by Kyle Larson
Kelvin jumped and followed Riz out of the door and out of the Royal Cabin. Riz’s moth was parked right in front and it whisked them across the massive interior of the Monarch as soon as they stepped in. Kelvin noticed they were headed for the largest of all the towers in the Monarch. The moth stopped at a landing platform and touched down.
“This entire tower is the simulator. It’s one of the most advanced in the Nine Kingdoms, and the second largest behind the ones the Jovians built. Most Earth Navy trainees don’t use it until after they’ve graduated and the only ones authorized to use it are the best of the best. There can be up to five hundred trainees in here at one time. Today it’s just you and me though.”
They entered a large room, with space suits and helmets hung on hooks, all along each wall. Kelvin could see a large, transparent door that separated them from the hollow tube that was the tower. From top-to-bottom, the tower was a cylinder with nothing in it, providing as much space as someone training to move and maneuver in low gravity could want.
“This one’s your’s, Kelvin,” Riz said, pointing to a hook nearby.
Riz helped Kelvin fit into the suit and showed him which pieces of fabric he needed to make sure were connected. The finishing touch was the helmet and the control stick, both of which would help him use the thrusters attached to his seat. The helmet was kind of bulky, but the suit was much lighter than Kelvin expected.
“This is the Monarch’s pride and joy,” Riz said, leading Kelvin to the glass door. “You’re going to feel kind of funny for a few seconds, maybe longer. Your helmet is adding anti-nausea medication into your air, so you won’t get sick, but it will make you a little dizzy. Just try to breathe normally. They say that’s what makes the biggest difference.”
Kelvin stepped up to the glass doors and as soon as they opened, his feet rose from the ground and he was sucked into the bottomless, vertical tunnel. Riz wasn’t far behind him, but Kelvin’s inner helmet immediately lit up with indicators telling him his oxygen level, thruster charge, and highlighting where Riz was in proximity to him.
“You okay, Kelvin?” Riz’s voice said, through the speaker near Kelvin’s ear.
“Um…I think so,” Kelvin replied, trying to adjust to the sensation that there was no longer and up or down. “It says my thrusters are still charging.”
“Yeah, they take a few minutes. Just enjoy the ride for now. There’s real work ahead,” Riz said. “I hope you held on to your control stick. I forgot to tell you, it’s a rookie mistake to drop your control stick. Should’ve warned you.”
“Nah, I got it.”
Aside from the glass door, which grew smaller and smaller by the second, there was total darkness in the simulator. Kelvin couldn’t tell where it ended and where it began. If it had stars, it could have been as big as space for all he knew. Kelvin felt a little dizzy, but the sensation of weight was what he noticed the most. He felt like air, every movement he made was effortless. After a few minutes, Kelvin felt great.
The indicator pinged at him, notifying he and Riz their thrusters were charged. Kelvin gripped his control stick and pressed down firmly on the accelerator button. Instantly, he was propelled hundreds of feet away from Riz. Riz dove down to where Kelvin was and caught up with his student. It didn’t take much, he’d just forgotten to warn Kelvin how much kick a freshly charged thruster tank had.
“Slow down there,” Riz said, in mid-laughter. “You only need to tap the accelerator.”
“Oops, sorry,” Kelvin said, laughing to himself and buzzed of the adrenaline kick from the speed.
“We’re going to teach you how to fly in space. It’s not like flying in gravity. There’s no resistance or inertia. It’s all acceleration. I want you to follow along with these lights.”
Suddenly an intricate zig-zag pattern of lights appeared along the wall. They wrapped around the circular walls, in multiple directions, but one path. Kelvin could see how massive the tower was now. He still couldn’t see the top or the bottom.
“Use your short-range orientation, the SRO,” Riz said.
Kelvin moved his fingertips and it allowed him to scroll through the different programs in his helmet’s display. The SRO came to life and Kelvin felt himself start to move forward. His movements were perfectly aligned with how the pattern of lights wound around the circular walls of the tower. The thrusters let out short, infrequent hisses as Kelvin was propelled along the path.
