“The Skipper says your friend can ride in the inspector’s seat if he’s strapped in and keeps quiet during maneuvering.”
Perry arose, his face radiant, thanked the young woman and turned to Cathcart. “Sure you don’t mind?”
“Not at all. I’d like to catch a nap.”
The stewardess let him into the navigation room, and strapped him into a chair just behind and about ten inches higher than the pilot’s and navigator’s seats. The skipper gave him a curt nod and turned away. Perry followed his glance, saw the field lights turn red, then a light ahead showed green in double flashes. The skipper reached out and pinched a pair of control buttons between thumb and forefinger. A buzzer sounded and a transparency flashed, ‘PASENJERS STRAP IN’. Perry felt his own safety belt. The pilot pinched another pair of buttons, then several more in rapid succession. Perry felt heavy and a cloud of white smoke blotted out the view ports. It cleared away almost immediately, and the ground appeared far below. San Francisco vanished beneath them. The pilot’s hands moved nervously among the controls. Perry watched the numbers click past on the altigraph, two thousand—three—five—nine—thirteen—up and up. At twenty thousand meters the pilot leveled off and accelerated, faster and faster, until seventeen hundred kilometers per hour was reached. The light in the car had taken on an unreal quality, like the glares and sharp shadows of a welder’s arc. Outside the sky was a deep purple and stars shown clearly and without twinkling. Just ahead he saw the sickle of Leo beginning to rise. He twisted around in his seat and attempted to see the sun, but it was obscured by the stern of the ship. He was forced to content himself with imagining what the solar prominences and spots might be like. He recalled the warning printed on his ticket: ‘DANJER! OBTAN DARK GLASES FROM STUARDES BEFORE VUING SON’ and he had neglected to obtain dark glasses from the stewardess. Below the ground flowed past in plastic miniature, each detail sharp. It looked remarkably like the illuminated strip map that unrolled on the instrument board. A glowing red dot floated on the surface of the map. Perry recognized this as a dead reckoner of some sort and wondered how the trick was done. Air speed? Hardly. Earth induction? Possible but difficult, especially in latitude made good. Radio? More likely, but still a clever trick.
When the pilot was satisfied with his combination, Perry ventured to speak. “Excuse me.” The pilot glanced back and his grimness relaxed a trifle.
“Oh, it’s you. I’d forgotten you were here. Want something?”
“Just one thing. Why are all your controls double?”
“As a matter of fact they are quadruple, in parallel-series around each pilot’s chair. I suppose you mean why the pinch-buttons.”
“Yes, why not ordinary push buttons?”
“Each side is an ordinary push button, but you have to pinch a pair with thumb and forefinger to cause any action. Look.” He ran his finger along the key board, pressing a dozen or more keys. Nothing happened. “It’s a safety device against freezing on the keyboard at high acceleration. I could pass out and fall face down on the keyboard and never set off a jet. My partner could then land by squeezing the keys on his board. For example, if we had ordinary push buttons and I pressed the combination for maximum breaking, I’d be pushed hard upon the board by my own momentum, and I might not be able to release the controls. With this system I have to will to pinch or nothing happens.”
“Thanks. Say, how long does it take to learn to be a rocket pilot?”
The pilot looked at him curiously but answered his question. “If you are temperamentally fitted, three months should do. There is always more to learn.”
The stewardess stuck in her head. “Ready for your tea, Skipper? And you, Jack?” The navigator gave a taciturn nod. The skipper assented, and said to Perry, “I think you’d better have your tea in the passenger compartment.”
Perry unstrapped himself and returned to Cathcart, who nodded greeting. “See what you wanted to?”
“Yes, and was dismissed most diplomatically.”
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106