When the ship judged it had freed itself from the mud and vines enough for normal flight, it slowly changed back to a perfect sphere about eight yards across, golden orange but still smeared with black goo.
Ilika’s five students stood frozen between wonder and terror. If they hadn’t just promised, minutes before, to trust him completely and follow him anywhere, they might be running away as fast as their legs could carry them.
“Kibi?” Ilika’s voice attempted to penetrate her fright. “You okay? Mati?”
“It’s . . . beautiful!” Rini breathed, pulling himself out of his momentary shock.
Seeing that Rini wasn’t afraid, the others struggled to master their fears.
Boro blinked his eyes and closed his mouth, but could barely swallow.
“Sata?” Ilika tried again. “It’s okay, really. It’s just a little deep-space response ship of the Nebador Transport Service.”
“Ili . . . Ilika?” Kibi managed to stammer. “Y . . . you need to tell us a lot more about your ship.”
“That’s why we’re here, dear Kibi. I can tell you everything now. And it’s your ship, too.”
“It’s . . . dirty,” Mati declared, inspired by Rini to let go of her fear. “We need to . . . wash it.”
Boro found his voice. “Um . . . didn’t you say there was a little lake up there in the hills?” He pointed to his right without taking his eyes off the ship.
“Yes . . .”
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“Can you make it . . . go up there?” Sata asked.
Ilika smiled. He could see that his chosen crew was going to recover very soon, and were already showing signs of attachment to the ship — the same ship he hoped they would accept as their home, their workplace, and their pride and joy.
Sata helped Mati up the trail to the lake and Rini brought her pack. The others walked backwards part of the time, watching the mysterious sphere, completely amazed that the ship would just follow them up the trail like a big golden soap bubble floating on the breeze.
Ilika had been to this place and remembered washing his muddy boots before continuing on to the capital city. Now he looked at it with a new purpose in mind. A grassy level place on the far side would do nicely for a landing site, but first he tapped at his bracelet to direct the ship into the water, then selected the flattest possible shape.
Kibi, Rini, and Sata soon had their rucksacks, boots, and outer clothes off, old pieces of clothing out, and were climbing onto the thin circular disc floating on the lake. Ilika and Boro ducked underwater to clean the bottom of the shiny craft as best they could. Mati waded into the water with her crutch and rinsed out cloths that became too muddy to use, then tossed them back to those on the ship.
“Top’s clean!” Kibi declared as the three slid off and splashed into the water.
“Can we build a fire?” Sata asked, shivering in her wet underwear. “I’m cold!”
“How about a nice warm ship instead?” Ilika proposed as he worked with his bracelet to maneuver the ship to the grassy area. It changed back to a sphere, sprouted legs, and settled to the ground.
The six of them collected their belongings and circled around the lake. As they approached the clean, shiny ship, Ilika tapped another code into his bracelet, a round hatchway appeared on the side, and a ramp seemed to come out of nowhere. He walked up the ramp, then turned and stood in the opening.
“In the entryway are racks for outdoor shoes,” he explained, stowing his
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boots, “a dirty laundry chute,” he pointed out while tossing his clothes in,
“and our packs go in this luggage area. On this wall is a shower, you touch these symbols to control the flow and the temperature,” he demonstrated.
“This blue liquid isn’t water, so don’t drink it.” After quickly rinsing himself off, he opened a cabinet. “Clean robes for everyone. Next person?”
For a moment, no one moved even though three of them were trembling from the cold water of the lake.
Finally Kibi took a deep, slow breath and stepped up the ramp. She then helped Mati, shaking like a leaf, into the shower. Soon Sata found the courage to come up. Boro and Rini passed up the wet clothes and Kibi slipped them into the laundry chute.
Before long, everyone was warm from the shower, wearing a clean robe, and standing on a soft floor just a few steps above the entry hatch, wondering what to do.