“Right now I just want you to pay attention to how it feels to move in no gravity. Listen for when the thrusters come on, try to find a pattern. That’s the best way to learn for yourself. You won’t always have the SRO to pilot you, but you can learn from it,” Riz said.
Kelvin turned his head and he could no longer see Riz. It didn’t help that the only light in the tunnel of the tower was blindingly bright lights creating a path or complete darkness. Suddenly, Riz flew past him, extremely fast, zooming and zipping along the path of lights.
“Hey!” Kelvin said. “How come you get to go fast?”
“Because I’m piloting manually. The SRO can only steer you at slower speeds, but once you learn how to pilot yourself, you can go as fast as the thrusters will take you.”
“I want to try!”
The prospect of speed was more appealing to Kelvin than his current pace. The blinking beacon on the back of Riz’s suit grew smaller as the distance between them grew.
“You can try it. You fly on Earth, right?” Riz said.
“Yeah, just planes and heliarrows, though. Nothing in the high stratosphere or low orbit,” Kelvin said, a little embarrassed of flight experience that must have sounded meager to one of the most famous pilots in the Nine Kingdoms. “Nothing in zero gravity.”
“It’s not much different than a heliarrow. Your control stick should have the same maneuverability and pitch as a heliarrow. Remember, a few taps to accelerate the suit thrusters. You don’t need a lot.”
Kelvin tapped the thrusters a couple of times and could tell he was picking up speed by how fast he passed over the trail of lights. A notification came into his helmet’s display, alerting him that if he picked up more speed, the SRO wouldn’t be able to keep up and Kelvin would have to manually control his flightpath. Kelvin decided to push it and pressed down firmly on his accelerator button.
The lights became a blur and Kelvin felt the speed. He was able to continue on the path the lights created and it didn’t feel that difficult. Kelvin spent as much time as his parents allowed him flying the heliarrow. At first, he had to have an adult with him, but his mother eventually backed off and let him fly with the assistance of the heliarrows digital pilot. Kelvin had gotten so good over the last year he barely turned the digital pilot on. His piloting practice paid off.
“Well, it looks like you’re a much better pilot than I was aware of,” Riz said. He pivoted and headed toward Kelvin, as fast as he could. Kelvin’s piloting abilities impressed Riz, so he decided to advance Kelvin’s lessons then and there. “How about you try to keep up with me? I’ll put on my proximity beacon and you follow me. Got it?”
“Got it,” Kelvin said, excitedly.
Riz went full throttle and blasted through the darkness, the bright and blinking light from his proximity beacon – a light on the back of all space suits to avoid collisions. Kelvin saw Riz zoom by him and he flipped around, in an upside down maneuver that spun him around and then straight toward Riz. Kelvin couldn’t even believe he had just pulled it off, but the years of piloting really helped him.
It didn’t take him long to catch up with Riz. Riz tried to shake him, but Kelvin matched his every move and stayed close by him. Both their helmet displays let them know they traveled at maximum velocity.
“Looks like you’ve got this, Kelvin,” Riz said. “Now, we should try zero gravity obstacles. I’m going to created a debris field ahead. If you crash into any of it, it won’t hurt you, but try not to hit any of them. They obstacles are in the shape of meteors and there will be hundreds of them.
Got it?”
“Yup,” Kelvin said.
“You might wanna slow down.”
“Nah, I got this.”
“Whatever you say.”
Riz activated the debris field. The fake meteors were made out of foam and were light as a feather. If they had been real meteors, they would be made of ice and rock and could kill someone. Kelvin tried to pretend the danger was real, but he wanted to test himself and see if he could get through the debris field without slowing down.
Kelvin turned his forward helmet light on and he could see the debris field ahead. He pushed as fast as he could and entered the field. The meteors hurled at him, but Kelvin was able to dodge them. They were big enough that he could find a way around them. Kelvin was actually surprised how easy it was. Riz could see that Kelvin wasn’t having very much trouble, so he made the debris field thicker.
The debris field got thicker and Kelvin started to have a tough time. Within a few seconds the meteors were bouncing off of him, until the field got so thick Kelvin had to come to a near stop. After he turned around it started to clear again and Riz came through.
