COMPETE: The Atlantis Grail (Book Two) - Preview

CHAPTER SIX (draft)

CHAPTER SIX

The ICS-2 space Observation Deck is grand and dimly lit, exactly like the one back on Ark-Ship 1109.

Gennio Rukkat and I stop before the floor-to-ceiling tinted windows and look at the immensity of the cosmos outside. Quite a few other people are gathered here too, to watch the momentous non-event that is about to take place. Too bad Mars itself is hidden far out of sight somewhere beyond the Sun, near the opposite point of its elliptical orbit relative to us, and almost in solar conjunction with Earth. It would have been mind-blowing to see it up-close, instead of merely marking the moment we cross some theoretical trajectory path in space. . . .

I glance around and see other Qualified teens with various color armbands and tokens, but no one I know—at least as far as I can tell. Soft conversations in Earth foreign languages sound from all directions. At one point, I am certain, someone recites poetry in classical Latin. And from somewhere else, comes a prayer in Arabic.

"The ship computer is supposed to say when we actually do it. You know, cross the Mars orbit," an older boy says in a confident voice, right next to us.

"You mean a countdown?" a girl responds.

"Yeah."

I turn around.

The boy who speaks is tall and muscular, with an arrogant expression, wavy brown hair and a green armband. I am guessing he is North American, but can't be sure of his accent. The girl is medium-height, with a toned body and waist-long straight dark hair with purple streak highlights. She wears a red armband.

Next to me, Gennio Rukkat looks in their direction and says helpfully, "Actually not a countdown but an extended two-part observance for the duration of the orbit pass. The computer will announce when the vanguard ships of the Fleet enter the perihelion, or closest point of Martian orbit relative to the Sun. And then it will announce when we depart beyond the farthest point of its solar orbital range, or aphelion. The whole event will last about three-point-two minutes, give or take thirty seconds, though I believe it will be closer to exactly three-point-two minutes, based on our current timer calibration, the length of the Fleet formation, and our rate of acceleration. . . ."

"Is that right?" the Earth boy says. "Thanks." And then he and the girl look at each other, raise brows, and compress their mouths, repressing laughter. I recognize thinly veiled mockery, and oh yeah, these two really give off the unpleasant alpha vibes.

But I don't think Gennio notices. "Oh yes, you are welcome," he says. "It really is exciting to experience, even though Mars is not in our viewing range."

"Look!" I distract him, pointing with my hand to a bright point of blue light, like a very bright star. "Is that Earth?" I am pretty sure it is, but I just want to get Gennio to confirm, and to kind of stop talking to the boy and girl next to us.

"It is Earth, that is correct, yes," he says, immediately switching his attention. And then he reaches into the pocket of his uniform and takes out a small Atlantean gadget that looks like a mini-cube made of orichalcum. He presses something and it unfolds into the Atlantean equivalent of a flat rectangle viewfinder with a video display and a micro camera. "Since you mention it, let me just capture Earth in this moment too," he mutters, then lifts up the device and stares through it at the grand spacescape, until the gadget blinks.

In that moment, a bright violet plasma shooting star passes horizontally outside the ship's observation windows. It is followed a second later by two others, and then a third, moving at incredible speed.

"Whoa! Did you see that?" the muscular boy with the green armband says.

"What was that?" the girl echoes him, and so do a few other people.