Sorry this chapter took so long; I've run into some trouble and haven't been able to write for the last week. The time away did give me a chance to tweak a few ideas for the later part of the story, so it wasn't a total loss.

Chapter 41

The Gentle Art of Jumping to Conclusions

Calla had not completely gotten her breath back after running up the ramp and so the steps up to the deck almost wore her out. She stopped as soon as she reached the deck and took a few deep breaths before running down the starboard side of the ship to the stern. When she finally reached the superstructure, Calla suddenly realised she did not know which of the many rooms was Blues.

"Hey; where's Blue's cabin" she barked at an approaching woman.

"Two decks up and near the port stern" she replied "I'm not sure what the cabin number is though."

"Thanks heaps" Calla declared slightly sarcastically, even though the lady had given her excellent directions.

She sprinted off once more with her head spinning from lack of oxygen; she really should have taken the chance to catch her breath, but desperation was beginning to take over. Calla's problem was she always pictured everything going her way in life. She imagined herself in the future as a rugged hero, wise and strong, answering the call to lead the people because it was her destiny. Now everything seemed to be falling apart all around her and it was all because of Blue.

He was smart, but that wasn't the problem; oh no. The real problem was he didn't have to prove it because everyone already knew he was smart; and what was worse, even highly trained and experienced adults respected his ideas and opinions. It was simply outrageous.

Calla began to imagine all the things she did not want in life, and she feared it was all starting to happen here and now. Doom, the coolest person she had ever known, was falling under Blues magnetic spell and the rest of her family and friends would not be far behind. She saw a strange future where Blue and Doom led everyone on to a bright new future in space while she and Emerson stayed behind with all the people deemed not good to go. Her imagination was really was starting to go off the deep end.

Calla knew she had finally found the cabin she sought when she heard Doom's familiar laugh a few doors in front of her.

"Oh hi Calla" Harriet Doom smiled as her friend burst in through the open doorway.

But Calla wasn't looking at Doom; she was staring with venom in her eyes at the boy sitting next to her.

"What are you doing with..."

It only took a few seconds for her mind to take in the scene presented to her. When Calla had heard the word 'cabin', she had assumed it would be like those she had known on the One and All; small and cosy with a cupboard and a bed. Little did she know, this entire ship had been designed not only to transport a massive amount of equipment halfway around the world, but to then become a combination home and factory during the expansion of the Railgun. This was why the first room in Blues new home was a sitting room with a kitchenette on the side. In this sitting room, Blue and Doom were sitting (makes sense to me) on the couch holding the Book of Dragons while Maximilian DeGroot explained some of its contents to the young people opposite him.

"...doing with... that... silly ol' book?" Calla completed her sentence.

"We've discovered something very interesting" Blue noted.

"You won't believe this Calla" Doom grinned excitedly "but I'm a Dragon Rider too!"

"Well... not exactly" DeGroot corrected "you're a descendant of the Ingerman clan; just like Blue is one of the Horrendous Haddocks."

"Horrendous is right" Calla mumbled with disappointment in her voice "I... I'm so happy for you."

Calla's mood did not slip by her old friend un-noticed, and so Doom decided not to ignore the situation.

"I don't know about you guys, but I could use a break" she stood up and stretched "and I also want to catch up with Calla for a while now she's here."

"Yeah and I should get back to work too" Blue admitted as he gave DeGroot the Book of Dragons.

Everything seemed civil and pleasant as the four departed but very little was said as Doom and Calla walked down to the ships galley. Just like all the other areas on the ship Calla had seen before, the kitchen was quite unrecognisable as the stripped out mess it had been when the crew of the Star Runner had first arrived. It was now clean, well stocked and staffed by two very busy cooks preparing lunch for those on board.

The girls filled their water flasks before making their way back to the stern and the shady little spot one deck below the helipad. The wind was quite mild and provided a pleasant breeze off of the ocean to cool the friends as they chatted.

"I get a very strong feeling you do not approve of my new friendship with Blue" Doom said casually.

"It's none of my business if you want to throw yourself at him" Calla declared.

An unseen smirk formed on Doom's face as she decided to boost Calla's ego while seeing how deep a hole her young friend could dig for herself."

"True... it is none of your business, but I still value your opinion" the older girl declared.

"My opinion is you can do so much better than him."

"Better... really? Doom's eyes widened "You want to tell me how many guys you've met recently who can fly a spacecraft, work in the field of electrical and structural engineering and could design a system for turning an asteroid into a space station? I'm beginning to wonder if your standards are a little too high."

"Yeah... okay... maybe, but he can be so annoying sometimes; he's such a know-it-all... and he's younger than you."

