Hardy's Journey

"Listen closely to those deep, distant warnings you feel."

File: Jacob Hardy, pilot, Ares One —Supplemental— Centcom Cantina A/V Monitor Path to Ares: 480 Days to Launch 1149 hours Evie: Jacob. You got a minute? Hardy: A minute. But then I gotta go. There's a thing in Belarus; I should be back Monday. E: If you're in a hurry, can I have your brownie? H: You can have half. What did you want to show me? E: Moon X is back. H: Oh, boy. We saw what it did to Jupiter. E: Or "with." You could think of it as "with Jupiter." H: Whatever, the thing made some major changes to two of Jupiter's moons. E: Yep, then it blinks out. Gone fourteen months. Then Mercury. And then blink, out. Seven months. H: And you can't track it. E: Oh, I think I might have a way. But right now that doesn't matter because guess what just showed up hanging out next to Venus. H: You're kidding. E: I wish. H: Let me see that. What's it gonna do there? E: I don't know. Magic, I guess. You know what really worries me? Next time it blinks out? H: Where does it go? E: Where does it go. H: You can have the rest of my brownie.