Ilika quickly stood and looked. “Greetings, Melorania. You are a very welcome sight. Manessa, cancel simulation.”
Kibi continued to stare with wide eyes. The lady in her passenger area smiled and sparkled like a happy girl-child, and at the same time radiated a subtle light of ancient and timeless wisdom. Her gown of many colors shimmered and flowed around her, obviously not made of any cloth. Kibi’s eyes opened even wider, seeing that her guest was not sitting or standing, but instead just hovering effortlessly. Even as Kibi watched, the mysterious visitor floated closer and spoke.
“Hello,
Kibi.”
“Um . . . er . . . um . . . I know that voice.”
“The last time I spoke to you, dawn light was barely in the sky, smoke swirled everywhere, and I had to take a simple form that was easy to see and follow.”
Kibi suddenly grinned. “You saved Neti, Miko, and me from the fire!”
“Actually, I just saved you. You saved Neti and Miko.”
By this time, the rest of the crew had gathered around Kibi’s console.
Except for Ilika, fear showed in every pair of eyes.
“I am well-pleased, Ilika,” the passenger said, looking at the captain for the first time. “For monkey-mammals, they are certainly the best you could have found.”
Sata remembered her navigator-friend using the same term, and shriveled
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her nose for a moment.
Ilika smiled. “Everyone, this is Melorania, head of the Nebador Transport Service. She was there when the fire drove us out of Lumber Town, she was near when we buried Miko . . .”
“And she responded to our question,” Sata cut in, “when we found Risan Gor and her father.”
The strange visitor nodded as her gown swirled around her. “Yes, Sata, and a hundred other times when everything in the Transport Service was going smoothly and no one needed me.”
Rini
chuckled.
“You may all sit,” Melorania said. “We have much to discuss.”
The simulation and its comets were completely forgotten as the passenger area was quickly rearranged into a circle of chairs. Kibi offered tea and left-over stew to her guest, and apologized for the lack of variety.
Melorania floated all the way around Kibi, her face twisted into a smirk that reminded them of Buna. “Kibi, do I look like I need tea or stew?”
Kibi lowered her eyes. “I’m sorry.”
Melorania stopped to reach out and touch Kibi’s face. “You need never cower before me, Kibi. Just keep learning, moment by moment, and you will be precious to me. You are prepared to die, are you not?”
Kibi couldn’t keep herself from shaking. “I . . . I think so.”
“Decide.”
“Y . . . yes. I am.”
Melorania brought her face close to Kibi’s and looked deeply into her eyes.
Kibi knew, in that moment, that her entire mind, heart, and soul were laid bare for the visitor to see. Time stood still.
When Melorania finally smiled, Kibi felt completely raw, as if every part of her being had been scraped and was in need of ointment and time to heal.
“You have a strong heart, Kibi, and even though you feel very empty right now, you will recover soon and find that many demons from your past have much less power over you.”
Kibi’s face twisted several directions and her eyes glistened with moisture as the mysterious visitor watched. Finally, a somewhat-forced smile appeared
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on Kibi’s face, and she began to breathe easier.
Melorania became a blur as she spun around in the middle of the circle, then came to a stop looking right at Rini.
Lost for a moment in her child-like beauty, the lad grinned, then turned red as he realized she knew his every thought and feeling.
Melorania moved back a little. “Even though you claim to not understand what it means to be a man, I know lots of young ladies who would love to explore the subject with you.”
Rini’s eyes sparkled for a moment, then he chuckled. “I’m . . . taken.”
“Yes you are. But are you ready to die with your fellow crew members and your ship?” she asked aloud.
“Yes,” Rini began with confidence, “just as soon as I finish my . . .”
“I don’t take conditions, Rini. Death can come at any moment, just as you might be needed at your watch station at any time of the day or night. Being in the Transport Service is not like a boy reluctantly doing his chores, or a slave dragging his feet to a work site.”
Rini completely lost his smile, and tears were close. “I understand. Miko would have loved to say good-bye to Neti, but all he could do was whisper her name one last time.”