"Only a few months" Doom protested "You're talking as if he was only six years old; also you may find his intelligence annoying, but I like it. You may have heard the term 'Opposites Attract', well that is why I've enjoyed our friendship since we met, because you too are really smart and you've got all these survival skills, while I'm more the artistic type. I think it's the same with Blue; we complement each other with our differences whereas you and he are too similar."

"Don't be silly, I'm nothing like him."

"So you are opposites too? That must be why he likes you" Doom smirked.

"Now I know you're crazy" Calla huffed "he's always looking down on me."

"Only because you're so short" Doom snickered "but this morning I was having breakfast with Willow, when Blue joined us we had a very interesting conversation."

The Ruddy Turnstone of Paranoia flew down and nestled on the stern railing.

"You talked about me behind my back?" Calla was mortified.

"We talked about lots of things" Doom defended herself "but when it came to what it was like for Blue with all the new people around here, he said something very interesting about you and Emerson."

"What did he say about us" Calla asked as the Wood Duck of Curiosity and the Ibis of Doubt agreed to work on her together as a joint project.

"He said Emerson had so many questions about anything and everything, whereas he noticed you would listen and really think about what you were presented with before asking. He was really impressed by the way you would analyse something even if you had never seen it before."

"He... really said that?" Calla almost refused to believe.

"If you give him a chance, I think you could learn a lot from him because you may have noticed, he loves to talk about all that techy, sciency stuff" Doom noted.

Calla was silent for a moment as she considered what her friend had revealed, till Doom decided to push her a little further.

"So do you still think I could do better than Blue in this place?" Doom asked.

"What about Emerson? He's almost as smart as me and he really likes you."

Doom had to bite her lip to keep from laughing at Calla's declaration about her brother; she just had to use the words 'Almost as smart' because sometimes Calla's ego knew no boundaries.

"Yes Emerson is okay I guess, but he's never shown much interest in me" Doom declared.

"Are you kidding" Calla said a little too loudly "Emerson adores you."

"Well you'd never know it; we've known each other for well over a year and he's never tried to kiss me, never held my hand and certainly never taken me for a romantic walk along the beach at sunset."

"He's just a little shy" even Calla was surprised at the way she defended her brother (as was the Storm Petrel of Mild Surprise).

"Sorry Calla but I'm not waiting for Emerson to get his act together any longer" Doom insisted "and you have to admit; Heir to the Dragon Riders is a pretty cool title."

"Oh come on" Calla huffed "Do you really believe all this nonsense about Dragons and Vikings?"

"To be honest Calla, no I don't."

"So what's so great about..." the young girl began but was cut off.

"Listen to me very closely Calla; do I believe Dragons once flew in our skies? No I don't. Do I believe these people can really build colonies in space and get us off the planet? No I don't!"

"Then why would you want to stay here?"

"Do I believe we'll really find a better life with a higher chance of survival in the northern hemisphere? I most certainly do not, but I also don't want to just sit down and wait to die, and this place seems to have everything we need; relative safety and genuine hope for the future."

They both stopped talking for a minute while Calla let everything Doom had said sink in. The younger girl had put so much faith in her Father and Captain Branson's ability to find a safer place on Earth and she was beginning to have the same faith in Sarah Spencer and her team of highly intelligent, overqualified oddballs. To hear Doom say she was only going along for the ride because there was nothing better to do was a bit of a shock, but not quite enough for a visit from the Magpie.

"D'ya know what I think?" Doom said at last "I think you don't want me to, as you said before, throw myself at Blue because you like the idea of him being attracted to you."

"I told you I wasn't interested in him" Calla insisted.

"Yeah I don't believe that either but even if it were true, I still say you delight in being admired and I think you're afraid he'll stop eyeing you if he and I become a couple."

"Ha; you could not be further off the mark" Calla scoffed.

"Okay then; if you say so" Doom smirked "but I think you should know Blue offered to let me join with the others from our fleet who want to learn how to operate the spacecraft simulator and I think you should too."

"So he can make fun of me over what happened last time? No thank you."

"What are you talking about?" Doom wondered "Have you already tried the simulator?"

"Didn't Blue tell you about it?" Calla asked.

"No he didn't" Doom's eyes suddenly brightened when Calla's cheeks turned pink "What did you do Squirt?"

Now Calla knew she had truly put her foot squarely in her mouth; she didn't want to admit what had happened but she also knew Doom would not let it go until her friend owned up.

"He err... showed it to Emerson and me and I err... was a bit loose with the controls and... he got hurt" Calla admitted at last.

"And you thought he'd be telling everyone and they'd all laugh at you" Doom smirked "I probably would have blabbed about it and I know you would if it had been Emerson who stuffed up, but not Blue. So come on Calla; let's learn how to fly a spaceship together."