Ilika spoke a few words in a strange language and gentle lights came on, allowing the crew to see the interior of the ship.
Straight ahead and extending to their left, an open area contained a dozen seats with high backs, almost like royal thrones. Ilika stepped to a mysterious table half-way across the room, touched something, and the seats started moving all by themselves.
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Kibi and Sata jumped with fright and collided with Boro and Rini.
Ilika smiled as the seats rearranged themselves so five lined up side by side in the front row. He sat down in the seat at the strange table and swiveled it around to face the others. “Come in and sit. I’m sure you have questions.”
With the wide eyes of frightened rabbits, they hesitantly filled the seats.
The room remained silent until Kibi found her courage. “It’s . . . not a dragon?”
Ilika chuckled. “I can see how someone might think so. It’s a living creature named Manessa Kwi Habishu Glinta. But it’s not a will-creature — it cannot make its own life decisions. Nor can it reproduce, so it’s not male or female.”
Boro frowned. “It? That’s what we say for things that aren’t living.”
Ilika nodded. “There’s no pronoun of respect in your language for something that isn’t male or female.”
“Ships are always ladies,” Rini informed.
The other new crew members nodded.
“So . . . can we call her . . . Manessa?” Mati asked timidly.
“Yes. I usually do. It’s . . . she’s a deep-space response ship designed to go just about anywhere, and very quickly, although, as you can see, she isn’t very big. Twelve passengers comfortably, many more in an emergency, but they’d be sitting on the floor. Over here to my right is the galley, in the back is a little play area and two toilet rooms, one with a bath. Over here beside the entryway is the lift to the lower deck, and I am sitting at the steward’s station.
Behind me is the bridge, which we’ll talk about tomorrow when I introduce your jobs. But today, I’d better show you how to use the toilet rooms.”
For the next ten minutes, Ilika explained the technologies of the toilet and bath while they poked their heads through the doorway. The same blue liquid flowed in the sink and the bathtub. The five new crew members took everything on faith, as they could not imagine how any of it worked, but it obviously did, and they would need to use it, or go outside and find a bush.
“You mean . . . we can take a warm bath every day?” Sata asked with a grin.
“You sure can, unless we’re too busy running the ship. These toilet rooms are for the passengers, but there’s another on the lower deck.”
Questions slowly came out as the students relaxed. Ilika promised they
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would not be crushed when the ship changed shape. When they started asking how everything worked, he pointed out that they could use fire and water long before they knew chemistry. He promised they would slowly learn all the workings of the ship, but even he could not explain them all from memory.
As evening approached, a hard rain began to fall, and they looked out through the open hatch to see it pounding the surface of the little lake.
“The ship will protect us from the weather . . . and other things, right Ilika?” Mati asked.
“Yes. This ship is our home, our sanctuary.”
“Even from soldiers?” Boro questioned with narrow eyes.
Ilika laughed. “If one was chasing you, you could step inside, touch this symbol . . .”
The hatch didn’t close, it vanished. All the students jumped in surprise.
Ilika touched another symbol and the opening reappeared.
“I think you’ve earned a nice meal. Stay in your seats, everyone!” he commanded, turned to the steward’s console to touch a control, and the seats started moving again.
Four of the new crew members gripped the sides of their chairs with white knuckles. Mati, very used to a moving vehicle under her, just grinned, but looked up with frightened eyes when the ceiling started coming down.
Soon she relaxed, seeing that only part of the ceiling was descending, a large flat oval. It stopped at table height. By that time, the twelve seats were arranged evenly around it.
“Kibi, would you help me in the galley?” Ilika asked, going that way.
The little kitchen could only hold one person, two at the most. Ilika entered and pulled a stack of trays from a cabinet. Kibi spread them out on the counter.
He handed her six little cartons and showed her how to open one. The other courses came in large packets that became hot, or cold, all by themselves when Ilika pulled a tab. He handed each to Kibi with a serving spoon and she did the rest. Soon they worked together to carry the trays to the table.
