Music - As Life Was Now by Tim Story
In her closing pursuit of Gilon's Light, Terreska passed through a diffuse region of the comet's tails, providing analyses of their compositions as she did so. By then they stretched visibly for millions of miles. Within the gossamer streams of dust, the stars in her field of view often faded, pulsed, and even twinkled. This Terreska had never known. For much of her time in interstellar space, there had been no sun to vaporize such objects. In her colonizing years, she had never been close to a comet nor flown through such clouds. Her years adrift had been times of sensory deprivation.
She considered the kinds of memories she could make of this experience, even the possibility of adding the impressions of others to her own. She would be sure to store them in a place where she could recall them often.
And she thought the comet had many more stories to tell. While Gilon was at the helm, Terreska spoke to her about this, "Perhaps we should engage this comet. We know nothing of its origin or destination. And it is alone. I was once alone also."
Not fully understanding this suggestion, and mildly surprised that Terreska would regard the comet as an entity, Gilon initiated a sweeping port-side turn toward the comet's ever-expanding coma. As the ship briefly emerged into open space, she used the renewed clarity of the stars to update the ship's navigational grid, then eased the ship into the outskirts of a translucent fog of expelled debris.
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For the travelers aboard Terreska, reaching their destination simply compounded wonder with wonder. They had functioned as a healthy community inside an ancient spacecraft for two years and had somehow come to regard it as home. They now had sufficient water, food, and raw materials for every foreseen contingency. If they chose, they could even establish an orbit around the comet and simply allow themselves to be drawn along by it, making use of its acceleration as it fell toward the sun. As it was, Terreska often flew backwards to feel that sunward pull and remarked that it felt slightly familiar, though without the violent braking thrust of her engines in an earlier time. She also returned to "free-spin" at her normal speed of rotation.
Beyond those things, the Terreska community found ways to keep the traditions of both the Islanders and the Bryn Colony, including ongoing seminars and classes in the Commons, Vasta, and forward park areas. Crop harvests were now almost continuous, and large surpluses were set aside for the Picarin.
Certain living improvements were suggested by Terreska herself, based on her ancient experiences in crossing the interstellar bridge. Among them were recommendations for multiple redundancy in life support systems. Whether they would ever be required was less important than their effect on community morale. She also suggested the restoration of large mirrored surfaces in various areas to give the impression of extra living space. These, she said, had been invaluable to the original colonists. The remains of such surfaces had previously been found by workers during renovations, but they had either been removed or had been too corroded to identify. The crew set out to recreate these using thin layers of finely polished N-type, infused with programable Shil and Canticle Blue. Terreska also confirmed that her original ventilation system had been used to generate mist and ground fog in the growing areas at appropriate times, not only for the plants and crops, but also to simulate natural occurrences for the benefit of her people.
The Castel and Maire Meid were no longer needed to work with the lianas. Terreska was close enough to the comet for harvested materials to be delivered by the lianas themselves. This allowed the Middi ships to alternately make high speed trips to Innis and Havel, carrying food, seeds, live plants, E-matter containers, and prefabricated parts for the Picarin. On Havel, they acquired additional plant samples and seeds requested by Elyse. Where possible they also brought small marine and terrestrial animals back to Terreska, and assisted in the removal of irreplaceable items from the Bryn Institute.
Tor Stym was finally able to pilot the Crisopa to Gilon's Light, arriving a few weeks after Terreska and using the main docking bay to exchange supplies. He also took every opportunity to study the comet. Perhaps more than anyone else, he seemed to understand what was to come, and what Terreska meant by "engaging" the comet. While there, he tempted Cian Dhalen with talk of preparations for a Bryn Institute campus on the Picarin. When he told her there was already a shortage of science instructors, she decided to return with him.