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"Because," F'lessan began urgently before anyone else, "comets keep coming
through, from the Oort cloud or beyond, because meteors and asteroids collide
and fragments-possibly one like our Fireball-can spread in all directions, and
we need to know where they are and where they're going! It doesn't matter that
we haven't figured out how to stop them, but we certainly can learn how to
spot them!"
Jaxom, N'ton, and D'ram cheered and clapped their hands, Wansor positively
beamed, Erragon looked immensely relieved, and even Lytol managed another
smile.
"I think that should clarify the issue, G'dened," F'lar said, raising his
hands for silence.
"It's certainly the plan we should present to the Council," D'ram said. "Put
some heart into us, too, F'lessan! Do you happen to have any more prints like
the one you showed G'dened? Perhaps a little clearer."
"We do," and he included Tai in his gesture, "so does Erragon from both Cove
Hold and Stinar's link with the
Yoko"
Taking the prints in his hand, F'lessan glanced at each one before he began
dealing them out to the Weyrleaders. "These are some that Tai has taken of
what lies beyond our system." He shot a glance at Erragon. "She figured out
how to do this 'unsharp masking' from her watches at Cove Hold. The technique
reduces the intensity of the bright parts," he leaned over to tap the one in
front of T'gellan, "and brings out sharp detail. That's a nebulosity-looks
like a blob but there are stars imbedded in it. See? Those blurs are actually
stars."
"Can stars be pink like that?" T'gellan asked, amazed and intrigued, holding
the print up so that Mirrim and Talina could see it.
F'lessan chuckled. "Or blue, lavender, and white." He held up another for all
to see. "We took this when we got the monitor up on the Honshu scope. This
cartwheel is a galaxy far, far away. Actually, our sky is rather dark, apart
from what Aivas called the Milky
Way and the Magellanic Clouds."
"And these spirals?" asked Lessa, peering at the one in front of her.
"There're so many." She was awed.
"Are these clusters all stars?" F'lar asked Tai, showing her the print he had
picked up from the table.
"Global clusters," she replied.
"Good work," Erragon said, nodding approval. "You've made notes of time and
position?"
"Of course, though these were random shots because I was actually
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experimenting with the filters Honshu has, trying to see more detail," Tai
replied.
"And everyone can see these?" Mirrim regarded Tai with obvious respect. "You
star-gaze for a reason?"
"That's part of it," Tai said, her dusky skin flushed with both pleasure and
embarrassment.
"Just think what we could see and understand about the cosmos," F'lessan said,
his eyes bright with such a visionary gleam that
Lessa regarded the bronze rider with admiration, "if we had more observatories
and people trained to watch."
G'dened grunted, unimpressed, flicking his fingers at the beautiful
starscapes, and glared at F'lessan. "You said those were far, far away. Isn't
it the nearby stuff you're supposed to be watching?"
"Oh, we do more of that." F'lessan splayed out another set of prints in front
of the Oldtimer.
G'dened recoiled suspiciously. "Looks like a bug-eaten tuber." He picked up
one, studied it briefly before discarding it contemptuously. "More holes than
reef rock."
"Ah," and F'lessan waggled a finger at him. "Those asteroids are not far
enough away. What looks bug-eaten is where other flying bits have made craters
in the surface. Or where gases that were once in the asteroid blew out." Then
F'lessan added, "The first one is ten kilometers long and the holey one is
fifty. It's big enough to blow Pern apart."
G'dened swallowed, slowly turning his eyes to Erragon who nodded solemn
affirmation.
"That's the whole point of tonight's meeting," Wansor said, "to establish a
sky watch and train those who will keep their eyes on asteroids like that."
"There're only four scopes in the Catherine Caves," Lessa said, and wondered
if they would be enough.
"Which," and F'lessan jumped to his feet, "makes me wonder if perhaps the
Ancients hadn't planned to set up a sky watch of their own before Thread
changed all their options."
"That has often occurred to me," Wansor said, nodding his round head
thoughtfully. "And why there is no northern array. Though, of course, the
Ancients had settled on the southern continent so they wouldn't have needed a
northern array for many Turns."
"A northern array would have warned us of that storm," G'dened remarked
sourly.
"Will four more scopes be sufficient?" K'van asked.
"It doesn't even take a large scope for night-watching, K'van," Erragon
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