Human Starpilots

by F Stephan

  Today, it was Emily’s turn to move out with the shuttle, and she had requested a long ride to work on acceleration and deceleration. This would give him more time to work and test his latest ideas. Brian engaged the connection procedure, activating a very low level of nanites to increase his perception without tiring too much. He had acquired some finesse recently with the repetitive exercises he had carried out in the last weeks.

  The shuttle accelerated using its full ion streams. Unlike the large spaceships, the shuttle made no ripple on the chart while it moved. Brian had researched a lot along that direction after he had discovered the ripples when the Heavyweight had left, but they had never reappeared. This was probably linked to the singularity that was the core of the spaceships, although Brian hadn’t found any proof. Brian worked on several new approaches he had devised since his last practice, but none of them worked.

  He had been so engrossed in his different analyses that he didn’t notice the position of the shuttle. Taking a step back, he noticed the ship was now far out in an unusual position and increasing velocity. Around it, there were multiple rocks on collision courses. He swore, closed his eyes, repeated his mantra, and went into full-nanites mode.

  Emergency. Link to shuttle.

  Negative. No shuttle known.

  Link to pilot Emily Cattlin.

  Acknowledged. Link engaged.

  “Emily, confirm trajectory.”

  “Brian, is that you? How can I?”

  “Full nanites, Emily, and request link activation.”

  My head is split into two. One is the navigation console with the detail of her course through the asteroid and back to the station. The other is connected to the different controls of the shuttle. Emily occupies the other side of my brain, also connected to the two.

  “You’re on Netoar run, aren’t you?”

  “Yes. You should disengage and stop helping me. You know the penalty.”

  “Emily, you have rocks on close collision course! No time to tell you how stupid you are.”

  I run simulations until I have two proposals with success probability above 90 percent. Emily chooses number one and engages the required course correction. For each correction, I recompute the path to increase probabilities. We now have four hands light-seconds apart. For each recompute, Emily corrects courses in an infinite cycle.

  Emily increases speed as our probabilities extend into the future, and finally the ship pierces the belt. It is out, and Emily engages the breaking curve to come back to the station.

  Sirens are ringing in our mind, nanites usage alert, and we finally listen to them and step down, back to reality.

  Brian disengaged and gasped for air. He fell to the floor, shivering from the pure pain that ran through every nerve. His shape changed on and off. “Focus, focus, focus. Back to the star chamber.” He was now back to the chamber, immersed in the chart. He knew who he was beyond the agony, and he forced that knowledge into his body until at last his body obeyed, and he found himself again crumpled on the floor. He had conquered the nanites again.

  A hand shot out with a protein bar and a glass of water. He ate slowly and drank. Then, at last he looked up and found Nillimer facing him. This was the moment the shouting began, and the exhilaration faded, as quickly as it had come. The words “lunatic,” “imbecile,” and “careless idiot,” had a nice ring to them compared to the other ones she used. He noticed also the marines standing armed and ready around him. Their captain, at a nod from Nillimer, brought him up.

  “Boy, you are in deep trouble. I think you have scored the best grade in trouble for years.” Brian wasn’t sure, but he thought the captain had a small smile behind the grim face.

  When he reached the cells, Emily was waiting for him. A doctor was leaving her side. She had several bruises visible on her arms.

  “I’m sorry, Brian,” she said quietly.

  “Yes, I do suppose you are. You had to prove it, didn’t you?”

  “This asshole is going to eat it raw. I am going to ram it into his throat,” she concluded exultantly. She flew into his arms, hugging him, and then burst into tears that wouldn’t stop.

  They were in isolation with bracelets deactivated. Only one question remained. What would happen to them?

  46 Reinkel

  “We have heard the report from Guild Controller Nillimer on the unapproved run through the Netoar. She wants the most extreme punishment. What is your position?” stated Reinkel, watching the gathered teachers intently. The council room felt cold this morning. Kilet Namek, guild master and father to one of the accused, attended as well. Don Mariano participated from the other side of the planet via his hologram, as did all remote teachers.

  When the silence became oppressive, Mistress Lyupert opened the debate. “Well, we can maybe split into three cases. Sonter Namek tried a dare. It was stupid on his part, because even if he did say it was forbidden, he insisted that his father had done it twice.” She had a look to the guild master, who nodded slowly.

  “That already will require strong discipline. He must learn to keep his tongue and avoid making other dares. I have no clue of the other challenges he can boast about.” Master Heikert’s voice was cold and stern, brimming with contained anger.

  Polantor took over with a conciliatory voice that usually grated on Reinkel’s nerves. “I think we can all agree on that. The boy is promising; he has a true talent, a lot like you, Kilet…An accidental run may happen once. Twice would be excessive.” (Why is suddenly so supportive? What has Kilet arranged? The dean smiled inside. Don’t get paranoid. There is enough to worry about already.)

  “So, we vote on a punishment?” continued Master Reinkel.

