Starship Walker

The Brilliant Ruins

"Why do I need to learn this?" Gillian demanded. "The system recognises all the stars, when it can see them. And it can always find the pulsars. Why do I need to understand these coordinate systems?"

She was at a desk in the Navigation centre, with Mr Rogers. Her next simulation Walk was concerned with navigation. But she was bored by galactic coordinates and related navigation methods.

Mr Rogers replied, "Imagine you're using a GPS on any settled planet. If your gadget or the network fails, you'd have to go back to manual coordinates. You could even go back to a ruler, compass and maps if necessary - but you're still using a coordinate system."

"So you're saying I can use a ruler, compass and two-dimensional piece of paper for navigating around the galaxy?"

Now she was just being argumentative, and she knew it. She was tired, and the topic bored her.

Mr Rogers ignored her point. "Gillian, I'm afraid it comes down to legislative requirements. Ask Mr Dryen. To Walk this ship live, unsupervised, controlling the helm as a pilot, you must satisfy the Captain of your competence on this topic - and all the other designated ones. That means Abel must sign a legal document for each of the nominated competencies required of you as a Walker, and present them to the Captain. Galactic coordinates and their use is one of them. That's the law for the merchant navy."

Gillian sighed. "Ok, Ok ... Can we have a cuppa now?"

"Yes, good idea." Mr Rogers looked relieved. He glanced at her. "Didn't you sleep well last night?"

"I'm ok," Gillian replied, avoiding his gaze. She jumped up and marched over to the dispenser, trying to seem more energetic, adding over her shoulder, "Anyway, a compass is useless on a planet with no magnetic field - I know, I come from one!"

Mr Rogers put his head in his hands in mock desperation.

Mr Dryen, Dr Morris and Abel arrived.

"Is Gillian teasing you again, Mr Rogers?" Dr Morris asked. Now that she knew they were married, Gillian thought she detected an ironic tone in her use of the surname.

The group spent five minutes drinking tea and coffee, and exchanging small talk. Gillian loved these sessions. She was able to relax, as if she was a member of a large, happy family that sometimes had arguments, like all normal families.

"Well," Abel said, "time for our simulator session?"

Gillian stood and went over to one of the lockers to fetch a fresh mask. As she was leaving, she overheard Mr Rogers mutter to Dr Morris, "She's grouchy today!"

When she returned, Mr Rogers helped her up on to the stage. "Don't forget!" he said, "Imagine you're at the middle of a sphere, looking at its inside surface. The coordinates are on that inner surface."

They put her somewhere out between Sol and Tau Ceti, with her small green direction pointer turned off, and instructed her to look up the coordinates of Procyon and start Walking towards it. To do this, she had to flick her tongue to the roof of her mouth to bring up an inventory of all the stars within fifty light years. Then she scrolled to the required star by moving her eyes up and down to find it and its coordinates. Gillian had experienced difficulty accessing the actual maps on earlier attempts. It required her to focus on the list of star coordinates and blink twice at the one in the centre of her vision. Today, this seemed to have become easier, and she was please to see the map superimposed on her surroundings. She knew it was in three-D if she tried to perceive it the correct way, but so far, this ability eluded her.