Over the Ocean

“The Point of no Return is used to describe when a transport has enough hydrogen to land and rendez-vous with the next ship passing the area. The transport ships refuel on the Jet Stream Ship and not on the ground where they are stationed. They need energy to both land and to be able to fly up again.”

— An answer from Quentin’s final exam

Quentin woke the next morning feeling stressed and sad. He got out of bed and started the moving meditation he had begun every morning with during the last ten years. Moving through the slow routine strained his muscles and his focus to the max. It brought back the feeling of camaraderie from the Academy. He could almost see how he and the other eleven were slowly moving from position to position in their barracks every morning before breakfast. After a shower he felt focused and refreshed. His old instructor’s voice suddenly came to him with the words that had been repeated to him at least a million times, “The first thing you do every morning is to check the ship’s status.”

Feeling he had something semi-constructive to do, he headed for the bridge with the list he made the night before in his pocket.

“We just left New York behind and we are above the Atlantic Ocean, captain.”, the first mate said the moment he went onto the bridge. His father was already on the bridge and it was apparently him the first mate was addressing.

“Thank you! The real Captain is on deck now, I’m only the Shadow” his father said without turning around.

Quentin trying to take control of the conversation asked. “What is the status of the last transport for the capital?”

“The transport is loaded with everything except the passengers. It has also been refilled with hydrogen and is ready for takeoff. One hour until point of no return.”

“Thank you first mate,” Quentin responded, “We will see the passengers off, let me know if anything changes.” After checking that the crew had everything in hand, secretly checking his list a few times, they went down to the loading docks to say farewell to his mother and his father’s chosen.

Seeing his mother standing at the transport almost brought Quentin to tears. To meet her for one night and then waving goodbye the next day felt unfair. His father put his hand on his shoulder. “There is a reason that we always repeat the UNN-Motto, almost like a prayer, it is to remember that what we do is for everyone not just for us.”

“For the greater good.” Quentin said to himself and walked towards his mother. They talked for a while. The transport pilot was getting more and more irritated with them; keeping him from returning home. Finally they felt they had to say their goodbyes.

Diane hugged her son and whispered in his ear. “Did you find the book I left for you in the book shelf? Read it when you get the chance.”

His father interrupted them before he could answer. “What are you two whispering about?”

“Just telling our son how much I love him.”, His mother quickly replied.

Quentin frowned, but nodded towards his mother hoping that she understood that he had found it and that he would read it. Why is she keeping secrets from him?

She was the last passenger to board the transport. Quentin and Brian looked in silence at the closing door until one of the Loaders yelled at them: “There is never summer in the stream.” Quentin and Brian ran out of the dock through the inner bulkheads just as they closed. After they were closed they could hear the bangs from the ship releasing the bolts holding the transport to the ship and then only silence. They looked out the window as the transport was released from the ship and dropped down.

Quentin had always loved watching the transport planes taking off. The huge plane was an engineering marvel. The wings were stretched out and it started to drop at a slight incline. Its’ turbine engines started spinning from the air passing through them from dropping, which caused the huge reaction wheel to start to spin inside of the plane. On the roof of the plane he could see the circular housing for the reaction wheel. Every time he saw this kind of drop he could almost feel the humming when the wheel started to spin faster and faster, though the wheel never made any sound, if any sound would start leaking out then you knew you were only seconds from the plane exploding. An unbalanced wheel at the speeds it span at would be extremely destructive. The reaction wheel would store momentum from the turbines and when it had reached its maximum the turbines would start and the transport plane would get most of its energy to fly back from New York from just dropping from the Jet Stream Ship. It would drop to gain energy and then use the energy to fly part of the way and then repeat until it was to close to the ground it had to use up some of the precious hydrogen in its tanks. It takes a lot of energy to lift goods up to the 10000 meters that the ship traveled on and most of the hydrogen was used when the transport planes transported goods up to the ships, and the reaction wheels was one way to minimize the energy usage. If it was one thing the UNN was good at it was redistributing and recycling. Like my mother. After a minute his father looked away, brought a smile to his face “Where should I shadow you now?”

“Lets go to the mess hall for an early lunch. I think the bridge can manage an hour more without me.” Quentin replied.

Walking in to the mess hall felt eerily familiar but at the same time like he didn’t fit in anymore. Coming from the back of the ship the left side of the mess hall was a glass wall stretching almost 3m from floor to ceiling and the entire 30m of the mess hall length. The right side held the entrance to the kitchen, they could hear the bustle coming from in there as the kitchen staff was finishing the preparations for lunch or starting the preparation for dinner. At the long counter the lunch was displayed and ready for the taking. The last time he was here he was a young man on his way to the Academy. He remembered the party to celebrate the ship’s son who was on his way to become a man. Right here in this hall. But then he was just the captain’s son. It also brought back the memory from the day after the party. When he left for the Academy, the tears in his eyes when he finally realized that he wouldn’t meet his parents again for 10 years. Now he was the Captain-to-be. He saw David sitting by himself in a corner of the room. He is the ship’s inquisitor. His task was to judge in any dispute on the ship or in any area they passed on their turn around the world. I wonder what the test is about? His thoughts on the tests were derailed when he saw his two old friends Roy and Sebastian sitting at one of the tables.

“I need to take my mind of everything happening. Can we talk later?”

Brian saw where Quentin was looking. “I will have lunch with David, we have some things to talk about.”

What is all the secrecy about?

Quentin got some lunch from the kitchen and walked over to his old friends’ table. Feeling lighter and happier with every step he walked towards them. He had needed to see some friendly faces.

“Long time no see! I didn’t know you still served on this ship,” He said happily.

Sebastian and Roy looked up, happiness and a bit of envy seemed to clash in their eyes.

“Not all of us have the possibility to take ten year vacation’s.” Roy sounded a bit short when he said it.

Sebastian though looked happy to see him. “It is so great to see you again, it has been a very long time. We just got back from our tours. We actually haven’t seen one another for a couple of years now as well.” Nodding at Roy. “I just got back from serving on the Tech team at the Greater Good and I just got assigned as team leader of your Tech team.”

“Congratulations, Sebastian. It is going to be great working with you! Roy, what have you been up to these last few years?”

“I have been here the last few years, I am a Marine now, working as a sergeant under Anta.”

“That is great, you managed to get into the Marine academy. Just like you wanted.”

“It is a really tough job.”

“He has gotten quite a bit more cynical since I met him last though.” Sebastian said teasingly.

Roy sounded really sad “When you get so see the real side of people, life looses its fun.”

Quentin got worried and wanted to ask him what he meant when David suddenly stood next to the table looking down at Quentin. “Your first test starts now, follow me.” He turned around and walked out of the mess hall. Quentin stood up looking nervously towards his two friends. Roy just nodded. Sebastian mouthed, “Good luck!” Quentin turned towards the exit and followed David out.