Moon Counting (standard:fantasy, 6257 words)
Author: J.A. Aarntzen	Added: Oct 16 2005	Views/Reads: 3779/2528	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Two asteroids have become separated from their friends and family in the asteroid belt and are now hurtling through space towards the third planet from the Sun.

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obliterated by their strong-willed father.  Agammenom, another child of 
Collusus, believed that his father was not even an asteroid but 
actually a planet.  This was not entirely absurd since Collusus had a 
mass of about one tenth of the planet Pluto which made him a lot more 
than just a bit of spatial debris in the asteroid field. 

Minerva was one of the bigger cows in the pack but she was nowhere near
the size of Collusus.  Minerva had a diameter of thirty kilometers 
which made her quite hulking.  Starshot was not her only child and not 
her only child by Collusus.  There were dozens of others, all of them 
not much bigger than Starshot's half a kilometer diameter. 

The chunky little asteroid knew most of his brothers and sisters but not
all of them.  His mother had told him that her very first calf, 
Montezuma, who was huge as far as calves go at a six kilometer 
diameter, had mysteriously disappeared approximately forty million 
revolutions ago, which was before Starshot was sired.  The last Minerva 
had seen of Montezuma he had broken free from the herd and was heading 
inwards towards the sun which was a very dangerous thing to do.  Once 
an asteroid leaves the pack it never comes back.  Montezuma had an 
explosive personality and temperment and Minerva feared that this 
temper of his had gotten him into some big, big trouble for she 
recalled that shortly after his disappearance, the blue planet Earth 
had become grey for almost ten revolutions.  She did not want to dwell 
on the subject much but some of the other adult asteroids in the pack 
believed that Montezuma had crashed into the Earth and blown himself up 
into oblivion. 

There was nothing out of the ordinary happening when the pack of
asteroids had come into an advantageous viewing area of the planet 
Jupiter and its moons.  Starshot was very keen on being the first to 
spot one of the moons.  They were so hard to see because they were 
drowned out by their gigantic master but if one concentrated hard 
enough one could start to espy them against the Jovian disk.  Usually 
if you looked just a smidgeon to the left of the big red spot you might 
be the first to see Io, Callisto, Ganymede or Europa, the biggest of 
the Jovian offspring.  Starshot was doing this but was not having much 
luck.  His mother was putting out an especially turbulent gravitational 
field and he had to concentrate on his steering as much which took away 
from his effort to spot one of the moons. 

His sister, Minuette, had moved herself into an orbit that seriously
compromised Starshot's chances of seeing one of the moons.  He 
complained to his mother but Minerva said that Minuette had just as 
much right to be there as he did.  She was younger than he was and he 
suspected that she was his mother's favourite. 

"There's one!"  cried Minuette before any of the other asteroids had
made a similar proclamation.  "I think that it is Ganymede!"  The young 
meteorite was very proud at being first and Starshot knew that if she 
had not gotten into his way, he would have seen it first. 

He adjusted his course and saw what his sister was looking at.  "That's
not Ganymede, you idiot!  That moon is orange, black and white.  That's 
Io!"  he hissed.  It did not matter that Minuette made the wrong 
identification.  All that counted was that she saw one first. 

"Good work Minuette!"  Malthazar called out.  "You have won this
revolution's contest.  Job well done!" 

"Don't call your sister an idiot, Starshot!"  Minerva scolded.  "She has
won the contest fair and square." 

"But I would have won if she hadn't have budded in!"  Starshot
protested, knowing that his lamentations would not change anything.  He 
half suspected that his mother had caused the turbulent gravitational 
swells in his path just so that Minuette would win. 

As a prize for spotting a moon first, Minuette was allowed to go to the
head of the pack and give her an advantage at winning the next phase of 
the contest which was who could see the most moons.  This was what got 
Agemmenom in trouble last revolution when he claimed that he saw twenty 
of them. 

"That one is Ganymede!"  his sister cried out.  "And there is Callisto. 
I wonder where Europa is?  There it is!  It's coming out from behind of 
Jupiter!  That's four already!" 

"They are the easy ones."  Starshot grumbled.  "Anybody can see those
ones.  It is a lot harder to see the other eight."  Which was a very 
true statement, he doubted that his little sister would be able to see 
any of the others. 

"There's one and there's another one!  That's six!"  Minuette was very
jubilant. 

"You don't see two more!"  Starshot started jockeying himself forward by
careening off a gravitational wave set up by his mother. 

"I do so.  They are right there, they are almost riding the Jovian
ring!" 

