“Paul,” the girl looked at her friend, “We must speak to the Council!”
“Do you want…”
“To prepare an expedition to Earth!”
The young man raised his hands.
“Whoah! An expedition through half a galaxy? Based on bare assumptions?”
“We have nothing else,” Lora shrugged, “Why wait…”
“Two hundred years have passed,” the captain negatively shook his head, “Why should we hurry now?”
“We’re moving further and further away from Earth,” Lora found a sensible argument.
“Yes, but…”
“But the next Lactian year we’ll surely spend on Vistana’s orbit, collaborating with the Lactians. It’s our chance to fly to Earth and come back!”
“I’d like to address the Council myself,” the guest interrupted their argument. Lora looked at Derek. He sounded very confident. “Is it possible?”
“Of course,” she nodded.
“But what are you going to tell them?” asked Paul, “Ungrounded assumptions are not going to be enough. If only you had some facts…”
“My memories are still hidden from me. But when I heard Lora’s assumptions, they seemed very realistic. I can’t prove anything; but, in my opinion, waiting for the test results is a waste of time.”
“You’re both very stubborn,” suddenly smiled the captain. “I believe, if a sustainable expedition plan is devised the Council will give an affirmative answer.”
Lora nodded energetically.
“Will you help us?”
“On one condition, which you, I have no doubt, will find very reasonable,” Paul paused and stared at his companions. “It’s not the best idea to present a project like this to the Council at the peak of the evacuation. We’ll wait till our arrival on Vistana and then come forward with our suggestion.”
His companions didn’t think much.
“Sound logical,” Lora smiled, seeing that Derek also nodded in agreement.
“What are you doing after dinner?” Paul asked suddenly. He sensed Derek’s unhappy mood and wanted to cheer him up.
“We were going to the archive…” Lora pulled a plate with salad and a glass of juice closer.
“My crew is going to Gron, one of Taria’s moons, in two hours. We need to collect the equipment of the portable observatory back to Titanium. Would you like to come with us? I promise a walk in a spacesuit.”
“Are you serious?” Derek asked with excitement.
“Absolutely serious!”
The earthling turned to Lora.
“It’ll be nice to do something different together for a change,” she nodded smiling. “The spacesuits with neurocontrol are quite easy to use. Also we’ll show you the Equatorial transport terminal from inside!”