Lost and Sound Read Free Page A

active and not a passive member of the Citadel. That is where we are aiming your training.”
    He lifted his arm and his robes fell away from his wrist, showing a small recording device.
    She bit her lip. “Can I learn to fly a shuttle?”
    He grinned. “I will add it to the list.”
    Yllin smiled and sipped at her tea. She had an instructor who would help her attain her goals, and her main focus was to get earning as quickly as she could.
    There were folk depending on her, and the money in her trade fund was going to run out in less than six months. She had until then to get earning.
     

Chapter Three
     
     
    The simulator kicked her ass, and as it followed on the heels of her physical training, it was a very effective way to get the feeling of returning home from a rough assignment.
    “You are still dropping the nose on takeoff, Novice. Get the nose up and pull hard. You can aim it straight upward and not crash it, but for someone with spatial awareness, you really suck at takeoffs.” Specialist Nearing was sitting with his feet up on the navigator’s side of the cockpit.
    She reset the system and tried again. This time, she took a flash image of the area around her and then ruthlessly folded her senses in. The takeoff was textbook and Nearing applauded slowly.
    “Finally. I have never seen someone as thick as you were when it comes to figuring out that they need to shut down their talent to fly.” He chuckled and watched her run through the simulation.
    “You knew that that was my problem?”
    “Of course. Sensory talents always overthink things. You were going nose down because we put a crevice in the middle of the view screen. Your senses were going crazy trying to find it so your hands followed.”
    He leaned forward, and they went through a simulated jump.
    Yllin kept her senses in tight, and she cruised through without a problem. It was so simple. An entire week of fussing behind the simulator after two weeks of theory and she had cracked it.
    “Now land.”
    Yllin checked her coordinates, the ground under her and took the ship down, using her talent to locate the tarmac as she eased them in for a perfect landing.
    She wanted to squeal and clap her hands, but instead, she shut the simulator down and looked at Specialist Nearing. He was the same species as Master Wercor. The scarlet skin looked good with his copper hair and creepy black eyes.
    “What is next, Specialist?”
    He grinned. “Lunch. This apple was not enough for me. What kind of ship would you like to learn next? Azon, Imperium standard? We can try you out in all of them, but with the controls and the standard instrumentation you have mastered, I think you should be able to fly anything.”
    “A riot runner?”
    He blinked. “I guess that is a different type of flying. Sure. I will get the simulator set up for riot runner.”
    She fought clapping her hands. Her palms were still raw from the knife training. The wooden hilts tended to blister her hands when she was working with them for hours at a time.
    Specialist Nearing got to his feet, and he helped her to hers. “Let’s eat first. You have been working hard, and if you don’t take care of yourself, no one else will. Many of the species believe we don’t need to eat. You have to get used to insisting on it when you need it.”
    “I have gotten used to turning hunger off. It isn’t good for a server to have a growling stomach.”
    “Useful skill but stupid.” He led her out of the vast room filled with the simulators and steered her down the hall to the food court.
    “Stupid?”
    “If you are on active assignment, you will need to carry your rations and water with you with enough for three days. Even if you just need one or two meals per day, it is far better to have them with you than it is to risk contamination by microbes that you are unused to.”
    She blinked. “Oh. Well, all right then.”
    He chuckled. “You will get the hang of it. I am certain of it. It isn’t