fandomhigh | Flight and Flying [Thursday, July 12, 3rd period]

Anakin stood in front of the door of the flight shed and waited for the workshop students to arrive, his hands tucked into the sleeves of his dark robes.

"Welcome," he said, giving them a nod. "I'm Master Skywalker, and I'll be your instructor for flight this session. I'm from a space-based culture, so my expertise is primarily in those sorts of aircraft, but we'll also be working with the way people fly on this planet. We'll begin with simulators and if you convince me of your attention to detail and your ability not to die in stupid ways, you'll eventually be allowed to fly the real things." He pointed at Rory with a soft smile. "This is Rory Gilmore, and she'll be the TA for this workshop. Rory's from this planet and time period, and she took this workshop last year and is now familiar with most of the aircraft we'll be using." His smile took a turn for the teasing. "She's mostly here to make sure I don't make you all cry with my ridiculous expectations."

That was probably more true than he'd like to admit.

He waved a hand lazily at the doors and they slid open to reveal two podracing simulators sitting side-by-side.

"All right," he said, pointing at the controls, "everything you need to fly a podracer is located on the handlebars. You push them forward to go faster, pull back to slow down, and pull one or the other towards you to turn." He pointed at the buttons in the center of the console. "That controls the engines," he said. "You push the big button to light them up, and on these two models, you can push it again for an extra burst of speed." He looked at the class. "Which burns your fuel very, very quickly, so save that until you need it."

He raised an eyebrow. "Normally, these are attached to enormous engines--6 or 7 meter long engines--but these aren't real, and the simulator won't really give you the noise that's normally associated with the podracer. But the simulator has been programmed to go very, very quickly." He pointed to the simulator on the left-hand side. "This one, properly piloted, can get up to 950 kilometers an hour. The other can get up to 900. To fly a podracer at those kinds of speed requires iron nerves and split-second reflexes."

He clasped his hands in front of him. "Today you can take a turn learning how the simulators work, then pair up to fly against each other." He gave them a slightly predatory smile. "If you choose, you can fly against me. I built the real version of this podracer," he patted the left-hand simulator, "and used it to win a race when I was nine years old. And I won't give you a head start."

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"Sir? Do you have a moment?" Anemone hung back nervously, looking around to make sure no one else was watching.

"Of course," Anakin said, looking attentive. "How can I help you?"

Blunt, blunt is good. Besides, teachers can keep secrets, right?

"I'm not human." Anemone winced, and almost smacked herself. There's a difference between blunt and stupid! "When you asked earlier about TheEND and symbiosis...that's why. I just didn't want to tell you with other people around. I started out human, but the scientists at Joy Division played with my DNA. I'm part Coralian now - the same as TheEND. I can hear them, and practically smell them. I was built to hunt them. That's why I could interface with TheEND so well, we were created to be partners. None of the other girls they re-built to work with TheEND even survived the process."

Anemone scuffed one foot. "They changed my reflexes, my sight, even my facial structure." Anemone tapped the receptor just under her ear. "That's why I have this, it's for the drugs I had to take. It's why I'm a little, ah, strange, sometimes. If I get too intense with the machines, just shake me, or make me go cool down. If I start acting scary, I promise I don't mean it, and I'm going to feel really stupid once I'm back to normal. Ish. Normal for me. I thought I should tell you, since it's your ships I'm flying. If you don't want me flying them, I understand. Lots of people think I'm a freak once they know." The last bit was a bit dejected. Anemone was quite used to people finding her...unnatural.

Anakin didn't even blink. "Of course you can fly my ships," he said quietly. "And we just strange on a different curve around here. If you start behaving in a way that I think is dangerous to the equipment or the students, I'll do something about it, but that applies to everyone else here as well."

He put some pieces together. "That was why the military was trying to get rid of you? Because you worked and the other girls didn't?"

"They didn't need me anymore." Anemone's face wrinkled up. "They were going to replace me with a less 'troublesome' pilot, but the other subjects kept dying before they were useful. But once the military got their hands on their stupid 'ultimate weapon', all they needed us for was one last mission. Once they had confirmation I had succeeded, I was an acceptable loss. My consolation is that the man who ordered my death was trying to destroy the whole planet, so at least I know it wasn't personal. He was just insane."

Anakin rolled his eyes. "Another ultimate weapon? Bigger than a breadbox, smaller than a moon? Bonus points if it has 'death' 'cataclysm' or 'destroy' in the name?"

"Oratorio Number Eight." Anemone rolled her eyes. "I could give a PhD thesis about the military and the need for ultimate weapons. Idiots. Disguised as a satellite holding our Council of Sages, it was actually a really a big death-ray. At full power, it self-destructs, which is pretty dumb for a weapon. I might be a weapon, but I don't go exploding to make a point. And yes, bigger than a breadbox, smaller than a moon indeed. Do we get bonus points for a stupid name, even if it doesn't have any of the keywords?"

"You need to meet my son," Anakin said with a small smile. "He'll tell you all about a Death Star that was completely indestructible except for the hole on the outside of it big enough to drop a missile into. Brilliant."

"We can all form a club." Anemone waved her hands expressively. "We can call it the 'I'm Too Smart To Use Ultimate Weapons' club. I swear, governments don't watch enough holovids. Don't they know these things never work right? Who builds these things anyway?"

Then the first part of that sentence sunk in. "Son? Wow. Is this another one of those 'chalk-it-up-to-Fandom' weirdness things? I don't mean to be rude, sir, but you do not look old enough to have a son who plays with Ultimate Weapons. Unless he's an evil child genius, then I might suggest taking his lasers away."

Anakin smiled. "Fandom thing. Luke's a senior. I have a granddaughter around here, too--Luke's sister's daughter. I try not to think too hard about it."

He rolled his eyes again. "And the governments really never learn. They always tend to build these stupid things in pairs, too."

There had been lots of rants about this when he'd, well, had more influence about defense budgets, let's say.

"Fandom, how you love to break people's brains." Anemone muttered.

"Oh, and they *love* pairs. TheEND and I were built as a counterpoint to their other Nirvash - the typeZERO and her pilot Eureka. Eureka ended up defecting, so we faced each other in battle a few times. It was rather creepy, my beautiful black TheEND against her white typeZERO. I suppose you could make a few good v. evil comparisons with that, but they wouldn't hold up long. At least they didn't make two Oratorio Eights. That would have been ridiculous."

"I'd watch out for an Oratorio Nine," Anakin said darkly. "Bigger, badder, even more pointless."

Flight and Flying [Thursday, July 12, 3rd period]

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