07-01-2013, 09:44 PM
This is an on-again-off-again story; I won't be updating it as often as Dartz updates stories. But I want to do some writing despite my suddenly-increased workload at the office, so here's a project I'm making public ... -Rob
15 January 2022
Ultima Station
Well, this was it! I was finally going away to college. And you couldn't get farther away than I was going!
I checked that my harmonica was still in my pocket - Dad gave me that harmonica years ago and I didn't want to lose it! - then I picked up my suitcase in one hand and my computer bag - with my letter of offer poking out the top of the outside pocket - in the other, and walked down the jetway to the airlock.
Oh, wow - the captain herself was waiting at the airlock! Unless there was somebody else around here who had wings and was less than a foot tall. "Ship's supernumerary Brooklynne Bridges, reporting for duty, Captain ... what is your family name, ma'am?" Oh, I could have died of embarrassment!
But she just smiled. "Welcome aboard, Ms. Bridges. If I must have a family name, 'Noahsdottir' will do, but I prefer simply to be called Safety."
That's why I couldn't find it out ahead of time - she didn't have one!
Captain Safety kept on talking. "I expect you want to stow your belongings. You're billeted on deck two, near the mess hall. We've done what we could to give everyone as much privacy as we could, but nobody except myself and the ship's surgeon has a private room; you're sharing a room with Ms. LaCroux. At least you aren't hot-bunking, the way the bridge crew is; we know you need someplace relatively quiet so you can study."
I'm rooming with Destinee LaCroux? The ship's chief scientist? "Oh, thank you, ma'am!" That was better than I had expected!
"We decided that all four of the students would be sharing quarters with the four section chiefs. You are here to learn, and who better to learn from than the top people on the ship?"
"Yeah... but they're busy people, aren't they? Wouldn't it make sense to put us with people who have time to teach us things when they're off-duty?"
"We thought of that, but then we realized that the section chiefs will be out of their quarters more often than they're in their quarters. You'll have more chances to concentrate on your studies this way."
"Oh, yeah, I can see that. But I wasn't expecting to be doing a lot of book learning, Captain."
She looked taken aback at that. "Didn't you read the entire prospectus, Ms. Bridges? We have a special arrangement with the Nekomi Institute of Technology to treat the Rinna Kazamatsuri as a satellite campus, and NIT has some very strict rules about their required courses. You're going to be taking all of the mandatory first-year courses while you're aboard. Do you want to change your mind about joining the crew? You haven't officially signed in yet, so there wouldn't be any penalty if you leave now."
Leave? And pass up the chance to be paid to attend my first year of college? "No, ma'am! I just thought I would be getting a hands-on education, that's all."
The captain laughed. "You'll be getting that as well, Ms. Bridges. This won't be a pleasure cruise."
Oh, boy.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
15 January 2022
Ultima Station
Well, this was it! I was finally going away to college. And you couldn't get farther away than I was going!
I checked that my harmonica was still in my pocket - Dad gave me that harmonica years ago and I didn't want to lose it! - then I picked up my suitcase in one hand and my computer bag - with my letter of offer poking out the top of the outside pocket - in the other, and walked down the jetway to the airlock.
Oh, wow - the captain herself was waiting at the airlock! Unless there was somebody else around here who had wings and was less than a foot tall. "Ship's supernumerary Brooklynne Bridges, reporting for duty, Captain ... what is your family name, ma'am?" Oh, I could have died of embarrassment!
But she just smiled. "Welcome aboard, Ms. Bridges. If I must have a family name, 'Noahsdottir' will do, but I prefer simply to be called Safety."
That's why I couldn't find it out ahead of time - she didn't have one!
Captain Safety kept on talking. "I expect you want to stow your belongings. You're billeted on deck two, near the mess hall. We've done what we could to give everyone as much privacy as we could, but nobody except myself and the ship's surgeon has a private room; you're sharing a room with Ms. LaCroux. At least you aren't hot-bunking, the way the bridge crew is; we know you need someplace relatively quiet so you can study."
I'm rooming with Destinee LaCroux? The ship's chief scientist? "Oh, thank you, ma'am!" That was better than I had expected!
"We decided that all four of the students would be sharing quarters with the four section chiefs. You are here to learn, and who better to learn from than the top people on the ship?"
"Yeah... but they're busy people, aren't they? Wouldn't it make sense to put us with people who have time to teach us things when they're off-duty?"
"We thought of that, but then we realized that the section chiefs will be out of their quarters more often than they're in their quarters. You'll have more chances to concentrate on your studies this way."
"Oh, yeah, I can see that. But I wasn't expecting to be doing a lot of book learning, Captain."
She looked taken aback at that. "Didn't you read the entire prospectus, Ms. Bridges? We have a special arrangement with the Nekomi Institute of Technology to treat the Rinna Kazamatsuri as a satellite campus, and NIT has some very strict rules about their required courses. You're going to be taking all of the mandatory first-year courses while you're aboard. Do you want to change your mind about joining the crew? You haven't officially signed in yet, so there wouldn't be any penalty if you leave now."
Leave? And pass up the chance to be paid to attend my first year of college? "No, ma'am! I just thought I would be getting a hands-on education, that's all."
The captain laughed. "You'll be getting that as well, Ms. Bridges. This won't be a pleasure cruise."
Oh, boy.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012