Questions and Answers:
The upper deck of the Jupiter 2 was a flurry of activity that evening. Will and Brina had verified that the star called Aurora by the Lamotia Clan was, in fact, the star Betelgeuse, in the constellation of Orion. Using the chart drawn by Brina's people, Will was able to identify both Sirius and Procyon. The Robot was busy comparing the spectrographs taken by the young friends, to the data stored in his memory banks.
While the trio of astronomers attempted to find their position in relation to Earth, the soon to be newlyweds were trying to piece together a puzzle of their own. The data tapes from the wrecked ship, that the dedication plaque had named the Jupiter 6, contained a large amount of news and information from Earth, some of it, still years into the future.
"Are you two having any luck?" asked Will, as he approached the couple.
"I'm afraid not, Will," his sister said. "Although we have found that the entertainment files are still intact."
"Just think, Will. We'll be able to watch next year's World Series, as it happens," added Don. He was trying to make light of the situation, but Will knew his heart wasn't in it.
"That's okay, Don, I'd much rather find out if and when I become an uncle."
Judy gave her brother a grateful smile. "How are you and Brina coming along with your project?" she asked.
"The Robot is still checking the spectrographs, but my preliminary measurements are very close. We should have an answer in a few minutes."
When Will returned to the table where Brina was working, Judy turned to Don, "I almost wish that we don't find out where Earth is, Don. I don't want to discourage Will, but maybe it's better if we don't find out where we are."
"I was thinking the same thing. But even if we do find out where we are, we still can't go anywhere. Maybe someone from Earth finds us, Judy."
"I never thought of that, but that still doesn't answer the question as to why we leave," she said.
Don thought of something and he took her in his arms, "Judy, maybe I was ordered back to Earth. By rights, I'm still an officer in the United States Space Corps."
"They can't do that…" she started to say.
"Yeah, they can," he said as gently as he could.
It's the one thing that makes sense, she thought. They both had expressed their desire to stay on this planet and raise a family together, but if Don were ordered back to Earth, she knew that there was no question. She was going to be his wife, and she would have gone with him, regardless of where his duty took him.
...
"I have completed the spectral analysis of the stars in question," said the Robot. "With a confidence factor of ninety nine point nine, nine, nine, nine, the stars have been correctly identified as, Betelgeuse, Sirius, and Procyon."
"That's great, Robot," said Will. "Can you calculate our position in relation to Earth?"
"Affirmative," responded the Robot. "It will take a few minutes to compensate for the luminal propagation delay."
"What does that mean," asked Brina.
Will picked up a note pad and started to draw as he explained, "The speed of light, in a vacuum is measured at one hundred eighty six thousand miles per second. Because of the vast distances in space, we've adopted a system of measurement called the light year. As an example, Alpha Centauri, which was our destination, is four point three light years from Earth. That means it takes light, which is leaving the star today, almost four and a half years to reach Earth."
"I understand," said Brina. "In the time that it takes the light to reach your home world, the star has moved from its original position."
Will was impressed with his friend's understanding of the concept.
"That's right," he said. "The Robot has information on stellar movement and with that he should be able to plot our position, relative to Earth, within a couple of hundred AU. With any luck, we should be able to find out which star this planet orbits."
"I have finished my calculations, Will," said the Robot. "From Earth, our location is on a Right Ascension of zero hours, twenty five minutes, and forty five seconds, and a declination of minus seventy seven degrees, fifteen minutes, and fifteen seconds, with a range of approximately twenty four point three light years."
Don and Judy walked and joined them, "Did you find something, Will?"
"The Robot has a course heading and approximate distance from Earth," said Will. He turned back to the mechanical being.
"What is the nearest star system to our calculated position?"
"The nearest star to our position would be Beta Hydri, a class G2IV star in the constellation of Hydrus. It is slightly larger than Sol, and has an absolute magnitude of three point four, five. The Sol system should be on a reciprocal bearing with a visual magnitude value between four and five."
The Robot rolled over to the chart that Brina had provided and pointed to a small star on the map.
"There," said the Robot. "This star should be Sol, and it is visible right now."
Will and Brina looked down at the star chart. The Lamotia clan had named this star, Belrhu.
...
The five of them rushed out to Will's telescope and he turned the scope to the small star. While he was running another spectrograph, each of them looked at the object through the viewing lens. They were much too far away to resolve any details of their solar system but seeing their home somehow brought them comfort.
