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closest to you, and go and strap in.
Since I was on the left end, I walked toward the left-most capsule, and then
up the curved synthetic steps that arched from the smooth stone floor up to
the simulator capsule. I didn t look down from the top of the gantry-like
platform, but ducked and stepped quickly inside the small space.
Once I had slid onto the replica couch, the hatch eased shut with a very
definite and dull click. I took a moment to study the capsule  except that,
since it wasn t powered up, all I saw was the dull expanse of gray before the
control couch, with only a single red-lit stud. I hooked the harness leads to
the headset, eased the headset on, adjusting it so that it fit snugly, and
then strapped myself onto the control couch.
My fingers finally rested once more on the single lit stud in the capsule. I
pressed it.
The gray expanse filled with color and all sorts of virtual readouts, most of
which didn t resemble anything I d seen in the training VR sessions, not at
first. I tried to sort them out, and began to recognize the more obvious
ones  like altitude readouts and speed. Above the manual data representations
was a view of the liftway at Kuritim. That, I could recognize without
struggling. I forced my eyes back to study each of the manual readouts, for
the several moments before the system came online and buried me under streams
of data. Rather they were more like comm lasers in different colors and
frequencies, each conveying data in a different language or set of symbols.
As the procedures manual had indicated, I went through the abbreviated
checklist, then lifted my eyes once more to the VR view of the liftway at
Kuritim, the one at which we always finished those grueling runs  each and
every day.
 Have you finished your checklist, Shuttle Alpha two?
I winced.
 Shuttle Alpha two, ready to lift, I said  and added the phrase mentally.
 Cleared to begin lift-off roll, Shuttle Alpha two.
 Understand cleared. Beginning lift-out roll. Using the headset as I might
have my own vyrtor, I mentally torqued the Rochford delimiters, monitoring the
magfield constriction to ensure a smooth acceleration through the initial
ground effect along the liftway.
Abruptly the information surged through me & so much that the liftway image
blurred before my eyes & I didn t so much hear the words or the signals as
feel them & and my mental translation was running far behind the inputs and
my reactions.
& acceleration one point three & one point four & delta vee one nine zero &
liftway remaining & eight thousand & seventy-seven & delimiters at point
nine-nine & acceleration two point eight & attitude plus three red &
I eased the orbiter s nose forward  just slightly, I thought.
& attitude minus two &
I tried to edge the nose up just slightly.
& attitude minus one & liftway remaining sixty-six & acceleration three point
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one &
The lifter screamed-staggered  that was the way it felt  off the lift-way.
& yaw at twenty degrees & increasing &
The nose pitched up  why, I didn t know, and I tried to correct. Then the
left side of the lifter rose &
& attitude plus four & DELTA VEE WARNING & DELTA VEE WARNING &
At the near-electric-neural shock of the warning, I mentally wrestled the nose
down.
& magfield imbalance & IMBALANCE & IMBALANCE! &
I cut back on the left delimiter. The nose centered.
& yaw at ten degrees & centering & attitude minus two &
Before me, the screen showed the water beyond the breakwater reef screaming
toward me, and I pulled the nose up &
& delta vee warning & DELTA VEE WARNING &
This time I was too late in readjusting the nose, and the shuttle
stall-spiralled into the blue waters of the VR Pacific.
A strobe-like flash of darkness and light, and pain slammed through my skull
before I found myself lying on the couch looking at the same blank-featured
console wall as I had after first strapping in.
 Shuttle Alpha two, please commence checklist in preparation for lift-off.
 Commencing checklist, I answered.
The second attempt was even worse. I tried to keep the nose centered, ran out
of ground effect and skidded along the liftway, then pin-wheeled sideways into
the water. The electric shock and the darkness were almost a relief.
My third attempt at lift-off was not the disaster of the second, but somehow I
missed the transition to the upper mag belts, and ended up plummeting into the
ocean. So I was hanging upside down, strapped to the couch waiting for the
simulator to recenter itself.
 That s enough, Candidate Alwyn. When the capsule rights itself, you can
unstrap and come on down. The Major s voice was laconic, matter-of-fact.
The headset went dead, and the capsule rolled upright. I was drenched in sweat [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]