Mark, your one-day visit will give you an additional exposure of about 1% of a tooth x-ray, compared to being on Aina."

"Well," Mark chuckled, "I think we can live with that. Thanks Hiapo, great news."

Mark heard Hiapo give the traditional Hopewell grunt meaning "don't mention it.", and then say, "There are no radio signals at all. The airways are absolutely clean. Something weird though. There are many snippets of the plague in the air, active and in various stages of decay. It's as if they are being activated every few months. Very strange. I don't think the sun would do this..."

Mark nodded thoughtfully. After brief kisses with Ellen, the twelve-person expedition set off for Cider Junction, each carrying a backpack and trailing a mountain bike.

Kara hiked her bike alongside Mark. "Mark, where are we?"

"The slip bubble dumped us off at the Grotto. It's a tremendous piece of luck."

"A shorter path?"

"Well, actually about two kilometers longer. But it's a flat path, if you know the turns to make. Well, one ledge to climb, near the house, you can't drive a car here. We used to get to the Grotto from the Cider Junction house in two hours by bike, and 2.5 hours on foot. The moon won't rise until just before sunrise tomorrow, I was planning on reaching the house with just starlight. But these clouds are so thick, it would have been pitch black, a disaster. But now, maybe we'll have a little light left. It also loosens up the schedules for tomorrow. This is a real piece of luck..."