Loose Ends: Flight School

[Carthrat]

"Allright, I'm about ready," says Arkian. "Buckle up, because I'm *quite* out of practice.."

He pulls back on the throttle, and moves the joystick to bring the ship out of the hangar!

"Er, I hope I didn't need flight clearance, or anything," he says.

[Halbarad]

Rich chuckles at that. "Don't worry about it. Flight control knows we were due to head out for some training today, although we're going to be working in space for maneuvers more than atmospheric work."

The ship rises - a bit shakily, you note, but you at least don't hit the hangar doors on the way out. The ship rises quickly, the viewscreen in front of you showing the ground receding rapidly below you.

[Carthrat]

"Of course," replies Arkian, nodding. "Anything special I should know for exiting and reentering the atmosphere, or is it all standard?"

If there *is* something special, it better be told before Arkian plows through the sky; he's jammed the throttle and moving *quite* fast.

[Halbarad]

"Naw," Rich answers. "You've got magically-augmented heat shielding, so as long as you're not moving with the transplanetary drive on when you hit the atmosphere you should be fine."

He watches Arkian's performance carefully. "Ease up on the throttle a little, and don't hold the yoke so tight. I've got second seat, so it's not like we're going to crash if you screw up. Calm down a little."

[Carthrat]

Arkian deliberately tells himself to 'loosen up'. "Right," he says, keeping his eye on his viewscreens and not the front window; experiance has taught him that it isn't fun to find yourself looking directly into the sun (rare, but it *does* happen.)

[Halbarad]

Within a matter of about five minutes you've left the Lunar atmosphere, and the ship slides into orbit smoothly - VERY smoothly.

"All right, here's where the fun begins. Ready for a quick run to Earth?" Rich asks with a grin.

[Carthrat]

Arkian pulls the ship around and points it towards the aforementioned planet, admiring the view.

"Why not?" he replies, activating the space-thrusters and switching the ship from 'Atmospheric' to 'Vacuum' mode.

[Halbarad]

And the ship responds. Quite rapidly. You feel a momentary pressure pushing you into your seat, and the ship lurches a bit.

"Whoa, ease back on the throttle before you switch the engines over," Rich advises. "The transplanetary engines have a hell of a lot of kick to 'em, so you want to drop the throttle back to almost nothin' before you switch into 'em." He points a finger at a pair of markings next to the throttle. "These are estimated speeds here," he explains. "The left side is standard thrusters, right side is transplanetary."  As you examine the markings, you notice that the transplanetary markings are several orders of magnitude higher than the standard ones.

[Carthrat]

Arkian whistles. "That *is* a damn sight faster than the stuff I used to pilot," he remarks, easing the throttle back. "On the other hand, though, it's not likely I'm going to hit anything out here."

He points the ship at Earth and guides it forward..

[Halbarad]

As you fly, you notice the ship making visible progress towards the blue planet - which is unusual. From your freighter-piloting days, you recall the long trip through the vacuum between the Earth and its lone satellite was just that - long and fairly boring.

Rich leans over and punches a few keys on a keyboard between the pilots' seats, and the ship seems to straighten out just a bit. "There, punched it over to automatic course control for a bit. Should arrive in Earth orbit in about, oh, two hours or so. Computer will take care of the deceleration once we hit the halfway point, so it's pretty much just sittin' back and enjoyin' the ride now."

[Carthrat]

"Great," replies Arkian, leaning back in his chair. "The ship'll pretty much pilot itself for the majority of the time. All I really need to do is turn it on."

[Halbarad]

"For the most part, yeah," Rich agrees. "It'll set off an alarm if it finds anything in your way, like a good-sized asteroid or anything, and you'll have to go around it. But it's designed to do most of the work itself."

[Carthrat]

"Do I need a copilot for anything?" asks Arkian, flipping through the manual. "I don't believe I have one for the flight."

[Halbarad]

"Naw, you should be okay by yourself. The co's chair is mainly here as a just-in-case - you know, in case the nav computer gets fried or somethin'. Not too likely to happen on a ship this new, but eh - it's still possible, I guess."

[Carthrat]

Arkian shudders at that thought. "I'd hate to be caught out as far as Mercury without a navicomp," he muses. "Well, maybe not so much on this ship, but on most others, it'd take long enough to get here with one, let alone without."