"Once you've sat first or second seat on orbit around an inhabited planet you'll see that being Pilot in Charge of a space vessel makes being PIC on a two or four seat air-sucking cloud-hopper is an order of magnitude less dangerous to all concerned."

The casual dismissal of their progress to date shocked the room; the palpable intake of breath became a uniform glance over shoulder in her direction from the front -- and Theo imagined those behind her staring at the back of her head. As far as she knew there were exactly two people in the room who met that criteria: Instructor yos' Senchul and herself.

That she had exactly two hundred and fifty one minutes as orbital second board, certified C&C – that is Comm and Control! -- by a Scout was known across the campus, and as the Instructor went on to explain, far beyond the campus.

"In many ways being on orbit in controlled space is safer than flying through the air. It takes far longer to hard-land a spacecraft than a Star King; and there are many more resources trying to make sure that you don't fall out of the sky."

"Make no miscalculation about it, pilots, most of these resources are brought to bear not because you are personally more valuable, but because the damage you might do with even a minor lapse in judgment is logarithmically greater with each step you take."

The instructor looked pensive for a moment, which Theo thought was a teacher's act since Liadens she knew rarely showed such emotions. Even Jen Sar needed to exaggerate his normal expressions to make them obvious to people who didn't know him.

The one handed motion made next was also artful: an empty-handed toss emphasizing the empty sleeve he wore.

"Mistakes are expensive. A soaring craft striking a home in a small subdivision of a dozen houses might kill the unlucky pilot and damage the home. A Star King doing the same could wipe out the pilot, family, and house, perhaps even two houses. The shuttle..."

He paused for effect then, allowing everyone to digest the thought --

"But no, we will not speculate on this, because we have available, courtesy of the Scout who recently visited, a virtual museum of recent pilot error accidents. Some are complete with tapes permitting you to fly the error right into the ground, or not, on your own time in sim. All of the master-adjudicated errors we share today have occurred within the last two standards. These are not pretty. These are, however instructional..."

*

Of the six errors yos' Senchul deemed most instructive, only one was by a trainee, and that trainee already licensed as a Second Class Provisional. Somehow that heartened her, when perhaps it was meant as a warning to all of them.

The sim pilot – there'd been no actual video – had reacted so wrongly, hit a switch and override so surely, that groans and even a vocalized "NO!" had rung out.

Theo used the long-way-around walk to lunch to think through not only what she'd seen, but what she hadn't. Part of the class had simply not reacted at all as far as she could see, as if they hadn't recognized the problem instantly. For her part, her hand still ached where she'd clenched the offending palm, trying to take it back from the motion that she hadn't made, that she knew better than to make, already.

She danced out that realization momentarily, feeling this move here and that move there and seeing that of course, with the hands and body flowing properly, as compared with dance, even strapped in, especially strapped in, this move, this move that hurt her hand to think about, this move that had killed a pilot and a field boss and injured a dozen farmworkers, this motion went entirely against the warm up exercises and the way you worked with a bowli ball – well...

The dancing was combat. The dancing was prep for bowli ball which was prep for moving now. The dancing was board drills. The dancing was what had convinced Win Ton that she ...

Chaos!

Yes, she missed him. Missed him. Not like she missed Father and Kamele, or the way she missed Coyster. Still, it was difficult not to look at everything she was doing now knowing that Win Ton also shared this information or moved this way, or would understand --

Well, maybe he'd even understand why it was she'd been spending quite so much time at sim-ship, and why it was she was busy, busy with extra dance, busy with a sudden interest in packet and courier ships, busy avoiding the sometimes just too stealthy questions and insinuations from Asu.

Really, what was it to Asu exactly what they'd done or hadn't, or when, or who started what? The first three days after her return from orbit she'd felt like Asu was peering at her neck, looking at her shoulders, for Simple Sake, checking out her feet and legs for marks and bruises!

Win Ton was Liaden, and thoughtful and gentle, and Liaden! That meant careful, in many senses.

And everyone's questions about "how was it in orbit?"... pfui!

Yes, Win Ton was a Scout Pilot ... which meant a Master Class pilot it turned out, and so yes, not only could he certify her orbital time but he also should, because that's part of what master-class pilots were supposed to do. He'd also been very clear that once they lifted, it was all about the ship.

She smiled to herself. Yes, when she'd rolled the Torvin through the sun-cooling routine, Win Ton's smile had been good. But she'd rolled it properly on axis, and then she'd offered her calculations to him and the board for the de-orbit burn that would bring them down on the longest, flatest, slowest possible landing the ship could make, according to all the information the ship so willingly fed second board. And it was all about the ship, and after all, all about being a pilot.

*

The long way to lunch meant DCCT was out of the question before afternoon class, but it also meant one more chance to avoid Asu, who needed to be in class at about the moment Theo reached for the extra maize button, counting tea-time in her head. Now that math was falling more into place for her she'd been getting in extra dance as well as extra bowli ball and those calories needed to be replaced, and she and Asu were suddenly out of the habit of companionable late night snacks...

Theo continued the count in her back-brain even as she thought about Asu. She was senior bunk, after all, and so she needed to be in some touch with Asu, just in case someone asked.

Count reached, she said "One hundred thirty two" out loud and gently sipped at her second cup.

Out of the side of her vision appeared a familiar hand with rings on it, fluttering query query before the rest of Kara appeared, bonelessly dropping into the chair opposite, tray carefully isolated from the flump of the body.

"What?" Theo felt her eyebrow rise and tried to suppress it, without luck. Genes!

"Counting flower petals odd and even?"

