Solar Umbrella (Book 1)

PART II: Chapter 18: The Interview

PARKER TOOK A good look at the man who was conducting his interview. Frank Williams was in his early fifties, thin, very fit, hair gone entirely grey, or at least what was left of it. His eyes told the true story of the man though. They shone with intelligence. He had a light demeanour and Parker had found the early stages of the interview—looking over his resume and references—actually enjoyable rather than stressful. Frank had spent most of his professional life at NASA right out of college, something Parker hoped to replicate. A lot of people entering the space and science fields worked for private companies since the money was much better. NASA still struggled to get funding, and many politicians pointed to the private companies and their success as a reason to avoid funding NASA at all. Parker found that very short-sighted and had mentioned it when Frank had asked why Parker was choosing NASA. Why wouldn't you want your public institutions watching over a new frontier? Especially something as important as space. It seemed absurd to Parker not to fund it more than ever before some greedy trillionaire ruined something for everyone. History repeating itself and all that.

"Okay Mr. Varia, Parker, the last part is the psych test," Frank Williams told him. "People get all worried about this, but honestly, it's a relic of a bygone age when we looked over people for the potential to travel to space. The fact you've, you know, already done that, sort of makes the whole thing obsolete, but rules are rules," he gave a wry smile. "Welcome to government, I guess!"

Parker laughed his response, "no worries, let's get it done!" He popped open the psychological evaluation on his tablet. It was a multiple choice test mainly with scenarios presented and possible answers. It had a few scenarios that required a written response as well, but it wasn't anything too complicated. The final portion was a scenario that would play out in a simulator. Parker had tried to cheat and scoured the Internet to get a hint of what it would be, but couldn't find anything. He had emailed a few graduates from Boulder Tech and Stanford, his alma mater, who worked for NASA, but no one replied with anything of value, just well wishes. Parker was usually a pretty cool customer, but the simulator had been weighing heavily on his mind, as much as anything he could remember. Even his exams in college and thesis projects had been less stressful a buildup. All those exams and projects always seemed like they had a second chance waiting. He could repeat a year or take summer school or ask for extra credit, but this seemed like a one time deal to Parker. After about an hour, he indicated that he was done with the written portion, and Frank led him to the simulator room.

"Before we begin, I do ask that you take this GABA enhancing pill. I sent you the details earlier. We use it occasionally here at NASA before entering the sims to calm the mind," Williams told him. Parker had done all the reading about it earlier and talked to his doctor and was told it was industry standard and perfectly safe to take now and then.

"I do need to tell you that the simulation is for you to complete, and please don't share your experiences. They are expensive to create and as an organization, we're fighting for every dollar we can get. No matter the results of your application, we appreciate your discretion in this matter," Frank told him. "Just between you and me, there's actually three of them, and your answers on the previous portion determine which one you participate in. Good luck, I'll be waiting out here for you when you're done."

"Thanks, I'll keep it between us. Promise." Parker held out his pinky to Frank, who laughed, but completed the pinky swear. Parker took a breath and opened the door to the simulator. He'd been in a few simulators at gaming centres with his family as a kid, and there had been a portable one at Boulder Tech for a few weeks in his second year, and this one looked no different. The room was about three metres cubed, with lights covering almost every surface, including the door as it closed. The lights would create the scenes, the audio coming from speakers buried in the walls. In the middle was a rig you would stand or sit in to allow you to interface with the room. It looked like the floor would give way and hold you in space with cables and thin metal arms. Haptic feedback was given through gloves and boots to make you feel you were really moving through whatever space was projected and allowed you to interact with people and objects. From Parker's limited experience the interactivity was far from perfect, but if you allowed yourself to suspend disbelief it allowed for a fairly realistic experience. The ones he had enjoyed in the past had mostly been shooting aliens or solving mysteries. There was a whole subgenre of simulations that were remakes of classic video games. Parker remembered being a green plumber once busting up flying turtles with his boots. Strange times. DJ had actually worked briefly coding for a company that used these simulators for, what else, sex simulations. He said the company was sketchy and often late with payments, so he didn't stay there long. It helped him pay off some student debt though, so Parker didn't judge.