Near Bescondin, Benardie Territory
9:31PM, August 2nd, 1956
Three minutes. He lowered his watch. "Help me with this, would you?" Léon called to Achille as he leaned down, grabbing two of the legs of the quite impressive telescope. Achille trodded over, and hoisted it from the other side. Together, the brothers hauled it from the shack they'd set it up in, out into the desert night. There was a nice flat area only a short distance away, where Léon's wife was reclined on a chair humoring his son. He noticed them coming, and shouted "Papa!" The boy scrambled over to inspect the telescope, mostly getting in the way as the two men brought it to it's resting location.
Achille got on one knee, peering through the scope and fiddling with some screws. Léon checked his watch again, the glowing hands still ever so slightly illuminated, before giving Achille some relief by distracting his son. "Roch, report for duty." Immediately, the boy went into routine, stamping the sand and making an effort at a salute. "Oui, captain!" Léon smiled, and looked into the sky. He pointed to a constellation.
"What is this one?"
"Sparagma!"
Léon nodded. "Good. That one?"
"Themis."
Léon smiled and was about to go for a third, when Achille tapped him. "Léon."
The telescope was set up. He checked his watch, and quickly glanced up. He practically shoved Roch in front of the lens, telling him to look.
"... there's no constellation there papa."
"Just wait Roch, give it a moment." He counted down in his head, watching the second hand tick. Two, One, Zero...
"Papa, Papa!" A thin wisp of light, impossibly fast, shot across the heavens. "I saw a shooting star!"
Léon kneeled down next to the boy. "Not a shooting star, Roch. A moon."
Achille turned and coughed. "Satellite."
The boy was confused. Léon continued, "That was l'Ambulant, Roch. People like your Uncle built it up in la Terre Natale, and they flew it on a rocket."
The boy was wide-eyed. "Who did they shoot it at?"
Achille laughed a little and stepped in. "No, not that sort of rocket. It's in orbit, like... like the moon," he nodded to Léon, "so it will stay there, and fly around Olympus like a shooting star."
"You made a star, Uncle?"
Not really; Achille worked for Lancement Spatial Uni, and l'Ambulant was the victory of the boys at the LRBA. But he could explain that another time. He shrugged and nodded.
Léon planted a hand on Roch's shoulder. "The new world's coming, boy. One day soon, they're going to put people up there." He tilted his son around to look back up at the twinkling sky. "It's going to be you, boy. I can feel it in my bones."