Frontier: Book One - The Space Cadets (4 page)

“
It
’
s an
academy,” said Aisha. “And we
’
re
cadets.”

“
The cannon fodder, while they are the
officers ordering us around.
”

“
So why are you going through with
it? Why am I going through with it?”

Soo-Kyung shrugged. “Because
it
’
s better than
not
going through
with it. Besides, there might be something great waiting for normal
people like us.”

“
My father died in Korea,” said
Aisha, surprising even herself at the change in subject. “But he
always told my mother to tell me that I had a destiny. That the
emerging age of space flight was one in which we must be free to
explore the universe. He fought so that that freedom would still
exist, so that I could do this. I can
’
t
turn back.”

“
Most of my family died in the
same war,” said Soo-Kyung. “But nothing ever really changed, did
it?”

Aisha realized that she must have
sounded bitter, and the bitterness was reflected in
Soo-Kyung
’
s answer.

“
I’
m
sorry,” she said.

“
No need,” said Soo-Kyung.
“I
’
m glad that you are open and honest
with me. Most people, particularly outside of my country, are not.
They learn about where I
’
m from and think
I need special treatment. I don
’
t.
I
’
ve learned to stand on my
own.”

“
I wish I had your
strength.”

“
You don
’
t,” said Soo-Kyung, suddenly serious. “That kind of
strength comes from trying to make a life in a country destroyed by
nuclear war. You never want it.”

“
That
’
s
why we
’
re going into space,
isn
’
t it? To make sure that wars like
those will never put our species
’
survival
at risk.”

“
That would be nice,” said
Soo-Kyung. “But if anything I think it will cause more wars and
hardship before things get better.”

“
Why?”

“
Because the only thing that
stopped the entire world from burning during the war over my
country was that it was the
only
world we have. If we
discover more planets, livable ones, that will no longer be the
case. And I want to be as far away from this world as possible
before the next bombs fall.”

Before Aisha could answer, the
soft tone of the launch warning sounded. The rocket boost would be
gentler than a typical aircraft take off, but safety protocols
required that they be buckled into their crash seats in case
anything went wrong.

She rolled her eyes and smiled,
and strapped herself in. When everything was snug, she turned to
look at Soo-Kyung. Their eyes met again, and Soo-Kyung bowed
slightly.

The engines kicked in, and their
seats lurched a little. From all around came the muffled sounds of
the rockets roaring. Through the windows, Aisha could see the
ground begin to slowly fall away. Within a few seconds the flotilla
was no longer visible, and as they began to rise, she could see the
entire outline of the nearby Kiritimati, where only yesterday they
had landed. It felt like an eternity.

She wondered how Mother felt,
watching her shuttle rise slowly to the sky. As suddenly as they
had begun, the rockets cut out, and there was another slight lurch
as the inertia of the ship was stopped. She remembered the video
training -- this was the scariest part of the trip, where the
shuttle, under normal gravity, could fall back to Earth and kill
everyone aboard.

But it didn
’
t, and the force on the Space Elevator started
pushing them skyward, with ever-increasing speed. The horizon began
to spin also, and as they rose up, she watched the island recede.
Before long they were high enough to see that the horizon was
curved.

This was it. This was for real.
She was headed into space!

It is so easy to get caught in the
trap of looking at others, seeing what they have, or what they are,
or what is available to them, and falling into angry despair. It’s
not fair that some people are given the opportunities you aren’t.
When that happens, remember what you have that others don’t, and
make the best of what’s given to you. Everything passes in time.
Don’t deny yourself. Don’t let life just pass you by...

As the shuttle ascended
,
and Earth fell away, Aisha was surprised to find that she
wasn
’
t weightless. She expected it to be
like the movies where she would float around.

“
We
’
re
still not far enough from the surface of the Earth,” Soo-Kyung
said, seemingly reading her mind. “And the inertia from our upwards
ascent is counteracting any effects of micro-gravity.”

Aisha remembered her science
classes, and realized that Soo-Kyung was right. “Astronauts
don
’
t experience zero gravity anyway, do
they? It
’
s more free-fall that makes it
feel like they are weightless.”

The Korean girl nodded. “And we
aren
’
t falling, we
’
re climbing. But when we reach the end of the
cable.”

“
Sounds like fun.”

“
I always wanted to lose weight. Now it
looks like I
’
ll
lose most of it.
”

“
You don
’
t need to lose weight, you
’
re
tiny
,” said Aisha. She then stopped as
Soo-Kyung blushed. The girl had grown up in a country that had been
impoverished even before the bombs fell. She could have been
subject to malnutrition, or worse.

Outside the windows, Earth
continued to recede. At some point Aisha felt that they must have
crossed the psychological border into space. There was no real
border -- the atmosphere got gradually thinner as they ascended,
but she decided that the moment that light wasn
’
t coming from all around -- through atmospheric
diffraction, and instead was coming from
below
, being
reflected off the Earth
’
s surface, that
they finally were in space.

“
We
’
re
accelerating,” she said.

