The first return chapter 2

The President of the Commonwealth of Planets, Grode Stryer entered the Meeting Room and turned to greet Dr Alfred Limoge offering his hand. For a second or two Grode stood silently with the Director of the Space Centre assessing the situation. The next few hours would be important; the future of the planet was in the balance. It would also be a test of his own ability to lead the depleted ranks of humanity and give them the best chance of survival.
The orbit of the Earth was becoming more elliptic, and each time it approached the asteroid belt beyond Mars, more asteroids were pulled into new orbits and scattered throughout the solar system. It was rapidly becoming an astronomical nightmare to determine the outcome of these interactions and predict significant Earth impacts, The President had been advised that an impact with an asteroid big enough to do major damage on Earth could take place with little warning. It seemed there was little that could be done to remedy the situation, though that was highly confidential.
If the general public knew the true gravity of the situation there would be riots and a scramble for the places left on the shuttles to the remaining habitable places in the Solar System: These were Mars, Ceres (the largest of the asteroids) and four moons of planets: Enceladus(Saturn) and Ganymede, Titan and Europa (Jupiter). At present there were only emergency crews living on the Earth's Moon which was being used as a buffer to avoid impacts of incoming objects.. The double system of the Earth/Moon has a centre of gravity 1062 miles below the surface of the Earth and behaves as a natural deflector of incoming objects shielding the Earth from impacts. By manipulating the Earth/Moon system humans had learnt how to improve on this protection to deflect the trajectory of objects passing dangerously near. They either returned back into space, passing harmlessly between the Earth and the Moon,or they were guided to impact harmlessly onto the far side of the Moon. No wonder the tall distinguished President looked drawn and tired.
"Dr Limoge, Pleased to meet you!" The President said. "However I would have preferred that the circumstances were different." He gestured with his hand to one of the big chairs placed around the table.
' Your words echo my thoughts Mr President." said Alfred and sat down. They had a job to do and both knew there was very little time before the news of the new arrival broke and all hell would then be let loose.
" I would be very grateful if you could summarize the situation as briefly as you can."
"Yes Mr President. Less than an hour ago an unknown object weighing over 1000 tons appeared from nowhere. It entered a perfect Polar orbit over the Indian Ocean heading south towards the Antarctic, altitude 120 miles. We identified it visually as it passed over Hawaii about 10 minutes ago. It is one of the 'Pilgrim Ships' that left about 100 years ago on a one way colonization voyage to the star Cluster Ruprecht147. The ship has sent no signal, nor has it responded to our signals."
A holographic image appeared hovering over the table in front of them. Alfred recognized it as the ship that had been described by Joanna. Seeing the ship for the first time for himself he was surprised. It was a long slim structure with what he recognized as accommodation pods at one end linked to the propulsion system at the other by slim metal girders. It was difficult to tell but he estimated the ship to be 250 yards long.
"This is the ship, Mr President;" finished Arthur.
"Thank you, Dr Limoge." said Grode. "Is Dr Chen there?"
" Yes, Mr President." Jonna appeared hovering over the table beside the image of the ship. Her hand laid a 1/100 scale model of the ship on the table. Grode picked it up and looked at it intently
" Good, Thank you for your excellent work this morning, Dr Chen. It is fortunate you were so observant and identified the contact so rapidly. Now please tell us what you can about this ship."
" Yes. You are holding a scale model of the ship Mr President. The original weighs in at about 1500 tons and appears to be an amalgamation of three of the six original Ruprecht147 Colonization Project ships. Though appearing dilapidated it has a very impressive performance and a drive system I do not recognize.
We have nothing to compare with it in the Commonwealth."
The President's face looked surprised.
"On the basis of the physics I know," Joanna continued " there is no way that ship could have returned to Earth, let alone appearing without warning to slip so smoothly and exactly into orbit.. Originally fitted with a prototype Gluon Intermediate Variable Drive (GIVD) that was substandard, the Pilgrim Ships all left on the voyage with major problems. Someone somewhere along the way must have modified the GIVD to rectify the faults and increase its power enormously. That is beyond our technology now here on Earth. "
While they were speaking members of the Earth's government had arrived and sat down. All had been called from their beds as a result of the emergency. It was informal but the atmosphere was tense as the new arrivals caught up with the emerging details of the situation. It was now was 4 am in Paris where they were meeting and still less than 2 hours since the arrival of the ship.
President Grode called the meeting to order. "Ladies and Gentlemen this is an emergency meeting as a result of the arrival in orbit round the Earth of what we now know to be one of the star ships of the Ruprecht147 Colonization Project (RCP). There has been no information from the RCP for over 40 years and we have had no communication with the newly arrived ship. We have no information as to why it has arrived here and who the occupants are and what they want."
There was silence, everyone reflecting on the situation. Grode turned to a grizzled old man with a long scar diagonally across his face; General Ton Tsang was a veteran of the big clean up of the near Earth region. His eyes sparkled and he looked ready for anything.
"General Tsang you are very experienced in these matters. What is your advice?" The General rose to speak. There was a rustle followed by total silence as everyone turned towards him,
"There is too little information available." the General started " We need to know more and to get ourselves into a position to observe the ship and to communicate somehow with those on board. It is essential to be in a position to react speedily if necessary. The ship is now finishing its second orbit and in a couple of hours it will be over Europe providing us with a window of opportunity to act which will not recur for 24 hours. I propose we send a space-boat into orbit just beside the ship when it arrives above us. I will be happy to be a member of the crew. The emergency ship based near Madrid is being prepared as we speak. It should just be ready in time"
Grode turned to the meeting. "Any further comments?" There was a brief silence followed by applause.
" Your offer is accepted General. Thank you and good luck."