Chapter 2

Kerbol

Four years later ...

Athena exited deep sleep for the last time to allow for arrival. Checking her position, she determined that she was in position to reach the periapsis of the ancient star Kerbol in 18 hours.

Eighteen hours later, she slid past the original home star of the kerbal race. Having shed most of its mass in the great eruption, it was now a small white dwarf barely fit to call a star.

An hour later, the Last Hope passed by the ancestral home world of kerbalkind, the planet Kerbin. Now a blasted planetary remnant, it was almost one-tenth its original size, roughly seventy kilometers across. Irregular and pitted, it was hard to imagine that this place once had millions of kerbals living on it.

Since the next few planets outward were on the wrong side of Kerbol, she placed herself on a course for the great gas giant remnant. She remembered the old tales of probes lost to the depths of the gas planet's atmosphere, then later as probes were crushed on the surface by the atmospheric pressure long after they had transmitted their data to scientists for analysis.

But the gas giant was not her ultimate destination. The farthest object out was. Many billions of years ago, it was a cold, icy world, with strange chemical deposits that baffled scientists. Now it was a partially thawed world, with an old kerbal outpost, the last in the system, not even self-sustaining.

But that outpost would have to do until she headed to the destination system. Athena Kerman had to meet some of her long-lost brethren any way she could.

Passing the gas giant, she spent another two hours crossing the interplanetary void until she entered the orbit of the outermost ice world.

Activating her transceiver, Athena made contact with the outpost.

KSPTT

Sitting in her easy chair in her quarters, Alexandra Kerman watched an old grokball game sent in the last packet of information from Rhode. The overall commander of the Verna surface base, she was in command of over one hundred kerbals, mostly engineers and scientists, with twenty pilots for "just in case".

The problem was, "just in case" was never specified. So, she just maintained the base with her one hundred crew.

She watched as the Sparta City Robots scored against the Derwood Devils. As she cheered the Robots, her desk chime sounded. Placing the game on pause, she went to the desk terminal and activated it. It showed Danni Kerman at his post in the command center.

"This had better be good, Danni," she said. "I just got to the part where the Robots took the lead in the third."

"Oh, it's good, Alex," replied Danni. "A ship has entered Verna orbit and its pilot has established contact."

"You're putting me on! We finally have a ship from Rhode?" she said.

"Not Rhode." said Danni. "From one of our other colonies."

"Other colonies? What other colony? There is no other."

"You might want to come up here and see for yourself."

Alexandra thought for a few seconds. "I'm on my way."

She left her quarters with the grokball game still on pause.

KSPTT

Watching the kerbal face on the monitor, Alexandra Kerman could only wonder at what the Kraken's fate had in store for Kerbalkind. One of their earlier colony ships, so far unidentified, had succeeded instead of failing. Over the billion years plus, its population had succumbed to the long isolation to descend into a post-neolithic society, eventually evolving into a religious dictatorship. The description of this "Litany of the Orthodoxy" sent chills down her spine.

"And you're saying that those who claim to be from Kerbin or Rhode are chemically tortured?" she asked the pilot, Athena Kerman.

"Yes." replied Athena. "I was one of those who, less than a year before I was sent here, was being 'treated' in one of those institutions. It was horrible, I'll tell you."

"I can only imagine." replied Alexandra. "I feel for you. Where were you from on Rhode?"

"I came from Carlton Pass. I was Dalton Kerman, daughter of Mason Kerman, a storekeeper, and Samantha. I remember my father and mother well."

"How old were you when you died?"

"I was still a podling of five years old when I died. The next thing I knew, I was reborn under the red sun of Suthe, the daughter of a mining magnate. When I was seven years old, I told my first story of old Kerbin and Rhode. At first, I was patted on the head and called an 'imaginative little girl'. In later years, I was hospitalized for the Kerbin psychosis, as they called it. Then, I was pulled out of the hospital and placed into training for this mission."

"And now, you're just coming home?" asked Alex, and Athena nodded. "I'm not sure if it's right to call you lucky, but it's the best I can do." she added.

"I'm just eager to meet some of my brethren." replied Athena. "When can I come down?"

"I'll send a pilot in one of our orbital shuttles right away. I'm sure we'd all like to meet you as well." Athena nodded, and the monitor faded to black.

Alex sighed, then turned to Danni. "Send a shuttle with our best pilot." Danni nodded, and got to work.

The outpost's future was looking brighter.

KSPTT

Stepping off the shuttle, Athena waited as the pilot, Noday Kerman, sealed the shuttle. After that, she followed Noday down a flexible tunnel to a main entryway. Noday turned back to brief Athena.

"Due to circumstances, we'll both be going into quarantine for thirty days. The main quarantine quarters for us is off to the left. We'll first walk through the medical lab into the living area, which is designed for six persons. With us in quarantine will be two medics, who'll use the medical bay for examination and research purposes until we can be cleared for release into the general base area. If you'll follow me, we'll get you situated." As Noday walked to the left, Athena marveled at the simplicity of the base design.