“And what about you?”
“I . . . want to be there for Mati . . . and my ship . . . as long as I have breath. Then I’ll willingly die if I must.”
Melorania smiled and kissed Rini on the cheek.
The mysterious visitor swished around the inside of the circle and stopped right in front of the navigator. Sata nearly jumped out of her skin.
“Sata, when you asked to be tested by Ilika, I saw in you great potential, but I was worried about your age.”
“I know. My mother had a little trouble letting go of me, and I got homesick a few times.”
“You misunderstand me, Sata. I was worried that you might be too old.”
Sata frowned with confusion.
“You are somewhat set in your ways. For example, you don’t like being
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called a monkey-mammal.”
Sata looked at her hands in her lap as they twitched against her will. “Um
. . . we call ourselves people.”
“The only problem is that ‘people’ now includes all the sapient races —
insectoids, reptilians, avians, mammals, and others you know nothing about.
And even among mammals, your species is just a small part of the incredible variety of sapient life in Nebador.”
Sata took a deep breath. “I know that now. I talked to an avian navigator, and we were going to meet on Satamia Star Station, maybe . . . you know . . .
be friends.”
“Drrrim-na is sweet, and an excellent navigator. Are you prepared to let go of all the friends you have, and all the friends you might have made, and then die?”
Everyone else was so quiet that Sata’s breathing and swallowing could be clearly heard during the next half minute. Eventually, she spoke in a tiny voice. “Y . . . yes.”
“I know you are ready if Boro’s arms are holding you tightly, and if it’s a painless death, like a ship going into hibernation. What I really want to know is if — you know the saying by heart — if you are ready to stand on your own two feet . . .”
“With a smile on my face?”
Melorania
nodded.
Sata glanced at Boro, then took another deep breath. “Without Boro, I’d probably cry like a baby. But I’ll do my job for as long as I can, and then I’ll die, alone if necessary. I . . . don’t know if I can give you a smile.”
The head of the Transport Service looked deeply into Sata’s eyes, mind, and soul for a long minute, then nodded.
“Boro,” Melorania called softly, turning to him slowly.
“Yes . . . what should I call you?”
She laughed. “The titles of respect in your language don’t translate very well into the language of Nebador, do they?”
Boro shook his head.
“You may call me by my name.”
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“Melorania,” he whispered.
“I really like the kind of man you have become, Boro.”
He
blushed.
“Too gentle for man’s work, too clumsy for woman’s work, but just right as a deep-space response ship engineer.”
Boro grinned with embarrassment.
She came close and looked deeply into his soul. No one else made a sound.
Boro soon started to tremble. His entire life seemed to parade before him in just a few seconds.
Melorania backed away. “You are often strong when others are weak. But will you be able to let go of your responsibilities when it is time to die, so you can be fully present in yourself, and fully experience the great mystery that lies beyond?”
Boro swallowed several times. “I . . . don’t know. Not long ago, I wouldn’t have even understood what you mean. After meditating at the monastery, and talking about death after Miko died, I think I understand a little.”
“Perhaps . . .” she mused, “the last two weeks have helped with that understanding . . .”
“Oh, yes!” Boro declared.
“And maybe the next week will help also . . .”
Boro swallowed hard and nodded.
Melorania swirled around the room while looking into each of their eyes, and eventually stopped at Mati. “You have carried your burdens so bravely, precious one.”
“I’ve never felt very brave.”
“I know, but if you had seen the countless big strong men I’ve seen who were reduced to whimpering babies when they lost a leg or an arm, you’d understand what I mean.”
Mati blinked several times, then nodded.
“Ilika guessed correctly that Kibi would not be ready for the Transport Service without her years in slavery. You would not be able to pilot this ship without your time as a crippled slave, and your long journey on donkeyback.”
Mati glanced at Kibi, their eyes met for a moment, and tiny smiles were
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exchanged. Then Mati took a deep breath for courage and turned back to the mysterious visitor. A tiny bit of anger colored her words. “But I might have lived a little longer.”
