Read Online Frontier: Book One - The Space Cadets by Laurence Moroney - Free Book Online

didn ’ t see much of Patrice or
Seamus for the next few days. Maybe it was a good thing -- there
was just so much to take in. The school was hitting them hard with
science, mostly physics, and mostly practical.
    Not for the first time, she
wondered why they spent so much time in labs, when they were up in
space. Mister Stevens, their lab master, had them working on
experiments in understanding inertia and the transfer of force.
Aisha swore that if she bounced one more metal ball off another
steel block to measure the transfer of energy, she ’ d scream.
    It was relief when, at the end of
class, their form master entered. He was a tall man with a craggy
face who only wanted to be called Simms.
    “ Today, Cadets, we have a little
surprise for you. We ’ re going to the hub,
where you ’ re going to get your first taste
of being a real cadet. So take off your lab coats and safety
glasses, and rank up behind me!”
    They followed him, in rank, up
ladders through section after section as they approached the hub.
With a giddy feeling, Aisha felt herself get lighter and lighter as
the gravity reduced. Finally, they entered through a hatch into a
wide, empty area.
    She was floating again, weightless
as she looked down the long space of the central cylinder that
acted as the hub for each of the wheels that made up the
station.
    “ The cylinders interconnect here,
and even though each wheel ’ s rim may spin
at a different speed, there ’ s no spin at
all,” said Simms, matter-of-factly. “So it ’ s perfect for simulating space-like experiences
without risking you guys out there in hard vacuum.”
    Aisha was
finding it difficult just to focus on the space. It was huge and it seemed
unreal. She could see green patches around the
walls.
    “ Gardens, ” said Simms, catching her stare. “ We
don ’ t
import all our
food you know, and the plants provide carbon dioxide
scrubbing. ”
    Soo-Kyung was always straight to
the point. “What would stop us crashing into them, or any of the
buildings?”
    “ Good old-fashioned nets,” said
Simms. “You can ’ t see them from this
distance, but there ’ s netting strong
enough to stop you from crashing, even though a good crash might
teach you a lesson.”
    He thumbed a control on his link,
and a large hangar door opened behind him. In it were a number of
small ‘Y’-shaped spacecraft, with the cockpit at the apex, and
thruster engines at the peak of the ‘ Y ’ .
    “ Find a ship and get in,” said
Simms. He didn ’ t need to ask twice, as
excitedly the students took a ship each.
    Aisha got into her ship. The
cockpit was cramped, with a joystick to her right and a handle that
moved forwards or backwards to her left.
    Simms’ face popped up on the glass
of the cockpit, and Aisha noticed the reflection of a typical
heads-up display. “You ’ ve all played video
games or used flight simulators,” he said. “And the control
concepts are the same. The joystick is used to tilt your craft left
and right with those directions. Forward or backwards will dive or
climb. Handle on your left is for main thrusters.”
    She moved the stick, getting a
feel for it, as well as the throttle handle. It looked like this
might be an easy ship to fly.
    “ There ’ s
two major differences in flying here,” he said. “The first is
gravity. There is no down . So learn to orient yourself on a
fixed item. The sun might be up, down or sideways. The Earth is the
same. You need a point of reference so you can measure your
position relative to your enemy. Find one that
you ’ re good at
and stick to it. Got it? ”
    “ Sir, yes, Sir,” they
replied.
    “ The second,” he said, “is
friction. When flying in the air, wind resistance slows you down.
So between that and gravity, you ’ ll slow
down and you ’ ll fall. In a vacuum,
there ’ s no inertia. When you push your
engines to send you forward at a speed, you ’ ll continue in that direction at that speed forever . So if you need to