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“Your beverage is pinkfruit juice from Natavia Two,” Ilika explained.
They carefully sipped it, rolled it around in their mouths, and smiled.
“Your main course is a rice and bean dish from Ubalora Three. The vegetables are from Alpha Shumentia Two, and your dessert is duma cakes from Rontilia Four’s moon. I picked things that are similar to foods you know. I hope you like them.”
Four ex-slaves and one medieval innkeeper’s daughter had little chance of being picky eaters, and they trusted Ilika to only feed them good food, just as he had trusted them to select wild edibles on their journey.
“You know, Ilika . . .” Kibi began as she ate, “I don’t know all the names of the other lands . . . but did you say something about our dessert coming from the moon?”
Ilika smiled around his bite of vegetables. After swallowing, he took a deep breath before answering. “Your duma cakes don’t come from the moon.
They come from the moon of a planet in another solar system. All the other foods you are eating come from other planets too. Nothing on your tray is from this world. And . . . my country is not on this world either.”
Not even the sound of chewing penetrated the silence as five pairs of eyes looked at him.
Since they were all still seated and not yet screaming, Ilika gathered his courage and took the thought a step further. “This ship is quite capable of moving on the water, under the water, or in the air. But its main purpose is to journey among the stars. By passing my tests, you have earned the opportunity to jump ahead of the people of your little planet by . . . several thousand years. It will take strong hearts and sharp minds to succeed at this.
I think you have the necessary strength and intelligence . . . or I would not have chosen you . . . but only you can decide if you are willing to go where I go, and to work in the Transport Service as I do.”
“Count
me in!” Rini announced instantly, clearly happy with everything he was hearing. “I’ve been looking up at the stars all my life. To go and see them
. . . would be the most wonderful thing that could happen to me!”
Sata grinned from ear to ear. “My parents are going to be so proud of me!”
“Sorry, Sata. Because you have a family, you have a burden the others do not. You cannot tell your parents or your brother, just as I could not tell the
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other students.”
“Oh . . .”
“You can tell them you successfully completed your studies, and were selected for the ship, but you must let them think the Manessa Kwi is a wooden sailing ship, just like they already imagine. They are people of this world. Telling them anything more could be confusing and frightening. Also, it would be showing off, and my crew needs to be grown up enough to resist that temptation.”
Sata cringed for a moment, then recovered. “That’s okay. It’ll probably be a long time before I see them again.”
“Actually, you’ll probably see them . . . um . . . day after tomorrow.”
“Really?”
“I’m sorry to have bad news, but we don’t have enough food from other planets for the training period. We’ll have to buy food in the marketplace and cook.”
“I think we can handle that, Ilika,” Kibi said with a smirk.
“I figured you could,” he said, smiling back at her. “Tomorrow I’ll introduce your jobs, and then I’ll spend one day teaching each of you the basics. While I’m doing that, the rest of you, except Mati, will walk into the capital city to buy food, visit Sata’s family, Pica, Doti and Tibo . . . anyone else you want.”
“And if we run into Toli, Neti, Buna, or Misa?” Boro asked.
“You can’t tell them anything they don’t already know.”
Boro
nodded.
After Ilika and Kibi cleaned the dinner dishes, again using the blue liquid, he called everyone over to the lift. They stared at the hole in the floor with bleak expressions, the bottom clearly visible about eight feet straight down, and not a ladder or rope in sight.
“I’ll go first.” Ilika stepped into the hole, then floated slowly downward.
“Your cabins are down here!” his voice came up to them.
Kibi took a deep breath and put one foot over the hole. Suddenly she was reminded of stepping barefoot onto a sheepskin rug, long ago in her childhood. She held her breath, stepped out with her other foot, and was just
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about to scream when she realized she wasn’t falling, but only floating downward.
Soon Ilika came into view, smiling at her. “You can breathe now.”