Sure enough, Minuette was right, and now he was seeing six moons
himself.  Nobody else in the asteroid field was up to that many moons 
except for his sister and he was sure that he would see more than she 
would. 

"Starshot, get back to your position!"  Malthazar, the headmaster of the
asteroid calves, commanded.  "You are causing undue turbulence to those 
behind you." 

But as the headmaster was barking out his orders, Starshot suddenly saw
three more moonlets as they arced from behind of Jupiter and into view. 
 That was nine!  When he went to make his announcement of his count, he 
was severely reprimanded by his mother. 

"You get back to where you belong Starshot, right this minute!"  She was
taking no maternal pride in his accomplishment.  "You don't want to be 
relegated to the Omega Track like your cousin, do you?" 

Poor Agemmenom had probably not even sighted his first moon from way
back where he was.  What fun could he possibly be having way back 
there. 

The thought of being sent to the Omega Track scared Starshot.  Not only
would that mean that he would not stand a chance in the contest but he 
would also be severed from his mother.  He was not ready to go it on 
his own as of yet.  He needed his mother's gravitational pull to help 
him along. 

With reluctance he slowed his velocity to move back into the thick of
the pack but not before he heard his sister proclaim, "I see your three 
new ones Starshot!  And my goodness!  There's six more!  Big ones!  
Where did they come from?" 

"That would make fifteen!"  Starshot scoffed.  "There's only twelve of
them altogether!  You are lying just like Agemmenom did!"  But then he 
saw what his little sister was looking at. 

There were six more.  Six huge ones that sailed over the top of the
Jovian disk.  And behind them were two more, even bigger! 

At that very instant, Starshot knew that the eight new moons did not
belong to the Jupiter system.  They were not following any orbital 
trajectory around the gigantic gaseous planet. 

"Comets!"  he cried out loud.  "They are comets!  And they are coming
right at us!" 

Comets always were a problem to the asteroid field.  They acted like
voracious hunters with their long, long tails and their gravitational 
effects.  They always seemed to knock some of the asteroids out of 
their orbit and send them onto a scary path inwards towards the sun. 

"Everybody group together!"  Malthazar cried out.  By huddling, the
asteroids minimized the effect of being upset by the comets.  Only 
those that were at the periphery of the group were at danger from these 
killers. 

All of the asteroids listened to the headmaster and worked themselves
into a tight cohesive whole except for Starshot and Minuette.  The two 
of them had been quite far removed from the pack when they were Jovian 
moon counting.  The asteroid siblings struggled to slow themselves down 
to allow themselves to be enveloped by the field's gravitational field. 
 Starshot could feel something alien tugging at him.  He instinctively 
knew that he was caught in the charged tendrils of the oncoming comets. 
 Minuette was ensnared too for he could see her shake to try and break 
from what had a hold of her. 

But she was fighting a losing battle, she was being drawn into the
comets' path.  At once, Starshot was filled with valour.  As much as 
she had been a pain to him ever since she came into existence, she was 
still his sister and she had to be rescued.  Starshot speeded up and 
rushed towards her. 

He narrowly missed colliding with her as he soared past her.  His
gravitational wake jostled the distressed asteroid calf and was enough 
to allow the pull of the rest of the field to draw her into safety.  
But now, Starshot realized, that he was at great risk.  He was far 
beyond the protection of his family and friends and had become easy 
prey for the comets who loomed large and dirty as they raced towards 
him. 

Their grip was overpowering and he could feel destructive stresses
within his core that was threatening to rip him apart.  His end was 
very near he thought. 

But then he could feel something else.  Minerva, his mother, had pulled
herself out from the pack and was charging at him and the comets.  The 
stresses within him started to ease up and the comets no longer seemed 
to be interested in capturing him. 

They had a new target.  His mother.  A big cow asteroid like Minerva
would be the pride and joy of any cometary appetite. 

Her momentum coupled by the greedy gravitational draw of the comets had
made her extremely vulnerable to being destroyed.  Starshot could see 
the trembles within his mother's core.  She was going to break up and 
he was powerless to help her.  He no longer was being 
electro-magnetically attracted to the comets but he also was no longer 
within the traditional orbit of the asteroid field.  He had been drawn 
out!  His mother was as well. 

And he watched helplessly as the comets were about to fall upon their
prey.  But then something unsuspected happen.  His father, Collusus, 
had flung himself out of the asteroid field and he was hurtling 
selflessly right at the comets. 

