Seven Years Until Summer

You stand on the shore of Kraken Mare, Titan's largest methane sea. You've been on Titan for 3 Earth years—nearly one full Titan season. The sky is a hazy orange, perpetually twilight. You check your calendar: 4 more years until summer.

Living in One Season

You arrived during Titan's autumn. Three years ago. Three Earth years, but still the same Titan season.

The methane lakes are slowly dropping as autumn progresses toward winter. The storms have calmed. The rainfall has decreased from the peak it reached during summer, years before you arrived.

Your daughter, born here two years ago, has never experienced anything but autumn. She's an Autumn Child. She'll be 5 years old when this season finally ends and winter begins.

The Weather That Doesn't Change

Back on Earth, you experienced four seasons per year. Spring, summer, autumn, winter—bam, bam, bam, bam—one after another, 365 days total.

Here? You're in year 3 of 7.4. Autumn. Still autumn. Always autumn. It will be autumn until your daughter is in first grade.

The weather forecast doesn't change much. "Partly cloudy with occasional methane drizzle. High of -179°C." That's been the forecast for three years. It will be the forecast for four more years.

The meteorologists here don't forecast days or weeks—they forecast decades. "The next major storm system will arrive in 2 years. The summer monsoons will begin in 4.5 years. The winter freeze will start in 5 years."

Watching Saturn Turn

You look up. Saturn dominates the sky, its rings edge-on right now (autumn equinox just passed... three years ago). The rings are slowly opening, visible progress over years.

But Saturn itself? It spins. Fast. Every 10.66 hours, you see the cream and beige bands complete one rotation. In the 16 days since the last sunrise, you've watched Saturn rotate 36 times.

Saturn is your clock. "Meet you after Saturn completes 5 rotations" means 53 hours from now. "See you in 100 Saturn rotations" means 41 Earth days from now.

The Long Day

You've been awake for 6 Earth days. The sun set 8 Earth days ago and will rise in 2 more Earth days. A Titan day—sunrise to sunrise—lasts 16 Earth days.

Your body runs on an artificial 24-hour cycle, completely divorced from the outside world. You sleep and wake multiple times during the long "day" and multiple times during the long "night."

Outside, time doesn't care about your sleep schedule. The orange haze slowly brightens over 8 days, then slowly darkens over 8 days. Sunrise takes 2 days. Sunset takes 2 days.

The Children of Seasons

Your daughter plays with other Titan-born children. They divide themselves by birth season:

- Summer Children: Born during the long summer (ended 1.4 Earth years before you arrived)

- Autumn Children: Born during the current autumn (like your daughter)

- The Winter Children: Not yet born—winter starts in 4.4 years

The oldest Summer Child is 9 Earth years old. She was born during the previous summer, lived through 7 years of it, and is now experiencing her first autumn. She's seen exactly TWO seasons in her entire life.

"When is summer?" asks your daughter.

"In 4 years," you say. "When you're 6 years old. And summer will last until you're 13."

She thinks about this. "The SAME summer? For 7 years?"

"Yes. One summer. Seven years."

"I want to live on Earth."

The Calendar Problem

The station keeps multiple calendars:

Earth Calendar: November 24, 2025 - Traditional Earth dates for communications home

Titan Calendar: Autumn Day 437 of 2,703 - Days since autumn began

Saturn Calendar: Year 1.12 since last spring equinox - Tracks Saturn's orbit

Orbital Counter: Orbit 68 since station founding - Counts Titan orbits (16-day cycles)

Birthdays are celebrated on Earth dates, but they feel arbitrary. More meaningful: "How many seasons have you lived through?"

The Winter That's Coming

In 4.4 years, winter will begin. The temperature (already -179°C) will drop further. The methane lakes will freeze. The poles will enter 7+ years of reduced sunlight.

You'll be on Titan for that entire transition. You'll watch summer arrive 4.4 years from now. You'll live through 2 full years of summer before your rotation ends and you return to Earth.

Your daughter will experience:

- Age 0-2: Autumn

- Age 2-6.4: Still autumn

- Age 6.4-13.8: Winter (her entire elementary school years)

- Age 13.8-21.2: Spring (her entire teenage years)

She'll grow up in winter. She'll become a teenager in spring. She'll go to college during one endless summer.

Time Moves Differently

As you walk back to the habitat, methane drizzle falling around you (it's been drizzling for 3 months), you realize: Titan has taught you patience.

On Earth, you got impatient waiting for summer. "Only 5 months until June!" Here, summer is 4.4 years away. And it will last 7.4 years once it arrives.

Time doesn't rush on Titan. Seasons don't hurry. Weather systems don't race by. Everything happens in slow motion—except for Saturn, spinning overhead 36 times every 16 days, the only thing in the universe that still moves at a human pace.

Four more years until summer. But who's counting?