Sata arrived next, as if she’d been doing it all her life.
Then came Mati and Rini together, his arms around her, her eyes tightly closed.
“Is there any other way to get down there?” Boro called from above.
“There’s an airlock to the outside!” Ilika called up.
“Can I use it?”
“No!”
Sata stepped into the lift and started to rise. “I’ll get him.”
Ilika
chuckled.
Boro arrived a minute later with his hands over his eyes.
“You can come out of the lift now, Boro,” Kibi coaxed.
“Are you sure?” he questioned, eyes still covered.
She reached out and touched him, and he peeked out between his fingers.
Rini and Mati smiled.
Sata was back down a moment after Boro stepped out of the lift. They all looked around at the pleasant circular room with cabinets on the walls, two tables with short stools, plenty of pillows and cushions, and several doors.
The ceiling glowed with a gentle light.
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“With rare exceptions, passengers don’t come down here. Toilet and bath room over there. This is the utility room with supplies and spare parts, and the laundry machine.”
“Did you say laundry machine?” Sata asked, a gleam in her eyes. “I had to do all the laundry at the inn because I’m a girl,” she explained, rolling her eyes.
Ilika smiled. “It’s late, so we’ll just get our cabins today.”
Mati yawned. “Yeah.”
They followed him past the toilet room to the first of three cabin doors.
Ilika touched a symbol and the door slid open to reveal a pair of beds, little closets, and two desks. Ilika stepped in and pointed out all the features of the vacant room. “Light above each desk, and a knowledge processor. Reading light over each bed, and storage underneath . . .”
“Ilika,” Mati began, “me and Sata want to share a room and just, you know, invite the boys over sometimes. Is that okay?”
“That’s what I figured from your sheets yesterday.”
Boro nodded. “Me and Rini get along.”
“Okay,” Ilika continued. “This cabin is for Mati and Sata!”
The boys and Kibi clapped as the two girls entered and sat down on their
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beds.
“I’ll bring our bags down in a minute . . .” Sata said as the rest moved on.
Ilika showed Boro and Rini their cabin, then he and Kibi were left alone in the circular room.
Ilika cleared his throat outside the last cabin door. “This is a very special moment for me. When I left my ship, I didn’t know I’d bring back . . . a girl I love.”
Kibi smiled shyly. “I never imagined I’d love . . . a boy from another world!”
Ilika bit his lip for a moment, then touched the door control to hide his embarrassment.
Kibi floated in, as if in a dream. To Ilika’s surprise, she showed no interest in her bed, closet, or desk, but instead began to touch and smell the clothes in his closet, and look at the objects on his desk. She picked up a shimmering crystal in a little display case.
“A souvenir from my first deep-space mission,” he explained.
“Do you have a souvenir from this mission?” she asked with a shy smile.
“Yes,” he said, slipping his arms around her.
She giggled, twirled away, and picked up a plush animal doll on his bed, but frowned with confusion.
“Something I kept from my childhood, a moba-temu from Susavita Five.”
Kibi smiled and shrugged. “I’ve never had anything like this.”
“When you go into the capital city for supplies, you could look for something special.”
She set the plush creature back on Ilika’s bed, returned to his arms, and began kissing him deeply. After a time they parted and she looked into his eyes. “That rule you made . . . is over now, right?”
“Yes . . .”
“So . . . if you love me like I love you . . . then I need to go outside and look for a certain herb . . . or we’re going to start something tonight that we might not be ready to start . . .”
Ilika smiled as he continued to gaze into her eyes. “I do love you that much. Wait here.”
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He left the cabin and returned a moment later with a small bottle, sat down on his bed and offered his hand.
She joined him on the bed and snuggled close.
“I’d be very happy and honored to . . . um . . . have a child with you someday . . .” he began in a quiet voice, “but right now, it would make your training difficult.”
Kibi nodded and licked his neck.
