As they prepared to set off Jessica asked Stephan, "Could we use the scopes to look at that star there?" and pointed towards the one she was referring to.
He glanced at the star she was indicating and replied as he returned his concentration to his instrumentation, "Alpha Centauri? You too? Why would you want to try stargazing at a time like this? Besides, we don't have a big fancy telescope like they use back home so you would be lucky to see anything with what we've got on board."
Dawn mumbled, "Spoilsport." and then closed her eyes and started absorbing some of the engine's energy to aid her in using her Seer ability to try and get a look at the Alpha Centauri system.
As they started to try the maneuver around Pluto Jessica noticed Dawn was still concentrated on her attempt. Curious, she then used her listener ability to monitor what was occupying Dawn. She saw the image of the closer star in the system and it's associated planets form in Dawn's mind. Then she saw one particular planet with water visible on it's surface and noticed Dawn's focus start to enhance that planet. When it finally had expanded to where it appeared to be as far away as Pluto currently was, Jessica sent her the suggestion, >It looks mighty inviting.<
>I know.< Dawn sadly sent back. >But your brother is dead set on turning around.<
Jessica cheerfully and mischievously sent, >We could always make a surprise visit.<
Dawn lightheartedly replied, >I would love to see your brother's face if we did.< Then she sent in a more serious tone, >But I doubt we would be able to jump that far.<
Jessica encouraged with, >If I could jump from the office to the ship with just standard outlet power, I am positive you could make the jump with the power from this engine. Especially given how you are able to use one of your minor talents to see the planet and have only been using the extra energy it releases.< Dawn was hesitant until Jessica sent, >Wouldn't you love to go swimming at a beach nobody has ever been to? And besides, if Stephan gets mad I'll just tell him it was me. After my jump on board at launch time I know he'd believe me.<
Deciding to try to make the jump, Dawn drew on the engine's energy as she focused on making the jump. At first she could tell that she didn't have enough energy for her talent to perform the jump so she drew more and more of the engine's energy until her talent finally gave her a feeling of completion. She then reached as hard as she could for the the spot where her seer view was focused and was very satisfied when she could feel that the jump was successful.
Then, when she opened her eyes and saw the planet in a similar position that Pluto had been in before the jump, Dawn winked at Jessica and asked, "So Stephan, if we miss the shot at this slingshot thingy, can we just hang out for a day or two and maybe go swimming or something?"
As Rachel and Holly felt the pride from Dawn followed by her secretive feeling when asking the question they looked at Dawn in a curious manner. Before they could speak however, Dawn signaled their silence as Stephan, still focused on his console, gave the dismissive response, "Only you and Jessica would want to go swimming on a big ball of ice."
Dawn continued the teasing, "Are you sure it's a big ball of ice?" And when Stephan agreed she prompted, "But can you check on it and look at it just to be sure?"
Still focused on his console, Stephan angrily exclaimed, "HR! You missed the timing for the engine to reach escape velocity! And now we're slowing to a stop! What is wrong with you two? Now it's gonna take us at least 24 hours to make it back home."
Keeping a finger placed over Holly's lips, Rachel replied in a falsely remorseful voice, "Sorry boss man. We got distracted thinking about going swimming like Dawn had asked."
While her brother was distracted, Jessica used her jump ability to place small samples of the planet's air by the ship's air sensors to see if it was deadly or breathable. After testing several samples from various areas on the planet, She sent confirmation to Dawn that the air was breathable and as safe as the sensors could detect. Then, after receiving confirmation while Stephan growled to himself in reaction to Rachel's statement, Dawn teased Stephan, "Geez Steph, sounds like you need to go swimming too."
When his response was a gruff and sarcastic, "Sorry. Can't go swimming. Forgot my bathing suit."
Dawn seductively responded, "I didn't bring mine either. And I'm sure you wouldn't mind going skinny dipping with me."
Shocked and embarrassed, Stephan looked directly at Dawn and awkwardly asked, "Would you really want to go skinny dipping with me? An-an-and why are you so focused on going swimming? Trying to go swimming on Pluto would be at best like trying to swim in a giant slushy."
Dawn grinned and just pointed out the window at the planet. After a second of confusion Stephan then looked in the direction she was pointing and exclaimed, "What the!!!" He then looked at all of them and asked in a startled voice, "Where the hell are we? Did y'all do this on purpose? And how in the hell are we gonna get home now?:
Dawn smiled, made a calming gesture with her hands, and answered, "I used the engine to boost my ability and jumped us to the Alpha Centauri system. The planet in front of us is a planet that I found with my seer ability that is habitable. It also has a breathable atmosphere that Jessica was testing while you were scolding your pilots."
Stephan sighed as he sat back down from his startled jump to his feet. Resigned, he then sarcastically stated, "I give up. I have obviously been demoted to cabin boy. I guess I'll go grab a mop and swab the deck."
They all chuckled, then Dawn consoled him, "Don't be so hard on yourself. It's not like we're a military crew accustomed to following orders." Then she teased him by adding, "Besides, any guy willing to put up with four women all by himself is a glutton for punishment either way."
Jessica also added, "Steph, don't down yourself. Since discovering our abilities we've all gotten more and more curious about what we can accomplish with them. And us exploring our abilities has allowed us to discover things that nobody else has ever had a chance to see. And if you hadn't gotten so absorbed and concentrated on your engine, I know you would be leading the pack in exploring more and more stuff."
Holly then chuckled and contributed, "Yeah. If you hadn't had your nose glued to that control panel, you would have already had us exploring the entire galaxy if not the entire universe."
He sighed again, smiled, and responded, "You guys are probably right. It's just with such a significant test of the engine I got stuck in business mode and tried to stay focused on the engine and making sure we got the best results we could so we'd be the go-to guys for colonizing the moon or Mars with actual colonies instead of the small groups that they've had to use so far due to the time it was taking them to get supplies to them."
Rachel chuckled as she replied, "Well boss-man, we're gonna be the go-to guys for colonizing. But instead of Mars we'll be able to colonize a whole different planet in a whole different star system!"
Stephan smiled, chuckled, and said as he pointed at the planet, "Yeah that really kinda changes the whole game. I guess now we're gonna have to trade in the speedboat and get a yacht or even a cruise ship."
Jessica then eagerly suggested, "Well, brother, since we both share the building ability, why don't we start out with a couple beech houses. That way we can enjoy a couple days of vacation before we head back. Then, when we get back we can draw up a guest list of who would want to move here and stuff."
Before Stephan could respond Holly inserted, "And you could use the engine like we did to boost your abilities and tell the robots back home to get started on our next ship."
Overwhelmed at the multiple new possibilities open to him, Stephan took a deep, calming breath and decided, "Let's just let all the choices for such a huge change wait a day and just relax today. We can worry about planning out the future later, after all of this sinks in, OK?"
"Sounds good to me!" Jessica replied with a smile and, being the one more used to jumping, drew enough energy from the engine and used it to jump them to the surface by the body of water they could see from space.