IMAGINATION'S PLACE
FICTION
JOURNEY TO THE LIGHT
By; Speaker Gerald Polley
All rights reserved.
Chapter 35
She gave the command and the hatch opened. "Welcome
aboard, commander!" the ship greeted. "All systems ready! I
have been informed we will be out three days. This will be an
adventure for both of us! The first in flight test of my
systems. I hope I perform satisfactorily."
"I'm sure you will!" Carol praised. "Three days?" she asked, looking back to the instructor.
"Three days!" he answered. "I informed
everyone associated with you that you would be absent for a short
time. This would be a standard run for a new pilot, out one day,
take a day to circle the planet, taking readings, making sure
everything is as it should be, and returning. Standard
patrol. We'll be out far enough that we'll give an considerable
increase to the local sensors."
"Wooo!" Carol sighed. "Maybe I shouldn't have left my clothes in that locker!"
Her instructor grinned. "There's an outfit in
your flight box," he explained. "Your young assistant acquired
them for me. Knuckle? What a strange name!"
"You haven't met her sister!" Carol teased.
"This might be an inappropriate question ma'am, but
is the lady spoken for? Would it be appropriate to encourage
companionship?"
"No and yes!" Carol answered settling into the
pilot's seat and beginning the pre flight check. "All lights
green," she announced, "all readings in norm. Ooh! I take
that back! Thrusters are showing a little bit above the norm."
"Not unusual," the instructor explained. "They
do that when they've been shut down for a while. As soon as
they're used they'll drop back to norm. Just be careful you don't
get unexpected thrust. They'll usually compensate. But once in a while
you might find yourself spinning, or flipping."
"Understood!" Carol snapped. "Shall I release clamp and apply thrust?"
"No," the instructor answered. "Let's do
things a little bit gentler the first time. Release your
grappling lines. That will cause you to rise considerably above
the deck. When they are at their full extension release your grapplings
and wind them in. That'll give you another little nudge. Then, apply
forward thrust and move away from the ship. We're on the bottom
so there won't be anything in the way. But watch your tactical
and make sure no one takes off unexpectedly. You don't want to
hit a joy rider going out for a low orbit spin. We're
supposed to have space to ourself, but don't count on anything. Always
expect the unexpected. You'll live longer!"
Carol performed the maneuver. Her instructor
said absolutely nothing until they were well clear of the ship and then
he instructed they take up a course that would put them in the standard
approach lanes.
"Lost some pieces of the ship when we came out," he
explained. "If we should happen to spot them and could recover them,
save some people a lot of work! Somebody's gonna get a lot
of extra duty because he forgot to lock some bolts down!"
"As he should!" Carol snapped. "Wooo!
Once you get away from the planet's magnetic field the sensors clear
right up! It's beautiful out here!"
"Perhaps," the ship remarked, "you'd want to open
the forward windows and extend the extra optical device that's been put
in one of my missile racks."
"Is that appropriate?" she asked the instructor.
"I don't see why not!" he answered.
Carol quickly worked the controls. "Just a curious question," she asked, "do I still have missiles?"
"Oh, yes!" the ship answered before the instructor
could, "I would never be allowed to be without missiles! The
other rack has a full compliment."
"Very good!" Carol replied. "Damn! It's so much like you're talking to a person!"
"Absolutely!" her instructor answered.
"My ship and I have such a rapport that it's almost like a
relationship. It's very excited that I have a romantic interest.
I've told it it's not a romantic interest, it's just somebody seems
like a person that would be a good companion in off duty hours.
Carol and her ship both muttered "Uh huh!" at the
same time. Then her and the instructor burst out laughing!
They practiced some maneuvers. The day went by with such comfort
and enjoyment that Carol was surprised when the instructor suggested
she take the first sleep cycle. "Then you'll be awake to put us
in orbit!" he recommended. "I'd like to have you fresh. I
can make sure the engines and everything are running satisfactory and
if there's anything of a piloting nature I'll call you. You can
see where to station the suit."
