Descending Road - DON'T DRAW AN ACE by Dana W. Paxson

DON’T DRAW AN ACE

2414 CE

Deng Yi waited. The noise finally subsided, and he went on. “Nothing much works for ten thousand years, so Tompuso has to wake itself up, heal its wounds, and then bring you out of the Sleep when you get to your new home. At seven hundred and seventy kilometers per second, you’ll be hit with interstellar rubble and hosed neutron-star radiation that will damage what it hits. Consequently we’re packing along whatever the ship will need to rebuild vital systems at your new home. Right down to the molecules. Space is a savage place.”

Miriam shivered; Allan squeezed her closer.

“What rebuilds the rebuilders?” Allan called out. Behind him, Miriam‘s new friend and fellow doctor Elena Phom blew out a short nervous huff of air from her nose.

“Varied redundancy,” said Deng Yi. “We’ve built four independent systems. Any three can fail to work altogether, and you’ll still wake up to a new world and a free ticket to its surface. No more food and water rations, no more energy dole, no sleeping munitions to step on.”

Miriam shuddered, remembering her family’s bullet-chewed home in New Soweto, her dead brother, and the years of standing in line for food, shelter and education afterwards. Her heart pounded.

“So if it’s fifty-fifty for any one system, that’s about a ninety-three percent chance this is all gonna work,” called out an engineer nearby. “When they hand you the deck, just don’t draw an ace.”

“The chance of failure of any one system over this interval is about twenty percent,” Deng Yi responded. “Since they’re independent systems, that makes your chances more like ninety-nine point eight percent.”

“Not bad,” Allan said. Miriam kissed his ear.

Deng Yi pressed ahead. “And that’s enough background for now. Time to get on to your zero-G arrival routines, starting with panel breakdown and restructuring. And where will you be going?”

“Opo!” shouted a scattering of voices, and jittery laughs echoed across the gigantic training bay.

Story List	SURPRISE ME	Author Page
USER SURVEY	PUZZLE ME	MAKE ELM MARK

HOVER Lucida Bright BARE	HOVER Lucida Bright FULL	HOVER Palatino Linotype BARE
HOVER Palatino Linotype FULL	HOVER Times New Roman BARE	HOVER Times New Roman FULL
PAD Arial BARE	PAD Arial FULL	PAD Lucida Bright BARE
PAD Lucida Bright FULL	PAD Times New Roman BARE	PAD Times New Roman FULL


	DON’T DRAW AN ACE 2414 CE Deng Yi waited. The noise finally subsided, and he went on. “Nothing much works for ten thousand years, so Tompuso has to wake itself up, heal its wounds, and then bring you out of the Sleep when you get to your new home. At seven hundred and seventy kilometers per second, you’ll be hit with interstellar rubble and hosed neutron-star radiation that will damage what it hits. Consequently we’re packing along whatever the ship will need to rebuild vital systems at your new home. Right down to the molecules. Space is a savage place.” Miriam shivered; Allan squeezed her closer. “What rebuilds the rebuilders?” Allan called out. Behind him, Miriam‘s new friend and fellow doctor Elena Phom blew out a short nervous huff of air from her nose. “Varied redundancy,” said Deng Yi. “We’ve built four independent systems. Any three can fail to work altogether, and you’ll still wake up to a new world and a free ticket to its surface. No more food and water rations, no more energy dole, no sleeping munitions to step on.” Miriam shuddered, remembering her family’s bullet-chewed home in New Soweto, her dead brother, and the years of standing in line for food, shelter and education afterwards. Her heart pounded. “So if it’s fifty-fifty for any one system, that’s about a ninety-three percent chance this is all gonna work,” called out an engineer nearby. “When they hand you the deck, just don’t draw an ace.” “The chance of failure of any one system over this interval is about twenty percent,” Deng Yi responded. “Since they’re independent systems, that makes your chances more like ninety-nine point eight percent.” “Not bad,” Allan said. Miriam kissed his ear. Deng Yi pressed ahead. “And that’s enough background for now. Time to get on to your zero-G arrival routines, starting with panel breakdown and restructuring. And where will you be going?” “Opo!” shouted a scattering of voices, and jittery laughs echoed across the gigantic training bay.