to time, and Kathryn never
knew what he was thinking. "We're ready to go now," he
said, and she took his hand as they entered the shuttlebay.
Standing at stiff attention next to a Starfleet shuttle
was a cadet wearing the uniform of Starfleet Academy. He
looked very odd to Kathryn. His skin was a light golden
color, and his eyes were pale. She tried not to stare at
him. Admiral Finnegan nodded to the cadet as they entered
the shuttle. "We have a very important young guest today,
Mr. Data, so make this flight nice and smooth."
"Yes, sir," replied the cadet. He had a gentle, soothing
voice. Kathryn looked up at him as she passed by, and this
time he didn't look so strange. He had an air of
imperturbability that was appealing. The group took their
seats in the shuttle, and the cadet boarded last. He began
working the controls, and Kathryn was reminded of her piano
teacher, whose fingers roamed so effortlessly and precisely
over the keys. "Shuttle Curie to docking control. Ready for
pre-launch sequencing." The cadet's voice was as confident
and poised as his demeanor. "Control to Curie. Prelaunch
sequencing under way. You may proceed." The cadet continued
his manipulation of the controls.
The hatch closed, the shuttlebay decompressed, and the
small craft lifted smoothly off the deck, heading for the
giant doors which even now were gliding open.
"Shuttle Curie to docking control.
Approaching portals. Ready for egress." "Go ahead, Curie.
Smooth sailing."
Kathryn held her breath. It was a regal moment, endowed
with wonder and mystery. Gracefully, silently, the vessel
passed through the massive portals and into the inky void
of space.
Only the faint hum of the impulse engines broke a silence
that seemed almost holy. Kathryn sat with nose pressed
against a window, staring back as the spacedock receded
from view, growing smaller and smaller until she could no
longer see it. Earth was diminishing, too; soon it was a
small blue dot and finally only a circle of light.
Three hours later, Mars became a visible disk. Kathryn
stared as it grew larger and larger; the first discernible
feature she spotted on it was a whitish spot, almost like a
tiny star, twinkling at one edge of the disk. "That's the
southern polar cap," said Daddy, as though reading her
mind. "It's always the first thing you notice on Mars. Even
though the planet's been terraformed, the southern polar
cap is still frozen-but it's mostly carbon dioxide that's
frozen, not water."
Kathryn searched her memory for her history lessons, and
wished she had given them as much time and attention as she
had science and mathematics. She vaguely remembered reading
about the colonization of Mars, but it had struck her at
the time as somewhat unremarkable. After all, space
travelers now flew to other systems, other sectors; what
was so amazing about a colony in one's own planetary
system?
But as multi-hued Mars loomed in front of her, it seemed
extraordinary indeed. Patches of red were still visible on
the planet-oxidized dust, which had given it the nickname
"the red planet" several centuries ago. But now there were
vast areas of blue and green, and wisps of white water-vapor clouds hanging in the atmosphere. It didn't look like
Earth, but it looked like a fertile, living planet. The
transformation had been a massive undertaking, made
possible with help from the Vulcans, the first offworld
species to make contact with humans.
That memorable meeting had taken place in 2063, the year
Zefram Cochrane had launched the first warp flight and
alerted the spacefaring Vulcans that Earth was ready to
take its place in the interplanetary community. Kathryn had
studied all that in her history class. How Cochrane's
revolutionary discovery had lifted Earth from the chaos it
had endured in the early part of the twentyfirst century,
how the arrival of the Vulcans had forged an alliance that
carried Earth into a technological
knew what he was thinking. "We're ready to go now," he
said, and she took his hand as they entered the shuttlebay.
Standing at stiff attention next to a Starfleet shuttle
was a cadet wearing the uniform of Starfleet Academy. He
looked very odd to Kathryn. His skin was a light golden
color, and his eyes were pale. She tried not to stare at
him. Admiral Finnegan nodded to the cadet as they entered
the shuttle. "We have a very important young guest today,
Mr. Data, so make this flight nice and smooth."
"Yes, sir," replied the cadet. He had a gentle, soothing
voice. Kathryn looked up at him as she passed by, and this
time he didn't look so strange. He had an air of
imperturbability that was appealing. The group took their
seats in the shuttle, and the cadet boarded last. He began
working the controls, and Kathryn was reminded of her piano
teacher, whose fingers roamed so effortlessly and precisely
over the keys. "Shuttle Curie to docking control. Ready for
pre-launch sequencing." The cadet's voice was as confident
and poised as his demeanor. "Control to Curie. Prelaunch
sequencing under way. You may proceed." The cadet continued
his manipulation of the controls.
The hatch closed, the shuttlebay decompressed, and the
small craft lifted smoothly off the deck, heading for the
giant doors which even now were gliding open.
"Shuttle Curie to docking control.
Approaching portals. Ready for egress." "Go ahead, Curie.
Smooth sailing."
Kathryn held her breath. It was a regal moment, endowed
with wonder and mystery. Gracefully, silently, the vessel
passed through the massive portals and into the inky void
of space.
Only the faint hum of the impulse engines broke a silence
that seemed almost holy. Kathryn sat with nose pressed
against a window, staring back as the spacedock receded
from view, growing smaller and smaller until she could no
longer see it. Earth was diminishing, too; soon it was a
small blue dot and finally only a circle of light.
Three hours later, Mars became a visible disk. Kathryn
stared as it grew larger and larger; the first discernible
feature she spotted on it was a whitish spot, almost like a
tiny star, twinkling at one edge of the disk. "That's the
southern polar cap," said Daddy, as though reading her
mind. "It's always the first thing you notice on Mars. Even
though the planet's been terraformed, the southern polar
cap is still frozen-but it's mostly carbon dioxide that's
frozen, not water."
Kathryn searched her memory for her history lessons, and
wished she had given them as much time and attention as she
had science and mathematics. She vaguely remembered reading
about the colonization of Mars, but it had struck her at
the time as somewhat unremarkable. After all, space
travelers now flew to other systems, other sectors; what
was so amazing about a colony in one's own planetary
system?
But as multi-hued Mars loomed in front of her, it seemed
extraordinary indeed. Patches of red were still visible on
the planet-oxidized dust, which had given it the nickname
"the red planet" several centuries ago. But now there were
vast areas of blue and green, and wisps of white water-vapor clouds hanging in the atmosphere. It didn't look like
Earth, but it looked like a fertile, living planet. The
transformation had been a massive undertaking, made
possible with help from the Vulcans, the first offworld
species to make contact with humans.
That memorable meeting had taken place in 2063, the year
Zefram Cochrane had launched the first warp flight and
alerted the spacefaring Vulcans that Earth was ready to
take its place in the interplanetary community. Kathryn had
studied all that in her history class. How Cochrane's
revolutionary discovery had lifted Earth from the chaos it
had endured in the early part of the twentyfirst century,
how the arrival of the Vulcans had forged an alliance that
carried Earth into a technological
Similar Books
