Creative Commons – The Plainsrunner – Chapter Thirty-Three

Continuing the serial release of The Plainsrunner under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license – (CC-BY-SA).

Tallgrass and Seagrass at the Academy.

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Chapter Thirty-Three – The View

It took twelve years. Professor Trueway was the driving force behind the campaign, and Tallgrass worked hard as his number one supporter. Sage and Professor Tailor led the way with the science to back it up. The artifacts added a bit of exotic mystery, but it was the possibility of something big lurking out there in space that was the main impetus for the people and their governments.

Although everyone tended to disregard the legends as superstitious remnants of their ignorant past, most of them had some lingering doubts. Since the legends were so widespread and so similar in their details, there was always the possibility that they were based on something real. In fact, an entire industry sprang up based on the legends. Most of it was just the usual attempts to use people’s hopes and fears to get money out of them, but some of it involved people’s beliefs.

In some cases, people with strong beliefs gathered masses of followers just through the charismatic power of their feelings. In other cases, people used their charisma and the power of other people’s beliefs to amass large followings. Some of them were driven by simple greed and vanity and were no danger to anyone other than themselves and their followers. Some of them had more grandiose ambitions, driven by their sense that they had destinies that were far larger and more important than such petty concerns as space exploration, or civilization. Most of these tried to realize their fantasies too quickly, and just as quickly came crashing down, leaving behind a disorganized rabble of believers. A very select few of them were able to build and sustain viable movements.

The result was that, while most people supported the space program more or less enthusiastically, some loudly opposed it, and some were dangerously inimical to it. The program found itself the target of attacks, some serious enough to take lives. That’s what caused the delay and made it take twelve years instead of ten. The program was a convenient and very visible scapegoat for the anti-spacers, and a clear and simple target for the fanatics.

Sage worried about Tallgrass. He was an integral part of the program, and his public profile was exaggerated by his relationship to her. She worried that it made him a natural target for those opposed to the program. She warned him to be careful, and he assured her that he would, but in truth he was more preoccupied by the intricacies of his daily life than by some vague possibility of danger. And he was reassured by his daily experience with the security measures in place to protect the facilities and personnel. Seagrass was also a member of the team, and neither of them had any life-threatening experiences in the years they worked to establish a manned space program.

Their education became a very practical affair. While they were learning about what went into getting things into space, they were also applying it in real projects. Most of the students specialized in one or two fields, but Tallgrass was able to gain a working knowledge of most of them. Rocketry, telemetry, electronics, celestial mechanics, even the finer points of the life support systems they would need. If he encountered it in his work, then he dug into it until he felt he understood it. He didn’t know he was making himself indispensable, but he was. And right along with him came Seagrass, driving himself to the point of exhaustion to make sure he stayed useful to his friend.

Even before they graduated from the Academy, they were vital members of the team, but they stayed on and graduated because everyone insisted on it. Their parents, who wanted them to have something they could fall back on. The Academy, which wanted to ensure its own relevance. The program itself, which wanted to be able to show the world their qualifications. And themselves. Tallgrass wasn’t the only one who thought he should finish what he started, but he was among the few who felt they should take everything the academy could offer them, to make themselves as useful as possible to the program.

So Tallgrass and Seagrass took the full four year standard course of studies, plus the two years of supplementary education, before finally joining the program full time, while most of their peers made the jump earlier.

Tallgrass thought that he would be involved in the design of the hardware and systems of the project, and he was. Because of his broad general knowledge, he was able to fit in on most aspects of it. Every group he joined benefited from it, and soon the managers of the groups recognized that. He became a desirable commodity. Each time a new group formed, they wanted him in it. Every time a project ran into problems, they asked for him. To simplify matters they stopped assigning him to specific groups and created a new job category for him. He became the member-at-large, roving about the whole enterprise helping where required. Seagrass was with him, of course, as his partner, although everyone else thought of him as an assistant.

A lot of work had been done already by the time they graduated and joined the project full time. You can get a lot done in six years, especially when everyone is working together with a sense of urgency. The rockets they would be using to get material and personnel into orbit were already tried and tested. The electronics and computers were being finalized, and would soon be locked in. They were still making improvements to the life support and habitat systems, since they were the first of their kind. They had launched satellites and successfully put them on their correct orbits, but this would be the first time they had sent people up. Much was done already, but there was still plenty for them to do when they joined the team for good.

After two years of that, Deputy Director Trueway called Tallgrass and Seagrass to his office. He wanted to see them first thing in the week, bright and early, so there they were clopping down the hallway toward his office on the fortieth floor of the Space Administration building, with the rising Sun reflecting hard off the ocean out the windows.

“What do you think he wants?” asked Seagrass, not for the first time since they got the summons.

“I don’t know,” said Tallgrass. “I can’t think of anything we screwed up. There was that weight-and-balance problem that came up last week, but I thought we handled that okay.”

“Yeah,” said Seagrass. “That was hardly anything. Certainly nothing to justify this.”

They arrived at the door and Tallgrass reached out to knock. “Well, we’ll soon find out,” he said.

“Come in,” came the call from within. “The door’s open.”

Tallgrass opened the door and led the way in, then stopped immediately, forcing Seagrass to avoid bumping into him. What stopped him was the view. This was a corner office with windows on both sides. Deputy Director Trueway was at the window on the ocean side, silhouetted against the glare. “Come over here,” he said, gesturing. As they approached, he said, “I love this view. Especially first thing in the morning. And it’s almost always the same. I can practically set the clock by when the Sun comes up.”

“Right,” said Tallgrass. “Because we have negligible axial tilt and orbital obliquity, so the Sun appears to rise at nearly the same time and place all year.”

“Yes,” said Trueway with a chuckle. “Although I must admit, that’s not what I’m thinking of when I’m looking at this view.” He turned back to the window, where the sea looked like beaten copper.

“Sorry, Deputy Director,” said Tallgrass. “I can’t help it.”

“Please,” said Trueway, “none of the ‘Deputy Director’ stuff here. Just between us, it feels weird. I’d prefer, in private like this, if you could call me ‘Professor.’“

“Of course, Professor,” said Tallgrass.

“That’s better,” said Trueway. “I didn’t have enough time to get used to being a professor before this.” He waved to indicate his office, in all meanings of the word.

Tallgrass nodded. “I understand,” he said. They all looked at the view in easy silence, then he said, “But you didn’t bring us here to look at the view.”

“No,” said Trueway, leading them to a table with food and drink. “I brought you here to offer you the opportunity to enjoy an even better view.”