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The cabin door opened.

“Hi,” Kyla said.

Julian looked up.

“Hi. How was your day?”

“Busy.”

She walked farther inside and set her things beside the desk.

“It’s only your third day back. It’ll get better,” Julian said.

“I know. I’m still trying to catch up.”

Julian smiled.

“You’ll get there.”

Kyla looked toward the crib.

“How about your day?”

“It was good,” Julian said.

“Just good?”

Julian nodded.

“Alex ate four times, slept twice, cried more times than I counted, and went through two changes of clothes.”

Kyla smiled.

“His clothes or yours?”

“Both.”

She laughed.

“No strolling today?”

“We went to the Plaza for a little while.”

“How did that go?”

“Better than I expected. He was calm the whole time.”

Julian walked toward the crib and looked down at him.

“We saw Layna and Alyka.”

“You did?”

“Yes. Alyka recognized me before Layna did.”

“That sounds like her.”

“She was happy to see Alex,” Julian said.

Kyla smiled.

“Of course.”

Julian sat down.

“Layna said she’ll be going back to work at the Terra Arc in a couple of weeks.”

“Really?”

“She said she’s ready.”

“I’m happy for her. She needs something for herself too,” Kyla said.

“Yes, of course,” Julian said.

They stayed quiet for a moment.

“Taro called asking when we’re going to have Alex’s presentation ceremony,” Julian said.

“Yes, we should probably do it soon,” Kyla said.

Then he said, “You seem worried about something today.”

Kyla turned back toward him.

“No, I called earlier just to see how you were doing.”

“No, that’s not what I meant. You’re worried about something else. I know that look.”

“I guess I’m just tired,” Kyla said.

“That look is different from tired.”

Julian leaned forward.

“Did something happen at work today?”

Kyla did not answer immediately.

Then she pulled out one of the chairs and sat down.

“We had an emergency meeting.”

Julian’s expression changed.

“With Sheila?”

“She was in the meeting, but everyone was called to the Council chamber.”

“What happened?”

Kyla looked at him.

“Navigation detected something ahead of Helios.”

Julian frowned.

“What kind of something?”

“They don’t know yet.”

“An asteroid?”

“They don’t think so. It’s too big.”

“A planet?”

“I don’t know.”

Julian stared at her.

“How long have they known?”

“Not long. They’re verifying their observations before informing the rest of the ship.”

“That makes sense,” Julian said.

“They’re calling it Ross 128-X.”

Julian raised his eyebrows.

“That’s creative.”

Kyla smiled faintly.

“I thought the same thing.”

“So what are we doing next?”

“There’s a meeting on Friday. Navigation is going to present what they know so far.”

“What kind of information are they going to present?”

“Distance. Trajectory. Possible mass. Whatever they’ve been able to determine.”

Julian became quiet.

Then he reached for his Whisperzend.

“I’ll call Director Prescott.”

Kyla looked at him.

“You’re on leave.”

His hand stopped.

For a moment, neither of them said anything.

Julian looked toward Alex.

“You’re right.”

He lowered his hand.

“Sorry.”

Kyla shook her head.

“You don’t have to apologize.”

“I just heard ‘unknown object ahead of Helios’ and forgot for a second.”

Kyla smiled.

“I’m needed here now. This is my emergency,” Julian said.

Kyla looked toward the crib.

Alex moved but did not wake.

Julian followed her eyes.

“So we wait until Friday, then.”

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The Council chamber lights dimmed as the main display came on.

Kyla sat beside Sheila.

Across the chamber were the Captain, the First Officer, the Arc directors, and several representatives from Navigation and Horizon.

Director Prescott sat with the Data and Information Office delegation.

Kyla noticed the empty chair beside Prescott. Julian was not there.

The Council President looked toward the Navigation director.

“Director, you may begin.”

The main display changed.

Ross 128 appeared at the center.

A small marker identified Ross 128 b close to the star.

Another line showed Helios approaching from the outer region of the system.

“This is the current arrival model,” the Navigation director said. “It incorporates all confirmed objects and the observations collected by Helios during the voyage.”

The display remained still for a moment.

Then another point appeared along the ship’s projected approach path.

It was labeled Ross 128-X.

The President looked toward the display.

“Is that the object we detected?”

The director answered before changing the projection.

“Yes.”

A series of observation dates appeared beside the object.

“The first anomaly was detected during routine forward-field observations. At first, it was thought to be an artifact in the infrared data.”

Another observation appeared.

“Repeated measurements showed that the source was moving relative to the background stars.”

The display shifted again.

“Additional observations allowed us to estimate distance and relative motion.”

Sheila leaned forward.

“How far away is it?”

“From Helios, approximately seven thousand astronomical units.”

A few people around the table exchanged looks.

The President asked, “And in time?”

“Under the current trajectory, Helios reaches the object’s vicinity in approximately eight years.”

The room became quieter.

Kyla thought about Alex.

Eight years.

He would be old enough to understand that something was happening.

The Captain spoke.

“What do you mean by vicinity?”

