Ship's Log

by Lawrence P White

  “I think so. You’re telling me it works just like a regular airplane.”

  “I doubt that. You have no rudder pedals for example. The computer takes care of that. There are other differences too, which you’ll discover when you fly. Despite the size of this ship, it is extremely agile. The stick is not moving control surfaces on a wing or tail. The stick sends signals to a computer, or automatic pilot if you prefer to think of it that way. The computer pays attention to how much pressure you put on the stick, and it pays attention to how quickly you apply that pressure. If you want to move the ship smoothly, be gentle. If, on the other hand, you want to rapidly change your direction, use combinations of fast and strong pressure on the stick. The stick itself does not move, it simply senses pressure. Once you’ve felt it in operation, you will appreciate what I’m saying.”

  “Will this thing turn so fast that we’ll get squashed?” he asked with some reservations. “I saw you making pretty rapid directional changes during your fight with the Harbok.”

  “As I mentioned earlier, one of the side effects of our drive is to eliminate the normal sensations you feel in an airplane or a car. You will always weigh the same in this ship, Greg. There will be no sensations of motion other than what you see with your eyes. The ship knows when it is in atmosphere and automatically limits certain motions as well as speed. Obviously, full speed in space is faster than the fastest speed you can select within atmosphere. The ship will not fly sideways at Mach 10 in atmosphere, for example, but it will fly in a forward direction at that speed quite easily in atmosphere. However, the controls would be very sensitive, probably too sensitive to use manually. You would instruct the computer through the key pads.”

  Greg looked dubiously at the stick around which he had curled his left hand, trying to accept the concept of motion without the g-forces he was so accustomed to. “So, when I fly the ship manually it will go where it’s pointed, just as if I had a jet engine behind me pushing me along?”

  “Correct, however, use of the speed lever is a change for you. We do not have a jet engine behind us. We do not apply thrust, then wait for it to gradually speed us up. Speed changes in this ship are, for all practical purposes, instantaneous. Right now, the speed lever is at the zero-speed position. Moving the speed lever forward does not call for more power, it calls for a new speed. It simply says to the computer, ‘go this fast’ and the ship is moving that fast immediately. If you slide the bar farther forward, the ship is at that new faster speed immediately. If you move the lever back to zero, the ship stops immediately. There is no appreciable time used to accelerate at the relatively low speeds we use within atmosphere.

  “Before starting your flying lesson, we first have to simulate rising above these trees. There are several ways an experienced pilot could do so, but we’ll keep it simple. I want you to leave your hands off the primary flying controls and direct the computer to lift us or descend us with these two buttons here,” she said, pointing to the keyboard. “Are you ready?”

  “Let’s boogie,” he answered.

  “I think you will soon wish you were boogying,” she commented severely. “The buttons are programmed to lift us or descend us smoothly until released. You may begin.”

  He touched the ‘up’ button that she pointed to, then released it, but nothing happened. He looked at her, questioning.

  “You did not listen carefully,” she corrected. “We are now stationary at two centimeters above the ground. The ship stops when you release the button. Try again, please.”

  This time he held the button down and the ship lifted smoothly until they were well above the trees. Then he released the switch. Though he knew they were just simulating the view outside, that they were still beneath the surface of the lake, he sat stiffly in the chair with his hands hovering tensely near the controls. The ship just hung there without movement. The trip he had planned on the screen remained in view, and he could still see the surrounding countryside through it.

  “Greg, come here,” Arlynn commanded.

  “Uh . . . you want me to leave the controls?”

  “Yes. Come here.”

  He pried himself out of the seat and stood up stiffly, then he shuffled sideways to her, keeping his eyes outside and ready to rush back to the controls.

  “Greg, look at me,” she directed, turning him around. “The ship is okay. You do not have to monitor it every instant. Until you tell the computer otherwise, it will keep us in this position. Come, walk with me.”

  He stayed rooted in place until she took his arm and forced him away from the screen. She showed him briefly around the interior of the ship, pointing out the food cabinets and crew compartments, and they even prepared the injection she would take for the cold sleep.

  He noticed her hands shaking and reached for them. They were hot and dry. “Arlynn, you’re burning up!” he exclaimed.

  “I am. My body is calling on deep reserves to keep going. We’ll finish your training as soon as we can and get underway, then I will be done. Now, are you relaxed enough to fly this ship? And do you recognize the fact that it’s a pretty smart ship and takes good care of us?”

  “Intellectually I do, but accepting it is another matter. I might be better off treating the ship like a giant video game and taking things as they come. Unfortunately, we don’t get any extra lives if I kill us.”

  “The ship will not let you kill us, Greg. Unless the Harbok discover us, you will not fly the ship at all. In case they do, I want you to know the basics. Once we’re underway, you can practice as much as you like without interfering with our flight. The ship can be used as a flight simulator whenever we instruct it to. It’s smart enough to return to real-time displays if it encounters anything out of the ordinary, or if we’ve reached our destination.”