Although she had tried her best, Doom had not really succeeded in getting Calla to admit Blue wasn't as bad as the young girl thought, but she had found a way to get the two of them in the same room for a while, where they would be working together and not making awkward conversation. Doom hoped this would give Blue and Calla a chance to really get to know each other; she also hoped it would not end in another life threatening injury.

The girls then made their way back to the bow where Calla's father continued his work with the Railgun Complex engineering team. On their way down the steps though, they were sidetracked when Blue called out to them from the portside walkway.

"Have a look in there" he told the girls when they had climbed up to him.

Blue was pointing across the top of the shipping containers to a strange white blob inside a metal frame. The odd thing had a bulbous nose but was much flatter across the rear except for a two meter circle in the rear centre.

"What is it?" Doom asked, unable to make any sense of it.

"Underneath all that covering, is a 100% genuine space plane called a Dream Chaser" Blue informed them "You seemed disappointed when we didn't see one when you first arrived so I checked the manifests and worked out where we could find one."

"It doesn't look like the simulator" Calla noted.

"You're right" Blue smiled "The simulator is a mix of three different spacecraft but the flight deck controls can be put in the same configuration as the Dream Chaser."

"Cool; so when do we start?" Doom asked expectantly.

"You two are in Class One which starts tomorrow at 10am, but you will need to get outfitted before then so I'd suggest you check in with the Supply Department when you get back to base."

"Wait a minute" Calla protested "Who said I was going to take part in this little training course of yours?"

"Err... she did" Blue gestured to Doom "She said it would be easier to have her best friend in the class with her."

"Oh really?" Calla smirked.

"And I still haven't learnt to keep my mouth shut" Blue's eyes widened.

"Don't worry about it kid" Doom smiled "I'm just glad you didn't mention what I said about the way she smells."

"I DON'T SMELL!" Calla declared.

"And Doom never said you did" Blue noted "I believe it was some kind joke."

"We'll be ready for training first thing tomorrow" Doom cried out as she dragged Calla back to the bow again.

As the two young women prepared to learn the complex methods of controlling a small spacecraft, another girl was performing a vital manoeuvre on a much bigger ship halfway between Earth and Mars.

The VASIMR Plasma motors on the Mars Transfer Vehicle were gradually powered down for the first time since leaving Mars orbit and now the time had come to start slowing down. Abigail Dias set the manoeuvring thrusters control to minimum sensitivity before switching the unit over to manual. Under the watchful eye of her father and Commander Sage, she prepared to turn the ship 180 degrees on the pitch angle.

"Ready to go Sirs" she reported.

"In your own time Cadet" Luis answered.

With the control sensitivity set so low, Abigail could have pulled the joystick back fully without any risk, but showing complete control over the situation was what she needed to demonstrate and so she pulled the lever partially back and held the pressure from the thrusters at a steady 20% for five seconds. Like the second hand on a giant invisible clock, the nose of the MTV pitched slowly up and back in a smooth arc at one decree per second. Abigail kept a close eye on the clock, as well as the attitude indicator and when two minutes and fifty five seconds had passed, she eased the joystick forward for five more seconds.

"Manoeuvre complete" Abigail declared as she checked the computer screen "all numbers correct, ship is aligned."

"Bringing main engines on line" Luis added.

The Mars Transfer Vehicle was now moving backwards through interplanetary space at about two hundred thousand kilometres per hour; and after spending half their journey under constant acceleration, the crew of the MTV would now spend the second half decelerating. Satisfied that all had gone well, Sage unbuckled his seat restraints and floated towards the rear hatch.

"Three minutes would have to be the slowest Reversal Manoeuvre I've ever seen but as control is the most important aspect, I have to say well done Cadet" Sage admitted.

"Thank you sir" Abigail smiled as she re-checked the computer readout to be sure it was set to Automatic Station Keeping.

"Very proud of you" Luis whispered as he too left his seat.

As happy as she was right now, Abigail Dias could not help feeling a little sad; she had worked so hard to get where she was and this would probably be her one and only trip through space.

"Oh well" she mumbled to herself "At least I got to go on this ride."

The word 'Average' can be pretty deceiving sometimes. True you can come up with averages that make sense, like the height of the average 12 year old child. It is both easy to work out (even if it does take a long time to gather the data) and is also relevant to anyone with a 12 year old child. Consider this though; I just read the average person spends 6 months of their lifetime waiting on a red light to turn green, but when you realise much of the world's population doesn't even drive, or live where there are little to no traffic lights, some people who drive a lot in big cities could spend many years at red lights.

The average that annoys me the most though, is one I heard in the late 1980s when an economist added of the cash reserves of every country in the world and divided it by the world's total population. He came to the conclusion that the average person has 30 million American dollars.