Chap. 19 Seeing Stars

Chap. 19  Seeing Star

K'ndar knew that some of his classmates didn't care for it…the tedium just got to them. Merely going up and down on updrafts within the confines of the Bowl was boring. 

But he found that he enjoyed 'elevator duty'. Any excuse to be found for being aboard Raventh and flying was good enough for him. That, and he got to meet people from the weyr and surrounding areas that otherwise he'd never been able to.

Sometimes, like tonight, when the onshore wind was blowing strongly, he could feel Raventh almost able to hover. The powerful sweeps of the dragon's strong wings, responsive to every nuance of the wind, would always be thrilling.  That, and Raventh always had something to say, always was keen on observing the world about him, and often, asking for more information. He seemed insatiable, always wanting to know the why and how of things. He wondered how he'd ever been happy before he had this brother with wings in his mind..and his heart.

But today-today had been enlightening, and encouraging.

Weyrlingmaster B'rant had passed out assignments for the day. K'ndar, being on elevator duty this week, would be taking a man up to where the telescope was mounted.

"You may be up there for a while, probably long after dark," B'rant explained. "So you may want to get something in your stomach to hold you for a while."

"Yes, sir," K'ndar said. He never minded being out after dark. He loved the night sky, the stars, the moons. He was always watching, hoping to see 'ghosts' (meteorites). Although, like everyone else on Pern, he was now painfully aware of the difference between a ghost and a meteor, like the fireball that had hit Pern.

And elderly man, gray and bent over with age, was waiting beside B'rant when Raventh landed neatly in the bowl.

There was something familiar about the man, but K'ndar was too disciplined and polite to inquire. His job was to transport the man to the rim of the bowl.

Raventh, astutely understanding it was needed, knelt especially low to the ground to allow the man to scramble aboard.

He is ancient. He is older than the Oldtimer, I think

You are right. But I don't know how old. It is kind of you to help him get aboard

The man, though old, had obviously been aboard dragons many times. He wrapped his arms around K'ndar's waist.

"Are you ready, sir?" K'ndar asked.

"Lead on, McDuff," the old man said. This made no sense, to K'ndar, and probably the old man had forgotten where it came from as well.

He visualized the ridgeline where the telescope was stationed.

Please, Raventh? To the telescope platform

The young brown spread his wings and allowed the wind to catch them before he jumped. Almost floating, he rose with very little effort on the warm thermal.

The sea came into view, the whitecaps turned pink in Rukbat's setting light.   K'ndar never tired of seeing the sea, its many moods, its' many different colors. He sometimes wondered, had he been born in a different spot, would he have been a seaman?

Raventh landed as gently as possible.

That was very neatly done K'ndar said.

 I have been practicings  Raventh answered with a touch of pride.

Practicing

Only one practicing?

Yes. You are a very smart lizard

Raventh knelt again and the old man got off stiffly. He went immediately to the telescope and uncovered it. The brass fittings shone in the sunset.

The man turned to K'ndar.

"Have you ever looked through the telescope before, young man? Your name?"

"No, sir. It's K'ndar, sir. I've never been up here before. What does it do?" he asked, wonderingly.

"Well, of course, it 'sees' 'far'. We used to call it a 'far seer' until Aivas taught us the proper word, telescope.  Meaning, it can bring things far away up close. Let me show you how to look through it."

The man put an eye to the eyepiece. He turned the scope inland and twisted the knurled knobs on the side. He looked through it, making several small adjustments, then stepped aside and invited K'ndar to approach.

K'ndar moved hesitantly. He knew instinctively that it was a delicate instrument, one that might not take kindly to being knocked about.

The man looked him in the eye for a moment and said under his breath, 'right eye dominant.'

Then he said, "You're a tall one, you are. Bend over a little, put your right eye against this ring, here," he indicated the eyepiece, "and close your left eye."

K'ndar did as told. For a moment he could see…his own eyelashes! and then moved his eye slightly…and gasped. For another moment, he had an odd feeling of dizziness and then!

He could see the horses in the pasture to the south of the barn. They were moving towards the barn, knowing it was feeding time. They appeared to be so close he could see the insects disturbed by the runner's tails. He felt he could reach out and touch them.

He backed up, astounded.

The old man chuckled. "I'm so sorry, young K'ndar, but that reaction never fails to make me laugh," he said.

K'ndar, speechless with wonder, laughed, too.

"To take the sting out, I did the self-same thing when Wansor first allowed me to look through a telescope," he said, shuffling up to the telescope.

"You…you know Wansor?"

"Aye, my lad, and helped him make the telescopes that are all over Pern, now. In fact, I helped assemble this very one."

K'ndar was silent. He usually was when he was overwhelmed.

"But tonight, my lad, I'll show you something better. We're going to look at the Yokohama."

That was a new star, to K'ndar.

The best time is…jussst, about now."

From their viewpoint, the sun had set below the horizon, but the sky above was still aglow, with a pellucid light impossible to describe.

He turned the telescope to the north and up. A single bright star rode steadily in the sky.

