reporting and the ship transmits signals
that mimic Earth's encrypted communications. It gives them pause to think. They're
all convinced they might be looking at a satellite or some vessel of a
competitor, or another nation. Of course the ship is way bigger than a
satellite and looks nothing like any shuttle from earth so it's stupid really.
So far there's been a lot of related traffic in messages but not much insight."
"Good thinking on the encryption
thing. I like it. Have you been here before?"
"Naturally, researchers have been here
many times. We're here to update our data. The ship trawls for all information
possible which is studied by Marin and his colleagues, and compared with past
records. Only . . . Marin can't resist feeling soil under his feet. And because
its 'verboten', he comes on his own to do it. This trip may turn out, to put it
in your wonderful colloquial style, a complete fuck up."
She smiled. "Why New Zealand, why come
to this place?"
"Why indeed? What is that famous
quote? Mine is not to reason why, mine is but . . . . well, you know the rest.
Why this place? There is low possibility of observation, very low aircraft
traffic, easy to deceive with false aircraft signals etcetera, etcetera."
"You're quite a joker aren't you?"
"A joker?"
"Yeah, you're quite a joker, a ham."
"Ms Stein . . . really . . . a
machine, remember?"
She snorted embarrassingly, "I've
never met a machine with a sense of humor."
"You haven't met Marin's mother then."
Regan couldn't hold back a laugh and it
felt good to relax, part euphoric geek, part stunned observer.
"Enough of this Regan, it's time to
move. Better take your seat; you won't feel anything but this may be a bit
disorienting."
She looked back to Marin. "Do you
think he'll be ok?"
"Thanks to you he's alive, nothing is
more important. When he's back on the ship all will be well." The blue
again shimmered around him. Regan let her gaze linger, unable to shake the
impression he was in a tank. As she turned back to her seat she saw darkness
had settled.
The view presented by the full wall high
definition screen was too much and combined with dim light she felt incredibly
vulnerable. It already felt unsettling sitting stationary only a meter or so
from what appeared to be clear window, so she felt certain it would be
terrifying once they really started to move, like falling forward.
"Could you reduce the view on the
screen, just the top half maybe?"
Instantly the outlook changed to the more
familiar windscreen view. She looked first at the composite wall underneath
then drew her eyes upward to the screen. The transition was seamless with no
difference in the surface. At the same moment the Pod lifted, accelerating
alarmingly down the valley before banking upward and streaking toward the
clouds. Regan found herself holding her breath. It was like watching a
rollercoaster ride on Imax as she had as a child. The visual movement was fast
and smooth but she could hear and feel nothing. In only a few minutes she could
feel the muscles in her cheeks aching and realized her teeth were grinding
tight.
What the fuck is this? It hovers, climbs, maneuvers, accelerates, all without sound or
any G force. She could feel her heart pounding. From somewhere in her
unconscious words popped into her head, 'There is no real difference between
fear and excitement.' Well , I'm damn excited now! It was
draining. Questions, God, so many questions! She gripped the sides of
the seat for dear life and forced herself to keep her eyes open.
The view via the forward screen proved
bewildering. They were travelling so fast that clouds, if that was what she
could see, appeared only as a fuzzy blur. It wasn't possible to focus on
anything specific as they shot into the sky and she considered how this would
look from the ground.
"Can you tell me our altitude?"
She asked.
"Five thousand meters . . . . . . . .
. . seven . . . . . . . . . . ten thousand . . . . . . . fifteen."
"Unreal! Are we
that mimic Earth's encrypted communications. It gives them pause to think. They're
all convinced they might be looking at a satellite or some vessel of a
competitor, or another nation. Of course the ship is way bigger than a
satellite and looks nothing like any shuttle from earth so it's stupid really.
So far there's been a lot of related traffic in messages but not much insight."
"Good thinking on the encryption
thing. I like it. Have you been here before?"
"Naturally, researchers have been here
many times. We're here to update our data. The ship trawls for all information
possible which is studied by Marin and his colleagues, and compared with past
records. Only . . . Marin can't resist feeling soil under his feet. And because
its 'verboten', he comes on his own to do it. This trip may turn out, to put it
in your wonderful colloquial style, a complete fuck up."
She smiled. "Why New Zealand, why come
to this place?"
"Why indeed? What is that famous
quote? Mine is not to reason why, mine is but . . . . well, you know the rest.
Why this place? There is low possibility of observation, very low aircraft
traffic, easy to deceive with false aircraft signals etcetera, etcetera."
"You're quite a joker aren't you?"
"A joker?"
"Yeah, you're quite a joker, a ham."
"Ms Stein . . . really . . . a
machine, remember?"
She snorted embarrassingly, "I've
never met a machine with a sense of humor."
"You haven't met Marin's mother then."
Regan couldn't hold back a laugh and it
felt good to relax, part euphoric geek, part stunned observer.
"Enough of this Regan, it's time to
move. Better take your seat; you won't feel anything but this may be a bit
disorienting."
She looked back to Marin. "Do you
think he'll be ok?"
"Thanks to you he's alive, nothing is
more important. When he's back on the ship all will be well." The blue
again shimmered around him. Regan let her gaze linger, unable to shake the
impression he was in a tank. As she turned back to her seat she saw darkness
had settled.
The view presented by the full wall high
definition screen was too much and combined with dim light she felt incredibly
vulnerable. It already felt unsettling sitting stationary only a meter or so
from what appeared to be clear window, so she felt certain it would be
terrifying once they really started to move, like falling forward.
"Could you reduce the view on the
screen, just the top half maybe?"
Instantly the outlook changed to the more
familiar windscreen view. She looked first at the composite wall underneath
then drew her eyes upward to the screen. The transition was seamless with no
difference in the surface. At the same moment the Pod lifted, accelerating
alarmingly down the valley before banking upward and streaking toward the
clouds. Regan found herself holding her breath. It was like watching a
rollercoaster ride on Imax as she had as a child. The visual movement was fast
and smooth but she could hear and feel nothing. In only a few minutes she could
feel the muscles in her cheeks aching and realized her teeth were grinding
tight.
What the fuck is this? It hovers, climbs, maneuvers, accelerates, all without sound or
any G force. She could feel her heart pounding. From somewhere in her
unconscious words popped into her head, 'There is no real difference between
fear and excitement.' Well , I'm damn excited now! It was
draining. Questions, God, so many questions! She gripped the sides of
the seat for dear life and forced herself to keep her eyes open.
The view via the forward screen proved
bewildering. They were travelling so fast that clouds, if that was what she
could see, appeared only as a fuzzy blur. It wasn't possible to focus on
anything specific as they shot into the sky and she considered how this would
look from the ground.
"Can you tell me our altitude?"
She asked.
"Five thousand meters . . . . . . . .
. . seven . . . . . . . . . . ten thousand . . . . . . . fifteen."
"Unreal! Are we
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