“I think you’re a natural, Kelvin,” Riz said. “You sure you haven’t done this before? You’re a better pilot than your father.”
That caught Kelvin’s attention. He’d never heard the stories about his father from someone who was there, not to mention his father’s co-pilot and friend.
“What was it like? Flying with my dad?” Kelvin said. “I’ve read all the stories, but he’s never told me about them. My mom says he doesn’t like to talk about it.”
“I don’t understand why. Your father’s a hero, Kelvin. I know he has his problems now, but don’t ever forget that. That man could still outfly me and any other pilot in Earth Navy. I guarantee it. All that stuff you’ve read about your dad in history books, that’s the truth.”
“You were there, too. You’re just as much a hero.”
Riz didn’t respond right away, which made Kelvin feel awkward.
“That was a long time ago, Kelvin,” Riz said, with a tone of voice that almost sounded sad. “The Nine Kingdoms were a lot different then. Sometimes I wish it were still like that. I wish your father and I were still out there, making a difference. Now it’s just a playground for the rich Jovians…”
Riz seemed to stop himself, just as his voice turned angry. Kelvin knew there was a lot of hostility in the Nine Kingdoms toward Jupiter. The Jovians were the richest of the Nine Kingdoms. As far as Kelvin knew, all the kingdoms had a good relationship with them, but there was definitely those who were jealous of their wealth and power. Kelvin would eventually have to visit them, so he tried to keep an open mind, but was still curious about why Riz seemed not to like them.
“Let’s get going, Kelvin. I think that’s enough for today. You won’t notice it now, but zero gravity training is really hard on your body. You’re going to be really sore in a couple hours, so we should be careful how long our practice sessions are.”
Kelvin wanted to ask more about Riz and his father’s past, but he was picking up the same vibe that his father gave off whenever the subject came up. Kelvin wondered why there was so much hesitation to discuss what happened in the past.
Riz didn’t say much as they took off their space suits and he piloted Kelvin back to the Royal Cabin. His memories had been stirred up by how much Kelvin reminded him of King Erelm. It made Riz regret that he had given up on their friendship when Erelm went into seclusion. He wished he had tried harder to be there for his friend, whether Erelm wanted that or not.
The time to change those regrets had passed. Riz was on a different path now, but those memories made him wonder if he’d made the right choice. The Nine Kingdoms were about to change forever, but if Riz could have things go back to the way they once were, he would choose that over his current situation. Erelm had been a good friend, and Riz missed that person very much.
“Kelvin,” Riz said, just as Kelvin exited the moth and started to make his way toward the Royal Cabin. “I’ll tell you more about some of the missions your dad and I flew, next time we have a practice session. I’m sorry, it just kind of caught me off-guard. I haven’t thought about that time in my life for a while. You should know those things about your father.”
“Thanks Riz. I’d like to know all about it.”
“Just make sure you drink plenty of water and try to eat some food when you get in there. You probably don’t feel it yet, but your body is exhausted. Try to take it easy tonight and go to bed early. I’ll check in with you tomorrow and we can figure out when our next session will be.”
Kelvin nodded and turned to go inside. When he walked in, Amelia was just stepping out of her combat and bridge simulator. It was a small room, just off the main entrance, that used holograms to replicate a real Earth Navy bridge. Amelia usually spent four hours a day, practicing all the different roles of a bridge officer. She’d mastered all of them, except captain, which she was currently working hard on.
“Where were you?” Amelia asked, as she took a swig from a cold, metal thermos filled with water. Time in the simulator was draining and got stuffy, so she was careful to always stay hydrated.
Kelvin took a swig from his own thermos, remembering what Riz just told him.
“Zero gravity simulator,” Kelvin said with a smile.
“No way! Why didn’t you tell me? I’d love to try that!” Amelia said.
“I’ll get you next time. It was a surprise to me, too.”
“How’d it go?”
“Great. Riz said I’m a natural! How’s your simulation?”
