15 The Officers on the command deck began to clap
and cheer and everyone else on board joined in. "Thank you, gentlemen,
thank you!" North said. "Now let us return to our duties."
16 But North, too, was excited. He would love all of his children but
there was something about the first boy, something special for a
father. This child would always be the dearest of his memories.
17 Perhaps North's youngest daughter said it best when one day. North
asked her if she was mad about him spending so much time with her
brother. "Of course not, Daddy!" the little girl answered. "I know you
love me, too! But you're both boys, and boys like to do things
together. "
18 As North's ship came out of leap, it looked like another
disappointment, a virtually empty system. Then Navigation said "I've
got something; something strange! Four large objects about twice the
size of our largest moon! They're orbiting the sun in the same orbit
equally spaced. They can't be natural."
19 "Let's drop the observatory," ordered North, "and go in for a closer
look."
20 They did so, and what they found fascinated them; huge spheres of
stone, hollow in the middle, but miles thick. Inside were the remains
of living quarters, farms. On the outer layers were miles and miles of
tunnels and dwellings; obviously the remains of vast cities.
21 For days they searched the ruins in their space suits and found
nothing except for a Star Of Spirit on a broken chain laying in the
dust of a deserted hallway. Anything of value had been removed, even
the hatches that had sealed the entranceways. Disappointed, the crew
prepared to leave. "Nothing," his Navigational Officer moaned in
dismay, "except these empty shells that the Hashon holdouts built then
deserted."
22 "Hashons never built these," assured North,