Back in the Saddle
20 Dec 2020Teafox
I figured the kid would be jumping at the chance to try out CQC again. It seems I'm not the only one with concerns. We wandered past the simulation booths again as we tried to remember where we were supposed to pick up our flight suits from again. (Sure, we could have asked any number of terminals or info drones, but where's the fun in that?) It was easy to see that he was fascinated by the prospect but hesitant, like it was a morbid fascination, something that he wanted, but feared.I asked him about it, and he tried to explain, although he struggled to find a way to express it clearly. The telepresence interface made it feel less like he was piloting the fighter, and more like he was a part of the fighter, in a way that without having to look, he could almost feel the size, shape and weight of the vehicle. I listened and pointed out that I believe there is a word for that particular sensation, not that I remember what it was. In itself that didn't seem uncommon. That at least reassured him a little. He went on to explain that the part that scared him was the sense of focus it gave him. It wasn't so much that he could concentrate fully, but that he had no choice. Flying felt instinctual, subconscious, easier than walking. Moving into the best position, finding an angle of attack where the other ship was helpless just felt so natural, and when the guns fired, it didn't feel like he was pulling a trigger, although he knew he was, it just felt more like he was... He gestured helplessly.
"Spitting bullets?" I ventured, he shrugged. "Sort of? Except, I wasn't using my mouth, I was using my guns... Like they were part of me."
My mind wandered back to the description of how it felt for him to attack another player, and I realized a moment too late that I had muttered something about being 'like a cat' out loud... I quickly corrected to point out I had meant the prowling and stalking, and not so much the bullet spitting. Hunting comes naturally to most cats, it's not something they really do because they always need to, it's just what comes naturally to them. Under other circumstances, maybe they would quite enjoy being friends with their prey, but when they're hunting? They're out to kill and nothing else matters.
"But the cats that Mister Nemo had didn't do any of that." he ventured, exploring what seemed to be a flaw in my example.
"Those weren't cats. At least, not cats the way they evolved naturally, the way they designed themselves. Those were cats designed by mankind, to do what we want them to do, look pretty, be affectionate and well behaved, maybe do tricks on command... Not chew the wires at the back of the cockpit console, but to be a companion." I could see he was going to make the connection himself. Perhaps it'd be gentler if I got there first.
"Just like I think you're a human as designed by the federal military. Excellent pilot, awesome situational awareness and you're like a tiger on the prowl when you're in a fighter." I chuckled. "Also, no idea what good food tastes like... I hear that's important in the federal military." I could see that he knew it was a joke, but didn't get it. "Also, very well behaved, affectionate and a pretty good companion too." I winked, trying to tidy his hair a little. But the quiet was turning awkward.
"For what it's worth, before you came along, I never found anyone that was actually worth sharing a ship with. You're a nice person. That's way more important than where you come from or how well you can fly."
And then it finally came out, what had been eating him since this morning. "But, what if somehow I have to fight you? For real?"
I had to chew on that for a bit... The easy answer would be to do the whole remlok sales pitch, but I didn't think that'd help.
"Well." I considered for a moment. "I'm teaching you how to mine, helping you to get used to dealing with people, do up your clothes properly and all, right?"
He nodded. I nodded too.
"Think you can teach me to fly as well as you do?" I ventured. "Not to fight you, so much, but if I can get away, maybe we can figure out how we can stop having to fight?"
I think he liked the idea of that, it was something we could work towards.
We had pancakes for breakfast, turns out the kid likes strawberries too. We had a go at some of the other simulators in the VR centre. The kid may be a demon when he has wings. As it turns out that doesn't translate so well to ground based vehicles. It's not so easy to roll and pitch in a tank, it seems.
That's one thing that bothers me though. He flies like an imperial, but wasn't this supposedly a federal project?
We eventually found our way back to where we left our zero-g wear for cleaning. I picked up some interesting sales literature whilst we were there. It seems that remlok's monopoly on pilot safety wear might be broken. Manticore are touting some new kind of armored space gear, and it's nice to see that Supratech is still struggling on and have released their own vac-suit technology. Admittedly, the new model Remlok 'Maverick' strikes me as most useful to someone in my line of work, coming with a range of salvage tools. The kid and I both like the look of the Artemis suit more, geared towards mobility and exploration. Not to mention, if the feds do have access to our imprints via the Remlok network, it might be time to change our service provider.
Going back through the checkpoint into the docking ring feels like leaving one world and walking back into a starker, more metallic one. But, I think we've both gotten a bit of a spring back in our step.
ATC won't let the kid fly us out of the mail slot. I'm almost tempted to let him do it anyway, but then I remember that right now the last thing we need is an alliance bounty too. Well, we'll get our own damn carrier and he can lift off from that all he wants. Back to money making. As soon as we're past the toast rack, I give the kid the controls. He asks where we are going to.
Any place with some good rings that he can read out loud. He tries to trick me into saying a system name first so he can repeat it, but I win... It seems today, we mine in the Holo system.