The following has some spoilers for Verdant Skies, hence it's hidden in spoiler tags. If you haven't read Verdant, you should have.... So drop Steve a line to let him know!
Spoiler:
“You seriously need to relax, Reya,” said Julian Lenz, “for the first time things are under control. That’s why I wasn’t in CnC when we had our last jump about two hours ago. And has anything happened. Nope.”
“Yes, it has, that’s what I’m trying to tell you. Unless, of course, you’ve decided to resign and let me take over as CEO. You see—“
“Collision with moon in approximately 36 hours and twelve minutes,” announced GLIS, as if on cue.
“Okay, now you’ve got my attention; the debates of intellectual rights of the early twenty-first can wait till later. But you’re not getting out of studying them with me. Now talk.”
“The early twenty-first century?” said a clearly shocked Reya.
“I meant about this Moon that we shouldn’t be anywhere near. What went wrong with Dr. Silver’s drive?”
“You’ll need to speak to Dr Silver about that – what she’s saying doesn’t make sense to me. She claims we’re in exactly the right position.”
“Then why is GLIS shouting out about a Moon, and why did it take so long to tell us about it?”
“It seems the last jump has caused GLIS somewhat more of a headache than usual; I’m guessing it has only just got itself untied.”
“So what confused GLIS?”
“I’m guessing the fact that according to Dr Sliver we’re in the right place, and according to the moon and planet out there, we’re not.”
“You’re not making sense.”
“That’s my point. Perhaps you should come to CnC. But I should warn you to be ready for something of a shock.”
“And that would be?”
“You won’t believe me if I tell you, so I won't. Consider this payback for the little joke you played on me involving the G’Pruch and an electric toothbrush,” said Reya, smiling for the first time since she entered Dr Lenz’s office.
With a sign that admitted defeat, Julian Lenz got up and, followed by Reya, walked into CnC. A CnC that was eerily quiet. He stopped dead on entering and just stared.
All the screens where displaying one thing, even the huge holographic screen in the centre. That one thing was leaving everyone in awed silence – against a black backdrop was a planet. A blue-green marble on a black cloth.
And through the scattered white clouds could be seen continents and oceans. Oceans and continents that were painfully, achingly familiar.
A near perfect, unblemished Earth.