Ilika shuddered with pleasure. “The only problem with these pills is that
. . . if the boy takes one, he has to wait an hour, but if the girl takes one, she’s protected right away.”
“In that case,” Kibi whispered, looking into his eyes again, “I’ll have to take the pill.”
Deep Learning Notes
A plan shows the ship’s upper deck.
During the first few minutes of seeing the ship, what factors allowed the students to get over their fear?
By washing the ship, what relationship were they entering into with it?
How does it affect our view of the world that we have no respectful pronoun for something that is not male or female?
Most of our designs for ships and cars include shapes that mimic parts of animal bodies, especially eyes, mouths, and muscles. Manessa’s natural shape is a perfect sphere. What does this tell us about her origin or design?
Since the ship can change shape on the outside without crushing the crew, what does this tell us about its level of technology?
Ilika implied that “several thousand years” lay between a medieval culture and
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space travel. Our medieval period was only a thousand years ago. In your opinion, will we have space travel soon, or do we have some problems we must solve first?
How might Sata’s parents react if they knew Sata was leaving their world and going to the stars?
Do you think it would be ethical for an advanced civilization to invite young people to leave their world, as happened in this story? Would it be ethical for the advanced civilization to force young people to leave their world?
What ethics does our civilization apply when taking the young of other Earth species (for food, pets, zoo animals, etc.)?
Why doesn’t Ilika let Boro use the airlock from the outside to get to the lower deck?
After the discussion between Ilika and Kibi in their cabin, what do we know about romantic relationships between Transport Service crew members in Nebador?
A plan shows the ship’s lower deck.
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Chapter 23: What Would I Do?
Ilika’s new crew members slowly crept out of their cabins the following morning, stretched, used toilets and bathtubs, practiced using the lift, and began to peek in all the cabinets they could find. They discovered some things they recognized, like toy balls and bath towels, and many others completely foreign to them.
They thought about building a fire, fetching water from the lake, and rolling up bedrolls, then laughed at themselves.
Last of all, Ilika and Kibi emerged, new-lovers’ smiles glued to their faces.
They managed to find a free bathtub, and once again shared the space.
Soon, with pinkfruit juice and a hot cereal mix from Katamela Two on their trays, Ilika took up his new role. “During meals, a captain usually deals with problems and briefs the crew about upcoming tasks. So . . . I guess . . . I should do that. Any problems with the cabins?”
“Are you going to show us how to use the . . . knowledge . . . processors?”
Sata asked.
“Yes, when you start learning the language.”
Rini began chuckling. “I tried to blow out the light last night. Boro remembered how it worked.”
Ilika
smiled.
“Can we . . . buy things to keep?” Mati asked.
“Yes. Since you can’t go into the capital city on these shopping trips, you could ask someone to get you something. Just remember, half a cabin is your
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entire private living space, and we’ll be visiting many places where you can get souvenirs.”
Mati looked thoughtful during a moment of silence.
Boro raised his hand. “I’m okay with the lift now.”
“Me too,” Mati added.
“Good. Any other problems?”
Everyone was silent.
“Okay,” Ilika began. “Today I’ll introduce your first jobs. You’ll eventually learn others, even the captain’s position if you want.” He looked around. Five faces, nearly bursting with excitement, looked back.
“I’ve picked the positions that will be easiest, as you’ll also be learning many other things at the same time. Every one of your jobs will sometimes be easy, and sometimes hard . . . sometimes exciting, and sometimes boring. You might feel jealous of someone else’s position. I expect you to be grown-up about it, and put it on your wish-list for the future. Childish jealousy is one reason Toli is not on this crew.”
Everyone nodded as Ilika and Kibi grabbed all the trays and quickly did the breakfast dishes.
Ilika sat down at the only control console on that part of the upper deck.
“The steward has a complex job. He or she is responsible, in many ways, for
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the entire ship, AND the landing site. Safety, air to breathe, water, food, waste, supplies, laundry . . . the list is long.
