Safety Tests Read Free Page A

for unauthorized practice .
    I put the info screen facedown on my knees. LaDonna’s hands hover over the controls as the ship slowly rises. This is a key moment, because if she messes with it too much, the ship will bang into things and she’ll be done.
    Most first-timers bang into the wall at least once. They get one bang. Two puts them on probation. Three requires a second test. The thing is, you hit once, you’ll shove over to the other side and it’ll take some amazing skill to prevent the second bang. If there’s a second bang, it’ll take a miracle to avoid the third. That’s how this ship gets dinged up and that’s why we don’t fix the dings. More will happen the following day anyway.
    LaDonna doesn’t hit anything. I can count on my left thumb the number of times that’s happened with a first-timer.
    No record of unauthorized practice , Connie sends, like that’s going to show us anything. I mean, unauthorized generally does mean off the books.
    Her instructor get any demerits for cheating on behalf of the students? I send.
    Not that I can find , she sends so fast that I know she was anticipating the question. But as I said above…
    I look away. I have to pay attention to LaDonna anyway. She’s got this gigantic ship hovering over the dock exit. The top of the dock closes. For the first time, she seems nervous. This isn’t part of the standard test.
    Usually no one stops once they start moving. I really don’t care. I suspect this girl cheated somehow, so I’m going to have to give this test a little thought.
    No part of the standard test seems to throw her. If she did cheat, then she knows everything I’m going to make her do. I tap a standard save instruction on my info screen without looking at it so that Connie makes our conversation part of the record.
    Then I toss out the standard test. I can do that when I suspect the subject has taken the standard test too many times or when I have reason to believe the standard test won’t provide the right information.
    This, my friends, is why the system isn’t automated. There’s no beating the system when the system is subject to human whim.
    “We’re going to Mars,” I say.
    LaDonna glances at me and unless I’m imagining things, that perfume smell has gotten really strong. She’s sweating. Soon I’ll actually smell the sweat, not the overlying protection some chemical has given her.
    Good. I want her to sweat.
    “This is a cargo test, not a speed test,” she says.
    Suspicion confirmed. The racers go to Mars, even though they never arrive there. Too far to travel for the duration of a test. But racers can really cut loose on these routes.
    The cargo ships all go to the Moon or at least head toward the Moon. They usually don’t get to the Moon either, because none of us have the patience for the ten-hour trip.
    “We can stop the test right now if you want,” I say.
    She opens her mouth, closes it, and then shakes her head. She glances at the controls for the first time, and finally, she looks like a beginner. She’s not sure what to do.
    I frown. She should know how to move to a different route with less thought than she put into the release from her docking bay.
    If, of course, she’s not cheating.
    “Problem?” I ask.
    “N-No,” she says, but she still hesitates.
    “We can go back.” I try to keep the hope out of my voice.
    “N-No,” she says. “I just—you don’t want me to go fast, do you?”
    “I want you to take this test the way you planned to take this test,” I say.
    “Do you have family, Mr. Devlin?” she asks. I had forgotten about her nervous conversation tic. She had stopped when we got to the ship.
    “Are you unable to take us to Mars, LaDonna?” I ask, using her name to bring her out of the nervous funk, just like I’m supposed to do.
    “N-No,” she says.
    “Well, then,” I say. “Time’s wasting.”
    She nods and bursts into tears. I sigh to hide a smile, and then click on the shadow controls.
    “I