for your entire run here.”
We finished breakfast and headed to the classrooms. Each one had desk space for eight students, arranged in an arc around a lectern. Above and behind the desks was an observation area where our mentors could keep track of our work. Waiting for us, at each desk, was a slab of dark gray plastic with our names glowing on the surface in orange letters above an orange outline of a hand. Each sat on a black pouch, clearly fitted to allow it to be carried over the shoulder.
I placed my hand where it was indicated. The handprint flared and disappeared, replaced by a standard tablet operations screen. A hologram flared up in the center of the room as we took our places behind our desks. The image portrayed an old woman, my grandmother’s age, dressed in a Scout’s white uniform.
“Welcome to Technology class, cadets,” said a recorded voice, synchronized with the hologram’s movements. “These are your new tablets. They contain all of your reference materials for your classes, basic simulators, and a link to the academy datastores. These will be your primary information tools throughout your careers as Scouts.”
I poked tentatively at the interface. It used the same basic protocols as the machines back on the station, but far more advanced and responsive.
Valka shook her head in open-mouthed wonder. She had the technical specifications readout for her machine displayed on the screen.
“Challers, do you see this? This thing has more processing power in it than all the machines on Stakroya combined!”
“Now if you’ll settle down,” said the hologram, “we’ll get down to today’s lessons concerning the efficient use and proper care of your new equipment.”
An hour and a half wasn’t enough to even scratch the surface of what our new toys could do. They had their own holographic projectors, as well as holographic and audio recording functions, and could interface with any piece of Scout equipment via line-of-sight infrared beacon.
That class ended, and after a short fresher break, the next one started. History hadn’t been taught on Stakroya Station, so this was entirely new material for me. The closest we had gotten were tales some of the older folks told around the banquet table during celebrations.
Here, we started with the founding of the Scout Service at the end of a time known as the “Planetary Era,” when all of humanity’s settlements were located in one system. The discovery of orgone drives scattered them to the stars. We saw how the basic geography of the known galaxy traced all the way back to that event.
No one was exactly sure where the first system was, though various experts had their theories on the subject. It had to have been in the high-density region between the Sagittarius Arm and the Perseus Arm of the galaxy, but there were dozens of stars in that area that could have been the origin star. Within fifty years, every star system in the area had been visited, if not colonized.
The area between this high-density region and the Perseus Arm came to be known as the Rimward Reach, and the area towards the Sagittarius Arm came to be known as the Coreward Reach. Between them was known as Old Stars. Each of these three bands of stars had an “upstream” and “downstream” section.
The main things most stations needed for long-term habitation in a colony were volatiles like water and hydrocarbons, and metals like iron and aluminum. Most star systems have at least some of these resources, but the stations that found them in fairly dense, easily harvested asteroid fields did better than those that had to scavenge over wider areas of space, so that became the standard practice.
After History, we returned to the gym for another hour of Physicality. This hour was quieter than the first hour had been. We spent the hour in stillness, learning more of the meditation techniques Shirley had introduced me to the night before. There were a few minutes of meditation,
We finished breakfast and headed to the classrooms. Each one had desk space for eight students, arranged in an arc around a lectern. Above and behind the desks was an observation area where our mentors could keep track of our work. Waiting for us, at each desk, was a slab of dark gray plastic with our names glowing on the surface in orange letters above an orange outline of a hand. Each sat on a black pouch, clearly fitted to allow it to be carried over the shoulder.
I placed my hand where it was indicated. The handprint flared and disappeared, replaced by a standard tablet operations screen. A hologram flared up in the center of the room as we took our places behind our desks. The image portrayed an old woman, my grandmother’s age, dressed in a Scout’s white uniform.
“Welcome to Technology class, cadets,” said a recorded voice, synchronized with the hologram’s movements. “These are your new tablets. They contain all of your reference materials for your classes, basic simulators, and a link to the academy datastores. These will be your primary information tools throughout your careers as Scouts.”
I poked tentatively at the interface. It used the same basic protocols as the machines back on the station, but far more advanced and responsive.
Valka shook her head in open-mouthed wonder. She had the technical specifications readout for her machine displayed on the screen.
“Challers, do you see this? This thing has more processing power in it than all the machines on Stakroya combined!”
“Now if you’ll settle down,” said the hologram, “we’ll get down to today’s lessons concerning the efficient use and proper care of your new equipment.”
An hour and a half wasn’t enough to even scratch the surface of what our new toys could do. They had their own holographic projectors, as well as holographic and audio recording functions, and could interface with any piece of Scout equipment via line-of-sight infrared beacon.
That class ended, and after a short fresher break, the next one started. History hadn’t been taught on Stakroya Station, so this was entirely new material for me. The closest we had gotten were tales some of the older folks told around the banquet table during celebrations.
Here, we started with the founding of the Scout Service at the end of a time known as the “Planetary Era,” when all of humanity’s settlements were located in one system. The discovery of orgone drives scattered them to the stars. We saw how the basic geography of the known galaxy traced all the way back to that event.
No one was exactly sure where the first system was, though various experts had their theories on the subject. It had to have been in the high-density region between the Sagittarius Arm and the Perseus Arm of the galaxy, but there were dozens of stars in that area that could have been the origin star. Within fifty years, every star system in the area had been visited, if not colonized.
The area between this high-density region and the Perseus Arm came to be known as the Rimward Reach, and the area towards the Sagittarius Arm came to be known as the Coreward Reach. Between them was known as Old Stars. Each of these three bands of stars had an “upstream” and “downstream” section.
The main things most stations needed for long-term habitation in a colony were volatiles like water and hydrocarbons, and metals like iron and aluminum. Most star systems have at least some of these resources, but the stations that found them in fairly dense, easily harvested asteroid fields did better than those that had to scavenge over wider areas of space, so that became the standard practice.
After History, we returned to the gym for another hour of Physicality. This hour was quieter than the first hour had been. We spent the hour in stillness, learning more of the meditation techniques Shirley had introduced me to the night before. There were a few minutes of meditation,
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