“First, Admiral, switch the strain gauge readings to . . . screen four so we don’t have to keep turning around.”
Five minutes later they had to resort to sitting and waiting after checking everything short of the lift ring. Just after that, the AI announced:
“COMMANDER AMANDA KRAIGOR AND LIEUTENANT STEVEN BONN REQUEST ADMISSION TO THE BRIDGE DECK.”
CeCe replied, “AI, admission granted.”
She looked at Wills, “Correct me if I’m wrong, but did that sound like Nanci?”
Wills had a big grin on his face and nodded vigorously, “Wait until she finds out we had to listen to her voice all the way there and back.”
A screen to their left switched from a view outside of the ship to a view of the engineering station with Captain Helt sitting in the middle seat, “Captain Copeland, the Weasel is now yours. My people on the strut platform say everything is clear and all loading ramps are up and sealed.”
CeCe’s heart skipped a beat, “Thank you Captain. I would appreciate it if you would stay on this com link and monitor everything.”
“Don’t worry, CeCe, we are here and keeping an eye on things; I’ll tell you if something odd happens.”
Kraigor and Bonn came out of the passage behind them.
“Did I hear someone say ‘Captain’ Copeland?” said Kraigor.
CeCe turned her head, “Hi, Amanda; yes, you did. Sit down, introduce yourselves, and shrink in terror.”
“Admiral, initiating a pre-lift ring check.” She entered a release command and the ring control system started applying power in stages as it checked phasing and timing.
They both watched the board and screen readouts as the old system checked itself, and started to run several megawatts into the secondary coils.
“Captain, I have secondary coils level within one percent and diminishing.” Wills looked up at a screen and tapped on an input pad to expand its scale, “Strain gauges are indicating fluctuations consistent with background noise.”
He turned a smile to CeCe, “I think we have a winner.”
She nodded and tapped again, “All environmental systems indicate operational and under AI control. Grav system shows ready for acceleration.”
Another tap at the center of the console brought up the display of the mass resonator that was housed in the highest bulge of the ship directly above their heads. This system was under the control of the Silverman AI and was unusually clear and crisp.
CeCe and the Admiral exchanged a look before she called out, “AI, say status.”
Nanci’s voice responded, “ALL SYSTEMS OPTIMAL - HULL SEALED - READY FOR FLIGHT OPERATIONS.”
They looked at each other again, “If you would announce, Admiral.”
Wills nodded and tapped a pad on the com panel that said “SHIP-WIDE.”
“Attention, attention; this is the first officer. All personnel prepare for lift and maneuvering.”
He then tapped in another address; Falmann appeared on the screen, “Jerry, it looks like we’re ready.”
Falmann returned a weak smile, “The sky is yours, Wills; don’t do anything stupid.”
Wills smiled back, “Oops, too late.” And cut the connection.
CeCe gave him a nervous smile and placed both hands on the panel directly in front of her, “Zeroing.”
She entered a primary coil release command and watched as the screen indicated increasing power to the primary coil system; it stopped increasing when sensors detected movement in the landing struts.
“Setting global attitude to level and hold.
“Setting maximum allowable power input to ninety percent of rated limit.
“Setting max allowable standard distortion level to ten percent.”
She leaned her chair back to a reclining position, “Ready.”
Wills entered a command at his station and watched as the top of CeCe’s chair rotated inward to enclose her head; at the same time, the sides of the chair lifted to form armrests with control handles.
CeCe smiled as she looked around at a virtual world in which she lay on her back a couple of meters above the rocky peninsula where the Weasel sat. In this world, however, nothing of the Weasel existed except for the twenty-eight pads at the ends of the landing struts. The multiple pickups on the hull presented a perfect view of the world around her as it would be without the massive ship she now controlled.
“Lifting now!”
She felt with her left hand along the side of the armrest next to the yaw dial for the edge of the power wheel that protruded slightly from the armrest. She pushed it gently forward and watched as the four massive hydraulic pistons on each strut slid out to their full extension and the pads began to slowly rise from their old depressions in the hard soil around her.
She looked left and right to make sure the pads cleared evenly. When she was satisfied they were clear, she pushed the wheel further. The ground fell away and left a cheering crowd behind.
Speed and altitude displays appeared in her field of vision as the Weasel began moving. She settled at 200kph, and, when they passed 5,000 meters, she called, “Positive rate of climb. Retract struts. Release global attitude hold.”
The Admiral’s voice came back at her, “Acknowledged, positive rate of climb. Struts coming up. Global attitude hold is released.”
She turned her head to watch the virtual pads vanish as Wills said, “All struts showing up and locked.”
CeCe pushed the attitude stick on the right armrest forward and left slightly as she rotated the yaw dial to point the ship toward the sun; it felt more sluggish than she remembered because of the power distortion limit.
The atmosphere dropped behind them and she ran the speed higher and higher; finally, “Finished with close maneuvering.”
Wills entered another command and CeCe’s chair returned to normal flight mode. She sat back upright and watched the red dot in the resonator display closely paralleling the rippling green line of the tentative flight plan that had been entered into the auto-pilot. CeCe entered a command and watched the green line change and firm-up as the AI-controlled auto-pilot took over the control of the ship and recalculated their course from the current position; the red dot was now precisely aligned on the green line. They
