Chapter 9

Kaywell II

Arriving back in the Kaywell system, Athena spent some time re-gathering data on the Kaywell-B system components. Ignoring the two objects listed as asteroidal or cometary, she was able to gather the necessary data within two months. She detected a possible secondary colony world as well.

Gadwin had begun sending the first colony ships within fourteen months after her departure from LOO-1, so she knew she had about a year to complete her full system survey for the earliest pioneers to plan from.

Starting from the Kaywell-A's outermost planet, she was astonished at the variety of planetary surfaces to choose from. Icy cracks, Icy plains, and Ice volcanoes & craters were what she spotted from the outermost planet's moons. There was even one that was bright on one side, and dark on the other!

That one will be an interesting place to study, she thought.

The next planet inward was reddish, with white at the poles. She had read up on the old Kerbol system configuration, thus she was able to classify this planet as "Dunatian" in nature. Its moon, however, was anything like Duna's moon in the old days. This moon's orbit took it from just outside the planet's Roche limit, to well over a dozen times that distance. If it had wandered into the Roche limit, it might have been torn apart by the mother planet's gravitational forces. Lucky moon, indeed.

The next planet inward appeared to be another large gas or ice giant, but upon getting nearer to it for orbital insertion, she observed it was in fact, a supermassive terrestrial planet. Spectral scans of its liquid region confirmed water in great quantities, with some extra compounds added to keep the water unfrozen at the surface. If it weren't for the extra compounds, the pure water would most likely freeze to ice due to the great distance from the primary sun.

Its moons were just as interesting as the outermost planet's moons. Small, large, icy & rocky all were covered. The fourth moon even sported a thin atmosphere, not enough to breathe, but still detectable. The third moon was mostly white with reddish spots. The white was most certainly ice, but the red eluded her. Was it the evidence of a reddish world locked under the ice? A future expedition would be needed.

The next world inward, the fifth in the Kaywell-A system, contained the world they wanted to settle on, but Athena performed long range studies of the inner objects. Ignoring the three minor planets, she determined that the first planet was a lonely hot giant, too useless at this point. The third planet was another giant, but its moons were bland, except for the second moon, which had a spectral signature indicating the possibility of liquid water. She filed that one for later exploration as well.

Pressing on to the fifth planetary body, she realized its high gravity, most likely because it seemed from her first visit to be like a giant planet's barren core, would need to be compensated for by a close passage to maximize her orbital maneuvering effects. She carefully aimed for a passage of a little over ten kilometers from its surface.

Performing her maneuver to place her into a moderate orbit around the planet so she could reach out past the outermost object, she was startled to see a series of bright lights on the surface. Some were off to either side, but the brightest set of lights was almost under her path. As it passed less than ten kilometers under her, it appeared to be similar to the lights of Talia's space center. No way, she thought. The home planet couldn't have set up shop here already. But there it was, the same lights as a Talian space center. She resolved that this warranted further study on her part.

After her close passage and her encounter with the "space center", she received a shock when a previously undetected small moon passed close to her ship. She realized she must tread carefully around this planet.

KSPTT

Athena's passage over the "Space Center" complex didn't go without notice. Many personnel outside the pressurized buildings observed the unusual object pass overhead. Sensors around the complex confirmed the object, which was thought to be a transient object that had just arrived, most likely asteroidal in nature. But, the sensory package detected refined metals as well, which threw everyone off. Its highly elliptical orbit would bring it back within weeks, so they should get more data then.

By this point in time, Jokath Kerman, who had logged an unconfirmed transient light over the fifth moon in the planetary system years before, which they too named "Kerbmun", had risen in the astronomical ranks over the years since her report to be a lead researcher at the Jonklin Observatory Bank.

Due to the compartmentalized nature of the planet's scientific community, the information on the object over the space center took a full week to reach her notice, since she was involved in a long-term study of the Kaywell-B's twin gas giants. By the time she heard of the flyover of the object, it was old news, but the report intrigued her. She was reminded of her previous report of the Kerbmun light show.

Passing the data on to her boss, however, took some doing.

"You have to be kidding me." said her boss. "You think this transient object may be related to your decade-old report of an unconfimed light over Kerbmun? How could you think it's related? It's been a decade since you filed that report."

"It's simple." replied Jokath. "The object that passed over the space center had a refined metal signature. What if the object I detected years ago was the same one? It could have been over Kerbmun as I saw it, then took off for the beta star of our system, spent the last ten years getting there, studying it, and coming back."

"They're thinking it is an asteroid that just got captured Jokath."

"But with a refined metal signature? I think you should dig up my old report and pass it on directly to the space center's director; call it one of my wild hunches, but I think we're on the verge of something big."

