"Because they're for academics, researchers. We had no use for that kind of data on El Cavador. We were focused on finding nearby asteroids, not on looking into deep space. And besides, we weren't on the network. It wasn't available to us anyway."
"Why do you want to get on Parallax?"
"When I saw the Formic ship coming into system, it was only a few weeks away at that point. But if I had had a stronger scope, and if I had known precisely where to look, I might have seen it long before then."
"What are you saying?" asked Rena. "You think the Parallax satellites may have seen the Formic ship before we did?"
"I think it's possible, yes. But I won't know unless I look at the database from the past two to three years or so."
"But if the Parallax scopes had seen the Formic ship, wouldn't they have warned everyone?"
"Remember, these scopes are computers. They only do what we program them to do. Nobody has their eye to a lens, analyzing every little odd thing the scope sees. That would take too long. And it would be an enormous waste of time anyway. Most of the objects out there are harmless. All astronomers are worried about are collision threats. So they programmed the scopes to flag only those light-reflection objects that pose a threat to Earth. Everything else gets ignored. Essentially, if it's not on a trajectory with Earth, if it's not following normal parabolic patterns, nobody cares."
"Okay. Makes sense."
"It makes sense, yes, but there's a gaping hole in that practice. It doesn't account for anomalies. Like when an object decelerates or when it changes from one trajectory to another. The scopes should flag those type of objects, too, but they don't."
"Why not?"
"Because no one thought it was possible. Objects that behave that way are clearly extraterrestrial. And astronomers gave up on looking for extraterrestrial life way back in the twentieth century. Research in that field became unfashionable. Academics would have been laughed to scorn if they had suggested the scopes look for such things."
"Well they're kicking themselves now," said Rena.
"My point is, it's very possible that the scopes saw the Formic ship earlier without flagging it for analysis. And if something doesn't get flagged, it might as well not exist. It goes unseen and unnoticed in the archives."
"Yes, but wouldn't astronomers be sifting through that data now?"
"You would think," said Edimar. "But no one is. I went on the system and checked."
"Wait. You've already been on the system?"
"As a guest," said Edimar. "I did what any college kid can do. You can log on and see what the current objects for analysis are. But that's it. You can't access the archives. And that's where the answers are."
"So you need deeper access. Is there a fee involved?"
"Well, yes, but I'm not proposing we pay it. We couldn't afford it, and they wouldn't approve us anyway. We're not a university."
"Then how do you get access?"
"I set up a bogus username and I piggyback on a university's current account. It wouldn't be difficult. And it's not like anyone polices the system. Why would they? It's research, not a bank."
"But it is illegal."
"Technically. And that
's why I need Arjuna to approve this before I do it. There are people on this ship looking for any reason to make us leave. And I don't want to be the person to give them a reason."
Rena smiled. Edimar, so young and yet so wise.
She took Edimar's hands. "You're growing up too fast, Mar. Your father would be proud of you. I know I am."
"So you'll talk to Arjuna?"
"I'll talk to him. And he'll say yes."
Edimar looked out the window a moment. When she turned back, Rena saw that there were tears in the girl's eyes. "This will never be home, Aunt Rena. No matter what we do to this ship, no matter how much we modify it or equip it, it will be never be home."
Rena felt as if her heart would break in two. She gently squeezed Edimar's hands. "You're not wrong, Mar. Home was El Cavador. Home was Segundo and your father and Alejandra and everything the way it was. And no matter what we do here, no matter what changes we make, we can never have that home again." She reached out and put a hand on Edimar's cheek. "But that doesn't mean we can't be happy, Mar. It may not be the happiness we had before, it may feel like a lesser version of it for a time, we may not even feel it some days at all. But we have to believe more will come. We have to hope. You've suffered more than most, Mar, and I wish I could fix that. But I can't. All is I can do is be with you and your mother and the others and try to make something new. Maybe not a home. Maybe that won't come until later. But I believe it will come, Mar. With your brains in this operation, how could it not?"