“Sata and I finished language lesson twenty yesterday,” Kibi reported at breakfast as they ate hot porridge, with fruit from the ship’s original supplies that seemed almost fresh when soaked in water.
“Now the rest of you can begin.” Ilika looked at his knowledge pad. “Kibi will be responsible for teaching Mati, Sata with Rini, and I with Boro. We’ll do all the same lessons Kibi and Sata have already done, and between lessons we’ll practice in those pairs.”
As soon as breakfast trays were cleaned and put away, Kibi stepped to her console and raised the table, reorganized the seats, and started the first lesson on the large screen over her station.
When it was over, the two advanced language students smiled with pride, and felt very honored to be teachers. But as they strolled in the dunes with their students, they received dirty looks every time they accidentally used words from future lessons, and quickly learned how important it was to stick to the current lesson and be very patient with their friends.
For the next two days, in between language lessons, Kibi, Boro, Rini, and Sata practiced the exterior hull exercise with harness, safety line, and parts vest, while Manessa sat quietly on the ground. Then Ilika asked if they were ready for the final exam.
“What’s the final exam?” Boro asked.
“You’ve been there before,” Ilika replied.
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“Eight . . .” Sata began with a smirk.
“. . . thousand . . .” Rini added calmly.
“. . . meters,” Boro finished with a sigh.
“How did you guess?” Ilika asked, smiling. “But this time you get to do the ascent and descent inside a nice, warm ship.”
By mid-afternoon, everything was ready.
Ilika had spent an hour with Mati going over the new piloting techniques she would be using, and another hour with the other four about the harsh-environment suit that did the same job as their cloaks, but was much less clumsy.
Rising in the lift, Rini grinned with embarrassment when the others saw him in the skin-tight vivid-green suit, face visor currently open.
Ilika came up next and said, “Stations.”
With much excitement and some nervousness, everyone dashed to their consoles.
“The anti-mass drive normally cancels most inertia, but lets a little through because it’s easier to pilot the ship when you can feel the motion.
“Today we’re doing three things at once — hull activity finals for most of you, Mati piloting rapid ascents and descents, and everyone getting a feel for different amounts of inertia, and how they affect your jobs.
“Rini, since you’re suited and ready for your hull work, you’re off-duty and I’m covering your station. Just take a seat in the passenger area for the ride up.”
Kibi slapped hands with her first passenger as he passed.
“We’ll start with the anti-mass drive canceling all inertia. In a sense, this one will be hardest for the pilot. Trust your instruments, Mati.”
She
nodded.
“Preflight preparations, all stations,” Ilika commanded, stepping to the watch console. “Anti-mass and thrusters, level three. Transponder and flight recorder. Acceleration curve one, Mati.”
The captain strolled around the bridge to see how everyone was doing.
Rini, in the front row of passenger seats, looked ready for anything.
“Mati, what’s your deceleration point?” Ilika asked.
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“Um . . . oh, yeah, seven thousand six hundred.”
“Keep in mind — deceleration that fast would plaster us to the ceiling, and probably break several bones, if we could feel it.”
Boro swallowed hard.
“Engine
status?”
“Anti-mass, level three, green, zero inertia. Thrusters, level three, green.”
“Steward and navigator, status?”
Kibi and Sata both declared they were ready.
“Pilot, overhead obstacles?”
“Weather clear, light to moderate wind at all altitudes, no birds on the screen.”
“Flight objective, straight up to eight thousand meters, as soon as you are ready, pilot.”
Mati looked over her controls and visual displays one more time. Her flight control was within reach, but she knew she didn’t need it. After one more slow breath, she touched the symbol that would engage the selected acceleration curve.
She felt nothing, but could see the dunes quickly shrink to tiny ripples, then the nearby mountains become small jumbles of rock. Mere seconds later, the altitude graph rapidly approached the deceleration point. She watched as Manessa followed the curve. The last hundred meters were quickly traversed, and the altitude display stopped at eight thousand. “We are there.”
“Could I . . .” Boro said hesitantly, “. . . um . . . peek out the hatch. It’s hard to believe we’re up here ‘cause I didn’t feel anything.”
Ilika smiled. “Steward, equalize pressure, then open the upper hatch.
Engineer is off-station for a minute. Kibi is in command.”
Kibi found the requested controls as Ilika went to the hatch and Boro followed.
“Yep. We’re definitely up here again,” Boro confirmed with wide eyes, then returned to his console.
“Ready, Rini?” Ilika asked.
The boy wearing bright-green, harness, and parts vest stood up and went to the hatch.
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“What happens if you fall from up here?” Ilika asked.
“Die,” Rini answered with a nonchalant tone.
Ilika opened a cabinet and handed the lad a safety line, which Rini inspected, as he had practiced.
“No time limit. It must be done with gloves.”
Rini nodded, clipped on his safety line, closed his visor, and climbed out the hatch.
“This is so wonderful!” they could all hear Rini say through the suit’s intercom. “The sky is so huge and the world is so small. I can see a flock of birds going south, way down there at about two thousand meters.”
“I see them on my obstacle display,” Mati confirmed.
“Manessa is so sweet, making steps and handholds for me even way up here in the cold. I’m almost there — had to step over my safety line — it likes to go with the wind.”
Ilika smiled from a personal memory.
“Old device is out,” Rini reported, “and in a pocket. New one is . . . oops
. . . got it. Yep, gloves are clumsy. New one is in. Close the little hatch now, please, Manessa. Thank you.”
Several of those inside the ship chuckled. A long minute passed before they heard from Rini again.
