After three days of recovery from the gathering of the desert tribes, Ilika looked over his training checklists. He asked Kibi and Sata to concentrate on the last few language lessons they would be doing by themselves. Several low-altitude flights were scheduled to help Boro and Kibi catch up with the others, and the entire crew returned to the high-altitude flights that challenged them in completely different ways.
“I know it’s almost lunchtime,” Ilika began from the command chair as all five crew members sat at their stations after a simulated flight, “but there’s one more thing we need to do. Boro is the only one who knows that the anti-mass drive is always used along with an artificial gravity generator.”
Boro, guessing what was coming, couldn’t help but snicker.
Ilika smiled. “Now it’s time for you all to experience what it would feel like if that generator failed. Boro, anti-mass level one, and Mati, take us up to one meter relative altitude.”
“But don’t we need . . .” Boro tried to say.
“No. Manessa is ready.”
Some of the others had worried looks as they felt the ship lift off the ground.
“Gravity off,” Ilika ordered, and Boro complied with a mischievous grin.
Sounds of amazement, discomfort, and even a little fear, could be heard all over the bridge as everyone began floating out of their seats. Only Boro was
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silent.
“I can’t reach my flight control!” Mati gasped with panic.
“It’s okay, Mati,” Ilika assured as both of them floated slowly up toward the ceiling. “Manessa expects us to lose control any time the gravity generator is down and we aren’t using our inertia straps. This is zero gravity. It’s harmless, but one of those things we have to get used to. I did it when your stomachs were empty for a very good reason.”
“I don’t care what is, or isn’t, in my stomach,” Sata grumbled, floating over the command chair. “I feel sick.”
“I’m fine,” Rini said, quickly discovering he could push off any handy surface to propel himself. He moved across the bridge toward Mati. “Shall we dance?” he asked, taking her hand.
Mati
giggled.
Ilika could see that Boro was okay. “Kibi, how are you doing?”
“Queasy, but not too bad,” she replied, slowly crossing the passenger area without touching anything. “It would be very hard to serve lunch like this.”
“Almost impossible,” Ilika confirmed. “You couldn’t use any liquids or loose solids.” A minute later he spoke several words in his language, and everyone slowly settled back toward the floor. Rini helped Mati get her legs under her, and Kibi climbed down off the big oval table.
“I’m the captain now,” Sata said from where she had landed, sideways, in Ilika’s chair, “and we’re not doing that again today.”
Ilika smiled. “Tomorrow.”
That evening, the moon and stars came out in a crystal clear sky, so Ilika and Kibi grabbed their old bedrolls. Just past a clump of scraggly desert bushes, not six meters from the Manessa Kwi, they snuggled close against the cool night air.
“It’s good to see Mati and Rini starting to talk . . . and kiss,” Kibi said. “Do you think they’ll be happy together?”
“I don’t know. I’m a little surprised they got together so soon. I thought they’d keep their distance until Mati’s knee operation.”
“I guess Rini’s mistake forced them to decide.”
“Yeah. But it seems he had already decided. He just hadn’t told her.”
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Kibi chuckled. “He really wanted to make everyone happy back at the gathering, but he couldn’t.”
“I see a strong romantic side in him,” Ilika shared, “and I was worried he’d fall for the first girl who openly liked him. We would have lost both him and Mati.”
“Turns out he’s stronger than that.”
“Yeah.”
There was a long silence as the nearly-full moon peered down at them.
“I have an admission to make, Ilika.”
He turned toward her and listened.
“I’ve heard that on ships — you know, of our world — only the captain gets to take a lady along. So all during our journey I felt special, maybe a little more important than the other students. When I bolted from the motion training, I was so ashamed. Now I’m glad it happened. I needed to get over thinking I was better than the others.”
“Yep,” was all Ilika said.
After a long silence, Kibi asked, “Why do only captains get to take ladies?
That’s not fair. Everyone needs love.”
“It’s probably just a power thing. But it’s true that many people get distracted when the opposite sex is around.”
“So why is it okay in the Transport Service for all of us to have relationships?”
“At most jobs in the Nebador Services, even in the Transport Service, couples rarely work side-by-side. Deep-space response ships are different —
we’re small, self-contained, and have to be ready for long voyages. Therefore, we must be willing and able to keep our private and work lives separate.”
“So . . . by passing those tests back at Doko’s Inn, I was applying for the hardest job in the whole . . . universe?”
Ilika smiled. “Pretty close!”
Kibi laughed out loud before falling silent and watching a wisp of cloud move across the moon.
“You’ll always tell me the truth, right?” she asked in a quiet voice.
“Or tell you honestly that I can’t, and why.”
After a few breaths, Kibi went on. “Is there a girl waiting for you up there
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in the stars somewhere?”
Ilika looked at her. “No, there is not. I . . . was hoping you’d be the girl who always waited for me, just as I want to always wait for you.”
Kibi smiled in the moonlight as she snuggled close to her lover. “I’d like that.”
All five students got comfortable in their molded acceleration seats, equally spaced around the outer edge of the ship. Manessa created three safety bars across each.
Kibi smiled at the embarrassing memory of wiggling out of one safety bar, and wondered, just for a moment, if she could get past three.
“This is your final exterior high-altitude flight,” Ilika announced as he walked around the ship in the sand.
Boro sighed with relief.
Ilika smiled. “Smooth acceleration to five gravities, and you’ll be at eight thousand meters in only eight seconds. Remember, screaming is okay. One minute to sight-see, then eight seconds on the way down. Manessa is worthy of your trust, and will set you down gently. Everyone in good health?”
They all nodded.
“We’ll be at zero gravity on the way down, won’t we?” Rini asked.
“Zero and negative gravity, which just means you’ll be pressed against your safety bars part of the time. Any other questions?”
After the mistakes, large and small, they had each made in recent weeks, from accidentally shutting down the flight engines, to accidentally marrying the wrong girl, none of the students felt they had any cause to complain. They knew they had to learn many things that would scare them silly at first, but they trusted their captain to only give them tasks they could, with proper effort, learn.
“Ready,” came five different voices.
“Okay. Enjoy the ride.”
Ilika heard them scream, and he heard their cheers of pride when they completed both the ascent, and the far-more-frightening descent. He greeted them when they hopped out of their seats and smiled as they bounced up and
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down with joy at their success.
“That was the scariest thing I’ve ever done,” Kibi declared with her arms around him. “But . . . you know . . . I was okay.”
Deep Learning Notes
Below Earth orbit, zero gravity can only be created for short periods of time by diving toward the Earth in “free fall.” This can be done skydiving, from a high cliff into water, in an airplane, and in some amusement park rides. We do not have the ability to block (or create) gravity without using motion. In orbit, gravity is always zero because orbit is simply that path of falling toward a planet that never gets closer to (or farther away from) the planet, and instead goes around and around. Zero gravity is not dangerous to our bodies in the short term, but because we are used to having gravity always present, some people feel sick to their stomachs under zero gravity. In the long term, our muscles become weak under zero gravity because it is so difficult to exercise.
Most human organizations, past and present, do not allow close personal relationships between people who work closely together because, as Ilika explained, most people get distracted. What quality is the Nebador Transport Service requiring in its deep-space response ship crews by allowing them to have romantic relationships within the crew?
Kibi’s fear is understandable. Many stories have been told about captains and officers of ships who have a lover in several different ports, who never know about each other.
The rapid descent from eight thousand meters was far more frightening than the ascent because the ground could be seen rushing toward them. Our instincts tell us we’re going to crash.