"You are asking me to go out on a limb for you."

"I am asking you to have faith in my hunches. I feel this is big."

Thinking for a few moments, her boss finally responded, "Okay. I'll pass on the information. But I don't think it's anything, though it would be interesting to be wrong."

The information was passed on to the space program's director, and the director was shocked. To think they missed this report a decade ago, it might have changed the course of the space program. Even if it didn't pan out, it might have spurred a new wave of exploration. Now the director would have to do a catch-up program.

The space center then sent out a series of observation stations to ring the globe. At first, the legislature howled at the cost of such an endeavor, but after the leading members of the legislature were shown the data, they acceded reluctantly, since the expenditures were generating much-needed jobs as well.

It took them the better part of a week to finish getting the observation station up and running, and almost a full Kerbin-Talian day was available before the encounter. The stations waited.

Then, the time of the encounter failed to arrive, and recriminations were hurled.

"What happened?" said one member of the legislature. "Where's the object?"

"We're not certain." said the director, just as a member of the observatory team handed him a piece of paper. Scanning its contents, he glanced at the aide and said, "Are we certain on this?" The aide nodded.

"Report this to them." he said to the aide, pointing at the legislature members.

"Sirs," said the aide, "There is an object in a high trajectory, emitting a plume of some kind, and slowing down. It appears to be about two thousand kilometers above Mesbin. It will take it some time to circularize due to its high speed and low acceleration factor, at least fourteen minutes at best. It's clearly some kind of spaceship."

"Kraken!" cried one. "We're being invaded!" said another.

"There's no evidence of that!" replied the director. "We must remain calm!"

"Get these people to a safe place, and keep them calm." he said to the aide.

"We have to plan how to understand what we're dealing with."

KSPTT

Jokath was also watching as this unfolded. Intrigued, she realized that the craft must have increased its periapsis, or closest point in its orbit higher than it would have passed. Nevertheless, she worked to gather as much data on the object.

"Get me a spectrogram of its plume." she ordered.

After the spectrogram was gathered, she ordered, "Now compare it to the Kerbmun light of ten years ago."

"What are you thinking?" asked her boss.

"If it's the same object, it should have the same spectral signature." she replied.

They both watched as their computer analyzed the two spectral signatures. Then it reported the results: 99.99% match. Jokath looked at her boss and blinked.

"It's the same object." said her boss. "You were right."

"Now, notify the space program's director." she replied.

Her boss was speaking with the director within minutes.

KSPTT

"Are you sure?" asked the director. After a moment, he turned to nearest technician and said, "Establish a video telecon with Jonklin at once." Speaking back into the phone, he said, "Stand by Jonklin; we're hooking up a video telecon."

A few minutes later, and faces of Jokath Kerman and her boss were shown on the main monitor.

"We have determined," said Jokath, "That the object still decelerating over Mesbin is the same object that I observed over Kerbmun ten years ago. We compared the spectrograms of the two encounters and they match at 99.99%." Someone in the space center whistled at that.

"That amazing." said the space program's director. "Do you have any ideas on what's happening here?"

"For that, I'll have to speculate." replied Jokath. "If I may ...?" The director nodded for her to continue.

"It's clearly an invasion of some kind. Let me start with an invasion of kerbals from old Kerbin."

"But Kerbin's dead." interrupted one technician.

"It's dead now," answered Jokath, "But two billion years ago, when our ancestors left it on the Manifest Destiny, it was still alive, with well over a hundred million years left to go."

"A follow-up expedition could have been sent out from Kerbin as a supplement, and could just be arriving. Or at the very least, an advance probe may have been sent out first. That is what we are most likely seeing. Send the probe a bit faster, and it'll arrive much sooner than the mothership. The probe collects the data, and the mothership analyzes the data for best utilization."

"I see." said the director. "Any other ideas?"

"I'm afraid I'll have to be direct on this one." said Jokath. "It's also possible that this invasion might be of beings who are truely alien to us. They might even see us as cattle to be raised as a food supply for them."

"You're a bundle of laughs." said her boss.

"Just being brutally honest." replied Jokath.

"Nevertheless," said the space program's director, "We must consider everything. Let us hope this invasion is a friendly one." Jokath and her boss both nodded at that. "Alright Jonklin, thank you for your help in this. We'll let you get back to your regular work." The contact was cut, and the director turned to the nearest member of the legislature.

"Our operating budget just went up for now." he said. "Get used to it." the legislature member swallowed and nodded at the necessity. The director then turned to the center's chief engineer. "Design a mission to contact that object quickly."

"We're done being caught flat-footed. We need answers."