“No,” Melorania corrected, shaking her head gently, “you would not have.
You would be dead already.”
“Oh . . .” Mati said with a thoughtful look as her eyes shifted back and forth nervously.
“So . . . are you ready?”
“You mean . . . to die?”
The visitor nodded.
Mati looked at Ilika, then at Sata, and finally at Rini. “So much of me just wants to cry, and let someone hold me and tell me everything’s okay.”
“That’s natural. But right now it’s your job, as pilot of the Manessa Kwi, to give me an honest answer to my question.”
As Mati blinked, tears began streaming silently down her cheeks. “No conditions, right?”
“No
conditions.”
A long minute passed as Mati searched her heart for the courage to die.
Tears continued to drench her best tunic. Suddenly she wiped her face on her sleeves, sat up straighter, and looked directly into the visitor’s eyes. “Yes, I am ready to die.”
The strange lady with a face of both beauty and wisdom smiled and nodded.
Mati cleared her throat. “Melorania, may I ask you a question?”
“Of
course.”
“I know we’re going to die, but . . . you don’t mind if Rini and I get married first . . . do you? I mean . . . if we have time . . .”
“Not at all, Mati! I love weddings! Being able to form a loving, working bond with another person is one of the things that separates the many barely-sapient creatures in the universe, from the few who might be called to universe service. I’ll even come to your wedding, if you want me to, and if no one in the Transport Service is having a crisis that I have to go fix.”
Mati grinned, and everyone else laughed.
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Finally, the head of the Transport Service looked at Ilika. “You, I have already tested many times.”
“And no doubt will again before I draw my last breath,” Ilika said with wide, smiling eyes.
Melorania grinned. “Is that a dare?”
“No,” Ilika said through his own grin. “Just a fact.”
The rest of the crew tried to hold in their snickers and chuckles, but some slipped out.
Deep Learning Notes
Why did Melorania only rescue Kibi from the fire, not Neti and Miko?
Kibi and Melorania had different perspectives on Kibi’s “emptiness.” How would you describe each perspective?
Rini wanted to finish his video before he died. If you had only a year, what would you want to do before dying? A month? A week? A day? An hour? A minute?
Why was Melorania a little tougher on Sata than the others?
What title of respect might Boro have been considering, from his own language, that wouldn’t translate into the language of Nebador?
What was it about Boro’s personality that made Melorania emphasize the
“letting go” aspect of dying?
How would Mati’s experience as a “crippled slave” prepare her to pilot a starship?
How would Mati have probably died if she had not passed Ilika’s tests?
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Chapter 32: Melorania’s Gift
Melorania of Nebador floated back to the center of the circle of chairs and turned slowly, looking at each of them as she spoke. “I must go. Others need me, and you all have preparations to make for a very important moment in your lives.”
She then swirled around each member of the crew, leaving them feeling tingly and alive. Last of all she embraced Ilika and began fading from sight, her mouth still smiling like a sweet child, her eyes still sparkling with timeless wisdom. Then she was gone.
The six crew members of the Manessa Kwi sat in the silence that lingered and looked at each other. Before anyone could think of anything to say, the ship began vibrating, then shaking, and loud cracking sounds came through the hull.
“Manessa!” Ilika shouted as he sprang to his feet and dashed for the bridge. “Emergency departure, all engines!”
After a half second to recover from his surprise, Boro grabbed Mati under her arms, pulled her out of her seat, and a few strides later, lowered her into the pilot’s chair.
“Kibi, do what you can with the galley!” Ilika ordered. “Sata, flight recorder! Boro, be ready to cut the space thrusters as soon as the atmospheric engines are working!”
Everyone was in motion, finally realizing what was happening. The
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cracking and groaning sounds grew louder every second.
“Rini, color-coded sonar!” the captain continued. “I need to know what’s solid and what’s liquid, and I need it on the big screen!”