  The other teachers nodded around the table. Master Namek rose and in a clear, but for once subdued, voice declared, “I may have told stories I shouldn’t have and may have put more pressure on students than was needed.” The room approved, and the elder man cringed. “I will have a talk with Sonter. Maybe ask Nellym, his older cousin, to talk with him as well.” The concession cost him greatly, but he was cornered.

  “Now to the other two?”

  “They’re stupid fools with more guts than brains, especially the girl.” Master Heikert paused. “But that’s what we expect from them at this age. And I have reviewed in detail the log from the console. They have built an excellent nanite control. They activated shared nanites across a light-second through the navigation console. With their limited previous experience, and even if they have not been able to reproduce it for Mistress Nillimer again, this is quite an achievement.”

  “And there is no damage to the shuttle or to anyone. So I would advise a very strong punishment to both of them to send a clear message to all students but move against exclusion.”

  Mistress Polantor remained dubious. “The girl flew on her own and was lucky to have the boy help her. Otherwise, the story would be different. Why punish Brian?”

  “Because if he had truly paid attention, he would have detected her course early enough to change it. He found it far in advance to the central control team. And once he had understood her intention, he could also have alerted the central team and deviated the course. No, he chose to stand by his comrade and to help her out. Mutual support is one thing, lack of judgment another,” said Master Reinkel.

  “Well, if we all agree, the three accused will be brought back to Certan and will be sent to the Reclaim Project south of Cape Ring for a month. The boy and the girl will work field together. Sonter will work remote support with their life in his hands,” concluded master Reinkel. He turned to Master Namek. “This will show him the importance of helping others.” The other man held his gaze for a long while before turning his head. “And, since they have not practiced on landing, and nor will they be able to, they will bring a portable simulator and work on their free time on it to learn that skill. In this, they will support each other and will pass, or fail, together.”

  “Master, my apologies, but what is the Reclaim Project south o
f Cape Ring?” asked Don Mariano to Master Heikert while Kilet and the teachers left the room.

  “South of Cape Ring lies the city of Netikal, which was the center of the Second Renaissance. It was a period of growth and prosperity on the planet after an age of clans and limited trade. Initially it grew around Netikal and a religious group called The Brotherhood. But it is rarely mentioned now on the planet because in the end Netikal, with so much accumulated wealth and power, became a planet-wide tyranny, solely intent to tracking the unfaithful. It stopped when the rebels from the Telem and Tourim clans destroyed it, ending this age.”

  “Becoming taboo is extreme for that, especially if the Second Renaissance was a sort of golden age on this planet. I’m not sure I understand it all.”

  “There was more indeed. The Brotherhood was so powerful in the end and so corrupt that it became unstoppable. There are a billion inhabitants currently on this planet. Doesn’t it seem odd with the level of technology on Adheek? The planet could hold more, even in this age.”

  Don Mariano had been disturbed by this but had never really investigated the matter. Master Heikert continued without waiting for his reply. “They were four billion midway through the Renaissance, according to the last known census, just before the Brotherhood became mad. A century later, they were three billion left from the Purge of the Sinners, and the rebels were getting crushed. The legends says the Inquisitors had found an Old Device that could truth evaluate hundreds of people in an instant. The rebels couldn’t escape it”.

  “Could they truly build such a thing?”

  “Who knows? Maybe, they did it on their own. We often blame the Ancients for what we do ourselves. Anyway, the rebels detonated a dirty bomb close to the city. It was very dirty and so close to the pole that it killed nearly everyone. Facing the atrocities, the rebels were really desperate, you see. Beyond any reason, at that stage.”

  “They shifted the planet’s axis, didn’t they? It was too close, and it destabilized the planet’s ecosystem. It sent the planet into the warm age.” At last, Don Mariano understood the taboo.

  The master nodded in agreement. “When people had recovered enough to go again in exploration, they found a crater surrounded by narrow cliffs and mad and contaminated nature below. Since then, working for the Reclaim Project is the most severe civil punishment on the planet and a constant reminder of where violence and uncontrolled use of technology led them. You see, both parties destroyed the planet, whatever their reason was.”

  Don Mariano sighed. “Why couldn’t she just have stayed quiet?”

  Master Heikert laughed for the first time. “Emily, stay quiet? Are you sure you know the girl? I mean, beyond the overachiever. If she survives, she will go far and high. This will teach the three of them a lesson if they survive it. And they need it. Do you understand what your two youngsters did?”

  “No?” Don Mariano was lost in the sudden answer from the master.

  “They initiated a mental link through nanites and hyperspace. We have fewer than a hundred pilots who realized similar feats over the last century.”

  “Brian?”

  “Yes, surprising. His reactions are very, very interesting. We need to expose them to other situations and see how they react. Maybe split them apart also to test,” mused the expert as he rose, lost in thought.

  Before leaving the room, he turned again to face the ambassador. “You know that the next step for those who succeed is to go to the Federation capital for more training. Do you know that there is another level of training beyond that? Please do a bit of research on that.”

