Distance Learning

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Warning: work in progress


15 January 2022
Ultima Station


Well, this was it! I was finally going away to college. And you couldn't get farther away than I was going!

I checked that my harmonica was still in my pocket - Dad gave me that harmonica years ago and I didn't want to lose it! - then I picked up my suitcase in one hand and my computer bag - with my letter of offer poking out the top of the outside pocket - in the other, and walked down the jetway to the airlock.

Oh, wow - the captain herself was waiting at the airlock! Unless there was somebody else around here who had wings and was less than a foot tall. "Ship's supernumerary Brooklynne Bridges, reporting for duty, Captain ... what is your family name, ma'am?" Oh, I could have died of embarrassment!

Welcome-aboard.png
But she just smiled. "Welcome aboard, Ms. Bridges. If I must have a family name, 'Noahsdottir' will do, but I prefer simply to be called Safety."

That's why I couldn't find it out ahead of time - she didn't have one!

Captain Safety kept on talking. "I expect you want to stow your belongings. You're billeted on deck two, near the mess hall. We've done what we could to give everyone as much privacy as we could, but nobody except myself and the ship's surgeon has a private room; you're sharing a room with Ms. LaCroux. At least you aren't hot-bunking, the way the bridge crew is; we know you need someplace relatively quiet so you can study."

I'm rooming with Destinee LaCroux? The ship's chief scientist? "Oh, thank you, ma'am!" That was better than I had expected!

"We decided that all four of the students would be sharing quarters with the four section chiefs. You are here to learn, and who better to learn from than the top people on the ship?"

"Yeah... but they're busy people, aren't they? Wouldn't it make sense to put us with people who have time to teach us things when they're off-duty?"

"We thought of that, but then we realized that the section chiefs will be out of their quarters more often than they're in their quarters. You'll have more chances to concentrate on your studies this way."

"Oh, yeah, I can see that. But I wasn't expecting to be doing a lot of book learning, Captain."

She looked taken aback at that. "Didn't you read the entire prospectus, Ms. Bridges? We have a special arrangement with the Nekomi Institute of Technology to treat the Rinna Kazamatsuri as a satellite campus, and NIT has some very strict rules about their required courses. You're going to be taking all of the mandatory first-year courses while you're aboard. Do you want to change your mind about joining the crew? You haven't officially signed in yet, so there wouldn't be any penalty if you leave now."

Leave? And pass up the chance to be paid to attend my first year of college? "No, ma'am! I just thought I would be getting a hands-on education, that's all."

The captain laughed. "You'll be getting that as well, Ms. Bridges. This won't be a pleasure cruise."

Oh, boy.


Aboard the Rinna Kazamatsuri


While I was looking for my bunk, I found the mess hall. It's a nice place - kind of a cross between Ten-Forward on NextGen and Meg's in Stellvia. Gagarins are build by the Feds and this one was owned by Stellvia, so it made sense. The menu on the wall said they weren't serving today, and we'd get the lunch special at Miela's free if we showed them our contract. I'd just left Ultima and I didn't really want to turn around just to get something to eat, so I looked around for the cooks to ask if I could use the galley on my own - but I couldn't find them. I guess they were busy loading supplies on deck 5 or something. So I turned around and kept looking for my room.

Lucky! I'm two doors away from the mess hall - close enough to grab a midnight snack, but far enough to not hear everyone else having fun. I knocked, just in case Ms. LaCroux was there.

"Oui?"

She was - good thing I knocked! "I'm Brooklynne Bridges. I'm supposed to be sleeping here during the voyage."

The door opened. "Entrez, s'il vous plaît. Bonsoir, mademoiselle Bridges... ou dois-je vous appeler Brooklynne?"

While I put my bags beside the door, I looked at my commlock's screen, which told me what she had just said. "Please, just call me Lynne. That's what my friends call me."

As my commlock translated what I had said into French, Ms. LaCroux frowned, then said in English, "Your device's accent is atrocious, Lynne. And you need to know at least one language other than your native one in order to graduate. What do you speak other than English?"

I'd forgotten all about that requirement. "Well, I know some Spanish, but not really enough to have a conversation in it. But what's wrong with machine translation?"

"Le ver vert rampe vers le verre." My commlink's screen was filled with question marks, and not just because she had spoken quickly. "That is what is wrong with machine translation: it takes too long to be practical in a conversation."

My commlock finally showed what she had said. "That wasn't a fair test. How often would that happen?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "It only needs to happen once. And you may complain about the fairness of a test after you have passed it. But we will build upon what strengths you already have; I will ask Chief Engineer Garcia to tutor you in Spanish, and you will refrain from using your device to understand what we say to you."

Oh, good - I was afraid I was going to have to learn French as well as everything else while I was aboard. Good thing Spanish was accepted as a second language for my diploma! But no commlock help? That's not fair!

DL002 Roommates.png
But she's my teacher. I put my commlock back on my belt. "Ma'am, you mentioned accents earlier. I'm having trouble figuring out your accent. What is it?"

"If I am to call you Lynne, then you are to call me Destinee. Do not make me feel old by calling me 'ma'am.' I was born and raised on l'Île Saint-Louis, Lynne; I speak Parisienne French. My English accent is not so good, I admit. I learned the basics in school, and more from the BBC World service, but I did not learn conversational English until 2015. That was when we explored Zeta Tucanae for the first time. I took in the accents of the other people in the exploration team, so I am a Frenchwoman who speaks English with a German accent. Perhaps I could sell beer?"

It took me a moment to remember the commercial she was referring to. "Maybe!"


After I finished unpacking - Destinee helped! - I took off to find out who else was already aboard. I made it to the mess hall and stopped. Somebody was in there, and I was looking for somebody, so I went in.

Aw, man - is every other girl aboard this ship a hot blonde? I'm never going to get a date! No, wait - the Captain isn't a blonde. There's hope yet! But I didn't say any of that out loud! "Hi there! I'm Lynne Bridges, ship's supernumerary. Pleased to meet you!"

She smiled and stood up. "Tiffani Jones. That's Tiffani with an i, not a y. Also a ship's supernumerary."

DL003 Lynne and Tiff.png

"So we're classmates!"

"That we are. Picked a major yet?"

I shook my head. "I'm using this year to find out what I like best, and I'll major in that."

"That works. I'm majoring in medicine."

"EMT, nursing, or doctor?"

"GP, with a psychiatrist specialty if I can swing it."

This girl aims high! "With that major, wouldn't it make more sense to take your first year at NIT, though?"

"I did - this is my second year." Oops! She's a year ahead of me. But either she didn't care, or she wanted to put me at ease, because she changed the subject right away. "Okay, Lynne - what do you play?"

Ooh, a trick question! But I'd been asked that one before, so I was ready for it. "Harmonica and Half-Life, but not at the same time."

She grinned. "I'd be impressed if you could! I play the violin, myself."

Oh, good - I'm a lot better at the harmonica than I am at Half-Life. "What style?"

"Something from Tasmin Little, something from Lindsey Stirling, something from Regina Carter, and something from everybody else."

"Oh, yeah! I utterly know what you're saying; I'm like that with the harmonica, too. How about we get together sometime, you channel your inner Regina Carter, I'll let my inner Toots Thielemans loose, and we'll improv for a few hours?"

Tiffani's grin got wider at that. "I'm down with that, sure!"

There was a voice at the door, which made both of us jump. "Please do; there's a long tradition of people making their own music on long trips. But don't neglect your studies, ladies."

"Yes, Captain!" Hey, we'd said that in unison! Without practicing!



to be continued...