Read Online Crystal Rebellion by Doug J. Cooper - Free Book Online Page B

enemy
fighter attacking from above. “Classic Kardish maneuvers,” she said when two
more fighters spiraled in, one from each side.
    “Yes,” said Criss from his overstuffed chair. “I thought it
prudent to prepare.”
    Lowering herself to one knee, she extended her arms and stabbed
her fingers to the right, launching a volley of energy bolts at one of the
intruders. Jumping up, she repeated the action to the left.
    “Speaking of which,” said Criss, “we need you to practice with
the interface in case there’s trouble ahead.”
    “Geez, Dad ,” she mocked. Running in place with her
knees pumping high, she accelerated the simcraft in pursuit of a fleeing fighter.
She whirled her fists in tight circles, and a volley of energy bolts dissolved the
alien craft in a brilliant explosion.
    “Woohoo!” she said, cheering her own success.
    With her session ended, she sipped water and walked in place
while her heart rate settled. Glancing at her score, she twitched a shoulder in
a half shrug. Not my best. Not my worst.
    She took another sip of water and faced Criss. “Okay, tune
me.”
    “Have a seat.” Criss, swooping his hand like she’d won a
prize on a game show, invited her to sit in the pilot’s chair.
    As Cheryl stepped to the seat, she acknowledged a certain curiosity.
She’d operated craft using a thought reader back in the academy, and she’d watched
as others tested their skill. It’s an interesting disconnect, seeing spacecraft
duel in lifelike projected images, and knowing that the person relaxing across
the room conducted the battle by thinking commands. But the technology was
temperamental. And no leader risked lives on glitchy tools.
    She lowered herself into the chair and a familiar pilot’s array
displayed around her. Staring at the nav log, she imagined her hand reaching
out and entering a course correction. Coordinates spun on the display and she concentrated
on stopping them at her desired value.
    “I don’t get it,” she said. “This is slower and more prone
to error.” She slumped back in the seat. “Where’s the value?”
    “You’ve shown you can pilot the scout through the interface.
Now try being the interface.”
    Intrigued, she sat up. “I don’t understand.”
    “Take a deep breath and exhale.”
    Cheryl filled her lungs and exhaled in a steady stream.
    “Close your eyes and breathe again. Feel the tension leave
your body.”
    Is he hypnotizing me? Trusting Criss, she willed her
body to relax.
    “Now. Imagine that you can fly. In your mind’s eye, picture
yourself standing in your front yard. Stretch your arms up, look at the sky,
and lift off. Jump. There you go. Spread your arms and level out. Steady. Okay,
bank left. Straight. Now right.”
    Cheryl didn’t move her hands—she kept them in her lap with
her elbows propped on the arms of the chair. But her body swayed as she
pictured herself soaring along the edge of a wooded valley surrounded by the
majestic peaks of her childhood home in Boulder, a ski and college town tucked in
the eastern foothills of the Colorado Rocky Mountains.
    “Now pull up and climb. Faster. Faster still. Become a
rocket heading for orbit. You’re leaving the atmosphere and now you are in
space.”
    She imagined transitioning to space flight, hesitated, then changed
the picture in her head so she was wearing protective space coveralls. It’s
silly but it makes me more comfortable. In her mind, she pressed her arms
to her sides and flew faster and faster, accelerating in a thrilling sprint
into the void.
    “Now open your eyes. I’m going to project an image onto your
retinas. You’ll feel like the craft is your body, the nav your eyes, the
weapons your fingers.”
    Her vision filled with a scene not unlike the one she’d been
picturing in her head. She was flying through space. Mars loomed ahead, and with
its riverbeds, polar ice caps, and plains of rocky dust pockmarked with
craters, the orangish orb looked like a mash-up of Earth and