All of these illustrations are by J. Z. Colby or Mireille Xioulan Powers, and are copyright © 2011 by J. Z. Colby, which means copies may be made for personal non-commercial purposes only.

Chapter 2

"It starts slow so we can get into inertia straps ..."

Chapter 3

"Let's peek at what's happening down there. ..."

"... Rini, give us a full-spectrum graph."

Chapter 4

"... You just need to adjust speed and nail that entry point."

Chapter 5

"Tomorrow we'll learn how to do landings and excursions in these extreme environments. ..."

Strange rock formations of all sizes, some taller than the ship ...

Chapter 7

Huge metal skeletons of crumbling buildings appeared in the putrid yellow mists ...

Chapter 9

"Here are the current positions of the inner planets. ..."

"... when we got free of this planet's gravity ..."

"If a ship, at speed S ..."

"Manessa says we should pass our planet at an altitude of fifty kilometers."

Chapter 13

"We're only going about three-eighths of the way around ..."

Chapter 15

Somewhat to the crew's surprise, they received a complete trigonometry review ...

Chapter 16

"It's in some hills beside an old dried-up sea or lake. ..."

Mati slowly piloted the ship among the pillars.

Chapter 17

The City of Memna, on a level plain near the old shoreline ...

Chapter 18

"The Arch of Glimpa, or I'm a purple donkey!"

Chapter 19

"... All I have to do is draw a straight line ..."

"... And we've got a nice, pretty triangle. I just have to figure out which trig function to use."

The color-coded version from the back cover:

Chapter 20

Sata grabbed two more small crystals and added them to the sample container.

Chapter 22

"Ilika!" Mati shrieked. "The orbit you want is between the two moons!"

Mati sat up straight and tapped at her display selector.

Chapter 23

"Why did you pick going in from the bottom ... I mean the south?"

Boro stood up, touched his knowledge pad, and a photograph appeared on the screen.

Chapter 24

"Everyone needs to memorize these words."

Chapter 26

None of the five new crew members could keep their mouths closed ...

... the image of another ringed, multi-colored gas giant appeared on the big screen.

Chapter 33

Mati focused on her planetary cross-section ...

Chapter 35

Boro made a selection on his console and looked at the equation and diagram for a moment ...

"We just need to be ready for things too small to see on the chart."

Book One:
The Test
Spring 2010