"They have a point, you know."
Noah muted the television and looked at his wife. "Which point are you thinking of, Leda? That a high-energy experimental facility shouldn't be located in the middle of populated space? Or that it's easier to hide what you're doing when nobody's looking over your shoulder?"
"Those, too, but what I was thinking of was that, for all the lip-service StellviaCorp gives to exploration, we're still no farther away from Earth than Kandor City is."
"True, but there's a very good reason for us not to head off into the great unknown."
The door opened. "Mommy, Daddy, can Mayonaka sleep over tonight?"
Leda glanced at Noah; when he just smiled, she answered, "If it's all right with Ben and Gina, then it's okay with us, Helen."
"Yay! Thanks, Mommy!" And the youngest of the Scott family ran off.
As the door closed behind her daughter, Leda nodded. "She is a good reason to stay here, isn't she?"
"She's the best reason to not pull up stakes and go colonize Zeta Tucane, as much as we might want to. Maybe when she's old enough to look after herself, we can move the paying customers from Stellvia to Beta and the scientists from Beta to Stellvia, fly Stellvia and Wonderland nearly thirty light-years, take up an orbit around Ocean, and just enjoy doing science for the sake of science... but that's at least a decade away. Right now, Helen needs family, friends, and an education."
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Noah muted the television and looked at his wife. "Which point are you thinking of, Leda? That a high-energy experimental facility shouldn't be located in the middle of populated space? Or that it's easier to hide what you're doing when nobody's looking over your shoulder?"
"Those, too, but what I was thinking of was that, for all the lip-service StellviaCorp gives to exploration, we're still no farther away from Earth than Kandor City is."
"True, but there's a very good reason for us not to head off into the great unknown."
The door opened. "Mommy, Daddy, can Mayonaka sleep over tonight?"
Leda glanced at Noah; when he just smiled, she answered, "If it's all right with Ben and Gina, then it's okay with us, Helen."
"Yay! Thanks, Mommy!" And the youngest of the Scott family ran off.
As the door closed behind her daughter, Leda nodded. "She is a good reason to stay here, isn't she?"
"She's the best reason to not pull up stakes and go colonize Zeta Tucane, as much as we might want to. Maybe when she's old enough to look after herself, we can move the paying customers from Stellvia to Beta and the scientists from Beta to Stellvia, fly Stellvia and Wonderland nearly thirty light-years, take up an orbit around Ocean, and just enjoy doing science for the sake of science... but that's at least a decade away. Right now, Helen needs family, friends, and an education."
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012