(eng) Michael Flynn - Firestar 03 by Lodestar

Author:Lodestar [Lodestar]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

INTERLUDE:

* * *

Knowledge

When the chatter in the common room in Grissom dorm grew too much, Jacinta sought refuge on the cool grass of the quad, where she lay on her back gazing at the silent and comfortably distant stars. As she often did on these occasions, she amused herself by picking out planets and orbiting stations and imagining the launch vectors that would take her there. The Leo stations were fairly easy. Time the passage across so many degrees of arc and estimate orbital time. Since _ altitude and velocity were linked, the time to complete a full orbit ballparked the altitude; and, once you knew the altitude, launch on an easterly insertion would need…

“Which one is it, do you think?”

By act of will she kept from starting at the voice. “Leo Station,” she said of the blinking orange light drifting against the background stars. She spoke with more confidence than she felt, but the appearance of uncertainty was an invitation to others to take control.

Yungduk Morrisey plopped on the grass beside her, sitting cross-legged, not quite in a lotus. “Isn’t that where Captain Sulbertson went for his mooner?”

“On Shepard. Yeah, that’s the place.” She used the Voice of Polite Distance. Too much familiarity with the hormonally-challenged could imply invitations, as well.

“That is so bone,” he said. “Wish it was me.”

She turned her head and looked directly at him. A slim boy. A long, dusky face with just a hint of folding at the corners of the eyes. He had a habit of encountering her that exceeded the known bounds of probability.

He poked at the grass, looked back at the sky. “Always wanted to go out there, like Calhoun and the others. Wrestle with contrary machines; make them dance. How about you?”

It was not a personal question; yet, how could the answer be anything but personal. I used to watch the birds through the window of my bedroom, wishing I could soar like them. She’d been, what? Six or seven? And already the feelings of imprisonment had bound her. Escape. Soar. Fly away where her mother’s sarcasm would fade into distant, animal barks. Share secret moments like that with a quasi-stranger?

“It’s not a question of who’s the master,” Jacinta said. “The pilot must become one with her machine.” She wished he would go away and leave her to contemplate the stars alone.

Telepathy failed. “I’m going for orbit,” he laughed, “not satori.”

The ground was warm, like a griddle lately shut off, yielding to the sky the heat soaked up by day; but already she could feel the chill of desert night creeping in.

“Cold?” asked Morrisey.

“No,” she said, shivering.

“Funny how it can get so cold in a desert,” he said.

It was not an original observation; not even the first time she had heard him say it. She studied him covertly. Was he disappointed that she hadn’t asked him to warm her up? Would he dream about her tonight while he fondled himself? Imagining that he had lain with her? Why me? There were dozens of girls on campus prettier than she was and, for the most part, more Willing.

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