  They returned to the bridge. He looked down through the floor and found the clearing they had left minutes earlier still below. He settled back into his seat saying, “Okay, I get the message. Let’s get back to work, and let’s make this training flight short. You’re dying right in front of my eyes.”

  “First try the speed control,” she instructed, standing beside his chair.

  He pushed the speed bar forward slightly. The ship smoothly moved through the air at a steady altitude with no discernible feeling of motion. No humming, no sound of air rushing by outside, he sensed the power at his fingertips only with the information his eyes provided. He experimented with speed control until he felt comfortable with it. Symbols scrolled continuously around the periphery of the screen, but they were meaningless to him. He could only estimate his speed as fast, moderate, or slow. When he was ready, he placed his left hand on the stick and looked to Arlynn. She nodded, and he carefully pulled back, starting a gentle climb. He added turns, then combinations of climbs, descents, and turns. Twenty minutes later he felt satisfied with his progress and headed back in the general direction of their starting point.

  “This is a snap,” he said cheerfully.

  “Yes, you are doing well, very well. Flying like a grandmother is what we all like to do, but you would not last long against the Harbok flying like this. Try using some of that aggressiveness your race is so well known for.”

  “Sure, no problem!” He headed west and speeded up to some 500 miles per hour. He flicked the stick all the way to the left for just an instant. Before he knew what had happened, the view blurred before his eyes and his senses reeled. A heartbeat later, the view outside stabilized, but he felt like his eyeballs were still vibrating. He had instantly turned to the southeast.

  “Stop the ship, Greg.” Arlynn’s voice penetrated his numbed senses, and he glanced to the side to see her standing unsteadily. She shuffled over to an empty seat and leaned against it, resting her head in her hand. “Ordinarily this would not happen to me, but in my present condition, I’m feeling ill. Please continue.”

  He selected a slow speed, then he jumped the ship straight up. The view again blurred, then he found himself staring at clouds. T
he ship was pointed straight up and climbing, but it was not slowing down like a plane. It just kept going up at the speed he had set with the speed bar. He brought the speed bar to the zero position and the ship stopped, still pointing straight up and several thousand feet above the ground. He rolled in various directions and watched as the ship rotated instantly to his commands without changing its position. When he rotated the ship inverted, he was glad he had not eaten breakfast. High above the ground and stationary, he was upside down yet still pressed into his seat. He closed his eyes, and his senses returned to normal, but nausea instantly returned when he opened them.

  He quickly righted the ship and turned to Arlynn. “That’s enough. I’ll take your word for the rest of it.”

  “It takes a lot more practice to become comfortable with this ship. It’s important. Please continue.”

  He maneuvered hard for ten minutes. He had a few close calls with the ground, but Arlynn assured him that the ship would not let him drive it into the anything.

  “Okay, that’s enough,” he called to her. “I know enough about flying to know I’m losing concentration. I won’t learn anymore. I’ll just make more mistakes.”

  “I agree, but you’re doing fine. You are proficient enough with the normal mode of operating the ship, and . . .”

  She stopped talking suddenly. When he turned to her, she was leaning heavily over the back of a seat. He brought the ship to a stop and rushed to her side to support her. He felt the heat of her body through her clothes, and she was trembling. It was all she could do to stay on her feet. When the spell passed, she turned and leaned into him, taking a deep shuddering breath as she did so. He wanted to pick her up and take her to her quarters, but conscious of her burns, he just stood there until she shuffled away. The ship was silent. The only sound came from her feet shuffling on the glass floor as she turned to face him.

  With a gentle but firm voice, he said, “You’re killing yourself. If I’m to be captain of this ship, my first order to you is to stop. Let’s get the cold sleep medicine into you while there’s still time.”

  She lifted her head defiantly, but when she looked into his eyes, her expression softened. “You are not captain yet. It’s my ship for a little while longer. But you’re right – I’m running out of time. Instead of practicing the tactical mode, I’m only going to show you how it works. You’ll have to practice on your own later.”

  “Is it necessary that I know all this?”

  “Oh, Greg, there’s so much more. We simply do not have time to cover everything. At the very least, though, you must know the tactical mode. If the Harbok discover us, it is the primary method of avoiding their lasers. This mode was damaged in Jarl’s ship during my fight with them or I would have been more successful at evading them. Please sit down. I’m all right.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  “Greg, sit. Now. I’m running out of time!” she said with a flare of temper.

  He grumbled compliance. When she continued lecturing, she did so as if there had been no interruption. “The tactical mode is most efficient when used by a crew, not just one person. Normally one person flies the ship from your seat and commands others in the use of shields, weapons, and jumps. As the only crew member, you have to do everything yourself. I’ve instructed the computer to simulate that we are now in space. Notice the screen is dark and full of stars instead of trees and sky.”

  The view took his breath away, but she did not give him time to study it. “Enter the tactical mode like this.”

  He pushed buttons as instructed. Suddenly a hollow globe of grid lines sprang up on the screen before him. It looked like a sphere generated from lines of latitude and longitude, and it was big, filling his whole view.