After they had all had a turn at the scope, Don glanced at his watch.
"I think it's time for the two of you to get to bed," he said to Brina and Will, who were already beginning to yawn.
"I am getting kind of tired," said Will. "Come on, Brina. I'll show you where you're sleeping tonight."
"Thank you, Will," she answered. "Good night, Major West, good night Miss Judy."
"Good night, Brina, good night, Will," Judy replied.
As the two young friends strolled into the space ship, Judy turned back to Don.
"I told you he was growing up," she said. "Last year, he would have put up an argument about going to bed."
Don nodded, "I see what you mean. He also seems to be quite taken by Brina, don't you think?"
"Yeah, but I think they have at least another year before Dad has to have a father-son talk with him."
"Oh. That talk," said Don. "I remember it well. As you know, my father was career military and tarnishing the family honor is not something he would have taken kindly to."
Judy snuggled up closer to him, "He was just trying to make a gentleman out of you. Sometimes I think it worked too well."
"Oh yeah," he said as he started kissing her neck and shoulder.
"Don," she said, playfully. "You're getting me all hot and bothered. Save it for later."
He drew away to look in her eyes, wanting to say so much to her, to reassure her that he would be there for her.
"I do love you, Judy. Regardless of what life brings, or what the future holds for us, I will always love you."
Their lips met again, this time in a long gentle kiss in which they both found solace and mutual support.
They strolled up the ramp, still holding each other close.
As Don went to the console to kill the lights, he noticed that the recovery routine had finished on the crew manifest. The file had been ninety eight percent restored.
"Judy, Take a look at this," he said.
"Did the file recovery work?" she asked, as she came up behind him.
"Yeah, I think so. We should be able to read the crew manifest."
Don typed in the command to open the mission file, and the information scrolled up the screen as a hard copy was being printed.
...
Jupiter 6, Mission statistics:
Launch date: 30-December-2009
Mission objective: Colonization, Beta Hydri 4
Crew compliment: Family of four, and Pilot/Mission specialist
Colonel Donald M. West Sr. Mission Commander
Dr. Judith Robinson West Chief Medical Officer
Kathryn Ann West DOB: 30-September-2001
Donald M. West Jr. DOB 16-March-2003
Lt. Col (&%%&( (*&^%% $%#^ot/Mission Specialist
Mission Summary:
Continued colonization of planet Beta Hydri 4, following reinstatement of Jupiter Program and successful flight of Jupiter 5. Estimated flight time, six months.
...
Don and Judy stared at the readout in disbelief.
"Don, if we had a boy, I wanted to name him after you…"
"Kathryn Ann was my great grandmother," he interjected. Don pointed to Judy's title. "My mother always told me to marry a doctor," he added.
"Don, how is this possible? Medical school is four years, not counting residency and internship. I hadn't even entertained the notion of health care until Mother started training me as a paramedic."
"You are in your third year of college with your studies. Maybe you found your calling?"
"And what about you?" she asked. "Colonel? We must have spent at least six years on Earth. Could you have made that rank in that amount of time?"
"It is possible, with accelerated promotion. The time in grade requirements would be tight, but doable. I'm beginning to think I was ordered back to Earth."
Don paused as he read the mission summary.
"Did you see the mission time? The propulsion and navigation systems must have been radically changed to allow extended travel at speeds beyond the speed of light. Even though the Jupiter 2 was capable of light speed, it was designed to travel at sub-light."
Judy was hugging herself as the information was overwhelming her.
"Don, let's just sleep on all this, okay?"
"All right," he said as he reached to switch off the main lights.
Judy held on to him as they stepped onto the elevator.
"Did you notice our children's birthdays?" she asked.
"I know. We didn't waste any time, did we?"
It was then that the reality hit both of them. Tomorrow they would be burying their family. They cried silently in the comfort of each other's arms.
...
Looking through his field glasses, he noticed that the lights had just been extinguished in the spacecraft below. Right where it is supposed to be, he thought.
Lt. Colonel Richard Tyler, set to pitching his tent. He would wait until dawn before approaching the Robinson camp site. In less than a month, the Robinson expedition would launch a message rocket to Earth, announcing their intention to abort the Alpha Centauri mission and colonize this world instead.
His secondary mission was to prevent that from happening, at any cost.