Chapter 17

Month 118—October on Anouilh

“HOW CERTAIN ARE WE that no one knows?” Space Cadet asked. The two of us were sitting in the control room on the top floor of the resort. No one actually even knew this floor existed. The circular shaped resort was perfect for the advanced simulator. As far as anyone had been told, the pilots would be flying out of St. Jeanne d’Arc. The Captain and her bridge crew would also be in a simulator, thinking they were actually aboard the ship. The simulators would do everything the ships could do except move.

It was risky. It all depended on how good their approximation of the ship was. Ubie had built the modules to exactly match the ship being built in the asteroid belt. I shook my head and walked into the briefing room. If one or more of these beauties hadn’t figured out we were going into a more advanced simulation, I’d guarantee they would soon. But the thing was, they were trained to consider everything a game. They’d willingly suspend their disbelief as soon as they strapped into their modules. The twenty-one pilots and the bridge crew stood until Space Cadet and I were seated and Captain motioned them to sit down.

“This is going to be our first time on the ship and flying from the ship. Even though it isn’t finished,” Captain said. “That gives me the willies. Ubie, you’re sure it’s safe?”

“Captain, the areas you will be allowed to go are completely safe and operational. Unfortunately, you will be unable to explore the whole ship as parts are still open to space.” Tatts was sitting in a separate room reassuring Ubie that it was a training game and within the game he wasn’t lying.

“Then, Boss, I’ll turn the briefing over to you.” Captain sat down.

“I can’t begin to tell you all, each and every one of you, how proud I am of you. You came here to play a sci fi game and discovered you were being trained to do battle with the dickheads. And that you were training hundreds of others. Most of those others will be fighting here on the ground. The select few that have joined you will one day have remote craft they will operate from the ground, just as you operate them in space. I can’t even begin to tell you how fuckin’ awesome that is.” I turned to Space Cadet.

“We’re going to have a two-hour training session today,” he said. “Bridge crew will be tasked with familiarizing themselves with their duty stations and clearing the Hawks for release. Understand that your number one responsibility is to act as Joan’s eyes on the bridge. You will have control for engines and altitude maintenance, except the engines are not online yet. We’ve pulled the replicators back away from the ship for this exercise. This is why we can’t work on the ship every day. We need to get you up there, get you some time weightless, learn what differences there are between the production Hawks and the simulators you’ve been using. Pilots will take a test flight and figure out your controls.” I returned to the presentation.

“Space and I are going to be in the control tower on the flight deck. We’ll be monitoring all systems and making sure everyone gets out and back. Remember, your birds aren’t armed. You can’t shoot at anything. This is a navigation only test. You won’t have the FTL engines online yet. Everything is impulse power. Find out how well your baby handles. We’ll send the bridge crew first. That way they’ll be able to monitor the action and go through the steps for launch. Space will head to the tower, and I’ll stay here until each of you has transported and arrived on the flight deck.

“Remember to move off the pad so the next person can come through. Your birds are ordered in your triads. Remember, you have a team. Don’t run away from them. Right now, we’re seven triads. With luck, by the time the next class graduates, we’ll have three times that number ready to fly.

“Don your helmets. They are your link to the ship AI and the ship AI is your link to life. Go directly to your bird. The hatch will open and you’ll mount up. I’ll transport to the control tower and we’ll run all the system checks for the flight deck and the bridge. Remember, St. Jeanne doesn’t open the pod bay doors until we’re sure everyone is operational.

“Approximately thirty minutes into the exercise, your canopy will close and you will be in your airtight cocoon. We’ll run another series of checks, including your link to the bridge. When we are certain everything is a go, we’ll depressurize the flight deck. The bay doors will open and you’ll be given your startup sequence.

“We will launch you one triad at a time. You will proceed to your designated coordinates and turn to face St. Jeanne. You’re going to see how little of her is finished. But I’m assured the central core is complete and now we’re just building out the decks. Then you will, as instructed, return to deck and park. Once all crews are in the hangar, we’ll seal up the doors and repressurize the deck. When we’ve verified that we have atmosphere, your canopies will open. Then we’ll all transport back here for debriefing and let the replicators get back to work.”

Everyone looked worried. They were about to go into space for the first time. One hand was raised. I nodded to Captain.

“Pixie? You have a question?” Dakota asked.

“Yes ma’am. Can we use the bathroom before we go? I suddenly really need to pee!”

Dakota heaved a sigh of relief.

“Okay, ladies. The Hawks have a urine filtration system that will suck anything you release into its recycler. But there’s no sense testing that first thing. Hit the head. Then get back here in triad ranks. Let’s move!” The girls ran out of the conference room and down the hall to the restroom.

“Sort of makes sense,” I said. “If I let go up there, I have to wait for nanites to clean my suit. I’m going, too.”

The girls filed off the transport pad into the sudden feeling of two-thirds g. It was nothing like the weightlessness of the moon’s sixteen percent g, but it would put a significant spring in their step. Four other engineers had been detailed to the transport pad to steady the girls as they landed. Two more were on the bridge for the same purpose. The guys had been carefully trained to maintain the fiction of actually being in space.

Each pilot went to her bird and the four engineers walked down the line making sure they were secure and that the canopy was sealed when it lowered. Space and I checked in with each pilot to make sure she was comfortable and secure. We calmly talked to those who were stressing and Ubie shot extra oxygen into the capsules to help calm them.

“All pilots secure,” I announced when the last canopy had closed.

“Clear the flight deck,” Dakota instructed from the bridge.

“Flight deck secure,” I said when the engineers had moved into their secure room.

“Depressurizing flight deck.”

“Flight deck depressurized.”

“Initiate power in all Hawks.”

“Power initiated. Hawks are alive.”

“Open the bay doors.”

“Bay doors opening.”

KC was nervous. She’d been measured, molded, and prodded to get a seat in her cockpit that was the right size so she could easily reach all the controls and not run into her knees. At six-two, she was the tallest pilot by several inches. But as she settled into her cockpit, the seat molded around her as comfortably as her helmet. The Hawk was truly a second skin.