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Back The Skies of Pern
Chapters (64)
  1. Other titles by Anne McCaffreyPublished by Ballantine Books:
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  7. INTRODUCTION
  8. PROLOGUE
  9. At a Gather—6.15.30
  10. Part 1
  11. Turnover at Landing—1.1.31 Present Pass Aivas—Aivas Adjusted Turn 2553
  12. Benden Weyr—1.1.31
  13. Southern Hold—1.1.31
  14. Healer Hall—1.1.31
  15. Back at Landing—1.2.31
  16. Fort Hold—late night—1.1.31
  17. Fort Hold Runner Station—1.2.31
  18. Keroon Printer Hall—1.3.31
  19. Benden Weyr—midday—1.3.31
  20. Monaco Bay Weyr—five days later—1.8.31
  21. Part 2
  22. Ruatha Hold—local time 12:04 in the morning—1.9.31
  23. Telgar Weyr—local time 4:04 in the morning—1.9.31
  24. Benden Weyr—local time 6:04 in the morning—1.9.31
  25. Harper Hall—local time 1:00 in the morning—1.9.31
  26. Landing—local time 10:12 mid-morning—1.9.31
  27. In the Conference Room at Landing—1.9.31
  28. Monaco Weyr—10:22 in the morning—Timing it
  29. In the Conference Room at Landing—local time 1:10–1.9.31
  30. Sunrise Cliff Seahold—timed-back
  31. In the Conference Room—local time 2:12 at Landing—1.9.31
  32. Back at Landing—local time—3:40
  33. Harper Hall—5:00 in the morning, and Southern Hold—2:00 in the morning–1.9.31
  34. Landing—late afternoon—1.9.31
  35. Same time at Keroon Printer Hall—local time 11:15—1.9.31
  36. Later, on an unusually bright evening at Landing, Sunrise Cliff, and Honshu Hold—1.9.31
  37. Part 3
  38. Honshu—1.10.31
  39. Circle Runner Station—1.18.31
  40. Harper Hall
  41. Benden Weyr—
  42. Benini Hold—east Monaco and Honshu—1.20.31
  43. Harper Hall—1.28.31
  44. Honshu Hold—2.1.31
  45. Fort Hold—2.13.31
  46. Printer Hall at Wide Bay—same night
  47. Honshu Hold—2.9.31
  48. Night at Wide Bay—2.9.31
  49. Ruatha Hold—late evening—2.9.31
  50. Core Hold—two days before Council Meeting—2.26.31
  51. Part 4
  52. Honshu Weyrhold—2.26–27.31
  53. Council Meeting at Telgar Hold—3.1.31
  54. Honshu Weyrhold—3.01.31
  55. Interim at Benden and elsewhere
  56. Honshu Weyrhold—time passing slowly
  57. Landing—3.21.31
  58. Honshu Weyrhold—3.21.31
  59. Southern Hold—3.23.31
  60. Honshu Weyrhold—3.27.31
  61. Benden Weyr—3.27.31
  62. Cove Hold—same day, same approximate time
  63. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  64. What’s next onyour reading list?

“We do,” and he included Tai in his gesture, “so does Erragon from both Cove Hold and Stinar’s link with the Yoko.” Taking the prints in his hand, F’lessan glanced at each one before he began dealing them out to the Weyrleaders. “These are some that Tai has taken of what lies beyond our system.” He shot a glance at Erragon. “She figured out how to do this ‘unsharp masking’ from her watches at Cove Hold. The technique reduces the intensity of the bright parts,” he leaned over to tap the one in front of T’gellan, “and brings out sharp detail. That’s a nebulosity—looks like a blob but there are stars imbedded in it. See? Those blurs are actually stars.”

“Can stars be pink like that?” T’gellan asked, amazed and intrigued, holding the print up so that Mirrim and Talina could see it.

F’lessan chuckled. “Or blue, lavender, and white.” He held up another for all to see. “We took this when we got the monitor up on the Honshu scope. This cartwheel is a galaxy far, far away. Actually, our sky is rather dark, apart from what Aivas called the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds.”

“And these spirals?” asked Lessa, peering at the one in front of her. “There’re so many.” She was awed.

“Are these clusters all stars?” F’lar asked Tai, showing her the print he had picked up from the table.

“Global clusters,” she replied.

“Good work,” Erragon said, nodding approval. “You’ve made notes of time and position?”

“Of course, though these were random shots because I was actually experimenting with the filters Honshu has, trying to see more detail,” Tai replied.

“And everyone can see these?” Mirrim regarded Tai with obvious respect. “You star-gaze for a reason?”

“That’s part of it,” Tai said, her dusky skin flushed with both pleasure and embarrassment.

“Just think what we could see and understand about the cosmos,” F’lessan said, his eyes bright with such a visionary gleam that Lessa regarded the bronze rider with admiration, “if we had more observatories and people trained to watch.”

G’dened grunted, unimpressed, flicking his fingers at the beautiful starscapes, and glared at F’lessan. “You said those were far, far away. Isn’t it the nearby stuff you’re supposed to be watching?”

“Oh, we do more of that.” F’lessan splayed out another set of prints in front of the Oldtimer.

G’dened recoiled suspiciously. “Looks like a bug-eaten tuber.” He picked up one, studied it briefly before discarding it contemptuously. “More holes than reef rock.”