First Light and Symphony

Commissioned YCH art by West of Furaffinity.
https://www.furaffinity.net/user/west

Music by wirez masquerading as a Thursday Prompt for 03/31/2022

When Duenner arrived at Kupina for the 35th anniversary dinner commemorating the Second Ship's arrival at Kopno; he had given the invitation note to the receptionist in an angular entry room fancifully decorated to mimic the interior of a spacecraft. A ceiling Tannoy emitted instrumental music, ethereal and timeless.

https://www.furaffinity.net/view/46518424/

She gazed up at the brown and white Ibizan hound, eyes wide open. Duenner pondered what was the fuss about. Certainly not the distinctive mjolnir worn around his neck. All of the surviving Second Ship crew wore the same style. He then noticed the large poster behind the desk. The inside of Duenner's ears flushing red for several moments.

Artwork depicting Duenner, when he was an adolescent, starring out of a spacecraft's window. Below were the title words, Welcome to Kurjak and his name. Who suggested using his likeness? Not the still living Commanding officers, this was likely Esmeralda's idea.

"Is that you in the poster?" asked the receptionist.

"Yes," came the chagrined reply.

Tail wagging, the receptionist started chatting away, "Duenner Xavier! You must be important! How old where you when you set off for the Erandia system? And how long was the journey for the second ship?"

Duenner resigned himself for what was going to be a long night answering the same questions over and over. "I signed on as an EVA suit specialist, just 13 years old, on the Epoch time scale. Travel time was 10 ship years, same time scale. Relativistic Time dilation is similar with a Higgs/Alcubierre bubble field around the ship. We did not go FTL, it's impossible under normal positive energies. Our near zero inertia allowed a momentum induced speed of 3 decimal factors under C."

"As in near light speed?"

Dunner nodded. "Yep. Keep in mind I spent the vast majority of that time under hibernation. And was only a few months 'older' when we arrived at Kurjak."

"When did you first see Kurjak from the second ship?" The receptionist swiveled in her chair to gaze up at the portrait showing a round portal window and a long eared, young sight hound gazing outwards. Kurjak's gray white banded surface clouds reflecting off the pane.

Duenner chuckled. "There were no windows on the second ship. Vaguely recalled seeing Kurjak and Kopno on the monitors. We were way too busy waking up essential crew and some of the passengers. The real work was starting, taking apart the Second Ship to release the atmospheric shuttles and an auxiliary Tug. I was on that Tug, when it took a shakedown flyby of the third moon, Loviti. That is when I got my First Light view out of a side port window. Kurjak was looming forth. I was trying to pick out Kopno, when I spotted it's tiny crescent. Shouted to one of my crewmates about it..."

Esmeralda, the Engineering crewmate who no doubt remembered that event well enough to commission the poster.

Everyone is entitled to a quarter hour of fame, Duenner thought to himself.