There was a massive collision and fragments of ice and rock was sprayed
out in all directions as Collusus and the comets destroyed each other.  
In the wake of the impact, nothing was left but tiny shards of comet 
and asteroid.  The great leader of the pack, the great Collusus was no 
more!  Neither were the comets. 

Looking back at the asteroid field, Starshot could see that everything
was normalizing there.  The individual asteroids were respacing 
themselves and were no longer caught in a huddle.  He saw his little 
sister, Minuette, moving along within the crowd, Malthazar at her side 
probably consoling her at the loss of her family.  Way at the back of 
the field, in the Omega Track, there was Agemmenom moving along.  He 
probably didn't see anything that had happened. 

Starshot had to wonder if his cousin was feeling vindicated.  He had
counted twenty moons last revolution.  If you add eight to the twelve 
Jovian moons, your moon count would be twenty.  Did Agemmenom see the 
comets last time?  If only he would have known them for what they are, 
the pack would have taken precautions and possibly have eliminated this 
most undesirable conclusion.  For now, they were without their giant, 
Collusus, and his most productive cow, Minerva.  Things would never be 
the same in the asteroid field without the behemoth Collusus.  His 
gravitational pull alone had been a strong force in holding the field 
together.  Now, without that pull, they would probably gradually lose 
their cohesion and might end up desperately fragmented and more prone 
to future comet attacks.  The solar system will not be the same without 
Collusus. 

"Are you alright?"  Minerva called out to him. 

His mother was not that far away from him.  He was alright.  The
internal stresses within him had subsided.  But he could see that she 
was not alright.  There was a severe fracture along her equator that 
any kind of disruption might tear her asunder.  This frightened the 
young asteroid. 

"I'm okay.  What's going to happen to us?" 

"I don't know.  We are outside of the field now and I am afraid that we
are moving ourselves inwards towards the sun."  Minerva answered 
honestly.  "Nobody who has left the field has ever come back.  I only 
pray that our fate is not leading us to our own destruction." 

"Father is dead!"  Starshot moaned. 

"He will long be remembered for what he had done.  You can be proud to
have been sired by the great Collusus.  He was an extraordinary 
asteroid."  his mother replied. 

"He should have been a planet or at the least a moon."  Starshot paid
homage to his father. 

"He was made of different stuff than us.  He was in existence before I
was created.  I think that he was a moon to the great Original Planet.  
He was the guardian of the planet."  Minerva responded.  The Great 
Original Planet was  what the asteroids called the superstructure in 
the distant past when they believed they were all joined together in 
one planet between Mars and Jupiter. 

To think of his father as the guardian of the Great Original Planet
swelled Starshot with pride even though Collusus never admitted to 
being a moon to that planet.  He was around before anybody else but he 
would never say what existence was like in that primordial time.  It 
almost seemed that he was filled with a great sadness and longing for 
that time and this feeling made him aloof to the others and made him 
reckless in travelling through the pack. 

"Whatever secrets Collusus had, they are now forever kept away from us."
 Minerva added.  "But know this, son, your father might have been 
threatening and grumpy but he cared for us all with the heart of a 
protector.  He gave up his life for us." 

"But I'm afraid that it was a pointless sacrifice."  Starshot said.  "He
should have stayed with the herd for what he has done has not undone 
the damage those comets did to us, Mother."  The young asteroid was 
looking with a sorrowful heart as the great asteroid field was 
disappearing in the distance.  He was certain that it would be the last 
time that he would ever see them. 

"All that counts is that he tried."  Minerva said bravely. 

"So what happens to us now?" 

"I don't know, son.  Just know this that no matter what happens, I will
be at your side." 

It warmed Starshot to hear this proclamation of maternal love from his
mother even though their prospects were grim.  "Then you do love me 
too?" 

"Of course I do, son." 

"But I always thought Minuette was your favourite." 

"She is much younger than you, Starshot.  She needs more protection and
guidance than you but that doesn't belittle my love for you one iota.  
When I saw you in trouble with the comets, there was absolutely nothing 
that would have stopped me from what I did.  I cared not what would 
happen to me, all that mattered was that you be saved.  If I had to do 
it again, I would not have changed anything." 

"But you are going to die now just like me."  Starshot answered.  "You
should have stayed in the herd, you would have been safe and Minuette 
would still have had a mother." 

"We do not know that we are going to die, Starshot." 

"We are going to die, Mother.  Even you have said that once an asteroid
leaves the field, it never comes back." 

