In progress

Cat had a hard time answering nube questions. She is far to experienced to deal with the kids the brass keeps throwing at her. The economy is too good to pay people to bounce around the universe. People got more money for publicizing the life of genetically augmented kittens. The romance of roaming the depths of space have gone the way of stone axes.

By the time Cat got in the biz, the average salary of a bounce jockey, the people who piloted pods through wormholes, had dropped to just above the poverty line. She still can't afford to rent an apartment that allows pets.

Today she had a duty bestowed upon her that she really didn't like. Training is all well and good, but OTJ, on the job training, is pretty much the only to figure out if someone has the metal to be a pilot for Biesler Corp.

A bald head popped in the hatch up side down. "Permission to come aboard." The young man was, at least, something to look at for the trip to The Box and back.

This formality is completely unnecessary. Cat nodded him in without a word.

The two command chairs share a common air space, but are completely redundant units that surround the pilots. They lean away from one another at an angle of that matches the skin of the ship. It is cramped, but functional. All human needs are accounted for, as long as the trip is short. They also act as escape pods in case of emergency. Cat has never seen it in action, only in simulation, but a wall slams shut between the command chairs and each is ejected with gusto. The simulator is a pretty fun ride.

This design fist the cylindrical shape of the ship. The company doesn't believe in names so each gets a number. RXA-45421 in this case. The pilots do believe in names. This ship is Rita.

The nube slipped in through the access hatch above the left drive seat. He lowered himself without effort in to place. This was not lost on Cat. She liked men who were athletic, but they had a bad habit of not working out on the long runs.

Cat sat in the right side and been in her command seat for 10 minuets running diagnostics. "When you have a nube on board, run every check twice." she would say to others who took on the task of educating the eager or overzealous.

Where did Biesler Corp find these people. They start out so ready to please and think they will conquer the universe. It's a good thing Cat enjoys crushing souls. There is usually a single moment where they grasp the situation. If you catch that moment, you can tell in the next 10 seconds if they will snap, quit, or see it through.

"Who knows, maybe ... " Cat peaked at the itinerary on the interface to her left. Sure enough it had the nube's name on it. Andy Masseur. " ... Andy will break the mold." She thought to herself. She would have to remember the trick. "He sounds like a nube. I'll have to come up with a nickname."

Cat started release sequence. One of the last things done is to leave the cruiser. She started spouting the sequence bullet points before Andy even put on his harness. Why do they have a harness in these things. At no pint do you experience more than on gravity unless it is thousands of gravities all at once. The belts don't help much.

At about two thirds of the way down the list Cat says "What's the next step?" If he has been following at all, he will get it right.

"Spin up roll dampers." says Andy.

"You have been paying attention. Good. Finish the count." Cat says as she folds her arms and lets the nube go. Surely he has been through this a hundred times in the simulator. Besides, she just ran through it on her own a minute ago.

Andy quotes the book step by step and sure enough seems to have the list memorized. Still, he checks each step off on the primary interface front center of his command seat. Good show for the bosses. Someone just might be watching. If there is an incident, the feeds will be scrutinized by a legion of nit pickers until the end of everyone's career.

## BREAK ##

Cat answered "When you materialize in the middle of a star, the million tons or so of star material you send back the other way will have plenty of room in which to explode, without attracting too much attention."

In the next moment of silence, Cat anticipated the next question and continued "The dozen or so times it has happened that I know of, it didn't end up on the books. There is always some other reason given."

The look on the new recruit's face was priceless. She had been in that seat many years ago. "What is this kid's name?" Cat thought to herself. She would have to check the badge or the red tape on her link. Cat resolved herself for the fifteenth time to make a better effort to remember first shot's names from now on.

## BREAK ##

Notes:

• Protagonist: Elise Catnaw (Cat)
• Nube name: Andy Masseur
• Company name: Biesler Corp.
• Run name: Broadway
• Ship name: RXA-45421 (Rita)
• Cylinder, roughly. 40m long about 6m in diameter at widest point.
• Only place for humans are the command chairs.
• Terms
• Bounce: Taking off, traveling to the source box, jumping through the wormhole. traveling from the destination box to landing.
• Jump: Wormhole activation.
• Bounce jocky: Pilot of a wormhole capable craft.
• The box: The points at each end of a jump through a wormhole.