Fernanda read that Veronica had discovered more unknown stars, and wrote back, asking her to tell her everything about the new planets, and to make sure she send pictures. Veronica, meanwhile, was about to land her ship on the 15the planet of the Type O star.
"At least most of its planets are gaseous, so it has more chances."
She glanced at the atmosphere indicator. The ultraviolet was extremely high, of course, due to the star being a Type O, and the distance between the star and the planet. The oxygen was all right. Perhaps even a little above than the oxygen level back on Earth.
"It seems to be comfortable, except for the ultraviolet, but that can be taken of with a simple force field watch. And of course, you have the heat, but, well, you'll have to learn to adapt yourself to that. I'll go take a look."she told her pets.
"Veronica."
"Yes, D?"
"It looks like the smaller star has three planets. Only the closest seems to fit the criteria to be habitable."
"We'll have to check it out then. After I finish on this one."
She wore her force field watch out of habit, and because she liked to keep track of the time, not that it was necessary in space, but as it was and intergalactic watch, as soon as she landed on a civilized planet, the hands on it would move to tell her the exact time of day on that planet. Her watch seemed to be all she needed. It would protect her form the ultraviolet, and if the air on the planet was not breathable, had low oxygen content, or even too high of any other gas, it would simply take the air she breathed out, and recycled it into breathable air again. She looked around as she stepped off her ship. The sky was of a deep, opaque, and dull blue. And the sun, was small, perhaps no more than a speck, but the light it gave was overwhelming.
Veronica shielded her eyes. All around her, the dirt was of an unusual shade of green. She picked up a rock and put it in her bag to be examined later. Plants that seemed to be grass were bright yellow, and she noticed that their edges were razor-sharp. She inspected the plants, to see if they had flowers, or bore seeds. Only one. A gigantic flower, about the size of the monitor on her personal computer. It was black. Several of these strange plants dotted the landscape all around her, some connected by a runner, others by themselves. They seemed to bear no fruit. She carefully tore off a piece of the leaves and a petal and some pollen from the flower.
She looked around to see if there was any water nearby. She walked a little away from the ship. A river, about three miles wide, the current running at a very high speed.
"You definitely would not want to fall in there,"she laughed.
The ground at its banks was broken, with dry cracks, as though it were breaking apart, because it had not known water in days.
"I guess it would have to go that fast. Or evaporate pretty quickly."
She then tried to find the source of the river, but could not. It actually seemed to get wider, as she moved upriver. Then she decided to return the ship. On the way, she kept her eyes open for any signs of life. Mostly the creatures here were small rodents, or animals of that nature. Nothing large. And they were of a shade of lime green, or a bright yellow with black or green spots or stripes. When one scurried away, it was suddenly seized by a gigantic bird. Before Veronica could get a better look, the bird had already disappeared into the sky. The largest animal she saw, reached up to her waist. From the looks of it, it was probably a predator. However, she had a laser gun to stun anything that might try to hurt her, and her force field would also protect her from stings, bites, or anything else that might get too close to her, making her impervious to just about anything.
"Anything?"asked DaCoP 1228 when she got back.
"Well, it seems that the game is plentiful, for one thing. If you like small mammals. I think they're mammals. I didn't get a good chance to get a good look at them. I brought these back."
She put her bag on the table.
"Very well, I shall get started on researching the elements these are made of, and seeing their natures. Is there anything you would like before I get started? Perhaps a drink? Or something to eat?"
"No, thanks, D. Or perhaps a drink would be good. I'm not that hungry, really, but I would definitely like some iced tea, while I do some research on Isis for Moira. I still have some time before I have to settle down and watch some tv."
Before getting to work, DaCoP 1228 brought Veronica a glass with her favorite flavor of iced tea, fresh brewed, with sugar and honey in it.
"Yum."she said, as she sipped. "Just a sec while I feed everybody here."
She got up to feed her pets. As soon as they were settled, eating their dinner, Veronica turned on her personal computer, and typed in Isis. She didn't know what its sun was called, as she had forgotten to ask Moira, but she could probably find out. The information, it seemed was not just for anyone, and as she was a galactic wonderer, who also served a very important service to the Stellar Travel Consortium, she was allowed access. It seemed Isis had been discovered quite some time ago, and for about 23 Earth years, the Keepers of the Light had lived there, before the planet was settled. Then she found something interesting. The Keeper of the Isis Light, was the youngest Keeper of the Light in the galaxy. It appeared that she was actually the daughter of the original Keepers of the Light. When she had been 16 according to Earth reckoning, Isis had been colonized.
"Wow."said Veronica outloud.
She immediately set to find the Keeper's name. Olwen Pendennis. She then tried to find the Keeper's descending line. She had met several other people descended from the Keepers. The Wallania Light, Denebon 3 Light, and so forth, but never one who had lived alone on a planet, and was the youngest Keeper of the Light. But there seemed to be no existing line.
"That's odd. D!"
"Yes, Veronica."
"How come I can't find the descending line for the Keeper of the Isis Light?"
"Perhaps it is not listed."
"But if they know no one else, they certainly must know the Keeper! They always do!"
"If it was a woman, perhaps you should look under her husband's name. That is, after all, an unusual case, in a way. The girl grew up alone."
"All the more reason why she should have married."
"Perhaps she was unable to bear healthy children. The original Keepers died in a solar flare, due to the radiation, I suppose, if not he dust, wind, or being hit by an obstacle. Perhaps the radiation damaged the Keeper herself as a girl, thereby, making her unable to reproduce."
"But then, they'd know, wouldn't they? They'd say. Something tells me that there's something they don't want us to know about her."
She wrote a message to Moira.
I was just wondering if you knew anything about the Keeper of the Isis Light? I can't seem to find her descending line. Perhaps you know someone who is descended from her, or something. Gotta add that to my collection, you know. As many Keepers, descendents of Keepers I can get my picture taken with.:DI'll look more into the geography of Isis, too. Right now, I'm mostly looking at the history and such. You know, it's all important.
Vero