Charlie Hu, who had also been present then, had come back with the Varuna. As a former Terran planetary scientist, he was impatient to get down to the surface and begin finding out more about the stupendous processes unfolding below. Gallian was back again too, his prior experience in leading the Kronian delegation to Earth having gained him the appointment as overall director of the Varuna’s mission. However, because of the difficulties and discomfort that the Kronian-born had experienced even in the comparatively tranquil environments that had existed before Athena, the personnel mix of the mission had been made disproportionately Terran.
Among the Kronians, Shayle, who had gone with Keene from the Tesla Center to SOE, was here as his fusion specialist. Vorse’s deputy, Adreya Laelye, represented SOE. And Sariena was back too, with a mixed group of Kronian scientists aboard a relatively small, minimally configured conventional fusion-drive vessel called the Surya—a minor deity mentioned along with Varuna in Vedic mythology—that had accompanied the Varuna. As well as affording extra carrying capacity, the arrangement provided that in the event of an emergency either ship could act as lifeboat for the other.
They had been in orbit for six days now, along with a gaggle of unmanned freight haulers—little more than containment frames fitted with engines—sent on ahead at intervals before the Varuna and the Surya’s departure. Teams had gone down to the surface several times to check candidate sites for the first base, but none had been selected so far. When a site was picked and preliminary constructions made ready, the Agni section of the ship would detach, leaving the Varuna with just an auxiliary power system for orbital corrections and essential services, and Keene would be shuttled down with his crew to integrate it into the base. Expansion of the base proper using materials delivered from orbit would then proceed.
Athena, after making another perihelion turn between the orbits of Mercury and Venus, was currently on the far side of the Sun and climbing outward again toward the Asteroid Belt. Since all of its potential interactions were highly nonlinear, meaning that tiny initial differences could result in hugely varying outcomes, there was no way of being sure of what the future might hold. Hence, reconnoitering and preparing evacuation centers on Earth in case Saturn had to be abandoned had taken on greater importance. Charlie had commented that he understood well now why so many cultures of old had watched Venus and Mars with such terror and built elaborate constructions to track their movements.
From Vicki’s most recent messages from Dione, it seemed she would be coming out with the first follow-up mission from Saturn, aboard a new ship being fitted out there, called the Aztec. Emil Farzhin was sending a group to begin exploring Athena’s biological consequences, and again native-born Terrans were the preferred choice. Keene was looking forward to seeing her again.
In any case, the change would be good for her, now that Robin had gone ahead and joined the Security Arm. He had completed basic training and space engineering school on Titan, and would be leaving shortly on an exploratory mission to survey the primary Jovian moons more thoroughly than had been attempted so far. The intention here was to prepare the ground for an alternative fallback location to be developed—possibly on Ganymede—in the event of Saturn having to be evacuated. The proposal had come from Valcroix’s Pragmatist movement, who still argued that putting major investments of resources into the unknowns of Earth was premature, whereas existing Kronian technologies would assure habitable environments at Jupiter. And if the emergency never happened, a foothold would have been made at Jupiter for future expansion.
This concession on the part of the Kronian Congress to consider Jupiter at a time when many priorities were in conflict reflected the progress that the Pragmatists had been making in becoming a recognized political force. Nevertheless, Keene hadn’t altered his opinion that in the long run not a lot would come of it, since they had nothing to offer that the majority of Kronians desired, or even comprehended. In any case, he’d seen it all before, wasted enough of his life fighting it, and he was glad to be away. Like Charlie, he was restless to get down to the surface and begin the work they had come here to do.