Verna base was originally to be used as a long-term scientific observatory of the parent star's degeneration and death. That being in the past, the base just remained as a system caretaker function. With a capability of being run by a staff of over three hundred, the new functions reduced the needed staff to just over one hundred. Based upon the T-branching style, one could walk from one part of the base to another in just under a few minutes.

Entering the living area, Athena was allowed to select her main bunk room. Although there were two bunks in her room, she wouldn't have anyone else in with her, to ensure her privacy. Noday took another room, and the two medics used the spare bunks in back. The living area sported a common area near the entryway, which included a two-way video screen for communications with the rest of the base, and several computer terminals for computer data access. Spartan, but functional.

After being introduced to the medics, Athena met, via video, with many of the other base personnel. During this time, the medics were taking several biological samples from her, mostly hair, skin, and saliva samples for analysis in the lab. She was told that in later days, she would visit the lab for detailed tests.

Over the next few weeks, which went by fairly quick, she continued to recount her experiences on Talia, as well as the general properties of the system. Of great interest was a formal report on the current religious-political situation. She was told, ahead of time on day one, that her discussions would be recorded for transmission back to Rhode.

Due to the extreme distance, it would take 40-50 days for the transmissions to reach the planet, depending on its position and distance from its primary. Transmissions would take place every week, with written reports being sent as well.

Thirty days after landing Athena Kerman walked out of the quarantine area into the main base. She was greeted with great fanfare, and a celebration was held to mark the occasion. Verna base doesn't get visitors from the stars too often, you see, so it was mainly a morale booster for the staff as well as a formal welcome for Athena.

KSPTT

Twelve days later, the Director of the Rhodian Space Agency got a surprise when he was informed of an emergency data packet from Verna base. Opening it, he was shocked at its contents. A kerbal colony ship succeeded and founded a viable society, though a closed-minded one at that. A single kerbal astronaut was sent to the home system to establish contact, and was still at Verna waiting clearance to travel to Rhode.

The Director cleared his immediate schedule and traveled to Riftwalker, the Rhodian capital. Taking a staff car to the Prime Minister's office building complex, he walked into the building and went up the levels to the Prime Minister's office. Wasting no time, he told the Prime Minister's secretary that he needed to see the Prime Minister on a matter of Rhodian planetary security. With those words, the Prime Minister met with the Director within minutes.

"Alright, Jim." said the Prime Minister, Alton Kerman. "What's going on?"

James Kerman, Director of the Rhodian Space Agency, looked into the eyes of all assembled. In addition to the Prime Minister, the Secretaries of Defense, State, and Interior, as well as the director of Planetary Security were gathered with regards to the unusual summons.

"It comes down to this, sir. We're being visited." said James Kerman.

"Visited?" asked one member. "What do you mean?"

"As some of you should know," said James Kerman, "The Rhodian Space Agency is not just charged with space exploration. An additional function of its charter is establishing first-contact with other life forms, if possible. We are being contacted, not by another life-form, but by one of our long-lost colonies."

A murmur went through the assembled personnel. The Prime Minister waved them to order and said, "Do we know which expedition succeeded?"

"At this time," said Jim, "We don't know which colony ship succeeded, but we have some data on the colony itself. The planet is named Talia, in a red dwarf system named Suthe, roughly twenty to twenty-five Rhodian light years from us. More data packets are on the way, so we'll know more as time allows. I'm distributing copies of the data sent so far; this will give an overall understanding of the situation at hand."

As each member received a copy of the data packet, the Planetary Security Director clicked. "A religious dictatorship?" he asked, looking at the Rhodian Space Agency Director, who nodded. "This would complicate things." added the Planetary Security Director. "Of all the things we've avoided, a religious-based majority is, thankfully, one of them. Bringing this here might upset the balance we've achieved."

"Maybe we should retain the pilot long-term ... to further study this 'Alcubierre' drive?" suggested the Secretary of Defense. "Its overall operation would strengthen our position in the long-term."

"No!" responded the Rhodian Space Agency Director.

"I agree." added the Prime Minister. "To be Kerbal means to be kind. Our distant ancestors on Kerbin had fears of aliens coming to harm us. We have learned to be decent and treat the other as we would want to be treated. We don't start changing because of 'zealots' in our tree."

"Besides," added James Kerman, "The ship doesn't carry much in the way of technology briefings. The engineers who developed the drive systems will need to be the ones to teach us."

"You're discounting our ability to reverse-engineer the technology, Director." replied the Defense Secretary.

"No, I'm not." replied Jim. "What I am saying is that we stand to learn much more by having the experts present to teach us. Reverse engineering can only go so far."

"In any case," added the Prime Minister, "My decision is final. We'll learn as much as we can from her, then allow her to return to Talia. I agree with Jim that reverse engineering can only go so far. Let's get her here so she can tell us face to face what the situation is on Talia. Then, we'll allow her to return to Talia to get the ball rolling on whatever mass evacuation they wish to perform."

"The future begins here. Let us begin wisely."