Free Josiah West 1: Kaleidoscope by C. T. Christensen Page A

courtesy, Commander, but my presence here is strictly unofficial; I have been pressed into service as I, too, am headed for the Caldwell. At ease everyone, and finish stowing your gear and belting up.” As they settled into their seats he made one last head count, “Ok, we are headed for the Starline Facility and then to the Caldwell. If you are not going to either one of those then you are on the wrong bus.”
    That got a laugh. Commander Mannheim spoke up again, “Lieutenant, I have to say that I have a sense of relief knowing that a staff officer with a CI rating is flying this boat. I admit it worri ed me to think that that Ensign…that...girl...was our pilot.”
    Josiah thought about it for a second. Awww...why not! He smiled at the Commander, “Actually, she is your pilot. I’m giving her the check ride for her second-class rating.” At that point he palmed the plate that closed and sealed the outer hatch, “Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.” As he turned to enter the command deck, he heard Mannheim mumble something about “second-class rating.”
    Parente had her work cap off and the com headset on. She turned her head toward him as he belted into the right seat and put his own com set on. She was smiling and spoke in a low voice, “I heard that, sir; you have a nasty streak.”
    “One of my most endearing traits.”
    He finished fastening his harness and went through the right-seater check list while Parente started activating flight control systems. His last item was a check of the access interlock panel to his right. The line of green icons showed that all through-hull hatches were sealed. He then tapped a command into the screen in front of him that vented a high-pressure air tank and raised the pressure in the boat by five millibars. Noting that the pressure remained constant he declared, “Sealed up; pressure in the boat.”
    Parente went through her final litany, “Reactors at critical, hydraulic pressure in the green and stable, environmental systems in the green, com system tested and set to standard order, nav systems zeroed, inerti al compensators to reactive 1, drive cross-link verified; primary, secondary and tertiary links set to stand-by and standard consensus mode, drive set to stand-by and awaiting release. Sir, I have a green board.”
    Josiah made a last scan of the screens and indicators in front of him, “I, also, have a green board.”
    Parente entered the code she had used to lock down the drive system then raised her hand with the fingers pointing forward and the palm down. The rating that had been standing patiently twenty meters in front of the boat came to attention. She raised her hand to point straight up indicating that they were ready to lift. The rating did a last check to make sure there was nothing near the boat. He then stuck out his hands with palms up indicating it was clear to lift.
    She touched the com switch on her left attitude grip, “Tampa Ground Control, this is Admiral two-zero; ready to lift.”
    “Admiral two-zero, you are cleared for north departure to climb corridor Victor 4 as filed; Contact Orbital Traffic Control on channel 4 on entry.”
    She touched the switch again, “Admiral two-zero; north departure to Victor 4.” She placed her feet on the power level pedals and right hand on the right attitude grip. With her left hand she slid open a small cover on the armrest and touched the pad inside, “Going neutral.”
     
    Drive coils could be built with a variety of output capabilities, but as a general rule they were all built with maximum thrust capability oriented toward the “forward” direction of the vessel. The other directions--left, right, up, down and backwards--were a compromise determined by how large, heavy and expensive you were willing to live with and by how much power there was available to feed them. Tugs were the primary example of large, heavy, and expensive with lots of available power. But, even their common design involved