exactly<\/em> that, without finding out what the wider impact might be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cWider impact?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat happens when the predators in an environment go extinct?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUh, the prey takes over.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOverpopulation, over-grazing, conflict over dwindling resources, the ecology collapses, and the prey is likely to go extinct as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re the prey?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWouldn\u2019t be the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThanks for the pep talk.\u201d Cruz readied the hibernation pods. \u201cI\u2019ll see you in about twenty years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs long as nothing goes wrong. I\u2019d hate to be woken up early for an emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo kidding, Cap. We know all the drills, and there\u2019s redundancies on redundancies, but if we get woken up early, it means something is terribly wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wills shrugged. \u201cWe can fix whatever. It\u2019s just the thought that we can\u2019t re-enter hibernation once we come out. If we wake up at the half-way point, I\u2019d have to spend ten years pacing back and forth in this can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cruz took a deep breath. \u201cGood night, Wills. Pleasant dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wills came out of hibernation feeling like it had been no time at all. \u201cWhat happened? What broke?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cruz was already awake and standing near the pod. \u201cNothing broke. We\u2019re entering the TRAPPIST-1 system. I\u2019ll need your help to plot out a fly-by of all the candidate worlds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHas it really been twenty years?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt has. We\u2019ll enter orbit around the star in about an hour.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wills followed Cruz to the cockpit where hot coffee and a twenty-year-old packaged meal awaited him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFigured you\u2019d be hungry, like me. There\u2019s a water bottle near your station, too. You\u2019ll want to hydrate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThanks.\u201d Wills looked out at the distant planets visible from the ship\u2019s location. \u201cCruz, does that one look blue to you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt does. That\u2019s TRAPPIST-1e. Looks kind of like Earth at this distance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wills set the computer to figuring the paths of their flybys. With the short planetary orbits, ranging from one-and-a-half to nineteen days, the trick would be to not gain too much momentum moving from one to the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having emptied the coffee, water bottle, and packaged meal, Wills stowed all the debris and strapped in just in time for engine shut-off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow long to survey all the habitable zone planets?\u201d Cruz asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe might as well wake everyone up.\u201d Wills projected their path on the main screen. \u201cIt\u2019s seventeen days to make three orbits of e, then g, then h, then f. Could do it in less time with higher-g flybys, but it would put too much stress on the cone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cruz typed in the commands to begin waking everyone from hibernation. \u201cHow many doctors are we carrying?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThree. Orbal, Adumbwe, and Singh.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI meant PhDs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOut of the forty-two people on board, I think you and I are the only two without<\/em> a doctorate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cYou have four Masters, that has to count for something.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wills chuckled. \u201cI just hope it counts for finding a safe place for us to settle down.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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