Strong smiled. “As real as we can make it, Corbett, without allowing the building to blast off.” He gestured toward the pilot’s chairs. “Take your place and strap in.”
“Yes, sir.” His eyes still wide with wonder, Tom stepped over to the indicated chair and Strong followed him, leaning casually against the other.
He watched the young cadet nervously adjust his seat strap and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Nervous, Corbett?”
“Yes, sir—just a little,” replied Tom.
“Don’t worry,” said Strong. “You should have seen the way I came into this room fifteen years ago. My cadet officer had to help me into the control pilot’s seat.”
Tom managed a fleeting smile.
“Now, Corbett”—Strong’s voice became businesslike—“as you know, these manual tests are the last tests before actually blasting off. In the past weeks, you cadets have been subjected to every possible examination, to discover any flaw in your work that might later crop up in space. This manual operations test of the control board, like Manning’s on the radar bridge and Astro’s on the power deck, is designed to test you under simulated space conditions. If you pass this test, your next step is real space.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I warn you, it isn’t easy. And if you fail, you personally will wash out, and if other members of the unit do not get a high enough mark to average out to a passing grade for all of you, you fail as a unit.”
“I understand, sir,” said Tom.
“All right, then we’ll begin. Your crew is aboard, the air lock is closed. What is the first thing you do?”
“Adjust the air circulating system to ensure standard Earth conditions.”
“How do you do that?”
“By pressing this button which will activate the servo units. They automatically keep the circulating pumps in operation, based on thermostatic readings from the main gauge.” Tom pointed to a black clock face, with a luminous white hand and numbers.
“All right, carry on,” said Strong.
Tom reached over the huge control board that extended around him for some two feet on three sides. He placed a nervous finger on a small button, waited for the gauge below to register with a swing of the hand, and then released it. “All pressures steady, sir.”
“What next?”
“Check the crew, sir—all departments—” replied Tom.
“Carry on,” said Strong.
Tom reached out and pulled a microphone toward him.
“All hands! Station check!” said Tom, and then was startled to hear a metallic voice answer him.
“Power deck, ready for blast-off!” And then another voice: “Radar deck, ready for blast-off!”
Tom leaned back in the pilot’s seat and turned to the captain. “All stations ready, sir.”
“Good! What next?” asked Strong.
“Ask spaceport tower for blast-off clearance—”
Strong nodded. Tom turned back to the microphone, and without looking, punched a button in front of him.
“Rocket cruiser—” He paused and turned back to Strong. “What name do I give, sir?”
Strong smiled. “Noah’s Ark—”
“Rocket cruiser Noah’s Ark to spaceport control! Request blast-off clearance and orbit.”
Once again a thin metallic voice answered him and gave the necessary instructions.
On and on, through every possible command, condition or decision that would be placed in front of him, Tom guided his imaginary ship on its imaginary flight through space. For two hours he pushed buttons, snapped switches and jockeyed controls. He gave orders and received them from the thin metallic voices. They answered him with such accuracy, and sometimes with seeming hesitation, that Tom found it difficult to believe that they were only electronically controlled recording devices. Once, when supposedly blasting through space at three-quarters space speed, he received a warning from the radar bridge of an approaching asteroid. He asked for a course change, but in reply received only static. Believing the recording to have broken down, he turned inquiringly to Captain Strong, but received only a blank stare in return. Tom hesitated for a split second, then turned back to the controls. He quickly flipped the teleceiver button on and began plotting the course of the approaching asteroid, ignoring for the moment his other duties on the control deck. When he had finished, he gave the course shift to the power deck and ordered a blast on the starboard jet. He waited for the course change, saw it register on the gauges in front of him, then continued his work.
Strong suddenly leaned over and clapped him on the back enthusiastically.
“Good work, Corbett. That broken recording was put there intentionally to trap you. Not one cadet in twenty would have had the presence of mind you showed in plotting the course of that asteroid yourself.”
“Thank you, sir,” stammered Tom.
“That’s all—the test is over. Return to your quarters.” He came over and laid a hand on Tom’s shoulder. “And don’t worry, Corbett. While it isn’t customary to tell a cadet, I think you deserve it. You’ve passed with a perfect score!”
“I have, sir? You mean—I really passed?”
“Next step is Manning,” said Strong. “You’ve done as much as one cadet can do.”
“Thank you, sir”—Tom could only repeat it over and over—“thank you, sir—thank you.”
Dazed, he saluted his superior and turned to the door. Two hours in the pilot’s chair had made him dizzy. But he was happy.
Five minutes later he slammed back the sliding door and entered the quarters of 42-D with a lusty shout.
“Meet Space Cadet Corbett—an Earthworm who’s just passed his control-deck manual operations exam!”
Astro looked up from a book of tables on astrogation and gave Tom a wan smile.
“Congratulations, Tom,” he said, and turned back to his book, adding bitterly, “but if I don’t get these tables down by this afternoon for my power-deck manual, you’re sunk.”
“Say—what’s going on here?” asked Tom. “Where’s Roger? Didn’t he help you with them?”
“He left. Said he had to see someone before taking his radar-bridge manual. He helped me a little. But when I’d ask him a question, he’d just rattle the answer off so fast—well, I just couldn’t follow him.”
Suddenly slamming the book shut, he got up. “Me and these
