not wish to feel basic pain.”
“Can’t blame you,” Uclod replied, “but it means you’ll miss the full experience. Speaking of which, I’ll let you drive once we get into empty space where you won’t hit anything…but in the meantime, don’t give Starbiter orders, okay? That bit where you rolled her along the street—you could get us all killed if you tell her one thing while I say something different. She knows I’m her daddy, and she’ll always listen to me over you; but she can still get confused with two folks shouting at once.”
“I shall not shout,” I said, “provided you drive wisely. Or at least amusingly. May we fly into the sun?”
Lajoolie responded with a Gasp Of Horror. Uclod too seemed upset, for he cried, “Are you out of your mind?”
“It is not insane to solicit information through polite inquiries,” I said with wounded dignity. “I would find it most agreeable to fly through the sun—I am such a one as derives pleasant nourishment from sunlight, and it would be delightfully invigorating to be bathed in such light from all sides. But if you choose not to gratify me, I am sure you have your own small-minded reasons.”
“Missy,” Uclod said, “you clearly don’t understand suns. Or solar radiation. Or big fucking gravitational forces. Not to mention the solar wind, the electromagnetic field, and God knows what else. Hell, on sheer density alone, we’d have an easier time flying through the core of Melaquin than the heart of your sun.”
“We do not have to fly through the core of Melaquin,” I told him. “I have already seen Melaquin. And we would not have to fly through the heart of the sun if it frightens you. We could just venture in a short distance. At least to begin with. Until you grew comfortable with the idea.”
“Not today,” Uclod said, in the tone people use when they mean Not ever. “Our first concern is hightailing it out of this system before the navy shows up. Now be a good girl, and shut your trap while I finish preparing for takeoff.”
He was a lucky little man. My arms were still strapped to the chair.
5
WHEREIN I BECOME A STAR PILOT
Up
Three minutes passed in silence. The snow continued to fall through my field of vision, but I could not feel its touch. Now and then, odd twinges erupted in random parts of my body—a bite of cold behind my left knee, something brushing my right shoulder, the strange sensation of lifting heavy objects with both hands—but nothing lasted more than a heartbeat. Apparently, Starbiter was still trying to understand the tactile centers of my brain, but my intellect was too complex to yield to the Zarett’s comprehension.
Hah!
“We’re ready,” Uclod finally announced. “Takeoff in five, four, three, two, one.”
We lifted slowly from the street…which is to say, my point of view rose upward, higher and higher as if riding the elevator in an Ancestral Tower. I could not, however, feel the movement in my body: according to my muscles, I was still sitting flat and level in a motionless chair. It was most strange indeed, and disturbing too—especially when Star-biter rolled in midair so that we faced straight up at the hole in the roof. From this angle, I should have felt I was tipped back on my spine; yet it still seemed as if I were comfortably upright, the way one might sit in the chair of a teaching machine.
I wondered if the starship had finally discovered how to make me feel sensations that were not actually so: sitting up straight instead of lying on my back. Then I decided the opposite must be true—Starbiter did not know how to make me feel the correct experiences, so she simply kept me in the one state she understood, leaving me “sitting up” until she learned how to simulate something else. That would become most annoying in time…but perhaps it was not so bad to begin my journey this way, especially if the Zarett were to embark upon dizzying maneuvers that could provoke Stomach Upset in
“Can’t blame you,” Uclod replied, “but it means you’ll miss the full experience. Speaking of which, I’ll let you drive once we get into empty space where you won’t hit anything…but in the meantime, don’t give Starbiter orders, okay? That bit where you rolled her along the street—you could get us all killed if you tell her one thing while I say something different. She knows I’m her daddy, and she’ll always listen to me over you; but she can still get confused with two folks shouting at once.”
“I shall not shout,” I said, “provided you drive wisely. Or at least amusingly. May we fly into the sun?”
Lajoolie responded with a Gasp Of Horror. Uclod too seemed upset, for he cried, “Are you out of your mind?”
“It is not insane to solicit information through polite inquiries,” I said with wounded dignity. “I would find it most agreeable to fly through the sun—I am such a one as derives pleasant nourishment from sunlight, and it would be delightfully invigorating to be bathed in such light from all sides. But if you choose not to gratify me, I am sure you have your own small-minded reasons.”
“Missy,” Uclod said, “you clearly don’t understand suns. Or solar radiation. Or big fucking gravitational forces. Not to mention the solar wind, the electromagnetic field, and God knows what else. Hell, on sheer density alone, we’d have an easier time flying through the core of Melaquin than the heart of your sun.”
“We do not have to fly through the core of Melaquin,” I told him. “I have already seen Melaquin. And we would not have to fly through the heart of the sun if it frightens you. We could just venture in a short distance. At least to begin with. Until you grew comfortable with the idea.”
“Not today,” Uclod said, in the tone people use when they mean Not ever. “Our first concern is hightailing it out of this system before the navy shows up. Now be a good girl, and shut your trap while I finish preparing for takeoff.”
He was a lucky little man. My arms were still strapped to the chair.
5
WHEREIN I BECOME A STAR PILOT
Up
Three minutes passed in silence. The snow continued to fall through my field of vision, but I could not feel its touch. Now and then, odd twinges erupted in random parts of my body—a bite of cold behind my left knee, something brushing my right shoulder, the strange sensation of lifting heavy objects with both hands—but nothing lasted more than a heartbeat. Apparently, Starbiter was still trying to understand the tactile centers of my brain, but my intellect was too complex to yield to the Zarett’s comprehension.
Hah!
“We’re ready,” Uclod finally announced. “Takeoff in five, four, three, two, one.”
We lifted slowly from the street…which is to say, my point of view rose upward, higher and higher as if riding the elevator in an Ancestral Tower. I could not, however, feel the movement in my body: according to my muscles, I was still sitting flat and level in a motionless chair. It was most strange indeed, and disturbing too—especially when Star-biter rolled in midair so that we faced straight up at the hole in the roof. From this angle, I should have felt I was tipped back on my spine; yet it still seemed as if I were comfortably upright, the way one might sit in the chair of a teaching machine.
I wondered if the starship had finally discovered how to make me feel sensations that were not actually so: sitting up straight instead of lying on my back. Then I decided the opposite must be true—Starbiter did not know how to make me feel the correct experiences, so she simply kept me in the one state she understood, leaving me “sitting up” until she learned how to simulate something else. That would become most annoying in time…but perhaps it was not so bad to begin my journey this way, especially if the Zarett were to embark upon dizzying maneuvers that could provoke Stomach Upset in
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