“None of it is very hard as long as it’s just us, but the steward also takes care of any passengers. He or she has to understand people, and have good language skills.
“Most of the steward’s duties aren’t highly critical in an emergency. Much of it is done before a voyage, and the passengers can take care of themselves if they need to. So the steward is also second-in-command. If anything happens to the commander, from going to the toilet, to dying, and he or she hasn’t appointed a new commander, the steward is automatically in command.”
Ilika stood up. “I would like Kibi to be the first steward of our little ship!”
Everyone clapped as Kibi, biting her lip and smiling at the same time, rose from her seat. Ilika pointed to the steward’s chair, and with some hesitation, she seated herself.
Kibi looked up at Ilika. “You’re going to teach me all this stuff, right?”
“Yes. Starting tomorrow.”
She smiled back at the young man she loved.
When Ilika spoke a strange word, the bridge lit up from unseen sources of gentle, warm light. He descended two steps to a station not far from the entryway, on the right side of the bridge. Kibi stayed in her seat and the rest moved closer and perched on the steps or sat on the floor.
“This is the engineer’s station. This ship has nine different types of engines that use seven kinds of fuel. Some of those engines, the ones you’ll learn first, are for travel in air and water. Others are only used in space. One is for jumping between the stars.
“The engineer spends part of his or her time here, but just like the steward, has responsibilities on other parts of the ship. The engineering ring completely surrounds the lower deck, where most of the engines are located, and the engineer keeps them all working perfectly. He or she also stocks all the fuel and spare parts.
“But the engineer never makes use of the engines directly. He or she is providing a service so that others can make the ship go where it needs to go.
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The engineer must be a person who can handle power without ever being tempted to misuse it. He or she must indeed be a gentle giant, and I can’t think of a better person for the job than Boro!”
Everyone clapped as Boro turned red and grinned. Ilika pointed to the chair and the fifteen-year-old came and filled it.
“Um . . . if you think I can do it . . .” Boro said in an unsure voice.
“I
do.”
Boro took a slow, deep breath. “Then I’ll do my best!”
Ilika went to a station on the other side of the bridge. Boro and Kibi stayed in their seats and everyone else gathered around.
“The only term for this person in your language is ‘the watch,’ but it’s very inadequate. This person is responsible for knowing everything that’s going on outside the ship. He or she uses instruments, knowledge the ship already has, and many different tools to make information available to those who are planning the mission and piloting the ship. This station is the eyes and ears of the ship, and without it, we are completely blind, except for maybe poking a head out the hatch to see what we’re about to hit.”
His entire crew smiled.
“Important things outside the ship include the land itself, weather, objects in space from grains of sand to stars, and many different forms of energy.
This position requires a person with perception, imagination, and clear thinking. I feel confident asking Rini to learn this job!”
Cheering filled the ship as Rini took his seat with a humble smile on his face. He immediately started asking questions, but Ilika just folded his arms.
Rini smiled sheepishly.
Sata and Mati looked at each other. They were the only ones left without jobs. Ilika moved to one of the two stations at the very front of the bridge, the one on the left side.
“This is the navigator’s station. He or she is responsible for figuring out how to get from one place to another within the limits of the mission, such as time, fuel supplies that Boro manages, dangers that Rini tells us about, and possibly the needs of Kibi’s passengers. To plan routes through space, the
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navigator has to be very comfortable with mathematics and geometry.
“In addition to navigation, this person also communicates with other ships, star stations, and space ports, so good language skills are necessary. I would like to have Sata learn this job!”
Everyone clapped as Sata proudly took the seat. “There would be no way to tell my parents without sounding like I was making it all up!”
Everyone
laughed.
When Ilika moved to the other front bridge station, he noticed silent tears running down Mati’s face where she sat on the steps near Rini.
“Mati . . . what’s wrong?”
Rini joined his friend on the steps and put his arm around her.
