At the moment, it was just past apastron, which meant Cerberus-A was almost exactly ten light-hours away.

They had survived the apastron winter and could get back to the business of finding the shuttle, or establishing a settlement.

They wouldn't live to be crushed by disappointment when the Sky Fire receded as Beta went into the long swing toward apastron.

"That will give us a week to get ready for apastron, and the season will likely lag."

"It's got to be apastron," Helen said.