Human Starpilots

by F Stephan

  This man was the second most important emissary from the Federation after the envoy, and some rumors said he came before the envoy in the hierarchy, although this may have been slander. The office was unadorned, with a glass wall that faced the administrative open space. The desk was plain as well, a piece of utilitarian durasteel furniture. Master Azam, dressed in a simple office suit with the federation badge pinned on it, was seated behind the desk on a simple chair with a dark console. The rat-faced man with his small, squinting eyes and his long nose had spent a full minute stating precisely the date, the participants, and the object on the 3-D console.

  “You have to understand that I am here specifically to advise the Adheeken government. I don’t have sufficient facts to help any other planet, nor am I allowed to,” said the economist in a most circumspect tone. “I only received you at the request of the pilot guild master, but I usually don’t receive ambassadors. Finally, I must tell you that according to Federation regulations, this meeting is recorded.” On the 3-D, a new space appeared where their holograms played. “This data will be made available to you and your staff as soon as we have finished.”

  “I thank you for your time. I would be honored to receive your advice on general economic matters.” Don Mariano paused for a second, and the other relaxed slightly. “I really want to improve our understanding of the trade between worlds and especially how Earth can trade better with Adheek. I am talking about technologies, design services, or real items.”

  “I think my esteemed colleague Nashiz’al’Naram has already taught you much about these questions. Yet sometimes, one does not fully understand what one is taught until one faces the situation,” continued the administrator with a superior air. He got up and opened on the other side of desk a 3-D representation of the cluster. “I will be honest with you. Worlds haggle and barter for goods. This is quite simple and plain.”

  “But the Federation has its own money? Master Naram told us a lot about it.”

  “Yes, that is one of his passions. I understand better your request. Federation money is mostly used for the comparative pay of the Federation support staff. I won’t go into the technical details of the agreement under the charter, but the Federation uses this money only to pay for our local needs. You cannot buy or sell goods with that money.”

  “But that limits trade by removing a reference point?” asked the ambassador.

  “No, if you want goods from Adheek, you have to find something that Adheek wants in return. And trade volumes are very limited. We don’t want artificial money moving around without being attached to explicit value. We, of Alkath, know the risks.”

  Don Mariano nodded at that. Alkath was the Core Federation World where all had begun, and some of its inhabitants were annoying to an incredible degree. Yet they had an advance on Earth that could not be denied.

  “You also need ships to move your merchandise around.” The economist continued in his pedantic voice. “I heard you were offered a local trade agreement to help you out. Remember that you will keep a part of whatever relic is found in your solar system. The rules have been codified under Federation Charter regarding the splitting of discovery, and no contract can override these rules. Do not forget to look into Nelom’s entry in the Federation to learn more about this, but my esteemed colleague will inform your governments on these matters in very precise terms.”

  Don Mariano made a note to ask Mathias about relics and what had happened in the system of Nelom when they reviewed their interview. He would have more inputs on this in a few hours. This was so frustrating. They had access through the DataDump to the key information available to all in the Federation, but until they knew what to look for, it was fairly useless.

  He concluded, “And we need pilots and other support staff.”

  “Well, you are here for them,” the advisor answered haughtily. “Until then, you can rent berth in ships—and, if you find a ship, rent pilots—but this is so very expensive. And you need also an observer in your star system.” This last concept was new to the ambassador, and he would need to check it later on. At every turn, he found new hurdles and issues.

  “Last, when you are able to participate in the shared activities—like training, research, or production for the Federation—you will be eligible for the development funds. They will help you move forward and interact more with other planets. But you are far from there yet. You have to know we have only engaged this work with Adheek, and they joined one century ago,” Master Puil added with a sneer.

  “What about those incredible devices from the Ancient? They would help tremendously to stabilize our ecosystem. What do we need to do to gain access to some of them?”

  “You have to understand that there are so few who remain intact and so many planets that need help. We, of Alkath, know we cannot help all, even if in the beginning we did try. Those machines, mighty as they are, cannot save you alone. Show us that Earth moves ahead to solve its own problem, and that it can become a stable regional anchor for the Federation. Then we will provide more support. It may seem cynical for you but it is what we experienced”.

  The condescending tone irritated in no small measure Don Mariano. Yet, he had had one small insight. The Federation needed allies and support. That was something to escalate back to Earth in his next dispatch. Committing the item to his memory, he continued on his prepared agenda.

  “If you had only come one hundred of even fifty years before, we wouldn’t need so much support”. This was something Don Mariano didn't understand. With so many star charts from the ancient, why was the Federation expanding so slowly?

  “This is a remark we often have. And sometimes we arrive when it is too late. You have to understand we have limited resources for exploration. There are many worlds to explore. And when we discover an inhabited world, we take around ten years to prepare contact properly. They were…” For the first time, the tone from the Advisor grew hesitant.”… terrible mistakes in the beginnings. We do not want to reproduce the same errors. We now follow a very careful and organized plan”. His voice trailed off into silence.

