What May Come

A Quiet Boy

"I would take a seventy-three degree heading," Nura said, "dropping out of slipstream at one point seven million klicks from Brannon. Adjust vector by negative ten degrees and cross threshold. The corridor will reach the jump gate in three aumeters."

Nura looked from her datapad to the holographic projector in front of her and smiled proudly. The displayed map showed the course Nura plotted around the star and orbiting planets. She was certain she'd found the best route out of the system.

The lecture hall was deserted. Two rows of benches encircled the holographic projector where an instructor would present their lessons. The room's ceiling had an array of luma panels for lighting, but they were currently dialed off to make the holographic map easier to see. The hologram gave more than enough illumination to navigate the room by.

"Nicely done," Meras said. She uncrossed her arms and pointed at the gas giant Nura's course bypassed. "Only problem is that you'll be tugging against Brannon's gravity well for most of the final leg to the gate. That'll cost you a tee and a half of fuel more than you need to spend."

Nura wrinkled her nose. She'd honestly thought she aced this one. "I can't find a course that comes anywhere near this low of fuel consumption. Every viable path from the launch point encounters either Brannon or Gerk."

Meras leaned in and spoke reassuringly. "Don't sweat it, Nura. This'd get you a top score from jhot'Rin. I'm just saying it could be better."

"How?" Nura asked as she squinted at the hologram.

"You're thinking in two dimensions and charting along the orbital plane. Exit the launch point on the z-axis, and the corridor's trajectory around the star will take you behind Brannon's orbit. You won't have to drop and adjust before reaching the gate, and better yet, Brannon won't be pulling the fuel from your reactor."

Nura frowned. "Leave the orbital plane? If the slip engine fails, I'm out of sight of the nav buoys. I'm stuck for weeks out in space with just conventional engines."

"When's the last time you saw a slip engine fail with a mechanist looking after it?"

"I seem to recall a small incident not long ago."

"Ah," Meras said. "Point taken, but this course takes less than half the fuel. Some captains will say that's worth the risk."

Nura ran a hand through her hair and growled in frustration. "It'd be easier if I could just point in the direction I want to go. It's faster."

Meras shrugged. "It's not always about speed. Fuel isn't always cheap, and a lot of boats don't have the capacity to haul that many tees around. First rules of astrogation, Nura. Velocity is constant, so your slip engines are forced to expend the energy required to remain at that speed while you're fighting against the particle stream and gravity. Heading can't be manually altered within the corridor, but gravity from celestial bodies still affect it."

Nura nodded as she made a vague vocalization that was meant as an affirmative. She traced the proposed vector with her eyes while she entered the course into her pad.

Meras made it seem so obvious. Nura found it fascinating how Meras often had trouble finding the words to describe her thought process when finding the most efficient method of traveling from one point to another. What Nura had to study and struggle to achieve, Meras was able to do seemingly by instinct alone.

The course simulation Nura ran on her datapad backed up Meras' advice. Her holographic ship would reach the jump gate by expending only a single tee of fuel. A perfect score on this test required two and a half tees or less of consumption.