  Don Mariano sighed again. There was so much he didn’t understand yet about this Federation and what it was looking for. Ye t, a lot of Earth’s future depended on his capacity to discover its inner workings. He rose to walk out. He would spend another night on the DataDump, and this was something he needed to sort out without any help. Otherwise, why would the other have waited specifically until they were alone to say it?

  47 Brian

  Brian learned with relief the final decision from the academy council. But then he saw how Mistress Nillimer smiled coldly, knowingly, when she told the three of them the news. And Sonter reacted immediately with a whimper. Whatever his faults, he was no coward, and the simple fact that he dreaded his punishment frightened them even more than the station controller.

  They were ushered by the relieved marines to the first shuttle available, allowing no new contacts to their fellow students. The sorry look from Althal when they boarded confirmed how the next month was going to be. Yet they had not been expelled. Emily was devastated, and her usual magnetic radiance was shaded and paler. Well, she would get over it, wouldn’t she? Sonter was gray faced and downcast. Brian, for his part, had been to Summer Scout Reclaim Camp on the Saint Louis site, and he had a fairly good idea of what he would find. The shuttle launched, and they clasped their security harness. They were alone on the flight in mute pain. Brian griped his harness and suddenly broke out the silence laughing. He had found hidden in his harness two very thin sheets of paper with sixteen signatures on it. In an instant he recognized the scanned writing from Illoma, Tasha, Shanak, and the others. He didn’t know who had done it but all their fellow students travelled somehow with them in this flight. They would endure and go back to space. He handed it silently over to Sonter and Emily. They had a look at it, and at a look from Sonter, Emily hid the small document.

  When they landed, Mistress Lyupert took them apart from the flight crew to explain their new conditions. “You will be monitored at all times during your stay. You will obey every order and work diligently. Your stay can be prolonged until the senior work master is happy with you. Is that clear?” They nodded briefly. “You cannot use your nanites unless you are in direct and immediate danger. I want this to be very clear. Any use above the simple sense enhancements is prohibited. Below that threshold, no one can detect anything.”

  “Mistress, how do we know when we approach the limit?” asked Emily in her small voice.

  “If your bracelet buzzes, the limit is near. Stop immediately. If your bracelet turns red, you get one extra month of punishment.” Brian gulped.

  “Now, we have already sent the simulator over by transport. Emily, you are in charge of its operation, Brian of its maintenance. Sonter, you will monitor the connection with the central academy systems. You already know the communications protocol on Adheek, and it will help you.”

  “Yes, Mistress.”

  “Good. What a sorry bunch you are. No better sense than to do a forbidden run without even checking why it was forbidden. I was so furious when I learned it!” She sighed. “And I won’t talk about Masters Reinkel or Heikert. We could hear them from the other side of the building”. All three winced. “Well, now it is done, and you will pay a price for stupidity. Let it be a lesson for you.”

  The three bowed their heads in contrition.

  Two local guards from the security forces took charge of them and escorted them to the train to Cape Ring, which they boarded with them, announcing bleakly they would travel all the way. They did not complain, and Brian suspected they were also being punished at the same time. They changed for a land transport, a huge beast on four wheels, and arrived a day later at a lonely camp on the rim of the blast crater. They had donned during transit protective antiradiation suits. These had been waiting for them at the Cape Ring Guild Center and had included to their surprise a small audio listener loaded with Earth music. At least they had a few friends here and there, it seemed.

  The crater had a vermillion glass rim extending over more than sixty kilometers with peaks and valleys in a lunar landscape. The glass was kept as a reminder and as a defense perimeter. Only a few guarded stairs allowed access to the bottom of the crater through control stations manned by the local forces. This was the first time on the planet that Brian had seen such a demonstration of military power.

  The station master, Rendor Tremeek, waited for them in the central hall.

&
nbsp; “Welcome,” he said quietly. “What is done is now past and behind you. You will work here to remember what folly creates. Folly on all parts and all sides. The Brotherhood and the rebellion both were the worst time of our history. Yet without rebellion, we would not exist freely today, and without the Brotherhood, we would not have survived the great contagions.” Brian was lost in the foreign history, but Sonter agreed quietly.

  “Now, Emily and Brian will lead a reclaiming effort. You will learn tomorrow how it works. Sonter, you will support all the workers in the crater in the monitor team. Don’t envy him his task; it is draining and hard. At the end of the day, you will have research session where you will learn what the Brotherhood was and help the scientist progress on understanding this area. The three of you will work every day except on Tenday, when you will train on the simulator set up in warehouse number three. You can also train at night if you need to.”

  They all nodded. They would need to train at night, and they knew it. For that matter, the station master knew it as well.

  “Last thing. You have all your civil rights except for freedoms of movement and communication. The return train will only accept you when your sentence is completed. Otherwise, you will be treated fairly here, be fed as needed and earn a small stipend, which you can spend at the station. And you cannot communicate with people outside of the compound, except for your Ambassador Della Vega or Guild Master Namek and only in case of emergencies. But, if you have one, you can contact them at any time with your bracelet. Is that understood?”