  Don Mariano nodded. He wouldn’t get more information today. He went back to more urgent requests.

  “Could you orient us toward trades that could profit both Adheek and Earth? Without breaching any confidentiality rules, naturally.”

  “There are opportunities aplenty between your planets, I am sure. I can share with you a few studies that are available to all ambassadors. It would start you in the right direction.”

  The economist called up a new 3-D presentation and showed different agreements that had been signed around Adheek. He had also a few studies into what the different Adheek corporations were looking for. Don Mariano captured all charts and contracts for Mathias and for his own future analysis. He would have liked more actionable ideas, but the bureaucrat remained precisely and extensively neutral in his lesson.

  When he left the Federation building, the summary was simple. The DataDump was free. Everything else required spaceships and innovations, and until Earth had both, they couldn’t obtain more funds from the Federation. Pilots would help, as they could, over time, take shares in ships. Now, they had to find local Adheeken parties interested in Earth to trade goods. Again and again, they hit the same obstacles. Ships, pilots, and goods. And, once they had overcome these, Don Mariano was sure there would be new challenges.

  He sighed and whispered, “One step at a time. We have to go one step at time.” He called Mathias and suggested they meet in a café by the closest river. They would review the numbers and analyze who they should meet here in Certan. They would soon have to travel the planet to learn more. And they would have to come back fast to support and watch over their group of students. They couldn’t afford any mistakes on both accounts. As he walked toward the meeting point, ideas formed in his mind. The situation was close to desperate, but he had an entire planet to work with and several ambassadors from other planets to go even farther. He would sell whatever cou
ld be sold and would provide the technical support his planet required.

  15 Brian

  Brian initiated the scenario in the simulator. This was his third time for that day. Master Reinkel had introduced it as a simple trajectory inside a small star system. There were two giant planets, one asteroid belt, and comets. In this scenario, he had just exited the transfer point at the normal transit speed, 1 percent of the speed of light and had to reach the next exit point in a seven-minute travel time, only fifteen million kilometers away. This was a tenth of the distance between Earth and the Sun. The first two attempts had resulted in spectacular explosions. Brian wondered briefly what a complex scenario would lead to but focused back quickly on his run.

  He called up three screens around him, with a representation of the trajectory on the left, a summary of the ship statistics on the right, and a summary of all objects in front of him. He had tried more screens but had concluded quickly enough that for now, he couldn’t handle that level of information. Space was definitely not empty in this not-so-simple setting, and he could hear Master Heikert’s moto again and again.

  “With the speed you will use normally, any mistake will blow your ship in a thousand pieces, boy. You have to anticipate any action far in advance. You don’t have any magic shields, just a metal hull around your ship. So project yourself ahead.”

  In a few seconds, he calculated possible courses and decided on the most efficient one, extending his analysis as far as he could reach. He had so many inputs to manage that his head threatened to split. Yet he pushed a bit further to reach the exit point.

  “Course activated, vector adjustment in thirty seconds, ten, and done. Speed reduction in one minute. Small rock in the path. Laser shot in ten seconds, rock avoided. Exit minus four minutes. Second course adjustment in forty seconds, thirty, ten, and done. Small impacts outside the ship but no damages. Exit minus one minute. Last alignment with the exit point in five seconds, speed increase to exit speed and hyperspace engage in five seconds, two, and…”

  And his ship blew up in a silent firework. He had missed one input, and one rock met at full speed had been enough. Then, he heard the master’s voice in the cockpit. “Thank you all. We will stop obliterating away Federation ships and begin the debrief of your daily attempts. We are meeting at my console in five minutes.”

  When he exited the cockpit, spirit crushed, Sonter was looking at him smugly. “Well, crappie boy, another crash? Third today? And what is the count now for the last three days? Told you. You are the crappiest pilot of the Federation.” The son of the corporation master had managed to reach the exit point once with his ship intact, and he always made sure to let Brian know of his superiority. Behind him, Shanak smiled and with a small gesture showed he had blown his ship as well. Emily laid her arm on Sonter’s shoulder. “Again bragging, aren’t you? We didn’t train since kindergarten like you. Be nice, will you?” And with that, she dragged him away. Brian didn’t know what he resented more between his recent failures, the smugness of Sonter and Emily flying to his rescue. He clenched his fists and followed Shanak to the elevator. Illoma was already in the ground floor.

  Master Reinkel was waiting for them, stern faced, with multiple screens like a constellation of stars arrayed in a brilliant corona above his head. For that, Brian was amazed at the technology from the Ancient. Earth managed 3-D well enough but the images would lose coherence when looked at from an angle. Here, the 3-D representation was crystal clear from anywhere in the room. “We will debrief on two axes. Planning and execution. Let’s start with execution.” He brought different recordings and detailed what made those executions more effective. As expected, Sonter’s and Emily’s simulations were among the best three and Brian’s among the example of the worst mistakes. Brian ground his teeth and focused his attention on all the details.

