Stars glittered in the clear, cloudless winter night sky. Starlight from distant space streamed through the broad floor-to-ceiling windows into Gawain's room, its faint silver glow sweeping across the furnishings and casting long shadows on the floor. Wearing his nightclothes, Gawain walked to the window and raised his head, gazing at the night sky for a long time.
He was fully awake now, and finally certain that he had not been dreaming just now—the cold night deepened his clarity, while at the same time, he recalled the images the satellite had sent him.
In the somewhat distorted surveillance footage, he had seen several blurry shadows. One was the closest, resembling some kind of aircraft. It seemed to be speeding past the satellite, and perhaps it was only an illusion, but Gawain felt that the thing looked oddly "sneaky." Several other shadows were farther away. Some appeared triangular, while the last was especially enormous. Its outline... made Gawain unable to stop his mind from wandering.
"What the hell was that..."
Gawain muttered unconsciously as he focused again, connecting with the surveillance satellite in space.
The connection was smooth. As he concentrated his Mental Power, Gawain soon felt his vision rise to the satellite's altitude. He "opened his eyes" and controlled the surveillance satellite's optical sensors, searching in every direction for those uninvited visitors. Yet within the satellite's limited field of view, he ultimately found nothing.
Those things might already have left—at any rate, they could not have been an illusion. The footage was right there, after all. Satellite surveillance could not possibly have "illusions."
After thinking briefly, Gawain shifted the target of his mental connection. Accompanied by a faint wave of dizziness, he arrived in a system positioned higher up and with a broader view—he had entered Firmament Station's surveillance system.