The Solar Sea Read Online Free

being announced. He selected the link and a live video in progress streamed onto the screen. A man and a teenage boy stood behind a podium at a large house. John guessed it must be in California given the orange trees and the time stamp that said a few minutes after one o'clock—an hour before New Mexico's time. The caption identified the two as Jerome Quinn, owner of Quinn Corp, and his son Henry.
    "It is our hope that the Aristarchus project will usher in a new era of space exploration,” explained the elder Quinn while his son looked on admiringly. “Quinn Corp was one of the first companies to build manufacturing facilities on the Moon. Important as our lunar facilities are, we recognize that lunar resources are not unlimited. The time has come, therefore, for us to push outward, to see what other resources are available. To do that, we have devised plans for a space vessel that will use sunlight to sail to Jupiter and then on to Saturn—the first manned mission to the outer planets."
    John blinked, remembering Quinn Corp's connection to the unusual observation of Titan, two days before. He looked up. Alan Jones stood, peering over his shoulder at the news broadcast.
    "Do you think this has anything to do with our Saturn observations?” asked John.
    Alan shrugged. “It would make sense. Spear said we'd never observed Saturn at that particular frequency before."
    O'Connell nodded. “They were looking for something."
    "And they found it,” said Jones.
    "O'Connell,” called Jack Spear, poking his head through the doors of the control room before Alan could speculate further. “I have a phone call for you in my office."
    "Can't you just transfer it here?” John pointed to the phone next to his computer console.
    Spear shook his head. “They say it's confidential.” The observing supervisor ducked his head back through the doors.
    "So, how do you rate confidential phone calls?” asked Alan.
    "It's gotta be Neriah,” teased John. “She's probably calling to say she's sorry we didn't keep going out and she wants to go to dinner tonight."
    "Yeah, right.” Alan smirked as he sat down in the operator's chair, taking over while John was away from his post.
    Stepping down the corridor to Spear's office, John wondered who was calling. He dreaded a call about his elderly mother in Nebraska who was in poor health. When he arrived at Spear's small office, the supervisor handed him the phone, then ducked out of the room.
    "Hello,” said John, nervously.
    "Hello,” came a voice at the other end of the line. “I'm with Quinn Corp's Aristarchus project. Have you heard about us?” The voice on the other end of the line had a slight quaver, as though the speaker wasn't used to spending time on the phone.
    "Just now. The announcement's just been on the news."
    "Good,” said the speaker. “I'm the project engineer. I'd like to schedule a meeting with you. I'm looking for some equipment operators and I believe your VLA experience would suit you well for the position I want to fill."
    "I like my job here,” said John.
    "You know as well as I do that the VLA's days are numbered,” said the quavering voice.
    "Who are you?"
    "My name's Thomas Alonzo. I'm Pilot Manager of the Aristarchus as well as the project engineer."
    * * * *
    Thomas Quinn was home from college for Spring Break. He met his father walking around the grounds of the family home. Birds chirped in the distance. The hundred acres of grass surrounding the house were trimmed to perfection. Many of the fruit trees were in bloom, causing Thomas’ nose to run. Nevertheless, spring signaled a new hope. “Is it really true that you've started building a solar sail on the Moon?” he asked.
    "Yes, based on plans that are very similar to the ones you showed me a few years ago.” Jerome Quinn winked at him.
    Something in his father's expression caused Thomas to shift uncomfortably from one foot to the other and he looked away, avoiding his father's gaze. “What caused