Barret had seen so many sunrises, occlusions, dust clouds, ice fields and so on that a mere eclipse of one sun in a binary system was something of a commonplace, but even so, he found himself enjoying the excited buzz now arising among the passengers looking forward to the small spectacle ahead…..
Up in the mountains now, passing Mt Hokusai.
Gamma Cephei and Yark rotated every 40 years or so, and as they orbited GC, they got to watch Yark change positions constantly. Right now Yark was on the other side of GC, still visible to the left above the horizon. Everyone’s shadows were really close together, Barret had noticed on the occasional non-overcast day in New Tokyo. It had seemed strange after 2 years on Domus, in a non-binary system with an atmosphere so thick all that could be seen of the sun was a noxious red haze. No shadows there, no people, no cities, no animals, nothing. A dead world. Of course, all that would change when the colonists arrived there in about 15 years.
Great views of Hokusai were suddenly forgotten, as suddenly, the shape of Enied became dimly visible as it began to occlude the glaring disc of Yark. Ship switched on the wall length screens, making the sides and rear of the craft transparent for the passengers to give them the best view possible. They turned in wide circles so everyone could get a good view of the fuzzy black disc ringed with fire.
Not bad, Barret thought. The mountain seemed to have turned a strange shade of green in the weird light from the eclipse. Suddenly, looking out over the greenish slopes a memory hit him, pungent and acrid like toxic smoke, of combat over the jungles of Berann, a Chinese homeworld off Epsilon Eridani.,
Suddenly, the eclipse was forgotten, and Barret was there again, seven hundred years back in time…. as if it were only yesterday, wrestling his transport filled with Marines through the jungle canyons….
Next set: Expedition to Berann....
Thanks for looking.. I know the eclipse looks a bit crap but best I can do right now
Cheers
Krigl
Pages: 1