  “Notice that the stars are gone,” she said. “Since this mode is used only for defense, the computer only presents images of what lays within the boundary of the tactical sphere. Your ship is the red circle in the center of the sphere. A Harbok ship would be presented this way.” A yellow circle with an arrow sprang into view just within the right side of the globe. “The yellow arrow tells you which way the Harbok ship is moving in relation to yourself. If another Harbok ship appeared behind us, it would be presented like this.” Another yellow circle and arrow appeared inside the globe. “So, Greg, the screen keeps you informed of all ships in the area, regardless of whether they are in front of you or behind, above, or below.”

  As he watched, the arrows moved and changed direction, clearly indicating that the Harbok ships were maneuvering around him.

  “The computer will, during simulation, move the Harbok ships in various attack patterns. Since you have no weapons, your job is to escape. Remember, the red circle in the center of the globe is your ship. The flashing red ‘X’ which you see on the edge of the globe is where the computer suggests you go. It is strictly a random location. If you push this button,” she said, pointing, “you will move to that position at the ship’s maximum speed, which will vary depending on whether you are in atmosphere or out in space. The computer does not turn the ship, Greg, it simply displaces it to that new position, then releases it at whatever speed and direction you had prior to pushing the button. We call this a jump. As soon as the ship completes the jump, the computer places another ‘X’ at a random point on the globe. You may move in a quick series of jumps if you so desire by just pushing the button repeatedly. Do you understand so far?”

  “I think so. If I push this button, I’m quickly zapped to wherever the flashing ‘X’ is, then I can continue flying by hand or jump again. I assume the globe re-centers on wherever I have jumped to?”

  “Yes. Reorienting yourself after a jump is everyone’s hardest challenge, because although the tactical situation might not have changed appreciably during your jump, the jump changed your perspective of it. You have to completely reorient yourself.”

  She gave him time to think about that, but not very much time. “You may also elect to go somewhere other than the position recommended by the computer, but you will always jump to the edge of the globe. You can change the size of the globe and your jump position like this . . .”

  He practiced moving around on the globe with Arlynn’s help, then he practiced configuring the ship into and out of the simulator mode several times until he was sure he could do it without her help. Arlynn then instructed the computer to demonstrate the symbology for different types of ships, lasers firing, and shields taking hits. She ended by showing him a ten-minute recording of an actual engagement with the Harbok. Ships danced all over the screen. He tried to study the tactics, but there did not seem to be any.

  The moment the presentation ended, she continued. “I’d like to give you more practice with this, but my body is failing. You know how to instruct the computer to provide simulations, and I strongly suggest you practice as much as possible during our eight-day trip to my baseship. You will be discouraged at first—everyone is—but do not give up. Just know that operating in the tactical mode while single-handedly flying the ship is difficult for everyone. You cannot be as efficient as you would be if you had a whole crew, but practice will bring improvement.

  “My final instructions have to do with the StarDrive, Greg. The only reason I even bring it up is because it is installed in the ship, and as captain you have the right to have this knowledge. However, I promise that if you use this system you will become hopelessly lost, or more likely you will be killed by running into something.”

  They moved over to the StarDrive position. Greg sat in the chair while Arlynn stood behind him with a hand on his shoulder. She leaned over him to touch keys, pulling up pages of gibberish on a monitor.

  She let him peruse the pages briefly, then she explained. “The distances and speeds involved with the StarDrive are so tremendous that we cannot program a trip in the simple manner we just used for going to the Asteroid Belt. These are some of the variables that must be programmed into the StarDrive computer. It can be done quickly by someone trained in its use, whi
ch you are not. I want to emphasize that the StarDrive is usable only for travel between stars, not between planets. We only use the StarDrive when we are far enough from a star and its planets to treat the entire system as a single variable. Were we to attempt this form of travel any closer to the star system, we would have to list a complete set of variables for every planet, moon, asteroid, comet and anything else floating around inside the system. Not only would the calculations be extremely complex, but we don’t know everything there is to know about a star system. We do not use the StarDrive even within my home system.”

  She began explaining the various switches and buttons on the board, but when he turned around to her with a blank look, she gave up. With their noses almost touching, she said, “Let’s skip the rest of the StarDrive instructions. You’re not going to use it anyway. You’ve had enough for one day.”

  “Thank you. Without knowing your language and alphabet and a whole lot more about space, there’s just no way I can work this thing. If I don’t need it to get to the Asteroid Belt, forget it. Now, you’re obviously on your last leg. I don’t fully understand the price your body is paying to keep you going, but don’t you think it’s time to quit?”

  “I will quit after we begin our journey.”

  He leaned away from her for a moment, then he moved closer and said softly, “No. I want you to quit now. It will take hours to reach Australia, and there’s no reason for you to wait all that time. Everything’s ready, you’ve given me all the instruction I can handle, and I can do the rest on my own. Your part in your mission needs to be over.”

  She straightened up, but she left her hand on his shoulder. “Greg, I must see us on our way. One life is not significant when compared to the many lives that might be saved with the information we’re bringing to my people. Please, this is important to me!”