It was Theo's turn to flutter query with one hand as she sipped again. It was really hard to get the tea exact when the available hot water varied by so much, but ...

"I distinctly heard you counting," she said, the while unzipping food from her tray. "Bova informs me that there's a well-known Terran custom of offering a potential night-friend the opportunity of counting flower petals together. I gather one actually pulls the flower apart in the process. Should both parties reach the last petal with a 'Yes, I will... then the night is decided.'"

Theo thought a moment, scrunching up her face seriously, cup still in front of her lips.

"How many choices are there, I wonder? Or is it binary?"

Kara bowed, laughing.

"Yes, it is binary. I think you begin to see, oh pilot."

"And so if one knows the number of petals a particular flower generally has..."

Theo sipped, put the cup down in favor of finishing the maize button.

The grin got wide.

"Thus speaks a pilot! It is, in fact, pilot's choice. If one is in need, as one may be, one picks the proper flower and starts with the proper count. If there is but one flower to hand, the same result might be obtained..."

Theo chuckled around her swallow. " Fast head or fast hand, it is no gamble."

Kara sighed gently. "Temptation is always a gamble, my friend, even a temptation one welcomes!"

Theo theatrically took the last bite, looked toward her empty hand.

"None left to tempt me."

Kara sighed again, ending with a laugh.

"If it was all only so easy! But I digress. I saw you here and haven't caught you at DCCT lately." Her hands waggled busy busy busy "Session ends become full with duty to school!"

"Not over," Theo said, " there's ummm..."

"Thirteen class days," Kara said, "after today. Many of us will be wandering off world very soon now. Are you going home to Delgado and kin?"

Theo sipped, shook her head.

"The time, the money, the tickets!" Her free hand emphasized do not mesh. "I don't want to spend all my money and time in between, as much as I'd like the travel..."

"Hah. Will Win Ton your Scout friend be available to --"

Theo shook her head, hands saying would do, more do not mesh.

"Don't mesh?"

Theo looked at the cup, seeing small particles in it.

"My scout," she said carefully, "Win Ton. He's on his way to be married."

Kara opened her mouth to say something, her shoulders leveling after she managed not to spill her drink, and then, after putting the drink down she gave a short head nod and a hand fluttering repeat of don't mesh.

"Oh, Theo – this is an unexpected lack of luck! In an orderly universe perhaps a delm would have something more to do than always being on the lookout for – well, no, the delm's job is the clan after all. Liadens! He could be tied to clan-strings for a year or more!"

Theo sighed, wishing there was more tea in hand.

"He told me. I mean, he was careful to explain all of how it works. And then after that marriage, he's put in for a survey assignment..."

"Survey! Theo, that's wonderful for him." Kara's face was bright," A good assignment and a way to stay out of the delm's sight." She paused, and Terran-style pointed a finger at Theo. "And he bowed equal to you. This is not an act, done so publicly. He meant it!"

Theo smiled wanly.

"I believe he does mean it," she said, "but that still means no visit during break, right?"

"Indeed," Kara, said, suddenly sounding like yos' Senchul in her seriousness. "That would shatter the code in so many places ...."

Theo shrugged. That code was one she didn't expect to learn anytime soon.

"So you are just staying at the academy?" Kara shook her hand into rethink plan. "The break dorms aren't much fun, you know. They crowd everyone into Plummer Hall, and have hard-set meal schedules, and.." here she paused and gave a conspiratorial wink, "and they keep strict compliance hours. Check rooms even. I did it first time around. It is to avoid!"

"And so you're going home, too? Who will I talk to?"

"I am not going home. That is also to avoid! If luck is not mine I'll visit with an uncle who has a small repair shop during session break. I'm hoping to pick up something at the Hugglelan jobfair."

"The what? Are you going to be a cook?"

Karta raised her eyes to the ceiling, and not finding the answer there, she opened her hands wide and looked.

"Where have you been, Pilot Waitely? Do you think Hugglelan is just the Howsanda?"

Theo shrugged.

"Well, I mean, they do have the restaurant...."

Kara covered her face in mock despair.

"Theo, Hugglelan is the largest fixed base operator on the planet! They run the port – the landing zone, all the public spaces, the hotels and day rooms, the maintenance shops, the cantinas, the whole thing! The Howsanda is... a sideline. No, I'm sorry. It is a melant'i game, a show-of-stength, a brag ... a hobby for the owners.

"So," she went on, "they offer all members of DCCT a chance to come to the job fair. They'll send an aircraft, they'll feed us, we take some tests, meet some people – you should come!"

"Do they all wear too much vya over there? And besides, that's a long commute!"

"Theo, you've got to start getting the DCCT message-mail! They offer room-and-board plus a small stipend – and you end up with a work record in the industry... Of course, if you think they might not take you, I guess it makes sense not to apply."

Theo nodded, but then held hand to face.

"But suppose they offer me a cook's job?"

"Don't apply to the cook program, my friend. I'm applying to maintenance first, field-crew second, flight support third.... And honestly, to be out of here for a change, I'd take cook-duty if it wasn't one of their reserved for executives specialties. At least try it, Theo, there's free lunch and dinner at the Howsanda."

Theo laughed, hand fluttering assent, assent, assent.

"Excellent. Very good. So you have to go right after class to sign up for the job fair. Bova's on desk or maybe Ristoff. If Bova is on deck, I ask you to resist the counting of flowers until you have studied your botany and your necessity!"

Theo laughed, rising and pulling on her pack.

"No flowers with Bova, you say. First, I have a class. Then to DCCT, then papers to write. Then letters. Flowers ... it is too soon for flowers."