“I guess I should come in now, but . . . it’s so beautiful up here . . .”
Ilika returned to the open hatch, and soon Rini was back inside.
“Hatch closed, resume normal pressure. Prepare for descent, all stations.”
With Kibi in a bright green suit, and Ilika covering her station, the Manessa Kwi again made the ascent, but this time they could feel a small fraction of the true acceleration forces, just enough to give them a sense of motion.
Kibi completed the test slowly and carefully, remembering everything she had learned in practice, and recalling Rini’s experiences with the safety line and gloves. Most importantly, she told herself as she crept across Manessa’s hull, she had to complete the task with her mind, and save any feelings for later.
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Bright green was not Boro’s favorite color, but he smiled with only a little embarrassment when Sata grinned at him from her station. Then they both turned their attention to securing inertia straps.
Those still on-duty had a new challenge — making sure they could reach every corner of their consoles under two gravities of acceleration. The anti-mass drive canceled the rest.
Boro narrated every move he made while on the hull. He worked carefully and methodically, but didn’t linger on the way in. Keeping his stomach relaxed and happy still required part of his attention.
Two gravities of deceleration on the way down caused arms to rise toward the ceiling when they needed to be on their consoles, and an assortment of colorful words, in the crew’s native language, made Ilika smile.
Sata looked confident and happy as she sat in the passenger area and let her body melt into the supportive seat during the three-gravity ascent. The others were sorely challenged to move their hands on their consoles without accidentally touching the wrong control. Ilika assured them this was the highest acceleration they would ever be expected to endure while working.
The eleven-year-old navigator nimbly attached her safety line and climbed out the hatch, and Ilika returned to the bridge to listen to her progress.
“It’s windy out here. Safety line is all over the place. Damn! Now it’s around my legs. Manessa is wonderful, but the rope is like a snake. Ouch! It just whipped me. I’m almost there, but . . . shit! It’s got me again.”
Boro looked worried.
Mati glanced at Ilika, and thought she saw a suppressed smile.
“I’m at the little hatch. The damned safety line is around one of my legs twice, but I’m going to try to get the parts swapped before I deal with it.
Hatch is open. Ouch! Old part is out . . . I can really see why Rini fumbled at this point. Okay, it’s in a pocket.
“Eek! It’s around my neck! I can’t do anything! I’m going to take the bloody thing off even if it means I flunk the test, and when I get back inside I’m going to chop it up into little pieces! Ouch! It’s like an angry snake!”
“Does she flunk if she takes the safety line off?” Kibi asked.
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“Yes.”
“Wait,” Sata’s voice continued. “I just thought of something. If it’s okay, could Mati rotate the ship a half turn? Please! ”
Mati looked at Ilika, and he quickly nodded. “Maneuvering thrusters,” she requested.
Boro confirmed, and Mati quickly made the heading adjustment.
“Oh, wow, that is so much better. Thank you, Mati! I’m . . . getting . . . the pissing thing . . . off my neck. Whew! And off my legs. Yes! Now it’s whipping at nothing on the other side of the ship. Maybe I can do my work now.”
Everyone inside laughed to release their tension and fear.
“New part is out of its pocket . . . in place . . . and the little hatch is closed.
I’m going to take a moment to breathe, if no one minds. The safety line is tugging at me slightly, but it’s better than being constantly attacked.”
“The wind must be stronger now,” Boro speculated.
“A little,” Rini confirmed.
“Okay, I’m coming in. Anybody have a mug of hot tea handy? I’m almost to the hatch.”
Ilika helped his student inside, but when he started to pull in the safety line, she stopped him.
“It’s mine, Ilika! I want the satisfaction of coiling up that slimy little monster. And I’ll think about not chopping it to pieces while I drink my tea.”
Ilika laughed at the completely serious expression on his navigator’s face.
“Let’s descend first so everyone can shut-down and join you for tea.”
“O . . . kay,” Sata agreed with some reluctance as she hauled in the thin rope.
As soon as they were back on the sand, Kibi lowered the table and dashed to the pantry to start tea. Sata got out of the harsh environment suit and everyone gathered at the table.
“Good work, all of you,” the captain complimented. “The recordings of your hull excursion tests will be fun to review, especially Sata’s.”
Everyone
howled.
“Sata demonstrated something I want you all to remember.”
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The students became very silent and attentive as they held their mugs.
“Except when it works against the mission, or creates an unacceptable danger, if you need it, you get it. We are here to support each other. At every moment of everything you do, all the resources of Manessa and your fellow crew members are yours for the asking.”
Deep Learning Notes
“. . . fruit that seemed almost fresh when soaked in water,” could be freeze-dried, a dehydration method that is usually only used for backpacking foods because of its high cost. Most camping gear stores have some for sale.
Teachers have long known that one of the best ways to help an advanced student gain mastery is to have them teach all their knowledge to a beginning student. This phase of their language lessons, therefore, was just as useful to Kibi and Sata as to the others.
The zero-inertia ascent and descent would be most like a video game, seeing the expected visuals, but feeling nothing.
When Kibi “equalized pressure,” after the ascent to eight thousand meters, which way did air flow?
Two gravities of acceleration is about what you would feel in an amusement park ride that spins you on the inside of a cylinder, sometimes dropping the floor out from under your feet for extra excitement. Working our arms, hands, and fingers under 2g takes effort, but is not hard.
Why did Ilika wait for Sata to think of a solution to her problem, instead of just asking Mati to turn the ship? Since it was a test, was Sata being allowed to “cheat,” in your opinion?