The crew of the Manessa Kwi knew a change was coming when Ilika gave them an entire day of free time.
Boro and Sata hiked across the dunes to the nearest mountains, and found a narrow canyon to explore. Rini made both lunch and dinner for Mati, and they spent time outside during the day, and on the lower deck watching videos in the evening. Kibi walked alone, revisiting the places and thoughts of her panic attack. When she returned, she had a question for Ilika.
“When we start flying between the stars, how often will I be able to feel dirt, or sand, or rock, or something that doesn’t move, under my feet?”
“Almost every day. But even planets move.”
“I know, but I can’t feel it, so it’s okay.”
“Even the smallest star stations feel completely solid. They have gardens and sandy play areas, and their movement is just orbital, like a planet.”
Kibi
smiled.
“We have done everything we can do here in this desert,” Ilika announced at breakfast the following morning.
Excitement showed on all five faces, but the question they wanted to ask was too obvious to say aloud.
“To continue your training, the rest of you need to begin reading and speaking Manessa’s language. Today I want Kibi to lead a review of your language lessons, and afterward, Sata will teach everyone how to access the
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planetary charts. Each of you may pick two places on the planet you’d like to visit, and I have a few on my list for training purposes. It will be a truly grand tour, and we won’t always go the shortest possible route.”
“Deepest ocean,” Sata declared.
“Highest mountain,” Rini added.
The others looked thoughtful as Ilika collected breakfast trays and Kibi prepared the room for a lesson.
By late afternoon, they were all at their stations, searching through the charts for the two magical places they would choose. Ilika helped when they only knew the location by description, such as Mati’s wish to see the most beautiful hot springs. Kibi started a list on a knowledge pad so they wouldn’t duplicate each other’s selections.
Most of the students chose geological features of one sort or another, but Kibi had something else in mind. Her curiosity about the desert had been satisfied, so she looked at the charts until she found the symbol for cities.
Knowing their ship could hover at any altitude with little chance of being seen, she picked two as far apart as possible.
After Ilika led an intense language review, everyone headed for baths and beds to dream about the mysterious places they would soon be visiting.
The following morning, when most of the students began using toilets and coming up the lift, the savory aroma of spiced potatoes greeted them as Kibi sliced the strong cheese from the desert gathering.
Ilika’s first sentence of welcome to his crew of youth from a medieval kingdom contained several words from the star civilization of Nebador, but they had studied those words and hardly noticed. As he began to brief them about their first flight of the day, more new words were sprinkled into his sentences, especially relating to numbers and units of measurement. When he saw puzzled looks, he would repeat twice more — once in their native language, and again in his.
“Our first objective is to fly from here to a tiny island in the western ocean, location number one on Manessa’s flight list. Your maximum altitude is one thousand meters above sea level. You have level one anti-mass and thrusters,
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but no inertia canceling.”
As soon as they inhaled their breakfast, they gathered around Sata at the navigator’s station. She displayed a chart that contained both their current location and the indicated island.
“Looks easy,” Boro said. “We just need to go south, then west.”
Suddenly Sata took on a troubled expression, and magnified part of the chart. “No, not so easy. The pass out of the desert southward is more than a thousand meters. Ilika’s gonna make us work.”
For the next hour they huddled around their navigator, looking for a way to get out of the desert within the given limitations. Ilika sat at the table, sipped tea, and worked on concocting even more devious puzzles.
“Flight plan ready,” Sata finally announced.
Ilika looked at the convoluted course that went north, then east over a seven hundred meter pass, along a river to a far-northern ocean, through a narrow passage into the western ocean, and finally to the island.
“Congratulations! Everyone ready?”
“Toilet break!” Mati and Sata both said at once.
When Mati made her first course change with full inertia, everyone swayed to the left, only held in their seats by inertia straps.
“Sorry!” she whined, red with embarrassment. “I’ll remember to bank next time.”
The rest of the crew mumbled forgiveness. Ilika just smiled and mentally checked off another item on Mati’s training list.
As soon as they slipped over the low pass and entered the large river valley, the scenery below became green with countless pine trees. As they continued to fly north, the trees became fewer and fewer, but many colors of green and yellow grasses still covered the land, along with a few stunted trees.
“This is tundra, typical of low-elevation land in sub-polar regions.”
“Why no trees?” Boro asked, gazing at his visual display, but remembering to glance at his engine status board occasionally.
