[Note: This Science Fiction story is an
intense character study
with occasional sex scenes.]
Spatial navigation turned out to be surprisingly easy.
They were starting to work on the simulators, which pleased Taylor immensely. They were basically holographic computer screens and controls which simulated ship functions, but for Taylor they were a big step up from running around the perimeter or abstract classroom work.
Interstellar navigation turned out to be surprisingly simple. Plot a point, set a course, and that was it. Oh, there were a few twists. Inside a solar system, one had to be careful of planetary and solar gravity wells. On the rare occasion one was inside an asteroid belt, one had to navigate at a slower velocity. But really, it wasn't that complicated.
Flying in an atmosphere, and landing, was something else.
********
They were in a shuttle, taking turns at the controls. Right now Mohammida was piloting.
"Good, Mohammida, good," said their flight instructor, Lieutenant Healy. Suddenly, the shuttle started to shimmy. They could feel the vibrations in the floor. "Smooth it out, Mohammida, straighten it out!"
Mohammida strained at the controls. She was coming in for a landing over Auburn field, but there was heavy turbulence. Perhaps this hadn't been the best day to do shuttle testing. The shuttle started to bounce up and down. Suddenly, it started to spin about. Mohammida felt herself starting to lose control.
"Inertial dampeners!" Lieutenant Healy cried.
"I'm trying!" said Mohammida, but even as she spoke the shuttle flew over Auburn field and shot like a bullet towards downtown Perth. Suddenly there was a large skyscraper ahead of them.
"For the greater glory of Laquinta!" Mohammida cried, as she plowed into a tall building. The shuttle exploded, obliterating them all in an instant.
********
The screen in front of them went blank. Lieutenant Healy looked down at Mohammida. "Mohammida, did you just plow into a building and yell 'For the Greater Glory of Laquinta'?"
"I might have," Mohammida confessed, looking incredibly guilty. "We were dead anyway. I had lost control."
"That's because you didn't keep an eye on your inertial dampeners. This isn't a suicide mission, Mohammida, you are expected to learn how to land as well as take off."
"Remind me not to fly again with Mohammida any time soon," Cherry whispered in his ear.
Taylor restrained a laugh.
But the incident brought out an underlying tension. The Survey Service had fought three wars against the followers of Laquinta; although Mohammida claimed she followed a moderate, peaceful version of the Book of Blood, this incident only raised further doubts about her.
People discussed it openly over dinner that night. "She may say that she follows a reformed interpretation, but how do we know if we ship out with her that one night she won't go crazy and slit our throats?" Bill Kenilworth asked.
"Mohammida would never do that," said Allyson Harshbarger. "She's not that kind of person."
"So was Jordan Abu Kamal," said Kenilworth. "Remember that incident on the
Yorktown
, a few years ago? Jordan was a follower of Laquinta too, a reformed one, so he said. He had four spotless years in the service. Then one day he snapped and cut the throat of every watch officer on the bridge. If he hadn't been disarmed by a passing crewman, he could have killed the entire crew during the night watch. No, when I watch a pilot plow gleefully into a building and yell out for Laquinta, it's time for me to fly with a different spaceline."
They all looked over at Mohammida. She was chatting happily with Paula Kenobi at another table.
Mike wondered if they were right. Other former followers of Laquinta had snapped. Could it happen to Mohammida?
********
They continued training on shuttle simulators for several days. After some practice, Taylor found that he handled the controls well enough to get a smile from Lieutenant Healy's face. Cherry Oteri, Sophie Astor, and Andrea Farber also proved to be capable pilots. Ernie Maslarov, however, crashed three times, and Allyson Harshbarger had a tendency to flip over upon landing.
And then, when they were ready, they moved on to real shuttles. The first time Taylor found himself flying a real vessel he felt a thrill of excitement. He took off and landed well enough. When Mohammida's turn came, everyone felt a surge of worry but tried not to show it. Their instructor, Lieutenant Rawlings, was sitting in the copilot's seat. He would take the controls if Mohammida tried to turn this into a suicide mission. So they hoped. But Taylor prepared himself to jump up and take the controls if Mohammida slit Rawlings' throat and set the shuttle into a suicide plunge. Just in case.
It turned out that there was no need for it. Mohammida did well enough, taking off, flying with apparent ease. When she turned to start her landing at the Pensacola field, more than one hand gripped an arm rest, but there was no need to worry. Mohammida landed at the proper landing strip without crashing into a single building. Not even a small one. And she didn't even slit Lieutenant's Rawlings throat in the process. Everyone was quite pleased with the results.
********
Taylor was distinctly surprised by what was taught in his class on diplomacy and first contact. Having been raised in a rigorous World Government curriculum for all of his life, he had learned that unexpected planets always had fragile environments that must be respected. If there were flowers on an alien planet, none could be sampled without horrifying effects on the environment. Even if a planet were a lifeless rock like the Moon, mining for minerals could create catastrophic environmental effects.
As for contact with alien species, Taylor learned in high school that people from Earth were always greedy oppressors and other life forms and even human cultures from other planets were always superior to those of Earth's. Never mind that human beings on Ramada had launched not one but three wars of aggression against the Earth.
It was with some surprise, then when Colonel Calle lectured them with a decidedly different approach. "You land on a planet full of trees and birds. What do you do?"
Cadets spoke up one at a time.
"You apologize for invading a pristine planet."
"You make sure not to harm any of the local species."
"You leave as soon as possible and submit a full report recommending the planet be kept in the same condition for all eternity-"
"No, no, no," said Calle. "You assess the vegetation, animal, and minerals to see if there's anything we can harness. The planet might have incredibly useful mineral resources. Its plant or animal life could produce wonderful medicines that could save lives, or technological advances we can only dream of."
A cadet raised her hand.
"Yes, Harshbarger?"
"But if we do that, wouldn't we be exploiting a lush alien environment?" she asked.
"Very good, Harshbarger! That's
exactly
what we would be doing," said Calle. He saw the confused expressions on the Cadets' faces. "You all have to unlearn eighteen years of propaganda you've been fed. Empty planets benefit no one. Human beings survive from harnessing the environment around them. You've been taught to place absolute value on empty environments, and zero value on the needs of humans. That kind of thinking has to change."
In short order, Calle had reversed some of their conditioning. "Farber! You come to a planet full of Selenium. What do you do?"
"Recommend strip mining begin at once!" said Andrea, with a brilliant smile on her face.
"Good!" said Calle. "Kenilworth! This planet also has 5000 sub varieties of tiny space beetles. If you do strip mining, one of the 5000 sub varieties might become extinct. What do you do?"
Bill Kenilworth looked confused. "Uh, maybe you do a years long study-"
"Strip mining!" Ernie Maslarov cried out, with a grin.
"Right!" said Calle. "And what if a ship full of activists from Greenwar arrive on the planet to try and stop you, what do you do?"
There was a moment's pause. Then Sophie Astor raised her hand. "Yes."
"Arrest them for entering a closed area, and have them put in medical quarantine for two months, just in case."
"Correct," said Calle, smiling.
