We had orders to take our star ship, Exp One, on a scientific expedition, bound for a planet named D36. EMPE, the Executive Management branch of Physicists and Engineers and the global government agency that had sent us on this mission, had instructed me alone to open a top secret manila envelope when our ship drew close to D36. Although EMPE had given us an adequate food and water supplies, there wasn’t much left, because we had taken longer routes, safer ones. Our navigator, an astrophysicist named Dr. Thomas Harn, and his assistant, Dr. Jen Emen, an astronomer, had been studying this planetary system, trying to find a main-sequence star, because in many cases habitable planets orbited this type of celestial body. Within the last four days, after decelerating, we were closer to a world named E4. Before going into its orbit, Exp One would pass two moons, then inspect a four-hundred-foot-diameter indigo ship. Although that vessel hadn’t responded to our messages, if anyone was aboard, they might share food.
