Master Navigator Winin settled into the contoured couch of the starship Sally Ride's navigation tank. He closed his eyes and said, "VR, Puluwat." The splash of waves, mew of seabirds, and creak of his canoe's rigging replied. He raised his face, breathing deeply. Stale ship's air. "Damn cheap VR."
He opened his eyes and saw Puluwat, his home island, its white sand beaches lapped by the waves of Earth's Pacific Ocean. But though the sun shone in the tropical sky, no welcome rays warmed his face. He shifted his weight on the navigator's bench, evaluating how ripples rocked the canoe's hull beneath him. He looked behind, to the canoe house sheltered by palm trees, and ahead, to where the other islands of the atoll rose from the ocean. Palms on Allei's beaches swayed in a slight breeze, and he could hear children calling to each other from the breadfruit trees on tiny Elangelap, to his right. The virtual reality had what he needed to navigate a starship--but just barely.
"VR Off." The nav tank was small, only the main and an auxiliary couch, with a tiny lavatory built into the wall left of the main couch. But the equipment was clean and well-cared-for; someone knew the importance of a starship's nav tank. Winin pressed the door release and slid out of the couch, his bare feet slapping the deck. He tugged his red and yellow loincloth straight as he stepped through the irising door. "Awfully primitive equipment, Captain," he said to the short, round-faced woman fidgeting in the corridor outside the door.
"But will it do?" asked Akiko Teramoto, captain and owner of the Sally Ride.
"I haven't used equipment like this for twenty years, but I explored the Maelstrom in a ship very like this one, when I was young. It will do."
"Good. I'll have your things stowed in your room. The other navigators are waiting aft, in the galley."
Winin followed the captain through the door into the ship's common area. Around a corner, in the tiny galley, three people sat at the tables. A young couple, their hair and skin dark as Winin's, looked up expectantly when Winin and Captain Teramoto entered. The third man, slender and with silver-lined dark hair, didn't raise his eyes from the computer solitaire layout in the table before him.
"Pete, Amy, and Tevita, this is Master Navigator Winin Davis. Galaxy Starliners brought him out of retirement for this mission."
The couple stood hastily. "I'm Navigator Amy Lolohea and this is my husband, Junior Navigator Tevita Lolohea," the young woman said. "I'm--we're really glad to have the opportunity to work with you, Master Navigator Davis. We studied under Hipour."
Winin shook their hands. "Please, call me Winin." He was pleased; Hipour had been one of his better students twenty-five years ago.
The other navigator finally looked up from his solitaire game. He pushed himself from his chair and said, "Senior Navigator Pedro Sanchez." He neglected to put his hand out for Winin to shake.
Captain Teramoto waved them all into seats. "We need to get moving, so I'll brief you and let you work out the navigation details among yourselves.
"You should have heard by now that Galaxy Starliners discovered a safe route through the Maelstrom Overspace Hazard. All their small ships got through safely, so they arranged a special cruise, with one of their biggest liners, to advertise the new route.
"Old Earth's Pride left Tufar on a heading for Earth a week ago. Somehow--overspace interference, a 'storm,' nobody knows--the liner got lost in the Maelstrom."
Winin shrugged and nodded; he had guessed as much from things his various escorts said on the way from Puluwat. But Sanchez's face changed; an intense, excited look. His hands curled into fists, then relaxed as he looked down at them.
Teramoto continued, "A distress call came in from the Old Earth's Pride by overspace relay two days ago. They hit something, damaged the overspace drive, and haven't the power to exit overspace. There are eight hundred people on that liner, and they're trapped in the middle of the Maelstrom.
"Galaxy hired us to go into the Maelstrom, repair the Pride, and get the tourists out before overspace psychosis takes its toll."
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