They all worked frantically with shaking fingers. Kibi stuffed dirty bowls and spoons into a cupboard and latched it. The ship began bucking and lurching, and she could barely keep her feet under her.
“Boro, inertia canceling, but fuel priority to the engines. Inertia straps, everyone!”
The Manessa Kwi was now jerking up and down violently. Kibi was knocked into a passenger seat before she finally reached her console and strapped herself in.
“We’re moving up!” Sata shrieked with joy. “Four meters. Seven. Twelve.
“Boro, call engine status!” Ilika yelled over the scraping and bumping sounds from the hull.
“Space thrusters down to one minute of fuel. Atmo engines still purple.
Wait! One of them is warming up . . . blue-green . . . green . . . yellow.
Another one!”
“Cut space thrusters!” the captain ordered. “Rini, where’s my sonar?”
Kibi looked and saw Rini desperately trying option after option on his console, none of which gave him the needed sonar image. She could see sweat pouring down his face, and his efforts to wipe his eyes on his sleeves only made his work harder. She popped her straps, grabbed the galley counter as the ship lurched again, and reached for a towel. A moment later she was on her knees beside Rini, holding his chair with one hand and wiping his face with the other. “You focus on your console, I’ll keep your face dry.”
A quick nod was all he could spare to express his gratitude as he struggled to clear his mind and find the right controls. “There it is! How did I miss it the first time?”
Kibi continued to care for her friend, knowing all their lives might depend on it.
“Sonar!” Rini cried as the image appeared on the big screen in front of Ilika.
The captain beheld freshly-cracked orange boulders of hydrogen ice swimming in yellow soup as the ship continued to push its way upward. The
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solid wall of the planet’s core was still visible not many meters away. Crystals of ice tried to form between the floating boulders and the wall, and the ship was barely outrunning them.
“Ion drive status?” Ilika demanded.
“Green,” Boro replied.
“Mati, get your flight control ready. You’ll need a planetary chart.”
“Coming,” Sata promised.
Suddenly the icy walls of the crack in the core of the seventh planet came to an end, and everyone could see liquid hydrogen before them, with only a few small boulders floating about.
“Whoopee!” Boro cheered as he waved his arms while keeping an eye on his engine status board.
Rini soon quit sweating, but Kibi stayed with him, as he was now in danger of being unable to see because of tears of joy. Suddenly she realized that in the past it would have been her dealing with overwhelming emotions. Now, for some reason, her mind was clear and she was able to help someone else. It felt very good.
Ilika gazed at the sonar image in front of him. A few small hydrogen ice boulders floated about leisurely. “The rest should be easy. Anti-mass seven, Boro.”
After several seconds, Ilika began wondering why his engineer hadn’t verified his engine request. “Boro?”
“Um . . . sorry. I was just trying to figure out why all my anti-mass drives are purple. Diagnostics are fine. Everything looks like it should work.”
Ilika was beside Boro a second later. “Manessa? Do you know anything about this?”
“Melorania asked me not to use the anti-mass engines, except for inertia canceling, until we arrive at Satamia Star Station.”
Ilika frowned. “Manessa, over . . .”
“Wait, Ilika,” Kibi said unexpectedly from where she knelt beside Rini.
He looked at her, his mouth still open to speak.
“I don’t . . . really know what Melorania is,” Kibi said as she struggled to put her thoughts into words, “but she’s someone very important and . . . very
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powerful. She just looked into our hearts and she . . . you know . . . accepted us. No one’s ever done that before . . . except you. We always try hard when you ask us to do things. Couldn’t we . . . try it . . . before overriding?”
Ilika thought for a moment, then looked around the bridge. He saw a smile from Rini and little nods from the two girls at the front of the ship.
“I’m willing to try it,” Boro said, “as long as we don’t risk getting trapped in the ice again.”
The captain thought for another few seconds, then smiled. “Okay, we have to figure out how to break free of the gravity of this gas giant with very little space thruster fuel. How much is left, Boro?”
