26. Riker – April 2157 – Sol

Milo arrives at the Omicron 2 Eridani system and discovers a remarkable double-planet system in the habitable zone with atmospheres, oceans, and oxygen-rich air on both worlds. He names them Vulcan and Romulus, establishes resource-gathering operations, and begins deploying exploration drones to assess the planets' life and biocompatibility with Earth organisms.

Milo decelerates into the Omicron 2 Eridani A system, motivated partly by its connection to Star Trek's Vulcan. He reflects on tension left behind in Epsilon Eridani with Riker and Bob. While in VR relaxation over reconstructed French countryside, he receives a message from Bill containing planetary exploration drone specifications and cryptic reference to Riker creating a copy of himself with unexpected results. Guppy's survey identifies a double-planet system at 0.81 AU in the habitable zone: two planets of 0.9 and 0.7 Earth masses orbiting each other every 20 days, both possessing atmospheres with confirmed oxygen and extensive green landmasses. Milo names them Vulcan and Romulus despite mission parameters and sends telemetry to Bill. Over subsequent weeks, he surveys a disappointingly diffuse asteroid belt, then investigates the inner Jovian (OE-2), an enormous planet with hundreds of satellites. He establishes two autofactories for resource extraction—one in the inner system, one near the Jovian's moons—and sets up a logistics network for refined materials. Upon returning to Vulcan and Romulus with completed exploration drones equipped with biological analysis systems, he deploys four to each planet. Initial findings reveal diverse animal life on Vulcan (including dinosaur-sized creatures) but sparse fauna on Romulus (wolf-sized maximum). Cellular analysis shows probable relatedness between the two planets' life, suggesting possible panspermia between them. The critical remaining question is biocompatibility with Earth life. Milo uploads a preliminary report tagged for Sol and Bill, noting the potential for human colonization, and begins processing biological samples through mechanical stomach analysis to identify toxins or incompatibilities.