{"id":2258,"date":"2021-06-05T14:30:33","date_gmt":"2021-06-05T21:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/?p=2258"},"modified":"2021-06-05T14:30:33","modified_gmt":"2021-06-05T21:30:33","slug":"challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/2021\/06\/05\/challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

prompt: Start your story with an unexpected knock on a window.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

available at Reedsy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sia was jolted awake by the ringing of something against the hull. There shouldn\u2019t be any debris or asteroids in this region, but there it was again. It was…rhythmic?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She sat the pilot\u2019s seat up in time to see a figure in a vac suit slapping their hand against the forward window. A rub of her eyes and shake of her head convinced her that she was awake, and this was real. \u201cI\u2019m opening the airlock.\u201d She hoped they were in firm enough contact with the hull to hear her amplified voice vibrate through the hull and their own suit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The airlock showed as open, but the figure stayed at the forward window. Sia pointed toward the starboard side and motioned \u201ccome in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the figure had entered the airlock and the outer door was sealed, she ran a full re-pressurization and decontamination cycle. As atmosphere built up in the airlock, she opened the intercom. \u201cHang tight, need to run a decon, as my medical kit is limited and I\u2019m not in any position to deal with hazardous materials.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The figure nodded and gave a thumbs-up gesture. The suit was bulky, old-fashioned, of the sort that went out of use at least two hundred years earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou need help to get out of that suit?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The figure shook its hand in a \u201cno\u201d gesture. The helmet attachment and dark faceplate made any head movements invisible to anyone outside the suit. After turning to face away from the inner airlock door, the figure twisted the helmet and lifted it off. From the back, all Sia could make out was the black of the internal suit, as the type that would be worn with one of the antique vac suits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gloves were next to come off, followed by the slim, feminine figure shimmying out of the main body of the bulky suit as gracefully as possible in zero gee. As the figure turned around to face the inner door, Sia was struck by how the woman\u2019s face looked too perfect, too symmetrical, without blemish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the decon procedure completed, she opened the inner door. \u201cI\u2019m Sia. Who the hell are you and how did you get out here?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI go by the name Eva.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDoesn\u2019t tell me how you got here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was doing repairs on the research vessel Amadou, researching the remains of a nearly-extinct black hole.\u201d Eva\u2019s expression was unchanging. \u201cWe were in a stable orbit, and I was repairing one of the external sensors when were struck by an in-falling asteroid, approximately four kilograms, but traveling fast. It knocked me off the ship and deflected the ship\u2019s orbit toward the black hole.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was a long time ago. You mean to tell me you\u2019ve been drifting for two hundred years?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Amadou was pulled into the event horizon. I watched it rip itself apart as it reached an area where the gravitational gradient was too steep to withstand. I, however, was pushed into a slingshot. When I saw your ship, I used the suit\u2019s thrusters to put me on an intercept, then did everything I could to slow down to match your speed. If I hadn\u2019t caught on, I\u2019d be far beyond you by now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sia shook her head. \u201cNow you\u2019re saying you were moving faster the Sprinter in nothing but a vac suit from the pre-super-c era?\u201d She leaned in close and looked at Eva\u2019s face. \u201cIf you didn\u2019t look so fake, I might not believe you. But you\u2019re an old android, aren\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am a custom-built, extra-vehicular assistant\u2026thus Eva.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo why the vac suit?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMostly to maintain temperature. Too warm and my circuitry may malfunction, too cold and my joints become immobile. Thus, the suit with a nuclear battery, similar to the one I operate on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good thing you aren\u2019t human,\u201d Sia said. \u201cI\u2019ve only got enough oxygen and food for one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat is your mission?\u201d Eva asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sia laughed. \u201cIt\u2019s not a mission, so much as a challenge. I\u2019m doing a solo, sub-light trip, timed from Earth to Neptune, using only an initial, twenty-minute burst of one quarter gee thrust from high earth orbit, followed by slingshot maneuvers and steering thrusters only. I was trying to beat the record, and I believe I would have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat is our current location and speed?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA little more than four hundred kilometers per second, and less than ten hours from my final slingshot maneuver, around Saturn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat is the record?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne hundred twenty-two days, four hours, eleven minutes, and nine seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd your estimated completion time?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNinety-three days, give or take.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eva squatted in a position where she could hold herself against the hull in the null gravity. \u201cWhy do you say \u2018would have\u2019 when it seems you are still on track to beat the record?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe record is for solo<\/em> travel, without AI assistance. The addition of a passenger, or an AI, invalidates it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou calculated all the maneuvers yourself?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI did.\u201d Sia grunted and pulled a tablet out from beneath the pilot\u2019s chair. \u201cNow I have to recalculate the last slingshot for the added mass. What is your mass, anyway?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne hundred-eighteen point eight six kilograms, including the suit. Sixty-four of that is the suit. If you need it can be jettisoned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo way. That thing is an antique, worth a lot of credits. I was going to charge you that for passage. Now hush while I work this out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After two hours of revision, Sia had her new flight plan in place and keyed into the navigation. She leaned the pilot\u2019s chair back with a sigh. \u201cAll set.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWould it be more advantageous to you if I were to suit up and step back out?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sia gawped at the android clinging to the wall. \u201cAre you nuts?! Why would you even suggest that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf I were to download my data to your systems, my mission could still be completed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd you what? Drift until your battery runs out of power or you slam into a piece of rock?\u201d Sia closed her eyes. \u201cI\u2019m not sending out to die just to set a record.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut I wouldn\u2019t really be dying, since I\u2019m not alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sia shook her head hard, her hair coming out from under her collar to float around her face. \u201cNo. That\u2019s not happening. Just because you don\u2019t think you\u2019re alive, doesn\u2019t mean I want to eject you like junk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPerhaps the limited scope of my intelligence would allow them to make an exception in your case.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sia pulled the tablet back out from beneath her seat and showed it to Eva. \u201cCan you calculate the terms shown here?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen you\u2019re not too limited to invalidate my run,\u201d Sia said, \u201cbut now I have an excuse to try again next year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWasn\u2019t this trip planned based on certain orbital efficiencies? And won\u2019t those alignments be off when you try again?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, and yes. But,\u201d she said, smiling, \u201cthat just makes it more of a challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

prompt: Start your story with an unexpected knock on a window. available at Reedsy Sia was jolted awake by the ringing of something against the hull. There shouldn\u2019t be any debris or asteroids in this …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[208],"tags":[213,210,228,209],"class_list":["post-2258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trunk-stories","tag-federation","tag-fiction","tag-science-fiction","tag-short-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pxT7i-Aq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2258"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2259,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2258\/revisions\/2259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}