"Instructions understood!" Carol snapped. She
went back, did not hesitate getting out of the suit, grabbed a quick
shower, put on some pajamas, rolled out her bedroll and slipped between
the sheets. As excited as she was she went right off to
sleep and slept a full cycle, waking up before the instructor even
needed to summon her. She was back in the suit and checking
everything over as they came to make their turn.
"I'll take manual control," Carol instructed, "I
know you're perfectly capable but I'd like to get the feel of making
the maneuver."
"Absolutely!" the ship acknowledged.
Carol did not wait for instructions, she knew what
she was supposed to do and she did it. When they were in a nice,
comfortable little orbit she snapped "Bed time! Ooh! What
gorgeous pictures! Some nice imaging from out here! The
astronomer in me is going to want to be out here a lot!"
"No reason why you can't be!" the instructor
answered. "When you're doing your patrols there's no reason why
you can't have a telescope with you. The reflection from the
planet must be making viewing difficult."
"Extremely!" Carol agreed. "Our telescope's
pointing mostly at the ground, anyway. How do you like the spot
we've picked for the fortress?"
"Perfect!" her instructor answered. "We won't
have to do much building. That natural rock pillar, we'll just tunnel
it out, create our living quarters, and the rock can be used for other
construction. The natives say the ground is too shallow and dry
for them, so it's a perfect location for us!"
"There's only one thing," Carol complained, "I
don't like the telescope being in the missile bay. This ship
should have its full compliment of missiles. I want to see about
adding it to the top of the ship. Maybe in some kind of module
that could be ejected if need be."
It was the ship that answered. "There are
ports on the top of the ship for the precise purpose of attaching
external equipment, usually a launcher array and a couple of long range
missiles." It put some diagrams on the screen. "Are
you suggesting something like this?"
"Precisely!" Carol snapped, "That would be excellent!"
"I'll send the designs back to the carrier the ship
acknowledged. They'll probably have it together and be putting
the telescope in an hour or so after we've landed!"
Carol didn't doubt it. After a little while
she looked to make sure the instructor was sleeping. Then she
began to turn the ship so she could get some better images of things
she wanted to look at, but she kept a careful watch on the
instruments. A little while before her instructor was to get up,
Carol whispered to the ship. "Is it my imagination or is there
something out there at maximum range of our sensors that keeps coming
in every once and a while a little bit closer as if they're trying to
get better readings of us?"
"You are observant, commander!" the ship answered.
"I was wondering if I should bring it to your attention. Do you wish to
put on full thrust and see if we can get close enough to get better
readings?"
"No," Carol answered, "it doesn't seem to be
hostile. I think it's just curious. If it was an enemy I
think it would've done something by now. I'm picking up no ion
traces. If it's one of our ships there should be quite a glow
behind it."
She heard rustling behind her. "Keep this to ourselves," she remarked.
"Yes, commander!" the ship answered.
When the instructor took his seat Carol remarked "I
think I'll bed down now, so I'll be awake for the turn back to the
planet."
"Yes," her instructor answered, "good idea! Ooh, wow! That gaseous anomaly is beautiful!"
"It sure is!" Carol agreed. "If we get even further
out we might get even clearer images. What's our next stop, the
asteroid belt?"
"That's the general idea!" her instructor
answered. "But they're considering leaving them for later ships
and sending us further out."
"Woo!" Carol sighed. She again
showered and got in bed, this time, she couldn't resist reexamining
some of her images. She was going to have a hard time staying
away from her family, but coming out here was fantastic! She
wondered if an extra bunk could be put in here and she might bring one
of the children. It would be an incredible experience for them.
She didn't realize she was talking to herself until the ship remarked
"I do not think it would be that much of a problem. They're
standard space suits would be acceptable. I'll see what the
engineers can do."
"Oh, no no!" Carol muttered, "That's all right!"
"They would be heartbroken," the ship continued, "if you didn't give them such an opportunity."
"Oh, very well!" Carol managed.
There was laughter from up front. Carol figured it
was time to turn out her light and get to sleep. But this had
been an exciting day!