"Never coming back is not the same thing as dying."  Minerva said. 
Starshot knew that she was only saying this out of her maternal love, 
that she would never be able to tell her son that they were doomed to 
be eaten up into the sun in a fiery explosion. 

"Then what happens to us?"  Starshot reiterated his original question. 

"I don't know, son.  Just have faith that everything will turn out
alright." 

Starshot did not know what faith was.  He was feeling miserable and
despondent.  He was sure that he was going to die and there was nothing 
that he could do about it. 

"Look at it this way, son.  What is going to happen to us will be brand
new experiences and we should embrace every moment as if it were our 
last.  We will be all the richer for it." 

The two lost asteroids made a path through the solar system that was
entirely unfamiliar to them.  The sun still seemed to be the center of 
everything and it was so much larger and brighter than it had been when 
they were back in the field.  Starshot had complained to his mother 
that it was so much warmer here and that he was sure that his core was 
melting. 

"A little warmth can do one some good."  Minerva had respnded.  But it
was obvious that the extra heat was doing her no good.  The fissure at 
her midpoint seemed to be growing deeper and longer.  It was a 
frightening and real prospect that his mother would break up as they 
descended in ever retrograding orbits about the star at the center of 
the solar system. 

When they crossed the eliptical plane of the planet Mars, they could
feel its presence along this path although it was on the other side of 
the sun as they had trespassed through its domain. 

"Did you know that Phobos and Deimos, the two Martian moons, were once
part of our herd."  Minerva said quietly, hoping not to alert the 
warrior planet that there were intruders in its backyard. 

"They were?"  Starshot was surprised to hear such information.  It made
him not feel so gloomy about his unknown fate. 

"So you see that being plucked away from the field is not always that
bad.  Sometimes you get lucky like Phobos and Deimos did." 

"But we aren't so lucky, Mother.  Mars didn't capture us.  It is on the
other side of the sun." 

"So, we are not going to become moons of Mars, that doesn't mean
something equally interesting won't happen to us."  Minerva was 
constantly putting up an optimistic face to her son.  Starshot knew 
that she must be very aware of her injury and that it could only spell 
her eventual destruction.  Being optimistic and having faith was not 
being very realistic. 

"Crashing into the Sun is interesting."  Starshot remarked. 

"You are such a gloomy thing, Starshot.  You have to look at the bright
side." 

"That's what I am afraid of.  The Sun is very bright and that is the
side that I am afraid that we are going to be looking at."  It 
terrified Starshot that in all likelihood this was his ultimate fate. 

"And if that is what happens to us we will become part of the greatest
entity in the solar system.  That is not that bad of a prospect, Son." 

"Yes, it is for it means that we no longer exist as who we are." 

"Listen at one time before I started having children, I was nearly
ninety kilometers in diameter.  But with each calf that I mothered, I 
lost some of my size until I am now only thirty kilometers in size.  I 
am only one third the size that I was yet I am still alive, I still 
exist.  You shouldn't be so pessimistic about everything.  Who knows 
maybe our minds will still be active once our mass is amalgamated in 
the stellar body?  There is no use in living life in fear for fear only 
blinds you to all the joy that life can offer.  Take a look at the 
Earth down there.  Did you imagine in all the countless times that you 
had seen it from the Asteroid Belt that it could be so beautiful?  I 
never suspected that it could be such a marvel of pure colours and I am 
thankful that I have had the chance of seeing it this way." 

"We're probably going to crash into it and then we will see how
beautiful it is."  Starshot muttered. 

"You are making me tired Starshot.  I do not want to be constantly
bombarded by doom and gloom during our adventure.  If you have nothing 
positive to say then say nothing at all, okay?  Oblige your mother." 

"Well, I was just thinking of my oldest brother, Montezuma.  Didn't he
crash into the Earth?  Wasn't all that blue and white washed away into 
a charcoalish grey that made the planet look like it was the bleakest 
place in the solar system?" 

"You are a very cruel child, Starshot."  Minerva sighed.  "It is true
that your oldest brother smashed into that planet and made it look like 
dirty space rubble but the planet did recover and now it is as 
spectacular as it has ever been in the sky." 

"If Montezuma survived the collsion, shouldn't we be hearing him soon if
he is now part of the Earth?  Afterall, didn't you just say that our 
consciousness might still go on if we were part of the Sun?" 

"Just stop it, Starshot.  I am growing very weary of everything." 
Minerva slightly rotated her body in a show that she did not want to 
communicate with him any more.  The rotation allowed Starshot another 
view of her fracture.  It was growing in length and width.  She was not 
going to last much longer as a unified whole. 

