Book 3: Chapter 18: Arrival at 82 Eridani
Mack
October 2220
82 Eridani
I was incredibly lucky to have been preparing to go out with a set of colony ships when 82 Eridani was secured. The vote by the colonists to change destinations was barely a formality, probably the most one-sided vote ever registered on Earth, pre or post-war.
And now, twenty-five years later, we’d arrived. Three colony ships, two from Vancouver Island and one from Japan, would be the first human beings to settle this system.
The inner of the two habitable planets resembled Venus in the old pulp-fiction novels—thick, impenetrable jungle, heavy clouds and mist, and large, hungry animals. The outer planet was cooler, with predominantly steppe climates. But it also had about seven percent heavier gravity than Earth. The second generation would adapt. The first would have sore feet for the rest of their lives.
And the larger moon of the outer planet was habitable. Marginally. It would require a serious beefing up of atmospheric pressure. But thanks to years of research and, frankly, screwing around with the environment on Ragnarök, Bill had solutions ready. We would have the atmosphere up to Earth normal within fifty years.
I checked the L4 points for each planet, looking for the materials caches that Verne’s notes said he’d left for us. Sure enough, a couple of million tons of various elements, bundled up with radio beacons attached, all ready and available for manufacturing. Awesome.
Well, time to report back. I pinged the colony ships, then invited them into my VR. Isaac, Jack, and Owen popped in. This group had no particular VR theme or style, and all three affected simple jean-and-tee-shirt ensembles. Original Bob had always been a bit button-down, so it was surprising to see the same variation in three clones at the same time. One of these years, someone would have to do a study and see if there were any patterns to the cloning variations.