Read Online The Praxis by Walter Jon Williams - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Walter Jon Williams
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tumbling. The yachtâs motion was different now: the collision, plus Blitshartsâs thrusters, had added more complexity to Runnerâs movement.
Damn. She mopped her face again and hoped she was presentable for video, that her next message wouldnât show Enderby a wild-eyed, panicked junior.
She triggered the comm board and tucked in her chin to keep her jaw, and her voice, from trembling. âCadet Sula to Operations Command. The rendezvous failed, due to Blitsharts firing thrusters during the maneuver. There was a collision, but hull integrity is uncompromised and ship systems undamaged. I will evaluate Midnight Runnerâs current motion and try to discover whether it is possible to attempt another rendezvous.â
Sula ceased transmission, watched Runner spin away through the void, and slowly came to the realization that she was now off the hook. The vehicle telemetry sheâd sent to Operations would show Blitshartsâs thrusters firing and ruining the rendezvous. She could hardly be blamed for not attempting rendezvous again, not with a target that was tumbling in a more dangerous pattern.
The mission had failed, and it wasnât her fault. All she had to do was take a close look at Midnight Runnerâs new, more complex tumbling pattern, then decide it was too dangerous to attempt.
And the failure would be Blitshartsâs fault. No blame will attach â¦For once, perhaps for the only time in her service career, that statement would actually be true.
She was free to abandon the mission.
For a long moment Sula listened to the air circulate through the cockpit and wondered why she didnât feel like celebrating.
She nudged the controls and sent her pinnace after Midnight Runner . She parked again along the axis of the Runnerâs spin, and slowly eyeballed the yacht as it tumbled. Yes, the movement was more complex. More dangerous.
If she went in for the rendezvous again, sheâd have to do it faster, finish it before she passed out.
What do you mean if? she demanded of herself. Surely she wasnât going through with this.
âDisplay: go virtual,â she commanded.
Space expanded in her skull as her view of the cockpit faded. The yacht rolled in the void of stars.
âDisplay: show only images within one light-second.â
The stars, and the brighter star that was Vandrith, winked out. When the pinnace was tumbling, the frenzied dance of the stars were both a distraction and a temptation to motion sickness.
âDisplay: freeze motion. Display: link pointer to hand controls. Display: pointer is now at target. Display: attach artificial horizon to target at pointer. Display: resume motion. Display: link hand controls to maneuvering thrusters.â
With these commands, Sula used her attitude controls to manipulate a virtual âpointerâ in the display, attaching an artificial horizonâa flat open gridiron colored a highly artificial fluorescent orangeâto the skin of Blitshartsâs boat. This now rolled and pirouetted along with the yachtâs motion, a flat plane that danced in a frenzied circle around her.
With further commands, she narrowed the artificial horizon until it was only a strip, an orange carpet that led right to the point on Midnight Runner where she could successfully grapple.
âDisplay,â she commanded, âreverse angle.â
Instantly, her perspective faced directly away from the yacht, and she saw only the artificial horizon in its frenetic dance around her. There were no distractions in the display, no massive prow coming around to threaten her. All she would have to do was match her own boatâs motion to the artificial horizon, then back up along the orange carpet till she met the Runner.
And of course do it without getting killed. That being the sticky part.
She realized then that she had decided to make the attempt, and wondered when that decision had come. She had every justification in the
Damn. She mopped her face again and hoped she was presentable for video, that her next message wouldnât show Enderby a wild-eyed, panicked junior.
She triggered the comm board and tucked in her chin to keep her jaw, and her voice, from trembling. âCadet Sula to Operations Command. The rendezvous failed, due to Blitsharts firing thrusters during the maneuver. There was a collision, but hull integrity is uncompromised and ship systems undamaged. I will evaluate Midnight Runnerâs current motion and try to discover whether it is possible to attempt another rendezvous.â
Sula ceased transmission, watched Runner spin away through the void, and slowly came to the realization that she was now off the hook. The vehicle telemetry sheâd sent to Operations would show Blitshartsâs thrusters firing and ruining the rendezvous. She could hardly be blamed for not attempting rendezvous again, not with a target that was tumbling in a more dangerous pattern.
The mission had failed, and it wasnât her fault. All she had to do was take a close look at Midnight Runnerâs new, more complex tumbling pattern, then decide it was too dangerous to attempt.
And the failure would be Blitshartsâs fault. No blame will attach â¦For once, perhaps for the only time in her service career, that statement would actually be true.
She was free to abandon the mission.
For a long moment Sula listened to the air circulate through the cockpit and wondered why she didnât feel like celebrating.
She nudged the controls and sent her pinnace after Midnight Runner . She parked again along the axis of the Runnerâs spin, and slowly eyeballed the yacht as it tumbled. Yes, the movement was more complex. More dangerous.
If she went in for the rendezvous again, sheâd have to do it faster, finish it before she passed out.
What do you mean if? she demanded of herself. Surely she wasnât going through with this.
âDisplay: go virtual,â she commanded.
Space expanded in her skull as her view of the cockpit faded. The yacht rolled in the void of stars.
âDisplay: show only images within one light-second.â
The stars, and the brighter star that was Vandrith, winked out. When the pinnace was tumbling, the frenzied dance of the stars were both a distraction and a temptation to motion sickness.
âDisplay: freeze motion. Display: link pointer to hand controls. Display: pointer is now at target. Display: attach artificial horizon to target at pointer. Display: resume motion. Display: link hand controls to maneuvering thrusters.â
With these commands, Sula used her attitude controls to manipulate a virtual âpointerâ in the display, attaching an artificial horizonâa flat open gridiron colored a highly artificial fluorescent orangeâto the skin of Blitshartsâs boat. This now rolled and pirouetted along with the yachtâs motion, a flat plane that danced in a frenzied circle around her.
With further commands, she narrowed the artificial horizon until it was only a strip, an orange carpet that led right to the point on Midnight Runner where she could successfully grapple.
âDisplay,â she commanded, âreverse angle.â
Instantly, her perspective faced directly away from the yacht, and she saw only the artificial horizon in its frenetic dance around her. There were no distractions in the display, no massive prow coming around to threaten her. All she would have to do was match her own boatâs motion to the artificial horizon, then back up along the orange carpet till she met the Runner.
And of course do it without getting killed. That being the sticky part.
She realized then that she had decided to make the attempt, and wondered when that decision had come. She had every justification in the