This grieved the young asteroid immensely.  These were definitely her
last days and all that he had been doing was tormenting her and 
disillusioning her.  What kind of son was he?  He found himself wishing 
that the sun was much closer so that he could crash to his demise all 
the sooner.  Minerva did not deserve to be treated this way.  He had to 
make it up to her somehow but how could he?  There was nothing bright 
in the future to give her hope. 

They had travelled half of the distance between Mars and the Earth. 
They had missed any interaction entirely with the red planet but it was 
appearing that this was not going to be the case with the blue planet.  
The Earth and its huge companion moon were on a trajectory that 
Starshot estimated would cross his and his mother's path.  It was 
obvious now that their ultimate fate was not going to be in the Sun but 
rather an awful crash into the Earth.  They were following Montezuma's 
route. 

The heat in this part of the solar system was growing unbearable to a
body that was used to the frigid temperatures of the Asteroid Belt.  
Starshot was sure that he was losing mass as it was being burned away 
from his skin from the excessive heat of the inner solar system.  
Whatever was happening to him was far worse to his mother.  The 
fracture at Minerva's midrift was growing astronomically.  It was 
almost like she was breaking in half.  Would this cause a new child to 
come into existence?  he wondered.  One half of his mother would retain 
her consciousness while the other half would become some brand new 
entity.  What kind of miserable existence would this new sibling have?  
Just a short terrible life that would end up in a fiery death as he or 
she would be eaten up by the Earth. 

"It looks like you were right all along, Son."  Minerva said.  She had
been mostly silent ever since Starshot had shattered her spirits with 
his morose attitudes.  "I am not going to survive this.  I can feel the 
Earth tugging at me.  It wants me to commit suicide against its rocky 
core." 

To hear her depression well up through her words made Starshot hate
himself all the more.  It was his fault that Minerva had been separated 
from the herd.  Had he have not been so headstrong in wanting to win 
the contest in moon counting, she would never have had to become prey 
to her maternal instincts.  Collusus would not have had to sacrifice 
himself in a vane effort to save his family.  Minuette would have 
somehow been drawn back into the pack.  She was small and could be 
easily yanked back into the herd through the collective gravitational 
efforts of the group.  She would not have been as far out from the 
asteroid field if it hadn't been for him trying to outmanoever her in 
glimpsing the moons of Jupiter. 

But, caught up as he was in his self-deprecating thoughts, he realized
that his Mother had said that she was not going to survive this.  
"Don't you mean that we are not going to survive this?"  he, at length, 
answered. 

"No, I think that I might be able to save you.  I might be able to
deflect you onto another course that will ensure that you will miss the 
Earth altogether.  If you just draw up close to me, I will make a rapid 
spin.  The gravitational effect should cast you in another direction." 

It was her maternal instincts speaking again.  Starshot knew that what
she proposed would cause her to rip apart along her fracture.  She 
would become two entities hopelessly caught in a gravitational 
maelstrom that would rapidly lead her to her own demise. 

"I'm not going to do it."  Starshot countered.  "I'm not going to let
you sacrifice yourself to save me.  I'm not worth it.  I have been 
nothing but a terrible son and the sooner I die the better." 

"You are so worth it, Starshot!  I know that you are feeling guilty for
some of the things that you said but none of this is your fault.  You 
are so young and you should have such a long life ahead of you.  I 
cannot blame you for what you have been feeling about the unlucky fate 
that has befell us.  It is very, very sad to me that you are now caught 
in this frightening situation.  I know that I can save you, just let me 
do it, Son!" 

There were terribly sad vibrations emanating in her gravitational field
that made the young asteroid shutter.  He felt that he did not want to 
live if she had to die.  "Mother, I still am not going to do it.  It is 
pointless.  You will be giving up your life and all that you will get 
from it is that I will still have a fiery death against one of the 
other inner planets or against the Sun itself.  I would rather die here 
with you than die alone." 

"That is nonsense, Starshot!  You are not necessarily going to crash
into one of those objects.  I have been doing my calculations these 
past few hours and it seems to me that if I attain a certain rotational 
velocity and couple it with the gravitational effects of both the Earth 
and its moon, I just may be able to fling you back to the Asteroid 
Belt." 

