The Tau Cetian System is being explored for the first time. Further expeditions will be necessary before the planet Harbor can be colonized. Each voyage comprises a twenty two year round trip plus time spent on the planet. Then colonization transports must be financed and built.
Jean Kilbirnie wants neither to stay on an always changing Earth -
"'...the things I loved, moors, woods, old towns full of kindness, old lifeways, I've seen them crumbling and by now they may be gone.'" (p. 27)
- nor to wait until colonization starts so she proposes to continue exploring indefinitely, starfaring as a way of life:
"'A whole universe to adventure in!'" (26)
This attitude will make her an ideal candidate for the crew of Envoy on its ten thousand year round trip.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And Kilbirnie was one of the few really satisfactory crew members on the "Envoy." Too many of the others had ulterior or flawed motives for signing up. But that was because most people, quite sensibly, did not want to go on a STL relativistic round trip taking at least 10,000 years to complete. Captain Nansen and the Foundation financing and building "Envoy" didn't have much choice but to take whoever was willing to sign the Articles.
Ad astra! Sean
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