Ah it's good to have the computer back again but during my week off, the planed end of the story changed a little and so there will be another ten-ish chapters more than originally planned, bringing the total to near seventy.
Chapter 42
Beware the Flying Fools
Calla felt slightly apprehensive as she and Doom entered the simulator room the next morning. She did however like the look of her new blue and yellow flight suit, even if it was a little big. The people in supply had taken some measurements and told her to return later in the day for a better fitting outfit, but for now she would just have to roll up her cuffs a little. There were three others from the fleet already in the room and they too wore the new outfits. She did recognise all the faces from the fleet, even though she did not know the people's names. Two things stood out for her though; the first was the others were all in their mid twenties to early forties making her the youngest, and the second thing was nobody but Calla had a white band sewn onto their upper sleeve. Was this just an oversight or did the different uniform mean something?
"Thanks for coming everyone" Blue announced as he walked in a few minutes late.
The new instructor turned on the four large red power switches on the right side of the door; he and Calla were the only ones who did not jump back in surprise when the strange white spider in the centre of the room suddenly moved.
"Sorry to keep you all waiting, I was trying to get us some more equipment to use in future lessons; but for today we will just be looking over this impressive machine and discussing some basics. The last time I took someone up in a simulated flight, things did not go quite according to plan."
"Here we go" Calla sighed as she prepared to be mocked.
"I didn't take into account the different ways a Spaceship moves and reacts in comparison to the way an ocean going vessel would" Blue admitted "My error could have caused much greater injury than it actually did, but I promise you all I'll do much better this time."
Calla felt Doom's elbow dig her in the ribs.
"Still think you can't trust him?" she whispered.
"Now only two people in training have ever been inside this little beast before; Calla and Emerson Linwood to be precise and Calla is the only one in this class. Sorry for not clearing this with you earlier Cal but I'm hoping you can help anyone who has trouble with things like Airlock Door operation and Seat Restraints."
"Err... sure" Calla nodded.
"Good" Blue smiled "Now today is just going to be some simple familiarisation ending with a short demonstration of the simulator itself. This should give everyone a small taste of the difficulties of living and working in space and help you all to decide if you wish to proceed with training or not. I would also like you to give your impressions about the class to your friends and family, so they too will have a better idea about what we are planning for the future."
Blue spent the next half hour explaining many aspects of the simulator and the various spacecraft the students could learn to operate with it. When they all stepped inside it at last, Calla noticed some changes had been made; the control panel was a little different from the last time she had seen it, the overhead cupola was covered over and there were now seven seats inside instead of four. Although she considered asking about the differences, Calla did not want to appear ignorant so she pretended all was as it she expected it to be; fortunately she soon had her question answered anyway.
"This is the configuration for our version of the Dream Chaser, we hope will take some of you into orbit someday soon; so if you will all take a seat, I'll give you a first taste of what to expect."
Blue and Calla helped everyone get seated in the cramped cabin before making sure they were strapped in. The artificial trip into space was also a little different to Calla's last experience; instead of a rocket launch, the hopeful travellers were shown what they would see being shot from a Railgun cannon from the top of a mountain, followed by a brief orbital trip and Space Station docking. They all found the experience most enjoyable and fascinating, even though one needed to hold tightly to a sick bag because of the odd and often unexpected motion; he didn't use, it but they all felt pleased it was handy just in case.
"Assuming you decide to continue, in the next few months you will experience working in a space suit, simulated micro gravity and lots of brain taxing learning exercises" Blue informed them all at the end of the demonstration.
"What will we be doing next time?" Doom asked.
"In two days time you will all be experiencing the kind of forces you would have to endure for a space launch. But until then you will be able to practice the kind of docking manoeuvres you all saw today, on the computers in your rooms. So if Calla could stay back for a minute please, I'll see the rest of you in two days."
"I'll wait for you outside" Doom smiled and wiggled her eyebrows up and down.
Calla gave her friend a very evil stare before going to talk with Blue.
"What can I do for you?" she asked.
"I hope you didn't mind being thrown in the deep end today" Blue explained "I had hoped to talk to you about it first but I got too sidetracked trying to get everything ready."
"No problem" Calla shrugged.
"Thanks; I've noticed you are the kind of person who likes to try and stay ahead of the pack and not just meekly follow behind; so I was hoping you would consider some extra work by always doing the next lesson ahead of time, before the others."
"So I can help you out with the class?" Calla smiled.
"Precisely" Blue nodded "When we're doing practical exercises, it would really slow us down if I had to do things like getting people into space suits all by myself; but with your help things should go much smoother."
"No worries; I'm in" she grinned.
"Wonderful; now I just have to convince Emerson to do the same in Class 2."
"I err... think I should talk to him about it first" Calla said "I'll let you know what he thinks of the idea."
"Oh... alright, he is your brother so I guess you know what's best; thanks again."
"When did you want to tell us about Lesson Two?" Calla asked.
"If you've got the time, about 15:30 today would be good; we can go over everything before dinner and then I can head back to the ship."
"15:30" Calla pondered "That's 3:30pm right?"
"Yes" Blue nodded
"Okay then" Calla nodded "I'll go and talk to Emerson about it then."
"Thank you" Blue smiled.
"Oh and... thanks for not telling everyone about what I did last time we were in the simulator" Calla looked down and shuffled her foot.
