Tangle in the Dark - Kassidor

Because his mother had been a senator back when Ohiowas a state, they were housed at an army barracks. The postsurvived by collecting 'taxes' from the most prosperous farmsaround. By the time he was of age, they had been re-unitedwith the American Army under the new capital at Dallas. Hejoined that army as soon as he was old enough and hismilitary career eventually lead here, so that now he was overthe stars, and they were coming up at him. He knew thesewere all dark objects, snowflakes that the screen visualized asbright as stars, while they might be as black as lamp soot.Still they came up from a point directly below him, allaround them. By looking straight down he could see wherethey were headed, almost exactly toward the brightest star inview. He could see what objects the helm was reacting to. Itcared about the ones as far away as it could detect, directly infront of them. They were still moving at almost ten percent ofthe speed of light and striking a snowflake at this speed couldvery well destroy the expedition.There were some reports he should go over instead ofstaring down between his feet at Sol and the trouble theywere descending into. He wondered if it all mattered anymore, if maybe memories were all they had now. Every reportsounded more grim than the one before so he wondered ifthere was anything to go back to. What if Alfred had beenright and they should have stayed and studied the planet at 61Cygni until the next expedition arrived? True it wasn't thewonder Alan had imagined, but it was still the only place250