It was almost two centuries ago — in the year 2096 — that the first spaceship from Earth reached Optima Thule. That vessel was the Bissendorf, part of a large fleet of exploratory ships owned and operated by Starlight Incorporated, the historic company which at that time bad a monopoly of space travel. The Bissendorf was under the command of Captain Vance Garamond.
You are now standing at the exact place where Captain Garamond, after forcing bis way through the diaphragm field which retains our atmosphere first set foot on the soil of Optima Thule…
The images were now a reconstruction of the first landing, showing Garamond and some of his crew on the virgin plain which was currently occupied by the sprawling expanse of Beachhead City. Relevant facts were murmured in Dallen's ears only to glance off the barriers of his preoccupation. What was to prevent him from actually doing it? What would it matter to the universe at large if he did not make the flight to Earth? There would be some fierce ribbing from the other pilot officers in the Boundaries Commission if he returned to his old job, but where were his personal priorities? What was the opinion of outsiders compared to the feelings and needs of his own wife? And there was three-month old Mikel…
The ruined fortifications visible to your right are among the few retraining traces of the Printer civilisation which flourished on Optima Thule some twenty thousand years ago. Although we know very little about the Primers, we can he sure they were a very energetic and ambitious race. Having discovered Optima Thule, they attempted to control the whole sphere — regardless of the fact that it has a usable land area equivalent to five billion Earths. To this endt they performed the incredible engineering feat of sealing with armour plate all but one of Optima Thule's 548 portals.