“About a cup, maybe a cup and a half if I scrape the bottom,” Boro said with a grin.
The captain looked at his engineer with stern eyes.
“Sorry,” Boro mumbled.
“I understand, but I need a number.”
Boro’s fingers were already moving on his console. “At full power . . . forty seconds.”
Ilika turned back to the big screen and sighed. “Melorania didn’t make this easy. Guard that forty seconds with your life, Boro. Mati, begin pitching down. Bring us to thirty degrees relative to the planet’s surface.”
“We’ve got plenty of atmo thruster fuel . . .” Boro pointed out.
“Yes, and a very strong gravity well between the top of the atmosphere, where those thrusters will cease to work, and free space where the ion drive alone can get us out of here.”
“Coming to thirty degree pitch,” Mati announced.
“Time to liquid-gaseous boundary?” the captain asked.
For a moment, everyone was silent.
“Oh, that’s me,” Sata said with a guilty voice as her hands started moving on her console.
Kibi gave Rini one last squeeze on the shoulder, left the towel for him, and returned to the galley. A minute later she had a cup of water in the drink holder at each console. “Sorry we’re out of pinkfruit juice,” she mumbled.
“Twenty-three minutes,” Sata read from her console.
“Thanks,” the captain said in a kindly tone, sipping his water. “Give me a
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planetary cross-section with ship’s position. Continue monitoring sonar for obstacles. Pitch down to twenty degrees. Ion drive power level one.
Recalculate time to boundary.”
The four crew members who had just received commands all looked at each other like blinking owls as they figured out which of the tasks was theirs.
Sata swallowed when she realized she had just received two orders at once.
From beside Ilika, Kibi started massaging his neck. He looked up with grateful eyes.
“Does this mean we’re not going to die?” Mati asked without turning around after stabilizing the ship’s pitch at twenty degrees.
Ilika was silent for a moment. “Ask me again in an hour.”
“Two minutes to boundary,” Sata announced.
“Mati,” Ilika began from right beside her chair, “when we reach the boundary, Manessa will naturally gain speed and pitch up. We want the speed, but not the pitch. The moment we’re clear of the liquid, bring us parallel to the surface. The tricky part is, there might be a wave or two in your face, and you need to make sure they don’t scare you. Go right through them, get your pitch down, and stay as close to the surface as you can. Practice visualizing that before it happens.”
Mati thought for a moment. “This is critical, isn’t it?”
“Very.”
“Maybe you should do it . . .”
Ilika took a breath for courage. “The problem is, Mati, that could be said about almost every piloting maneuver you’ve ever done and ever will do.”
She gave her captain a long look, and saw respect and trust in his eyes.
Ilika returned to the command chair. “Full inertia canceling. Real-time topographic of the liquid-gaseous boundary. Pre-select hydrogen atmosphere filters for the forward view, maximum contrast. Ship’s lights.”
Boro, Rini, and Mati all confirmed, and Mati merged the topographic and the visual channels on her three-D display.
“One minute to boundary,” Sata reported.
“I never thought I’d be so calm in a situation like this,” Kibi said from her station as she secured her inertia straps. “I guess it was getting ready to die
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that did the trick.”
Ilika flashed her a grin, then turned back to the bridge. “Magnify our current position on the big screen, Sata.”
The small gold dot grew to a circle and rapidly approached the line where the yellow liquid ended and the white atmosphere began.
“Critical communications only,” Ilika ordered. “Prepare to go to ion two, and select an alternate fuel.”
Boro programmed the new fuel from memory, than began a diagnostic.
When the indicator turned green, he smiled.
“Eight seconds,” Sata announced.
Mati took the flight control in her hand and narrowed her eyes as she gazed at her display and waited to breach the surface.
Even with full inertia canceling, they all felt the sudden transition from ocean to atmosphere. Kibi thought she heard dirty spoons rattling in the cupboard.