“
Yes,
”
said Soo-Kyung.
“
The higher we get, the thinner the
atmosphere. The thinner the atmosphere, the less friction to slow
us down.
”

They watched in silence as home
slipped away, faster and faster. Somewhere along the way it stopped
feeling like Earth was beneath them and they were rising up from
it, and it just felt like they were moving
away
from it.
They were told that once they were in space, and in free fall, that
weightlessness would be confusing if they kept their old up-down
orientation. When on the Earth, it was easy to think of down as
being the ground, because gravity pulled you towards it, and up was
the opposite direction -- towards the sky and the stars.

But once in freefall, and
weightless, thinking in that manner could confuse you, as there was
no clear direction to call
down
.

She had done the mental exercise
many times, of taking a fixed point and thinking of it as down. A
window in her bedroom. If that is
down
, then the door is
up
, the walls are
east
and
west
, with the
floor and ceiling being
north
and
south
. While her
body and instincts told her otherwise -- of course the
floor
was down -- she concentrated and concentrated until she could
naturally envision it.

Maybe all of that effort was
helping her now. The acceleration still gave
down
towards
the floor, and thus towards the Earth, but as she looked out the
window, it was easy for her to visualize alternatively that down,
instead of being the floor, was her back. She was lying instead of
sitting, and the Earth was moving away from her feet. Then, she
could change her orientation, so instead of lying down, she was
hanging from the ceiling.

The Earth filled less of the sky
with every passing moment. The stars started to peek into view,
having been mostly obscured by the reflected light of the planet
below. The belt of Orion was instantly noticeable, its three bright
stars forming a straight line. As they rotated, accelerating all
the way, corkscrewing their way through the atmosphere, she could
hear the oohs and aahs of delight as people saw the stars in a way
that was impossible on the Earth.

Soon, an almost eerie silence fell
among the passengers as the reality that they were away from the
cradle of life sank in. Now, all there was between them and the
hostile environment of space was that large glass window. Aisha was
glad she had taken a seat near the back, as she could partially
feel the desire to shrink away from it, to bury herself somewhere
safe
. A single micrometeorite could penetrate that glass and
kill them all. The odds were astronomically small, but that
didn
’
t prevent the fear.

It took almost three hours before
the deceleration rockets fired, and lifting from her seat told her
that they had almost reached their destination. In an instant,
Soo-Kyung unbuckled and was out of her seat. Aisha laughed as she
watched her lift ever so slowly, floating up.

“
I’
m not
completely weightless,” she said. “But this feels
great!”

Aisha
’
s
stomach was already in her mouth. Despite being worried that she
might throw up, something that wouldn
’
t be
pretty in this environment, she figured that she may as well just
go for it. She
’
d have to get used to
weightless conditions in the Academy station anyway. She unbuckled
and pushed herself out of her chair, trying to be gentle, but
failed and launched too quickly.

A fine netting stretched across
the passenger area, and she bumped into it. It was loosely spread,
absorbing the impact and propelling her gently downward. She
hadn
’
t noticed it before, but was glad it
was there now.

“
Makes sense to have that
netting,” said Soo-Kyung. “They don
’
t want
us bashing our brains out on the hardware.”

Before long, a klaxon sounded,
warning them of the impending end of the journey. Their shuttle
would dock at the top of the cable, from where it would be
disassembled into different pieces. Some would head toward the
Academy space station, some to the moon base, and the rest to the
end of the cable - 70,000 kilometers further - to act as a
counter-weight to improve the efficiency of the
Elevator.

In response, the girls strapped
themselves into their seats and awaited deceleration. It was
smooth, they barely felt it, and their journey ended with a soft
clunk. They exited their ship into the area affectionately called
‘
the Lobby
’
,
where they waited and watched in rapture as the shuttle’s
deconstruction commenced.

“
It
’
s
like Lego,” said a boy with an English accent.

“
You mean Legos?”

“
It
’
s actually called
Lego,
”
he
said.
“
Despite
what you
Americans
say.
”

He sniffed a little and pushed his
feet against the wall, causing him to float off, away from Aisha,
ignoring her outstretched hand.

Aisha rolled her eyes.
“Whatever.”

“
Seriously,” said Soo-Kyung.
“That
’
s something you
’
re going to have to watch out for up here. I think
there are many things you do differently in your country that the
international community don
’
t understand
or accept. Just little things that shouldn
’
t matter.” She nodded her head in the boy’s
direction. “Like him.”

Aisha nodded. “Yeah.” Looking into
Soo-Kyung
’
s deep brown eyes she could see
something within. The girl had more to say on the matter, but was
holding back. Aisha made a mental note to ask her about it
sometime. It was clearly personal, and Soo-Kyung had the discretion
not to bring it up here.

***

Before long, their transport was
ready, and they boarded the flight to the space station containing
the Academy. While it was made from various pieces that were
recycled from the shuttles, it was clearly more functional, and
definitely less luxurious than its predecessor. They boarded, and
the passenger compartments more clearly resembled a typical
terrestrial aircraft. They sat in rows, without assignment, so
Soo-Kyung joined Aisha. There were no windows. Aisha turned,
looking around the cabin, counting the passengers. There was an
even thirty, including the smirking English boy from
earlier.