"Know your stars, lad?" he asked, as he peered through the scope. "Ah, there you are, my beauty."

"Yes, sir. I can navigate by them, too. But what surprises me, sir, is that you have the far seer…I mean the telescope, aimed at the Dawn Sisters."

"Ah, you do know your night sky."  He backed off from the scope.

"Take a look, my lad. Careful, don't knock the telescope off target," as he stepped aside.

This time K'ndar knew how to look through it. Right eye open, left eye closed…

This time he was even more astounded. He was so amazed he couldn't speak. He'd seen the Dawn Sisters with the bare eye more times than he could remember…but never, in his life, did he imagine something that looked like THIS.

It was…Not a Star. There was just one. It had round ends and a bar in the middle.  It shone with a metallic sheen from the sun, like moons. It was a Thing.

His jaw was on his chest. He couldn't drag his eyes away but he had to.

"What…what?" he struggled, unable to comprehend what he'd seen.

Again, the old man laughed, and frowned. "It's reprehensible this fact isn't better known. What you see is the Yokohama. It's a ship, my boy, one of the three that brought people here to Pern. It's the ship the dragons based from to drop the engines onto the Red Star. It is providing us a spot above the planet to see things. It was the first one to plot the track of the fireball, for instance. It's how the weyrleaders knew where it was about to hit, and were able to warn the coastal holds and halls. There were two others, but Aivas had them thrown into the sun to prevent them from falling from the sky onto us."

"So we can't call it..them…oh, you know, the Dawn Sister?"

"Call it what you wish. It's still the Yokohama AND Dawn Sister."

K'ndar couldn't help himself. He looked again. And again. He couldn't grasp the concept of something that small…but it must be big. Enormous.

"I'd been told that, sir, that we were brought here by 'ships' but I thought they were, well, like the ships in the sea."

The man laughed again, enjoying himself at opening another young mind.

"Nay, lad, up there, there is no sea. There is no air to breathe up there, and it's so cold. One floats like one was in water. Those ships never, ever moved once they arrived here. I don't know how. Everything else moves in the sky. Now that Aivas is dead, there are things we don't understand that will take time to re-learn."

"How…how did people get from the ships to down here? I know they didn't have dragons then."

"I don't know, lad. I suspect we'll never know. But, isn't it grand just being able to look at it?"

K'ndar nodded, floored by this new knowledge. He didn't know if he could ever get enough of looking at it.

He wondered if he could fly up there? What would it be like? He was suddenly possessed with the desire to actually SEE what it looked like, up close.

Raventh? Do you think you could fly up to the Dawn Sister?  K'ndar, knowing his dragon well, fully expected to hear the usual boasts.

Raventh looked thoughtfully at the gleaming pinpoint in the sky.

Other dragons have done so. Ruth, especially, even fire lizards. Shall we go now?

NO! I just wondered if you could

Of course I can. I would ask Ruth first for the visualization.  He is wise. I believe, though, that Ramoth would say no.

I am not going to go against Ramoth. Ever.

K'ndar grinned. Raventh is maturing. Gaining common sense with his self confidence. He knew he wouldn't want to go against Ramoth, Pern's reigning queen of all the weyrs. Not to mention the Leaders of Pern, either.

"I would like to know more about how people lived on the Yo…Yo…"

"Yokohama."

"Are they still doing so? Could I go there?"

"Nay, lad, there's no one living on it, nor is there any reason to do so, now. Aivas shut down everything but its basic functions, I believe. That, and Benden has made it a point to keep visitors to it to a minimum. It IS risky. But I can get you a book that tells how everything was accomplished."

"I would love a book, sir, I hope you mean it. Please," K'ndar said. Truth be told, he wanted to read anything he could get his hands on. He wanted to learn astronomy, biology, the history of the planet, how to map, oh, so many things.

"There's so much I want to learn. So many books I need to read. If there's one on the stars, like you're doing? I would like that," he said.

"I will bring one with me on my next trip here. Or I'll have someone send it by runner or dragonrider. In fact, I'll send several on various subjects. But in the meantime, lad, I've got some measurements to take before I have you take me back down."

"I don't mind, sir. But if you please, if possible, I would like to be your transport the next time you come here. I…I want to know more about the stars and the Yokohama."

The old man nodded his head, gently, in the deepening gloom.

"I will do that, my lad. Not many dragonriders seem interested in learning things other than fighting Thread. I would like you to know, too, that the Council has decided that more telescopes and observatories are needed to protect Pern from things other than Thread,"' the old man said. "They are saying that after Thread is gone, the best job for dragonriders would be as 'astronomers'…star watchers."

"We were talking about that just the other day. Is the idea to protect us from another fireball?"

"Aye. We need a lot of youngsters like you to keep an eye on the sky. Do you think you would be interested in doing that? It's called 'astronomy'.

"I think I would like to learn, sir," K'ndar said.

"I never introduced myself, K'ndar. I am Rahman. I can teach you, and with books, we can make you an observer. And 'astronomer'. I'll be sure to ask for you by name."