That definitely made sense from Souphan's point of view - with a new Web pilot at the controls.
Belatedly realizing that I should have unlocked the ship with a direct control, I began my inspection with the passenger compartment, and continued through every space, just as I had with Erelya. And as with her, I didn't find anything unusual.
Back in the control center, after strapping myself into the command couch, I checked the harness, then the headset, before running through the systems checks.
'Passengers are boarding,' Berya announced. 'Five of them - all working on the Santerene Three planoforming project.'
'Thank you. Anything else I should know?'
'They don't know this is your first insertion.'
'Let's make sure it stays that way.' My words did bring a smile to the lips of the round-faced second, if but for an instant. I was ready to uncradle the Mambrino before Souphan returned, but I rechecked all the systems and tried to get a better feel for sensors and responses in that interim.
'We're ready for departure.' The dark-haired third strapped himself in.
Til notify ops,' I told them.
Berya was already making the announcement to the passengers. 'Make sure your harness is securely fastened. We will be departing shortly.' Berya's voice came through both center speakers and through the system.
I beamed operations. 'Orbit Two, Mambrino, ready for departure.'
'Mambrino, area clear, no inbounds this time, understand destination Santerene.'
'Orbit Two, destination Santerene, uncradling this time.' When the cradles released, I gave the lower ionjets the slightest puff, enough to undock us, followed by a side puff, phasing in more ionjet power as we separated.
'Orbit Two, Mambrino clear of lock three. Departing this time.'
'Stet, Mambrino. Controller Astlyn sends his best.'
'Orbit Two, thank him for us.'
I moistened my lips and stepped up the power flow from the fusactors. Even at full power, the acceleration from the ionjets was limited, unlike the photonic system, but we had to be well clear of anything - a minimum of two hundred kilos - before I could bring up the main drive system even on minimal power.
When I did extend the photon nets, brought the configurators on-line, and then switched from ionjets to photonic drive, more than ever the mass of the cargo loomed under and behind the control center, and me, with a feel that made the term 'jockey' seem more appropriate than I had realized, far more appropriate.
I eased the needle's nose upward, trying to establish the orientation necessary for Santerene, as the acceleration built for insertion speed. Then came the excitation power-up, lattice after lattice raising the needle toward overspace.
'Minus ten for insertion,' I announced quietly as the growing acceleration pressed us back into our couches and the clamshells above clicked out of their restraints.
You must be in your harness at this time,' Berya announced.
'Minus five.' Scanning the passenger cabin, I could see and sense that all passengers were secured, and recalculated again, trying to ensure an orientation as perfect as possible.
'Minus three.'
The clamshells and nanite foam filling were in place, sealing us against the pressures, cushioning us against the growing acceleration - more than ten gees and building. I could feel the barriers between now and overspace thinning ... thinning.
I twisted the untwistable - as Aragor had put it - and slipped the Mambrino beyond the Now into a momentary silence.
Overspace itself wasn't the sightless black I'd been prepared for by Alicia's and Tomas's training, but the backdrop was dark purple with a tinge of green - like a storm twilight without the definition of clouds. Where I stood/flew/floated seemed at the top of a hill, one that sloped down from me toward a distant beacon. Behind me, I could sense the pulsations from the enormous moon beacon and identify the pattern.
Slowly ... it seemed so slowly, I locked on the distant beacon pattern before me, catching the pattern pulses and verifying the ID of Santerene. I could sense other beacons - perhaps a dozen, scattered at various distances, distances I knew to be deceptive.
From where Vwe/Mambrino soared, I could sense that the overspace gradient to Santerene was all downhill - almost like a grassy slope to a flat... I stepped/guided forward.
A lazy black sun slowly climbed from below me - two-eighty-eight, minus seventy-seven - out of the purple mist below.
I eased myself - the Mambrino, one and the same - ever so slightly sideways and forward, through the cloud of lilacs, past the sounds of a German polka and through the veil of a vanishing march.
A run ... a gallop, and the slope slid by beneath me.
Somewhere beyond the distance, I could sense a pinwheel of stars and a golden-red arc of flame, but they were there ... not beckoning, not threatening - just somewhere out beyond overspace.
Another sun - yellow-black - turned and flared toward me, but all it took was a slight lifting jump to slip past that bumblebeelike humming and drop onto the gradient downslope once more.
The beacon that I somehow knew was Santerene grew warmer, and, then ... simply, I retwisted the untwistable, and we exited overspace.
The control center flashed black, then blinding white, then settled into the standard gray of composite and plastics and electronics.
That's it? I blinked, discovered that I was soaked and that my body was slightly sore. The gee meters ranged from plus fourteen to plus twenty-three, gees I hadn't been aware of experiencing.
'Smooth,' said Berya. 'Easiest quad I ever made.' She half turned on her couch toward Souphan. 'This is the way they all ought to feel.'
Erelya hadn't told me, but I wasn't surprised that the officers accompanying a needle jockey on his first insertion received more than normal compensation. Berya's comment indicated that she'd accompanied more than a few beginning jockeys.
I grinned and almost asked what she was piling up credits for before I decided against the flippancy. Instead, I cranked up the fusactors and eased out the photon nets as the Mambrino began to accelerate downward toward orbit control off Santerene.
Once we were on a steady inbound course, I flicked off my inbound report. 'Santerene Orbit, this is Mambrino inbound, captain Tyndel, second Berya, and third Souphan. Five passengers. Condition green. Estimate arrival in ...' I had to pause and calculate the dilation impact, minimal as I suspected it would be, and the transmission lag time. Even the standing wave tightbeam was subject to lightspeed constraints. Then I gave myself some margin.'... twenty standard minutes.'
The Mambrino was still accelerating inbound when Santerene's return transmission arrived.
'Captain Tyndel, we have the Mambrino at the locks in approximately fifteen your time. Commander Krigisa will be waiting to welcome you.'
'Stet. Fifteen minutes.'
Station commanders didn't normally welcome every needle. That I knew from OE Station. So Krigisa had to know I was new. I wondered how, since nothing traveled between systems faster than a needle ship. Of course, standard procedures demanded I announce the crew and the number of passengers, and any high officials of the Rykashan Authority. And the commander probably knew all the needle pilots by name, and her run was the easiest around. So an easy run and a new name ... meant a new pilot. I hoped that was all.
I folded the photon nets at ten thousand kilos, but with enough mass so that I could complete all but the smallest fraction of decel by five hundred. It worked, and I cut in the ionjets for the last maneuvering as the clamshells retracted from the couches.