1st day of the 7th Month
Mareesa's Quarters
"And this is where we are now." Mareesa pointed to the large map on her bedroom wall.
Her childhood had mostly been spent in space. The Mating had struck her parents only once,
so she was an only child. Her father had always made certain to hire at least one couple with
a child so that she would have a playmate.
Her most recent was with her now: five year old, Omilo Vartel. He was a quiet child but very
curious and possessed of an insatiable desire to know everything. Mareesa had found that
the best way to keep him engaged was to give as much information as possible. She had
decided that she would give him a map reading and astronomy lesson today while she was
watching him and the Havora's route since leaving Nlia was the perfect opportunity.
Their first stop had been the Norayis System, located four light years 'south' from Nlia, an eight
day trip. It had eight planets, none of which supported life, but thirty years ago their people had
established a tiny space station in orbit of the huge gas giant, Moreena. Fifty personal and their
families, were stationed there on a rotating basis, both to conduct scientific studies and to serve
as a Nlian presence.
Norayis had the first star that their people had reached when they had first ventured from their system
over a hundred years before, and they had been the first ones to reach it. That was a source of quiet
but deep pride within them.
"Always hold on to what is yours," was a popular saying among the Tkarites and in this case, the Nlians
had followed it. All of their neighbors: Tkarite, C'Tekian, and Rylarin had established large colonies
in other systems, with populations ranging from the thousands to the millions, but to the Nlians,
the tiny outpost with its fifty personnel was enough. The Havora had stayed there for two days.
After that, they had travelled 'south' another five light years to Nlia's next door neighbor, Tkara,
and had stayed for another two days. As intimidating as the Tkarites could be, Mareesa never tired
of the beauty of their world.
They had then travelled still another five light years 'south' to the Vornel System, the location of Tkara's
famous 'Three Colonies.' They had spent two days on the largest colony planet, Rockla, from which
they had launched several hours ago.
"We've travelled fifteen light years since we left Nlia," Mareesa explained. "And it's taken us about
a month. There was a time when it would have taken us several months to get this far. For a long
time our fastest ships could only go to warp 3 and freighters like ours only went to warp 2. At warp 2
it would have taken us six months to reach Norayis. That's how long it took the Silvenyo to make its flight."
Omilo perked up. "The Silvenyo. That was the first ship to go into deep space. They met the Tkarites!"
Mareesa smiled. "That's right. And it would have taken them a whole year to reach Tkara and almost
a year and a half to get as far as we are now"
"But ships go a lot faster now don't they?"
That's right. The Tkarites developed warp 4 in 2160 and two years after that Warp 5. They showed us
how to develop it too. Father says that truly opened the door for us."
"The door to what?"
"I guess…to the rest of the universe."
The door slid open and Omilo's mother, Pryleen Cho'tae, came in.
"Mother!" Omilo jumped up and hugged his mother tightly around the waist.
She chuckled and turned to Mareesa. "Thank you for watching her, Mareesa. It was really busy today."
"You like it when things are busy," Mareesa teased.
Cho smiled again. "Very true." One of the Havora's best engineers, she was a quiet, soft spoken
woman, but happiest when busy and loved to roll up her sleeves and plunge her hands into machines.
"And we're going to go right on being busy for quite some time," Cho'tae continued. "Now that we're
leaving Vornel, we're got a long trip ahead and the engines need to be constantly watched."
They had concluded their business on Vornel two days ago and were now starting the truly 'long haul'
stage of their journey. They were departing the Norayis sector.
The door had been opened and there was no shutting it.