“Meh,” Amelia shrugged. “Being captain is actually kind of boring and a lot of work. Tomorrow will probably be more interesting. It’s combat.” Her smile indicated she was excited about that challenge. Amelia always wanted to learn more about being an officer and knight in Earth Navy.
“Has your dad ever talked about the missions Riz and my dad used to fly together? I know he was on a few of them,” Kelvin said, the questions about his father’s past now at the forefront of his mind.
Amelia had heard stories, but King Erelm and Riz were not often mentioned in them. Benito Chapman, her father, had a tendency to focus on his role in the stories and events, which had been much different than the king’s.
“Some of them, but he doesn’t really mention your dad. He was a ground soldier, in the medical unit. Most of those missions he was on the planet or moon while your dad and Riz were in the air or space.”
“I don’t know why neither of them want to talk about it. Riz started to and then stopped himself,” Kelvin said. “I don’t get it. It’s like he was ashamed of it somehow, even though he’s a legend in the Nine Kingdoms.”
“Not everyone wants to be a legend, Kelvin. History isn’t always the best way to understand what happened. Heroes often aren’t what they are portrayed to be, and they usually know that better than anyone.”
“You’re right,” Kelvin said. He could suddenly feel the exhaustion sinking in on him. “Oh wow, that training wiped me out. I think I’m gonna go to bed.”
“Yeah, I’m not far behind you. I have an essay to finish for Holloway and then I’m out, too. Goodnight, Kelvin.”
“Goodnight.”
As Kelvin started to walk up the stairs, Amelia called to him one more time.
“You’ll hear those stories about your dad, one day, Kelvin. When he’s ready to tell them and he will be eventually.”
Kelvin nodded to her in thanks and continued up the stairs. He wished life wasn’t so confusing.
CHAPTER NINE
EVEN AT THE Monarch’s fastest speed, it had taken them months to get close enough just to make out Mercury as even a planet with their own eyes. Since the Monarch left Earth, Mercury had been nothing but a dot in the blanket of stars. Sure, it was a little brighter than the rest, but it didn’t look anything like a planet. Now, as Amelia stared out the observation deck, it really looked like a planet. They were still far away, but t
oday was the day the Monarch would reach its orbit around the closest planet to the sun.
And Kelvin Sellwood was nowhere to be found.
Not that anyone was looking. In the months of their journey, Holloway kept Kelvin and Amelia busy with schoolwork. Kelvin managed to stay focused on his work, but Amelia could tell he was distracted. Whenever she couldn’t find him, she went to the radio lab on the science deck of the Monarch.
Between all of the training he had been doing with Riz in the zero-gravity simulator, Kelvin had gotten pretty good at piloting himself in a space suit. All the obstacles Riz had thrown his way, Kelvin had met. At the same time, Amelia had finally passed all her bridge-simulator tests and felt confident in the rank of captain the simulator awarded her. Still, it was only a simulator rank, but she had met all the requirements a real Earth Navy officer would be held to.
All the people aboard the Monarch adored Kelvin, so whatever he needed, whomever he needed, it or they were always there to help him. Kelvin kept the radio engineers on the Monarch pretty busy the first month he was aboard. He kept them searching the Antioch Belt. Kelvin still hoped he would hear the broadcast from his sister and had the scientists use all their skills to try and find it. The signal had not come back yet, and Amelia knew that’s where Kelvin was.
“Is he in the radio lab?” Holloway asked, as she walked into the observation deck. She marveled at the fact Mercury actually looked like a planet, and the orange glow of the sun seeming to drown out every star but it. Mercury was a perfect, tiny bubble in the middle of the sun. “He’s going to miss the solar screen deployment. I’ve never seen one.”
Solar screens were giant, circular disks that were covered in tiles of mirror. They were highly reflective and protected any ship approaching Mercury. Any ship that close to the sun would eventually melt as it came closer. The solar screens reflected the radiation back to the sun and kept the ship’s safe. There were thousands of them, deployed all around Mercury’s orbit, that protected the inhabitants not only from the sun, but kept the gravity of Mercury from being strong enough to crush a human. They were also what kept Mercury from becoming a scorching wasteland of volcano.