The following morning held an air of excitement, even though the approach adjustments for Sonmatia Three wouldn’t happen until that evening. Rini and Sata made fried cakes with a sweet syrup on top, and Boro invited them all to see the video he chose.
The story began on an island that could have been Atorura. Brave men in hollowed-out logs dared to venture beyond the edge of the reef into the fury of the open ocean. Usually they returned to tell of other islands and good fishing waters, but sometimes they were never seen again.
Larger ships with a sail and a dozen or more rowers crept between mist-enshrouded islands seeking treasures and fertile lands. Those with crude compasses most often returned through the mists. Others left their broken hulls on the rocky beaches.
Huge wooden ships, driven by many sails, had crews of twenty or thirty, with two decks above the main deck, and three cargo decks below. A watchman, perched in a tiny basket on the tallest mast, scanned the horizon with a simple spy glass. Everyone smiled at Rini.
Enormous steel ships easily sliced through the waves as passengers lounged around swimming pools, or ate fine food in ornate dining rooms.
Huge propellers churned the water as the engineer sat at a control panel with many lights and switches. Everyone looked at Boro, who instantly turned red.
“I want to be honest with you,” Kibi said to Ilika as they sat side by side in
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the passenger area about mid-afternoon. Boro was in the galley, and everyone else was busy with simulations.
Ilika leaned forward and kissed her lightly. “I’m all ears.”
Kibi grinned for a moment. “My fear of . . . you know, tight spaces . . . is eating at me. The ship seems to be getting smaller every day.”
“And we’re still more than three days from Sonmatia Four . . .”
“Yeah, I know. I just wish I could go outside, take a walk or something.”
“You
can.”
Kibi frowned with disbelief. “Really? But I thought the ship was going fast
. . .”
“It is. So are you. If you were going at different speeds, you’d be a lump of goo on the wall.”
Kibi
smiled.
“The only problem is, you can’t really go on a walk, you’ll have to crawl because the repulsion field is only a meter outside the hull.”
“I’ll take it! Maybe it’ll help me relax.”
“We won’t do slow trips like this very often, but it’s just part of the basics that everyone needs to learn.”
Kibi nodded with a smile and strode to the lift.
“You in your suit, Kibi?” Sata asked from her station.
“Yeah, just doing my checklist. Pressure, air, cooling, thruster fuel . . .
even though I won’t need it. Okay, I’m in the airlock.”
“The weather’s nice,” Rini said from his console, “just a gentle solar breeze.
Your limit for x-ray exposure is four hours, but we’ll be getting ready for the approach adjustments before then.”
“Don’t worry,” Kibi said through her suit intercom as she opened the outer hatch, “I’ll be in much sooner. What happens if I touch the repulsion field?”
“You can’t,” Ilika said. “It’ll repel you, feels about like the detention cell door.”
Kibi remembered Timod Gor. “Safety line attached. See you guys in an hour or so.”
Rini kept half an eye on Kibi with his visual sensors as she crawled around
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the hull of the Manessa Kwi, currently a long cylinder tapered to a point at both ends. She rolled onto her back and looked up at the stars, then chuckled when she tried to touch the repulsion field, but couldn’t.
Sata left the intercom open and went back to studying the navigation beacons around star stations.
Mati lowered herself into a seat at the big table and waved to Boro in the galley. “What’re you making?”
“I’m trying that stew with biscuit crust, like Ilika made.”
Suddenly an alarm sounded and Rini’s console lit up with flashing red symbols. His eyes were wide as he quickly scanned his graphs. “X-ray spike!
A huge solar flare! It’s still rising!”
Boro dropped what he was doing and leapt out of the galley, saw that Ilika was not on the upper deck, and remembered that Kibi was outside. “Manessa, maneuvering thrusters! Mati, roll the ship! Get Kibi in the shadow!”
Boro grabbed Mati as she stood up and quickly walked her down to the pilot’s station.
Sata took a deep breath. “Kibi, grab the hull and stay right where you are.
We’ve got an x-ray spike and we’re rotating you into the shadow of the ship.”
“Okay,” Kibi’s voice said. “I don’t see anything. Oh, yeah, I forgot — you can’t see x-rays. I’m almost in the shadow . . . there, that’s about right. Hey, it’s dark over here!”
Everyone on the bridge laughed nervously.
Ilika appeared in the lift and Boro quickly filled him in.
“Good work, everyone.”
“Oh, no!” Rini yelled.
“What?” Ilika demanded, stepping that way.
“Asteroid shower from deeper in the system, impact in twenty seconds.”
“Anything
big?”
“No, just the grains of dust and sand we don’t track. The repulsion field will protect Kibi, won’t it?”
Everyone on the bridge looked at Ilika with worried eyes.
“Yes.” Ilika stepped to the command chair and touched a symbol. “Kibi, in a few seconds you’re going to see . . .”
His words were cut off by her first scream, but many screams followed as
NEBADOR Book Five: Back to the Stars 73
each tiny asteroid impacted the ship’s repulsion field with a bright flash of light.
“Kibi, you’re in no danger, just hold on and try not to look at them!” Ilika couldn’t tell if Kibi heard him, as her screams and deep sobs were nearly continuous. “Rini, how’s the x-ray storm progressing?”
“Um . . . worse than before.”
“Kibi! Can you hear me?” Ilika asked loudly and firmly.
In between shrieks and whimpers, “. . . yeah . . .” was faintly heard.
“Kibi, listen! I want you to follow your safety line to the airlock. We’ll rotate the ship as you go to keep you in the shadow. Do you understand?”
Mati’s fingers were poised on her flight control, and her eyes glued to the visual display of her friend cowering in terror as thousands of asteroids burst into light just above her.
