Kibi and Sata returned to language studies in earnest, and everyone worked with Ilika to deepen their understanding of the many information and control options on their consoles. Rini, Sata, and Mati were starting to handle numbers directly in base eight, and Ilika worked with Kibi and Boro to help them along in the process. After one such lesson, when Ilika had departed to teach Sata some new navigation skills, the two slow math students remained on the dune in the thin winter sunlight.
Kibi looked toward the ship. “It’s nice to have a buddy that’s bad at everything I’m bad at.”
Boro chuckled. “I wonder if other people who are slow at math also lose their lunch when flying.”
“Hey! We’re getting better!”
He nodded agreement. “Do you understand what Ilika was saying about numbers that are turned upside down?”
“Yeah, I think so,” Kibi said, drawing in the sand. “It’s impossible to accidentally read them upside down because all the digits, except zero, have a bar that points right, right?”
NEBADOR Book Four: Flight Training 37
Boro smiled. “Yeah.”
Kibi erased most of the digits. “Here’s one two three.”
“I’m
not
that dense,” Boro said with his head cocked.
“I know! But here’s the thing you were asking about. Look at it upside down.”
They both scooted around to the other side of the sand inscription.
“How can you tell it’s upside down?” Kibi asked.
“Okay, I see. Bars are pointed the wrong way.”
“And the only time there are no bars, it’s zero. Zero upside down is zero, so no problem!”
“Thanks.”
They sat in friendly silence for a minute, gazing across the dunes.
“Sata isn’t going to get jealous if you and I hang out a little, is she?”
“We’ve already talked about it, and she understands. Me and her are going on a walk in the dunes after dinner.”
“Ilika’s been a monster since I came back . . . a very delicious monster.”
Boro chuckled. “You scared him. He loves you.”
Kibi nodded and wore a dreamy smile. A few moments later, they both hopped up and headed back to the ship.
The five students sat on the dunes surrounding the landing site and watched as the ship rose a few meters and then hovered. Ilika appeared in the open hatch wearing a bright-green harsh environment suit and a vest with many pockets.
NEBADOR Book Four: Flight Training 38
“First I connect my safety line. I know it doesn’t seem important right now, but imagine doing this at eight thousand meters with a cold wind trying to blow you off the ship.”
Mati shivered at the thought.
“Have to wear gloves. If you can do it with gloves, then it’s easy without them.”
Kibi looked worried, but took some deep breaths.
“Manessa will make steps and handholds wherever we need them.” Ilika pushed his shoe against the hull and an indentation appeared. Then he reached ahead with his hand, tapped on the hull, and a depression formed with a bar through the middle, which he grabbed.
“Um . . . Ilika?” Mati began.
“Don’t worry, Mati, you won’t have to do this until your knee is fixed.”
She
smiled.
“The goal of the exercise is to work your way to this point on the opposite side of the ship, then tap on the hull where Manessa has marked out a purple square. It will open, and you remove this practice device, put it into a vest pocket, and replace it with the one you brought.”
“In the wind . . . at eight thousand meters,” Boro said with a hint of disbelief in his voice.
“Without dropping either device,” Ilika emphasized.
“How . . . um . . . fast will we be going?” Kibi asked.
“No one could do this with much wind or acceleration. The main challenges,” Ilika explained as he worked his way back to the hatch, “will be ignoring the altitude, and dealing with the clumsiness of your gloves.”
He disappeared inside, and a moment later the ship settled back onto the sand.
“Looks scary,” Kibi said to no one in particular.
“Question is . . . what are you going to do with that fear?” Rini asked, looking at her askance.
Kibi shuddered for a moment and closed her eyes. “Feel it, let it remind me to be careful, and do my job . . . or go eat lizards.”
The others burst out laughing.
NEBADOR Book Four: Flight Training 39
With everyone, including Kibi and Boro, doing well at their high-speed, low-altitude training, Ilika proposed they look at the world from eight thousand meters. It was, he explained, about thirteen thousand four hundred of their king’s shoes in their old base ten number system.
“Everything will look very small from up there. Your main concern will be reduced air pressure.”
“Hypoxia danger,” Boro announced.
“Only if you stay a long time. Eight minutes to ascend, four minutes at the top, and eight minutes to come back down — you won’t have any ill effects unless you are already sick. Anyone . . . already sick?”
“We’re supposed to tell you that stuff!” Sata said, hands on her hips.
Ilika grinned and made eye contact with each of his students. “Just checking. You’ll want your cloaks.”
“Could we . . . use the seats that are all together the first time, just for moral support?” Rini asked.
Ilika saw Rini’s eyes twitch in Kibi’s direction for a fraction of a second.
“Sure,” the captain replied.
They soon had their cloaks, Manessa had taken on the appropriate shape, and they were snug in their seats.
Ilika made both the ascent and descent steady and smooth, without any noticeable acceleration forces. As always, he listened with the ship’s external sensors, but heard only sounds of amazement.
They chatted like little birds when they arrived back on the sand, having glimpsed other lands to the east and south, and more snow-covered mountains to the north beyond those they already knew. Ilika watched and listened for any ill effects or traumatic emotions.
“Ilika,” Kibi began, putting her arm around him, “that was too easy. If I know you, there’s a twist coming up that will make us pee our pants.”
An involuntary smirk appeared on his face.
“Tell us!” she asserted.
“Eventually, you get to make the ascent and the descent in eight seconds, instead of eight minutes.”
NEBADOR Book Four: Flight Training 40
Deep Learning Notes
The base eight numerals of Nebador are based on the binary (base two) representations of the same values. The horizontal bar on the bottom is the ones place, the bar in the middle is the twos place, and the bar on top is the fours place. The vertical bar with no horizontal bar is, of course, zero. For example “L” is (1 x 1) + (0 x 2) + (0 x 4) = 1, and “E” is (1 x 1) + (1 x 2) + (1 x 4)
= 7. “Eight,” the base, is written “LI” (we would write it “10” in our numerals).
As Ilika explained after he demonstrated a hull excursion, one of the main challenges would be to IGNORE the altitude (eventually “eight thousand meters” = 4096 meters = 13438 feet). The “exposure” (a mountaineering term) does not change the task, but it adds a huge psychological challenge.
The other part of the challenge, working in a harsh environment suit and gloves, is important because the temptation to take off gloves, “just for a moment,” leads to many accidents and deaths in “zero-tolerance environments” (usually extreme cold).
Aircraft crews in the USA are allowed to fly for up to half an hour between 12,500 and 14,000 feet without a pressurized cabin or supplemental oxygen because our bodies only experience ill effects at those altitudes when we are there for longer times. The exception is, as Ilika explained, when someone is already sick.