  After a good half hour, Master Reinkel changed subject. “Now, with planning.” The crowd sighed tiredly, but the teacher brought only one of the stars in front of him. “You will compare this path, by the way grabbed from Brian, to yours for tomorrow and evaluate how it is more efficient. Brian, I have selected for you a more complex scenario. You will provide me with the best path you can produce under the thirty-second threshold and with unlimited time.” Many looked at him, surprised at his success. Illoma had her thumb up in an old Earth gesture he had taught her, and he smiled at her. Having good trajectory didn’t prevent him from blowing up ships, but at least he’d rebuilt a little his damaged ego.

  “Now, you will go back to the simulators. I will run the same simulation at zero dot eight percent of the speed of light, with Brian’s trajectory preconfigured, and you will apply all execution practices we have seen together. For Emily, Troum, and Sonter, you will run the simulation at one point two.”

  That was classic of the teacher. Push as much as he could the best and move everyone else along. Leopold whispered to him. “I had the best reflexes of all professional video game players in Africa. I came to see how far I could go. Well, that’s not good.”

  Brian slapped in on the shoulders. “Stop complaining and let’s try to do better. At least, you were not ordered to come like Li Bao”. It sobered his friend instantly and they walked back into their respective cockpits.

  An hour later when they left the tower, exhausted, Illoma took his hand.

  “Smile. At least you had one success today. And this is Fourday, with a free evening.”

  Brian looked at her dark eyes, and she met his gaze steadily. “We have all dinner at Detram and Myirt for sundown; and then Sonter suggested a party we could go to by the lake,” she said mischievously. “Or I’ve found a nice concert near the old guilds hall, and we could slip over there together.”

  At last, Brian smiled and slipped his arm around her shoulders. He had nearly two nights before he would fly again. This left them plenty of time before he had to work on his homework.

  16 Brian

  Brian was seated on the bench outside his tutor’s office, sweating over his homework, when the door opened. The light was again blinking erratically. Brian still didn’t understand the pristine condition of the simulators and the star chamber compared to the frequent outage in the other part of the complex. Master Heikert waited for him behind his desk. In front of him, a star chart was displayed.

  “Sit down, boy. Polantor has just confirmed that you have validated your unit on applied mathematics. You have only succeeded by one point, mind you.” The teacher was grim faced. Brian had hated the course from its very beginning, but he knew he would have to continue working on it. “In the meantime, this will bring back your workload to a more reasonable level. At last, you are back on track on the theoretical courses.” Brian felt a ton lifting from his shoulders. He had been trying to catch on to theory for the last month.

  “Let’s move to the simulator. How do you feel with the command interface?”

  “I still get lost in the advanced menus, but I’m confident with the main commands. My main problem is that I’m not fast enough to handle all inputs at the same time.”

  “This is quite normal at this stage of the training, but it can be a bit frustrating.” Master Heikert had elevated underestimating frustration to an art. “For next week, I want you to focus on all command related to navigation. You are strong in that area and you need to build confidence in one advanced area at least.”

  Brian had already explored that area in the different consoles. He suppressed a smile. Now, he had an explicit authorization to go further. Master Heikert grunted.

  “Let’s talk serious business. You have been flying for now in normal space. Let’s move on. Can you give me a description of hyperspace based on your handbook?”

  Brian hesitated and then suggested in a weak voice, “There are no explicit descriptions of hyperspace itself. We cross between two areas of weak gravitational fields by creating a singularity and following what the book qualifies as the least-resistance path.”

  “This is the core of what you need to
know currently, but there is a lot more in the Handbook about it, when you know what to look for. Let’s make it practical for you. Take the 3-D console and look for Certan third transit points. Show me the different recommendations to approach the transit points based on the Handbook.”

  Brian took the console and called the transit point. Then, based on what he had read in the book and in different courses, he built different possible vectors for transit, highlighting them in colors as he went. After a while, Master Heikert began to review the vectors, asking why some could not work, why others were the best possible options, and last, why some were working but countereffective. Brian guessed some of the answers, but he mainly demonstrated a very limited understanding of the book.

  “You have read, you can suggest options, which is at least something, but you do not understand at all what you do. You will need to work item by item until you understand them more fully. This session was recorded as usual; start from my questions and work your way back into the book. We will continue on this next week, and I expect strong progress.”

  “May I ask a question?”

  “You may ask. If it is stupid, I may not answer or may give extra assignments. And if it is good, I may also give you more work.” The teacher smiled. “But I do prefer questions to dumb silence.”

  “The manual explains how to access the list of points but not how to calculate where they are in advance or how we find them. There is a lot of philosophy in the Handbook, but I can’t find any practical section anywhere, sir,” said Brian, waiting for a harsh reply.