“. . . yeah . . . I’ll try . . .” they finally heard their steward say in a tiny, frightened voice.
Several tense minutes passed with no sign of either storm letting up.
Finally Mati reported that Kibi was making some progress, and she was rotating the ship to match.
“You’re doing well, Kibi,” Ilika said. “You’re in no danger, so take your time.”
Kibi, screaming less but still crying, managed to choke out, “. . . hard to see safety line . . . so dark . . . asteroids don’t help much . . .”
“I know, but the x-ray level is still high. Just go by feel.”
“She’s almost there,” Mati said.
“Boro, you’re in command here,” Ilika said and dashed for the lift.
Tiny asteroids continued to sparkle when they hit the repulsion field as Kibi tumbled head first into the airlock, still crying. She screamed when she hit the floor, by which time Ilika had the outer door closed and the little room pressurizing. A moment later he was helping her remove the suit.
Drenched in sweat, she remained in his arms for several long minutes, crying with her eyes tightly closed, but still seeing clearly the countless flashes of light.
Slowly he guided her into the lift and up to the table, where Sata poured
NEBADOR Book Five: Back to the Stars 74
cups of tea. Rini remained on-duty at his station while everyone said comforting things to Kibi, and she slowly opened her eyes, ceased sobbing, and clutched her tea with shaking hands.
For the next half hour, while Kibi slowly collected herself, the others asked Ilika what they could have done differently.
Ilika reminded them that x-rays traveled at the speed of light, so prediction was not possible, and the tiny asteroids were not detectable until they were very close. He couldn’t find any flaws in their response to the emergency.
Once the discussion was over, Kibi breathed a deep sigh. “I’d like to . . . get a bath and take a long nap.”
Her fellow crew members smiled with understanding.
Ilika looked into her eyes. “Sorry, not right now.”
She
frowned.
“You saw something you’ve never seen before, and you were frightened.
We understand. But you were in no danger, and no harm was done. So even though you have no important duties at the navigation point coming up, everyone needs to understand the process. And more importantly, I need to know, and your shipmates need to know, if you can recover from a little scare and do your job.”
Kibi swallowed and slowly looked around. Boro nodded slightly, and a moment later Mati joined him. “Yes,” came Rini’s soft voice from the bridge.
Finally Sata smiled at Kibi and nodded also.
With her eyes closed, Kibi took several slow, deep breaths. When she opened her eyes again, Ilika’s smiling eyes looked back at her.
A tiny, nervous chuckle escaped her. “I . . . need to know that . . . too.
Sata, how long before the approach adjustments?”
“About an hour, and Boro’s gonna have dinner ready right after that.”
Kibi looked into the eyes of her friends one more time. “Okay . . . I’m going back outside.”
Rini focused on his display. “But both storms are still going, x-rays from one direction and asteroids from the other!”
“Good,” Kibi said flatly. “You guys need to know if you have a steward . . .
or if you should find a new one at Satamia Star Station.”
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Ilika looked at her. He would have been completely satisfied if she had simply stayed at her station and observed the approach adjustments. But he had seen that look before, and knew she was deeply determined to prove to herself, and everyone else, that a few measly asteroids were not going to stand in her way.
Kibi started by crawling a few meters from the airlock. By the flashes of light reflecting off Manessa’s hull, she knew the asteroids were there, almost close enough to touch. But they couldn’t get to her. “Good ship,” she whispered.
“Thank you, Kibi,” Manessa said.
Kibi chuckled, and while her courage lasted, she quickly rolled over and lay on her back, eyes closed. She could sense the flashes of light through her eyelids, and breathed through the feeling of panic that arose inside her.
After a few minutes, she felt completely relaxed, so she stretched out her arms as if to embrace the universe, but kept her eyes closed. The last step, Kibi. They can’t hurt you. Face them . . . or go home.
She opened her eyes.
Breathe, Kibi. Breathe.
For the next quarter hour she struggled to keep her eyes open and her lungs working, slowly and steadily. Minute by minute the panic and tension became less, and the shaking in her body relaxed. The sparkling lights were not blinding, just completely outside her seventeen and a half years of worldly experience.
She thought of one more step she could take before going in. She reached up and tried to touch the flashes, knowing the repulsion field would keep girl and asteroids safely apart. After getting used to the tingly sensation, she began to feel a slight vibration every time an asteroid was repelled.
Kibi smiled, rolled back onto her knees, and crawled to the airlock.
Deep Learning Notes
Sea-going ships were our first attempt at traveling in a dangerous,
NEBADOR Book Five: Back to the Stars 76
3-dimensional medium. Next came aircraft, with even more danger and 3-dimensional movement. All maritime and aviation traditions form the
“roots” that space travelers will look back upon fondly, and learn from.
For most of the history of the human race, we never moved faster than we could run, went higher than a nearby hill or mountain, or saw lights other than the sun, moon, stars, campfires, and candles. Today, children get used to cars, roller coasters, airplanes, flashing city lights, and other sights and sounds outside natural human experience, at a fairly young age. When they reach adulthood, those experiences are no longer frightening.
Kibi and her fellow crew member did not grow up with these same experiences. That’s why the movement of the ship was so difficult for them to get used to in Book Four, and why sparkling lights caused Kibi to panic. Most children today, who have seen a firework display or two, would have just laughed.
The process Kibi went through in this chapter is called “de-sensitizing.” It generally only works when the person is motivated and willing, and is best when they think of it themselves, as Kibi did. It involves taking the new experience in doses small enough to not trigger panic, and then slowly increasing the doses until the full experience can be tolerated, and the person can think and act freely.