Mati was prepared for a wave or two in her face. Instead, her lights revealed a twisting tornado of liquid hydrogen, looming over the tiny ship and threatening to suck it into the dark, swirling clouds. Mati banked the ship so quickly that the entire visual scene turned sideways. “Ion two!” she yelled and pushed forward on her flight control.
A heartbeat later, the little deep-space response ship picked up speed and dashed away from the spinning funnel, streaking along less than a hundred meters above the eerie liquid hydrogen surface, just as fast as her engines could make her go.
As soon as Mati had time to think, she rolled the ship so the surface of the ocean was once again beneath their feet.
“I don’t think I could have done any better,” Ilika admitted with a smile.
Kibi started clapping, and everyone else joined.
The pilot grinned without letting anyone see.
“Our next trick is all about speed,” Ilika explained. “We need to gain as much as possible while deep in the atmosphere, but you’ll need more clearance from the ocean the faster we go, Mati. I’d love to make
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one-hundredth light-speed before we lose the atmospheric engines, but we probably won’t be that lucky. That’s where Boro’s forty seconds of space thruster fuel comes in.”
“It’s ready,” the engineer assured.
“We need a vertical cross-section of the planet, Sata, so Mati can avoid the rings.”
Sata wiped her brow and went to work.
“Other than that, it doesn’t matter which way we go, as long as we get a few light-seconds away from Sonmatia Seven’s gravity well. Then we party.”
Laughter filled the ship, and hands started waving for toilet breaks. Ilika took the pilot’s seat, and Kibi brought Mati her crutch from the passenger area. Then Kibi stepped into the galley, determined to do something about the dirty bowls and spoons.
Deep Learning Notes
Why didn’t Melorania tell the crew, before she left, that she was going to free them?
Just a reminder: the ship’s “atmospheric engines” are what we would call
“turbo thrust” or “jet” engines. They need something, like air, to work with, and so don’t work in space.
Why, in your opinion, was Kibi’s mind clear when she helped Rini?
Why was Kibi so deeply touched by a powerful person accepting her and her fellow crew members?
Which crew members got which orders when Ilika said, “Give me a planetary cross-section with ship’s position. Continue monitoring sonar for obstacles.
Pitch down to twenty degrees. Ion drive power level one. Recalculate time to boundary.”?
NEBADOR Book Five: Back to the Stars 189
Visualization is an important step in piloting. It allows the pilot to “practice”
even before he or she is in the craft. It applies to difficult maneuvers, like Mati was about to do, and entire flight plans.
Mati’s task, to quickly bring the ship parallel to the liquid surface, is similar to what an airplane pilot has to do in a “soft field take-off” in tall or wet grass, mud, or snow.
Which crew members got which orders when Ilika said, “Full inertia canceling. Real-time topographic of the liquid-gaseous boundary. Pre-select hydrogen atmosphere filters for the forward view, maximum contrast. Ship’s lights.”? How much longer would these commands have taken to give if Ilika had to think about, then say, who got each command?
What do you think of Kibi’s guess that getting ready to die allowed her to be calm in that otherwise-tense situation?
Why would it be difficult to achieve a high speed in a thick atmosphere?
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Chapter 33: Manessa’s Secret
When everyone was back at their stations, Ilika looked around. “We’ll be okay. Melorania has left us a challenge, but it would feel good to do this on our own.”
Everyone
nodded.
“When you’re ready to die,” Boro began, “having two feet under you again feels very good.”
Sata flashed him a grin of understanding.
Ilika cleared his throat. “Pilot, do you have your chart and forward display?”
“Yes, Sir!” she replied, using a word from her native language.
Ilika smiled. “I’ll give you thruster levels and altitudes, but take us higher if it feels too close. Remember, you always have flight command.”
Mati nodded as she rearranged the images on her display.
“Ship’s
status?”
“We’re still about a hundred meters above the hydrogen ocean,” Mati reported, “skimming along at ion two. I’ve seen a couple of twisters in the distance, nothing on our flight path.”