Starshot did not know how to respond to this.  Large asteroids like his
Mother were true experts on the forces of gravity.  They had acquired 
this knowledge through their long lifetimes within the belt trying to 
avoid unwanted collisions with the other inhabitants of the herd.  He 
had no doubt that his Mother had the ability to make such a manoever 
within the familiar haunts of the Asteroid Belt but here in the 
proximity of Earth and its moon, there were intangible variables that 
she might not be able to contend with.  And by her making her attempt, 
she would surely die. 

"I am going to die anyways, Son.  At least, you have a chance!"  Minerva
cried.  "You have to do this real soon or else you will die as well.  
Don't let me meet my final fate with the knowledge that I have failed 
my son!"  She implored. 

The Earth and its moon were very close now.  Starshot could see the film
of a gaseous atmosphere along the blue planet's edges.  It was said 
that asteroids of his size of a half a kilometer would more than likely 
be destroyed by that atmosphere before ever making contact with the 
solid core of the planet.  Asteroids the size of his mother would meet 
another fate.  They would crash against the surface and have most of 
their mass disintegrated in the impact.  It was far worse fate. 

Suddenly, Starshot could feel a violent tug of war happening within him.
 There were two opposing forces pulling at him from two different 
sides.  The Moon wanted to claim him for itself but not so much as the 
Earth wanted him.  The two combatant adversaries were starting to tear 
him up.  He could feel his core start to splinter. 

"You have to do it now, son!"  Minerva cried.  She was practically two
separate bodies now.  Pieces of her mass were being torn away from her 
in a steady stream of rocky debris.  "Do it for me!" 

Her plaintive cry made the smaller asteroid cease his internal
arguments.  It was time for action and no more time for thought.  While 
the Earth and the Moon tugged at him with a force that he had never 
before experienced, he managed a rotational spin that sent him on a 
path towards his mother. 

Minerva started rotating rapidly about her almost completely fissured
axis.  The gravitational well that she was creating was a total counter 
to what he was feeling from the Terresterial tandem and he felt himself 
being pushed away from his mother with tremendous force. 

His path was new and different and wild.  He no longer was experiencing
the grab of the Moon, instead he was caught in a vortex from the Earth 
which was hauling him towards its backside.  Before the planet entirely 
obscured his view, he saw his mother break in half.  For a brief 
moment, there were two asteroids there.  One retained the personality 
of his mother while the other one was a brand new entity. 

"Child, I am sorry that I brought you into existence."  was the last
thing Minerva said as the opposing forces of the Earth and the Moon 
shattered the two asteroids into tiny crumbling bits destined to a fate 
of burning up in the Earth's atmosphere. 

His brand new baby sister had been stillborned.  She would not have had
any time to even contemplate what she was before she was obliterated 
along with her mother. 

A tremendous sadness enclosed itself around Starshot and it made him not
aware of what was happening to him.  Minerva's calculations were 
correct for the small asteroid  was thrown out from behind the Earth 
onto a path out towards the outer solar system. 

He hurtled with a velocity that even the Sun could not contain.  The
Earth and the Moon diminished in size behind him.  He crossed Mars 
orbital vector without any incident.  The red planet was nowhere to be 
seen, once again losing its chance to corral another moonlet for 
itself. 

The ambient temperature of the space around him was cooling rapidly and
drawing into regions that were at last comfortable for the small 
asteroid.  He was coming back into his space.  His mother had done it!  
She had told him to have faith and to be optimistic in outlook.  The 
optimism and faith that she had had saved her son.  He would live on. 

Just as he was crossing into the plane of the Asteroid Belt, the Sun had
managed to finally put a halt to his outward progression.  It had 
locked him in to the loop to which he belonged.  The pack was a long 
way ahead of him but through an effort of accelerating he managed to 
gain on it just as the pack was once again coming into view of Jupiter 
and its moons.  Somewhere up ahead many young asteroids would be filled 
with excitement over the contest.  But Starshot was not interested in 
winning at moon counting. 

He was drawing up the rear rapidly.  There was Agemmenom at the back of
the pack in the Omega Track.  His cousin must have felt a bit of 
gravitational tug behind him for he turned. 

"Starshot?"  Agemmenom could not believe what he was seeing.  He slowed
himself to allow his cousin to catch up.  "I thought that you were 
forever gone." 

"I did too, Cousin.  But my mother has shown me that the impossible can
happen and that nothing is as hopeless as it seems." 

"I think the Omega Track is pretty hopeless."  Agemmenom replied. 

Looking ahead of him at the millions of other asteroids that made up the
field that travelled along the belt, the Omega Track to Starshot seemed 
to be the best place for anybody to be.  He was with his family and 
friends again and there could be nothing better than that. 


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