Space Chronicles The Beginning

Chapter 2

If that is correct, it is only because the truly wise person admits that he really knows nothing at all.

- Socrates response to the Oracle of Delphi declaring that he was the wisest man in the world -

The control room of the X-1001 is unlike any other space vehicle, or plane for that matter. The spacious command section, or cockpit, has an expansive horseshoe-shaped dashboard with four view screens embedded under curved hoods. A large high-definition main screen dominates the forward section and provides the only view of the world outside. The controls are geometrically organized touch pads embedded flush with the dashboard's horizontal surface. The only true control is a joystick defiantly towering above the main control pads like a throwback to a previous manual control era. These controls are redundant. The computer runs the ship, and the human pilot's only function is to issue commands.

And, those commands are processed with unnerving efficiency by the computer, but no one calls it 'the computer'. The programmers at IBM had amusingly dubbed it Delphi--pronounced with an ending e-sound--partly because it has a sexy female voice and because it has the necessary sagacity to run all of the ship's systems and handle complicated navigational problems concurrently.

In some instances it could be annoying.

 “Delphi, have you made contact with Edwards’ control?” Angie asked while her eyes were riveted on the main navigational display.

 “Yes, Angie. They report a barometer of 1020 millibars, a temperature of 29 Centigrade with a wind from the northeast at 5 knots. They wish us to land on runway three.”

 “Thank you, Delphi.”

 “You are welcome, Angie.”

 “I guess they don’t trust us to make our own contacts,” Marty said, squinting at the ship’s engineering display.

 “I don’t blame them. The computer is able to translate and discern garbled communications better than we can.”

He gave her a facetious smile. “I kind of liked the garbled communication.”

 “Oh, right, especially when you were trying to get a confirmation on an engagement order.”

 “I always took the positive approach; shoot first and assume that’s what they wanted.”

 “Not when you had a belly full of cruise missiles,” she shot back.

 “Well, yeah, but all I had was air to air. The worse that I could do was shoot down some fighter.”

She retorted with a haughty smile. “All I could do was blow a city to hell.”

The computer lamp flashed. “Angie, I have confirmation on our position from Edwards. We are currently eleven kilometers out at ten thousand meters. They want us to land and pull directly into hangar-12 at on the left of runway three. They are sending up two F-117 fighters to escort us in.”

 “Thank you, Delphi.”

 “You are welcome, Angie.”

Marty shook his head. “Well, the cat’s out of the bag now. The military knows about this.”

 “Did you expect otherwise?”

 “Not really. I just hope that they don’t keep us from going on missions.”

 “Why worry? When they build the next generation, we’ll be the only pilots with the experience to fly it, and the only thing it’ll be good for is exploration.”

 “Well, yes, but I . . .”

 “Angie, two escort craft are on intercept.”

 “Thank you, Delphi.”