"Why would I?" Blue responded "It wasn't your fault."
Calla smiled as she had turned to go and Blue was sure he heard her give a muffled giggle.
"Strange girl" he shook his head as she closed the door behind her.
"What did Blue want... and why are you giggling?" Doom asked as they wandered down the corridor.
"Blue asked me to help with the class on a permanent basis" Calla grinned.
"And that is funny because why?"
"Oh no Doom; the funny part is he wants Emerson to help him in the other class."
"You are really starting to annoy me Squirt; what are you talking about?"
"Okay I'll explain; last night after dinner, Emerson told me he was pulling out of training to work with some robotic engineers. When I asked him why, he said he could learn a lot from them. He got really ticked off though when I said it was because he was jealous of Blue and the attention you showed him."
"Very interesting" Doom smirked "Do me a little favour Squirt and let me ask him about helping Blue."
"If you want" Calla shrugged.
Not wanting to waste a minute, Doom went in search of Emerson. It took a long time but she eventually found him intensely studying a two meter long hydraulic claw arm in one of the many busy workshops.
"I've lost count of the number of people I had to ask where you were" was Dooms odd way of saying hello.
"What can I do for you" the disinterested young man said without looking up.
"Calla informs me you dropped out of flight training before it even started."
"Yeah... I'm just not interested anymore" Emerson admitted.
"Blue asked Calla to assist him in Class One as a kind of student supervisor" Doom informed him.
"I'll bet she gets a kick out of being semi in charge."
"Oh she loves it; and Blue was hoping you would take the same position in Class Two."
"Not interested" Emerson declared bluntly.
"Okay, I'll let him know" Doom nodded "Perhaps I should take on the position myself."
"Do what you want" Emerson huffed as his annoyance grew.
"I always do; but I won't unless he asks me first" Doom smiled as she decided to spell it out "No one ever gets anywhere with me if they don't even bother to ask."
It took Emerson a few seconds for her words to sink in and by the time he turned around, Doom was already half way to the door.
"What on Earth did she mean by that?" the clueless young man asked himself.
Doom did not really care about being Blues assistant, but she did hope her words would help Emerson to gather some courage. Blue partially found out what was going on when he walked back into the simulator room at 15:29 to find only one person present.
"Emerson not here yet?" he asked Calla.
"He's err... decided to take a different path and join the robotics team" she answered.
"Oh... fair enough; I guess I'll just have to find someone else in Group Two to help me."
"You could" Calla smiled "or just as you are teaching both classes, I could help out in both if you like. I'm sure it would also help me to stay ahead of the pack, as you put it before."
"Really... you don't mind the extra work?" Blue was surprised "Hmm; there's more to you than I'd given you credit for."
"Did you just insult me?" Calla glared.
"Err... did I? I didn't mean too" Blue said in his defence "I just meant you've raised my opinion of you."
"Quit while you're ahead big mouth" Calla sighed.
"Oh dear; and I promised Doom I'd try to stop saying everything I thought without thinking some more about it first."
"Forget about it Captain Tact and tell me what we're doing here today."
"Yes... sorry... well I do want to teach you a little more about the controls on the Orbit Shuttle for Class two's first lesson but before we do, I thought it would be good to give you a ride in the Centrifuge before the rookies get in it."
"So I can tell them what to expect without all the technical jargon" Calla nodded.
"Pretty much yeah; but also to give you a heads up on what you can expect during a launch just in case you find it too... shall we say unpleasant?" Blue said honestly.
"You think I can't handle it?" Calla looked at Blue sideways.
"It never hurts to find out for sure" Blue replied.
"One question though; I hate to ask but... what's a Centrifuge?"
While Blue explained the machine to Calla, Captain Branson made a visit to the ship to check up on someone.
"DeGroot; open up" he beat on the cabin door.
From inside Branson heard the sound of someone rushing forward and tripping over before the door was finally opened.
"What have I done now?" DeGroot asked defensively.
"Nothing, I just want to ask you something" the captain replied.
"Then instead of yelling and trying to bash the door in, try knocking politely for a change."
"Oh don't be so sensitive" Branson snorted even though he knew DeGroot was right.
"So what do you want?" the annoyed historian snorted back.
"I've been talking to Professor Adisa about going back to America; he tells me you've agreed to help him even though that kid you've been bothering is staying behind."
"Yes it's true" DeGroot nodded.
"It's not like you to be so co-operative" Branson look suspicious "What's your angle?"
"Nothing nefarious Captain; Blue made me a reasonable offer and I took him up on it."
"So he's letting you prattle on about all that dragon garbage?" Reed looked at DeGroot sideways.
"Eloquently put as usual but yes; I agreed to go, he's going to stay and I get more than a month to go over his family history."
"I just can't see you leaving when the person you've been searching for stays behind; it just doesn't seem like you" Reed was still very suspicious.
"I'm sure it will help if tell you this; I know I will see Blue again someday" DeGroot smiled.
"So those books of yours can tell the future, can they?" Reed said sarcastically as he turned to leave.
"Of course not Captain" DeGroot laughed.
He shut the door behind Branson before returning to the books on his desk, picking up one with old Viking runes on the cover.
"But some of them, can still be somewhat prophetic" he smiled.
Apparently cows kill more people every year than sharks do, but I still wouldn't pay to see a film called Cownado.