Skylar Kaynes

All around me, everyone else is waking up as well. Emotions seem to vary a lot; some people look like they're almost panicked, some look tentatively happy, but most just look relieved. I'm actually starting to worry for a moment. If it was so hard for some of the others, did I do something wrong, miss something? The simulation gives no indication of how well you did, only terminates once you're back on the ground.

One guy, Carson, whispers, "I almost crashed getting off the runway. After that I think I did ok, but takeoff was a mess."

"I'm sure you did fine," I tell him out of habit. In my mind I'm still reliving my flight. It was amazing, the way I felt so much more in control there than I have in any other simulation.

I'm snapped out of my reverie by Lieutenant Barr yelling my name with an expression that indicates that this is not the first time. Well, crap. "Follow me," he instructs, once I've snapped to attention. My happiness starts to drain away and is quickly replaced with trepidation.

I'm taken to the second highest floor, where basically all the commanding officers I've ever seen in the Spire are standing around the outside of the room. I'm confused and actually rather terrified, and it takes me a couple seconds to remember how to salute.

"At ease," General Marsh commands. "Now, we brought you here because we noticed some abnormalities in your initial flight. We monitor trainees' first flight sims carefully. It shows us which ones have promise, and which ones need a warning to train harder."

Lieutenant Blackburn steps forward with a portable screen. "Here's the average flight of a Middle Company trainee." A video starts displaying on the now-floating screen. From the start, it's pretty clear that whoever ran this ship wasn't ready. The takeoff is so slow that they barely make it off the ground. The flight path to the planet isn't bad, but they enter the gravity field at a bad angle and have to power the thrusters into reverse at the last moment to avoid a collision course (although I do give them props for the quick reaction). Once they make it around the back of the planet, the trip back is decent until the landing, which could best be described as clumsy.

"Now we have your initial flight." Now that I'm watching it objectively, I see a few things that went wrong; liftoff was a little shaky and I reentered the atmosphere a little too fast, but overall it's not bad.

"As you can see, for a first flight you did exceptionally well, apart from the theatrics on the way back. We're trying to figure out why." General Marsh looks at me expectantly.

I have absolutely no idea how to respond to this. "I don't know, I just somehow knew what I was supposed to be doing." The comment about "theatrics" needles me. I was just testing the ship's abilities. In a highly enjoyable manner.

Lieutenant Barr looks at the General for permission, then asks, "When you were flying, is you feel like you were actually piloting an aircraft?"

I think for a moment. "Well yeah, but it's not like I felt like a person flying a ship. It was more like...I really don't know, more like the ship itself, I guess."

"So did you have to think about everything, or did it feel like it just happened on instinct?"

"Umm, I guess I thought about it at first, then it was probably instinct." These questions are ridiculous. I can't even remember what I was thinking half the time, much less summarize it.

"Alright. Basically, that's what we need to know. You see, that instinct you talked about doesn't usually develop until you're a couple months into the flight sims. Most people think the have to consciously control every movement the ship needs to make. Essentially, they act like a human pilot of a manned aircraft. You think differently, and it makes you a natural flier."

My mind whirls, trying to process that information. "But I didn't even know what I was supposed to be doing half the time, it just happened, really."

"That's what natural means, trainee," Blackburn snaps.

I ignore him. "So, what does this mean?"

"Well, we're not really sure," Marsh says. "We don't get many like you, so there's not really a clear corse of action. We'll discuss what we want to do based on your training scores, and get back to you soon. For now, you're dismissed."

I salute again and leave the room in an exceptionally disgruntled manner. Sure, the whole natural ability thing is great, and I'm sure it'll sink in later, but right now they've just made me miss lunch.

Sorry this is late, I totally just spaced on updating. Anyway, it's great that some of you guys are even reading it! Please review :D