New Earth Read Free Page A

Earthlike worlds are commonplace.
    Enough speculation, he told himself. Get to work. Time to go to the command center and see what the mission controllers have to say to us.
    Clasping his half-finished mug of tea in one hand, Jordan went back into the passageway and walkedto the command center. It was a smallish compartment with a horseshoe of six workstation consoles curving around a single high-backed chair whose arms were studded with control buttons. Display screens covered the bulkheads, most of them showing the condition and performance of the ship’s various systems; others offered views of the planet they orbited.
    Jordan slipped into the command chair andfrowned briefly at the keypads set into its armrests. He tried to remember which one activated the communications system. The symbols on each pad had always reminded him of children’s sketches. The propulsion system’s symbol was a triangle with wavy lines emanating from it. Life support a heart shape.
    Communications was the headset symbol, he recalled. Touching that pad, Jordan called for thelatest message from Earth. He reminded himself that the message he was about to see was sent from Earth more than eight years ago. It takes messages eight point six years to travel from Earth to Sirius.
    A woman’s face appeared on the main screen, above the row of consoles. She was a handsome woman, with dark hair pulled tightly back off her face. Strong cheekbones and a fine, straight nose. Hereyes were large and so deeply brown they looked almost black—and unutterably sorrowful.
    “I am Felicia Ionescu, the newly appointed director of the International Astronautical Authority,” she said, in a carefully measured alto register. “This message is being sent to reach you on the day that your ship attains orbit around the planet Sirius C.”
    Recorded more than eight years ago, Jordan repeatedto himself.
    “I hope that you have all survived the flight to Sirius and that you are well, and ready to begin the exploration of the planet.”
    Jordan thought her welcoming message was strangely heavy, bleak. Where’s the congratulations? Where are the clichés about how all of Earth is thrilled that you’ve reached your destination?
    “When you departed from Earth,” Ionescu went on, “eighty yearsago, we were recovering from the worldwide flooding caused by the global greenhouse warming.” She took in a breath. “Unfortunately, now—eighty years later—a new wave of flooding has struck, caused by the continued warming of the global climate.”
    Her image disappeared, replaced by pictures of devastation: cities drowned, coastlines inundated, storms lashing fleeing refugees. Jordan stared in open-mouthedhorror.
    “Because of these calamities,” Ionescu’s voice said over the views of disaster, “the World Council has been unable to authorize the backup missions that were in the IAA’s original program plan.”
    The screen showed her face once more. She looked miserable. “I will work to my utmost to get the World Council to fund backup missions, eventually. But, for the present, you twelve members ofthe Gaia mission are alone in your exploration of Sirius C. I wish you well.”
    And her image winked off.

 
    THE NEWS FROM EARTH
    For long moments Jordan sat in the command chair, shocked beyond words. He could feel his heart thudding beneath his ribs, his stomach roiling.
    Alone, he thought.
    At last he pulled himself to his feet. Very well, then, he told himself. Alone. We have everything we need for a five-year stay at Sirius C. We’ll do the best we can with what we’ve got and then we’ll go home.

    Yes, he thought. Now to break the cheery news to the rest of the team.
    As resolutely as he could manage, Jordan marched back to the wardroom. Only one other person was there: Mitchell Thornberry, the roboticist, standing before the wall-screen display of New Earth.
    “Hello, Mitchell.”
    Thornberry turned to face Jordan, a wide smile breaking across his