“Full inertia canceling,” Boro said, “with higher levels of atmo engines at my fingertips. Forty seconds of space thrusters, warmed and ready.”
“The galley is secure,” Kibi informed. “I’m worried that everyone’s gonna need food and rest soon.”
Ilika nodded. “Thanks, Kibi. I agree, and seeing the stars again will help,
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whether we’re free of the planet’s gravity or not.” He turned to the watch station.
“Oh, my turn,” Rini chuckled. “Real-time topographics on channel four, and . . . I just figured out how to give Mati a long-range chart of those twister funnel thingies.”
“Thanks!” Mati said, making room on her display.
“Flight recorder still active,” Sata reported, “but I don’t have any other useful charts unless we get into the rings or moons.”
“I hope that doesn’t happen,” the captain said. “Pilot, one thousand meters, ion level three.”
Mati was amazed at the sudden increase in speed, but felt high enough above the ocean for safety. The liquid hydrogen surface became a blur, so Mati concentrated on her topographic display. She noticed from her console that Manessa had changed into the double-ended needle shape she used for space travel.
“Four thousand meters, ion level four.”
The pilot was suddenly grateful for the tornado map, and changed the ship’s course slightly to avoid one.
“Pitch up to twelve degrees, obstacle check.”
Mati focused on her planetary cross-section, and judged they would leave the atmosphere not far from the north pole. “No obstacles.”
“Ion five. Ready space thrusters.”
Mati gained all the speed she could, but her instruments and her gut both told her that the last increase made little difference.
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“One atmo engine just went red!” Boro reported. “Another one!”
“That’s okay,” Ilika assured. “Just keep them from going purple by bringing them down, a level at a time, for as long as you can. Go to ion six, Mati.”
“Stars!” Sata breathed as the last of the thick hydrogen clouds began to fade from her visual display.
Boro growled. “Atmospheric engines are dropping like flies, Ilika. I can’t keep them going any longer. That’s it. All purple.”
“Ion seven! Space thrusters, full power!” the captain ordered.
Boro grinned as he touched the symbol for his most powerful, and most thirsty, engines.
“Now we’re going somewhere!” Sata announced. “Escape velocity in thirty seconds!”
Everyone waited, hardly breathing. The captain glanced at each crew member while searching his memory for anything else they could do, any reserve of power his little ship possessed . . . other than the forbidden anti-mass drive.
“Five seconds to escape velocity,” Sata reported.
Before she had finished speaking, the space thrusters sputtered and died.
“Damn!” came from the engineer’s station.
Ilika quickly stood and stepped to the pilot’s station. “Adjust your pitch, Mati, and bring us into a close orbit. Sorry, Kibi, we tried.”
“I thought Melorania would give us a way,” Kibi began, “but I guess I was wrong.”
Manessa’s gentle voice broke the silence that followed. “Boro, I believe you will find eight liters of space thruster fuel on supply line fifteen.”
Boro frowned and looked at his control board. “Manessa, that’s a spare line with nothing attached to it!”
“I know the fuel is there. You can trust me, or you can look for yourself.”
Boro turned and exchanged puzzled expressions with his captain.
Ilika stepped close. “This is news to me. Your call, engineer.”
After a deep breath, Boro’s hand moved. “No harm in trying it, I guess.
You ready, Mati?”
“Sure! You give me thrust, I’ll get us out of here.”
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As soon as Boro touched the symbol for supply line fifteen, it lit up and the fuel began to flow.
“Hooray!” Mati cheered as she pulled back on her flight control. “I won’t have to dodge rings and moons!”
Deep Learning Notes
What was it about getting ready to die that made Boro feel like he didn’t have two feet under him?
The layers in the illustration, from the center outward, are: rocky core, hydrogen ice mantle, liquid hydrogen ocean, and thick mostly-hydrogen atmosphere. These layers may be typical for a gas giant. The only part we have ever seen is the surface of the atmosphere. All the rest are educated guesses.
In the middle of the illustration, what does the symbol “E” mean?