“We do not currently project an impact with the object itself,” the director said.

The display zoomed in.

A line representing Helios passed beside Ross 128-X.

The director continued.

“Our concern is the uncertainty surrounding the object and the region around it.”

“What kind of uncertainty?” Sheila asked.

“Mass, exact trajectory, possible satellites, and debris.”

The President looked back toward the object.

“Do we know what it is?”

“We are not completely sure.”

The director paused.

“But based on the current observations, we believe it is a planetary-mass object.”

“Rocky?” the Captain asked.

“We haven’t determined its composition yet.”

“Size?”

The director changed the display.

A range appeared.

“Our preliminary estimate places it somewhere within the ice-giant range.”

The First Officer looked toward the projection.

“Something like Neptune?”

“Possibly.”

Kyla watched the small point on the display.

It did not look like a planet.

It barely looked like anything.

The President asked, “Is it orbiting Ross 128?”

“We don’t know yet.”

That answer produced more reaction than the others.

The director continued.

“It is approximately fifteen thousand astronomical units from Ross 128. At that distance, it could be gravitationally associated with the system.”

“Could be?” Adrian Vale asked.

“Yes.”

“And the alternative?”

The director looked toward him.

“That it is not bound to Ross 128 at all.”

“A rogue planet,” Sheila said.

“Correct.”

The President looked toward the trajectory again.

“If we’re not going to hit it, why was the initial meeting classified as an emergency?”

The Navigation director enlarged the region surrounding Ross 128-X.

A shaded area appeared around the object.

“Because we don’t know what else is there.”

Several smaller markers appeared.

“These are not detected objects,” the director clarified. “They represent possible satellite and debris regions based on planetary mass.”

The Horizon Arc director spoke next.

“A Neptune-class object could have rings too?”

“That is possible.”

The Navigation director looked around the chamber.

“At our current velocity, we cannot treat an unknown planetary object the same way we would treat empty interstellar space.”

The Captain looked toward the display.

“How close does the current trajectory take us?”

“We have a preliminary estimate, but the uncertainty is still too large.”

“Why? That sounds like something we should already know,” the Captain said.

The director changed the display again.

Three possible trajectories appeared.

“Because we are still refining its position and velocity. Small differences in the mass estimate will also change the gravitational interaction with Helios.”

The First Officer studied the lines.

“How much can its gravity affect us?”

“Not enough to capture us.”

The Navigation director paused.

“But it could be enough to affect the arrival trajectory.”

The director pointed toward the shaded region around Ross 128-X.

“We also have to consider the possibility of debris around it. At our velocity, even small objects could cause significant damage.”

The room became very still.

Kyla looked toward Sheila.

Sheila was no longer looking at the object.

She was looking at the line leading from Helios toward Ross 128.

The President asked, “Are you saying the current arrival trajectory may no longer be valid?”

“I am saying we need to recalculate it.”

The Captain folded his hands.

“Does Navigation recommend a maneuver?”

“Not yet.”

“Why not?”

“Because we do not have all the numbers yet.”

The First Officer spoke.

“How long before we do?”

“We should have a preliminary navigation model within several weeks. A more reliable mass estimate will take longer.”

Sheila raised her hand.

The President recognized her.

“How did we miss this?”

The Navigation director looked toward her.

“We didn’t have enough observational data to identify it earlier.”

“That is not what I asked.”

Sheila continued.

“Helios has been traveling toward Ross 128 for more than five centuries. We have spent generations observing this system.”

The chamber went quiet.

“And now, this close to arrival, we discover something that may be the mass of Neptune.”

The director did not answer immediately.

“Our observational capability has improved as the distance has decreased.”

Sheila nodded.

“I understand that.”

She looked toward the display.

“But Earth had centuries of observations after Helios departed.”

Adrian shifted slightly in his chair.

Sheila continued.

“We have discussed the Disconnect as a political decision made centuries ago.”

She pointed toward Ross 128-X.

“This is not politics. This is a real danger in front of us.”

No one interrupted.

“We don’t know what Earth has learned about Ross 128 since Helios departed.”

Her eyes returned to the small point on the display.

“And we do not know because we cannot ask them.”

Adrian leaned toward his microphone.

“That assumes they know anything about this object.”

Sheila looked toward him.

“That is the problem. We shouldn’t need to assume. We should be able to communicate.”

She looked back toward the display.

“Survival cannot depend on what a few people choose to believe or on what makes them comfortable.”

Adrian did not respond.

The Navigation director cleared the display and returned to the wider approach map.

“For now, our recommendation is continued observation and immediate revision of the arrival model.”

The Captain nodded.

“When is the first revised trajectory expected?”

“Within three weeks.”

“And if a maneuver is required?”

The director looked toward the Helios marker.

“Then we will need to begin planning it as soon as possible since we don’t have much fuel to spare.”

Kyla looked at the long line between Helios and Ross 128-X.

Eight years sounded like a long time when she first heard it.

It did not anymore.

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Kyla's Diary - Chapter 20: Ross 128-X