The Fascination With Big Machinery
02 Oct 2021SirPuma
Personal log Galactic date 10.01.3307What is with the fascination of small children with big machinery? Whenever I go cruising by in my rock hauler, I see them with their faces plastered to port windows, fogging up the glass. As I pull into the docking bay, I can spot parents trying to keep them in check as they want to come look.
The teens and young adults seem to be attracted to the sleek fighters; they like the speed and the body lines. Old men tend toward the larger battle craft or cargo and passenger ships either for their promised income or military nostalgia
But small children, particularly boys, seem to be attracted to the big, bulky working ships. I watch them staring after the unloading equipment, fascinated with the process of loading and unloading my Type Ten. I see them staring at me, in my dusty hat and dirty flight suit and I have to wonder at their wonder.
Then I think back, to when I was a small boy, how I would stare after the big working trucks and ships, hauling rock, or freight and how I would look up to the men and women who could control such beasts in tight spaces and make such hard work look easy. They were heroes; everyday, working man heroes. So as I walk past them, I make sure to smile and wave, understanding that some day, that small kid will one day be the captain of a big mining ship, or piloting a massive freighter through tight spaces, docking and brushing off the dust while another generation of would be pilots look on in wonder and fascination.
Marcus Apollo St Martin-Sepert AKA Sir Puma