“The ground only thaws very near the surface. Only a few feet down is permafrost. Trees can’t grow in ice.”
“There’s ice on the river already,” Mati observed.
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Rini nodded. “I bet winter is long up here.”
“We should be able to see the northern ocean soon,” Sata said, watching their progress on her display.
“I see it,” Mati reported, “and it’s covered with thick fog.”
“Cloud top, Rini?” Ilika asked.
“Um . . . about one thousand seven hundred. Real-time topographics at your service, Mati.”
Mati touched her display selector until she had the projection she wanted, three-D with color-coded elevations. “Can’t go over them without breaking the rules, so I’m entering the cloud bank at four hundred. Nice, easy turn into the next leg.”
“Good control, Mati,” Ilika complimented. “Captain is off the bridge for a few minutes. Steward is in command.” He disappeared into the lift.
Kibi swallowed. “Er . . . um . . . status . . . reports?”
Everyone else was happy. Sata mentioned they were rapidly approaching the narrow passage to the western ocean. Kibi looked behind her, but Ilika was nowhere to be seen. “How wide is the passage, Sata?”
“Mmm . . . fifteen kilometers at the narrowest place.”
Kibi could feel beads of sweat forming all over her face and hands as they continued moving through the misty white clouds. “Mati, half-speed,” Kibi commanded with a shaking voice.
Mati started to roll her eyes, but caught herself and began slowing the ship.
Kibi heard Ilika come up and gleefully swiveled around. “You’re back in command, right?”
“No, not until I say I am.” He began to stroll around the bridge, looking over each person’s shoulder for a moment.
Kibi tried to swallow the huge lump in her throat as she turned back to the bridge. “St . . . status reports.”
“Passing through the straights now and entering open water,” Mati reported. “Still at four hundred.”
“On flight plan,” Sata added.
“Fair weather ahead,” Rini assured.
The white mist suddenly vanished from their visual displays and they
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could see deep blue water below, thin high clouds above.
Kibi let out a sigh of relief. “Resume full speed.”
Ilika smiled at her.
On the long flight southward over the featureless ocean, the pilot was pushing forward on her flight control to get all possible speed from the level-one thrusters.
“Um . . . Ilika . . .” Boro began with a worried voice. “Thrusters just went red.”
“What do you recommend, engineer?”
“Um . . . slow down?”
“What do you think of that, pilot?”
“I’d . . . like more speed. It’s a long way.”
“Let’s go to level two, Mati. Boro’s engines will be happier. Just remember inertia.”
Boro took the thrusters up a notch. “Back to yellow,” he said with a contented smile.
After being pushed into their seats for a minute as Mati accelerated, everyone was quiet as the little ship traveled effortlessly over the dark ocean.
“Big flock of birds ahead at our altitude!” Rini announced with a tone of urgency. “Moving east.”
“I see them,” Mati confirmed. “Going off flight plan to the west.” Once she had made the course change, she glanced back at Ilika.
He looked happy.
Deep Learning Notes
Ilika’s navigation problem was challenging because desert “depressions” can be completely ringed by high-elevation passes, unlike true “valleys” which always have a low-elevation river outlet.
“Fog” is just a cloud that happens to be touching the ground. Flying in a cloud is the most usual type of “IMC” (instrument meteorological condition). It is
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different from “IFR” flying (instrument flight rules), which is often done in perfectly good weather. IMC is real, and absolutely requires IFR flight.
What situation made Kibi so nervous during her first period of command during flight? What could she have done to reduce her nervousness? Hint: Mati did it just before entering the cloud.
The crew’s experience as Mati changed speeds shows the difference between velocity and acceleration. “Going fast” does not create acceleration forces (gravity and inertia). “Speeding up” does. Once Mati reached the new (higher) speed, the crew ceased to be pressed into their seats.
Mati’s course change to avoid the flock of birds is a small example of something the crew will learn in much more depth in NEBADOR Book Six.
Any piloting situation requires the crew to sometimes bend, even break, the rules. FAR (Federal Aviation Regulations in the USA) 91.3(b) states “In an in-flight emergency requiring immediate action, the pilot in command may deviate from any rule of this part to the extent required to meet that emergency.” (Part 91 is all the General Operating and Flight Rules.) Breaking the rules “well” is one of the things that clearly separates adults from children.