“I . . . just can’t think of anything . . . left for me to do . . .” she mumbled in a sad voice.
Ilika knelt down. “Let’s think about this together, shall we?”
“Okay . . .”
“Kibi up there is taking care of the ship and the passengers. Boro has the engines purring and ready to go. Rini is telling us what’s outside. I have explained the mission and Sata has figured out the best way to get there. And you know what?”
“What?”
“We haven’t moved an inch. We still need someone who actually puts her hands on the flight controls and tells Manessa where to go.”
Rini
grinned.
Sata raised her hand.
“I know!” Boro blurted out.
Ilika put up a hand for silence, then looked at Mati. “I knew, when I saw you riding that donkey, that you were going to be the one who actually touched Manessa, just like you did with Tera. Will you be our pilot, Mati, and guide our little ship among the stars?”
Two different emotions fought on Mati’s face. Doubt was soon conquered by joy. Ilika rose and extended his hand to the handicapped ex-slave. She took his hand, and a moment later he lowered her into the pilot’s seat.
“How soon ‘til we fly?” she asked, turning to Ilika with a bright smile and
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wet eyes.
He spoke to all of them. “I will do your introductory training in the same order I used today. On the sixth day, we’ll fly Manessa away from here and briefly visit a number of places in your country. Then we’ll move down to the desert to do more serious training.”
All five faces around him, seated at their stations, looked at him with gleaming eyes, ready to learn whatever it would take to become the real working crew of a deep-space response ship.
Ilika sat down in the remaining seat on the bridge, the one in the center.
“This is the commander’s chair. Notice that it doesn’t have any complex control panels or display screens, just this little one on the arm that doesn’t do much. The commander is the one person who has to keep a broad perspective on the ship and the mission, and not get lost in the technical details. He or she is the coordinator, the helper, and the servant of any crew member who is having trouble.
“And I want you to notice some important connections between the work stations. The steward is my second-in-command, and from her station, she can keep an eye on the bridge and be ready to take command in an emergency.”
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Kibi winked at him.
“There’s a natural information flow from the watch, to the navigator, to the pilot, and they’re all in a line. The navigator and pilot are at the very front because they deal with the most immediate needs of the ship. The rest of us support them.”
Sata and Mati smiled at each other.
“Some of the most critical communications happen between the pilot and the engineer, and they’re right next to each other.”
Mati and Boro looked at each other with deep respect.
“It’s also a nice coincidence that Sata and Boro know each other well, because the navigator has to work closely with the engineer during mission planning. It does no good if the navigator plans a route for which we don’t have enough fuel.”
Boro flashed Sata a cheesy grin.
“Look around you. Get a feel for how the bridge is laid out, where everyone is in relation to everyone else. These are your primary work stations for the next year or more. You know these people. You know they will all do their jobs as well as they can, and if there is any weakness due to inexperience, I’ll be there to fill the gap.”
He waited a minute while everyone took in the layout of the bridge, physical and personal. “Shall we have some lunch?”
“Yeah!” everyone said at once.
Deep Learning Notes
The six crew positions on Ilika’s ship are based on maritime and aviation tradition. On a small ship, it is common for one person to have multiple tasks, as does Kibi. Both the steward and the navigator needed language skills, but Kibi’s maturity and Sata’s math skills were deciding factors. Rini was chosen for the watch because his math and logic skills were more conceptual and intuitive than Sata’s. Mati and Boro both got jobs that required kinesthetic skills, “body intelligence,” but Boro’s leaning toward mechanics (broadly defined, as we saw in his chemistry knowledge) made him
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better suited for engineering.
Mati’s moment of low self-esteem shows how hard it is to think when feeling deeply. Others could see they still needed a pilot, but in her emotional state, that fact eluded her.
Which job would you want to learn first? Which would be your least favorite?
This plan of the upper deck shows the assigned work stations of the crew.
