He made a mental note to make it up to the researchers, if he had a chance. Normally Eric wouldn’t be overly concerned about what lab rats thought about him, but he’d learned just how badly one annoying academic could disrupt his ship.

►►►

Shuttle Eagle One

► “How am I doing?” Milla asked, a nervous tremor in her voice.

Steph smiled slightly, shaking his head. “You know I can’t tell you that, Lieutenant. This is a flight exam.”

He held up his hand, then idly tapped his finger on the microphone that was monitoring them. “But off the record, you’re doing fine. Just keep on going.”

Milla nodded. “Thank you.”

Steph stopped tapping. “Watch our trajectory. If you waste too much Delta-V slowing on approach, we’ll have to call in the Odysseus to pick us up. That would be a fail, by the way.”

“Of course,” Milla said, triple-checking the numbers. “Telemetry indicates we are on schedule for turnover in nine hours. The gravity of the large planet will do the rest for us.”

Steph absently glanced over the numbers himself and was reasonably impressed. They could be a little more elegant, but he’d always been known for his theatrical flair. In terms of fuel and Delta-V, Milla’s telemetry was completely serviceable. Slightly above the required numbers as prescribed by the book, in fact.

“Alright,” he said. “Then we’re in for a long drop.”

Milla leaned forward, flipping a bank of switches to bring the autopilot fully online, then she sat back. “Automatic systems engaged. We are now on automated approach, and hands free, yes?”

“Yes, we are. Alright, now we wait.” Steph pulled his belt off and let it slip back behind his seat.

He drifted loose from the seat, stretching as he floated free and turned around slightly so he could see Milla as she undid the clasps on her own belt.

“It is odd,” she admitted as she floated off the seat. “Even the smallest of our vessels have gravity.”

“I suppose we will soon enough as well,” Steph answered, “but I’ll probably miss zero g when it comes.”

“I can understand,” Milla admitted. “However, it is not good for the human form to be in free fall for too long. Bone density . . .”

“Yeah, we know. That’s why I work out as much as I do—why we all do,” Steph responded. “But even with the heaviest regime, I’d have been off space duty within two more years. Your gravity systems change that, so that’s one I owe your people. The captain too. We both love our jobs too much to give them up easily.”

“I wish I could take the credit, yes?” She smiled. “However, I believe that was the council’s call, not my own.”

“Either way, your tech is going to change a lot of lives.”

“Helping us cost a lot of lives, did it not?” Milla asked softly.