Birth of a Pilot

Angelo sniffles. Not just because he’s been crying for who knows how long, but since he is unable to talk, Romero came up with a new way of communication: One sniffle for yes, two sniffles for no. He feels like such a wiener thinking back to how his brother had to explain his verbal quirk. The staff major tries to hide it, but Angelo can tell he’s a little annoyed.

“You’re in the plant now, right?”

Angelo sniffles.

“Okay, you should see a big door at the end of the walkway. Head right outside.”

The young ranger sniffles again. He carefully makes his way through the geoprocessing plant. One wrong slip of his foot could send the Starwalker careening through here, endangering his life and many others. He has to be gentle. As he surveys the other researchers’ faces, he’s met with expressions of amusement and wonder. Some flock over and point, like when the town parade passed by his school. 

One researcher catches his attention. The helmet he wears makes his face hard to see, but he has a mustache. Above it are his eyes, naturally. They’re filled with horror. Slowly, he begins to back away, and starts walking briskly toward the exit. Angelo can see himself doing the same, if he had the courage. 

The Starwalker slowly inches its way out of the imposing doorway leading out toward the red planet.

“Okay, so you made it outside, son?”

Angelo sniffles. The staggering metallic doorways begin to close behind him.

“Excellent!” Romero sounds more lively now. Instead of coming from the Starwalker’s speakers, his voice can be heard through the wireless communication system inside the ranger’s helmet. The speakers on the robot are kind of pointless, now that Angelo thinks about it. 

“I’m going to give you an easy, simple task.” The way the researcher stresses that does nothing but make Angelo more nervous. “Do you think you can handle that?”

The ranger sniffles twice by accident.

“Was that a no?”

Angelo sniffs twice to confirm that no, that wasn’t a no.

“Are you saying no again, or are you saying that you didn’t say no the first time?”

The young pilot has no idea how he’s going to answer that in sniffles. He tries to speak.

“ ‘m re… y...”

“Finally, you can talk again.” Angelo could hear him rolling his eyes. “Now what was that, son?”

“I’m… ready.”

The staff major giggles. “Good! This’ll be fun, I promise.”

Angelo knows that a promise only has value when the person making it is trustworthy. This promise has little value, if any at all. All he can hope is that he won’t embarrass himself too badly doing whatever Romero is about to ask of him.

“Walk around the mountain and pick up a rock. See? Easy enough, right?”

The ranger replies with a noise of apprehensive agreement.

“You’ll be fine.” the researcher reassures, though Angelo already sees a problem.

Aside from the crater he walked out of, the land around him is as flat as can be. Only the occasional wispy cloud can be seen on the horizon. He can’t see anything anywhere resembling a mountain.

“Um, S-staff Major? I don’t see a mountain.”

“You’re standing on it!” So much for Angelo not embarrassing himself. “Were you even paying attention when you came here?”

Angelo doesn’t know how how to respond, but he remembers where he is. Olympus Mons, tallest known mountain in the Solar System, also doubles as a convenient host for the Interstellar Forces’ Martian Base. The fact that it’s technically an active volcano makes him question their choice, but it hasn’t erupted yet.

“I guess I can’t blame you for not knowing. Must be hard getting any useful information on your crew when your lieutenant has the temper of a spoiled prince.” Romero mutters.

The ranger feels the urge to march back into the base and right up to the staff major’s desk to defend Emil, but the doors are shut behind him and he would have to get Romero’s permission to open them again. Even if that weren’t the case, Angelo can’t see himself actually going through with it. 

“Forgive me, probably shouldn’t say that.” the researcher chuckles. Little does he know, no forgiveness will be given. “It’s not like you can agree with me, given your situation, buuuut if you want, I’ve always got an opening on my team! That way we could have more father-son bonding times like this!”

Angelo thinks about suing Romero for an attempt on his life, for the ranger nearly gagged in his helmet. “I-I’m fine. He told us where we were, I just forgot. Can we get started with the mission?”

“O-oh!” The shocked sputtering of the staff major almost makes Angelo feel bad for that modicum of sass. “Well, I’m not the one piloting the robot. It’s up to you to start the mission.”

“Ah, r-right.” Shame and embarrassment creeps into the ranger’s voice. 

With great uncertainty, he presses down on the right pedal. The Starwalker moves forward, but its movement feels foreign in a way. Something isn’t right. Another step is enough for Angelo to realize the problem. Gravity. The Martian Base’s interior has gravity similar to Earth’s, but Mars’s own gravity is about one-third of that. This makes the Starwalker weirdly bouncy and kind of uncomfortable.

“How’s my dear handling Martian gravity?” Staff Major Romero’s glee is almost tangible.

“It’s handling well? I guess? I-It’s kind of weird.” Angelo feels butterflies in his stomach as he makes his way across the mountaintop. He gradually gets used to the sensation, to the point where it almost becomes... fun.

Then he trips. The ranger lets out a panicked yelp, but the Starwalker’s legs catch themselves before it tips over.

“Hahaaaaa! That’s my girl!” Angelo just barely hears over his own breathing. “Both of them, actually! You can thank my dear Rachel for coding the safety legs.”

“Th-thanks, Rachel…” the ranger sputters.

He puts up with Romero’s snickering as he further adjusts himself to the Starwalker’s movement. One advantage, at least in the pilot’s eyes, is that it’s a little slower in Martian gravity, especially when both legs are airborne. It makes him feel floaty and free! 

Angelo increases the speed little by little until the Starwalker manages a safe, but sprightly trot at 20 miles per hour. Taking the arm controls, he waves them as if he were running. The robot proves itself trustworthy by catching itself each time it trips. He finds himself put at ease. Up goes the left pedal and down goes the right as he decides it’s time for a change of direction. The machine turns in place as he absentmindedly bobs his head.

Walking forward, it’s around this time that he decides to take in the Martian sky, to really appreciate it. He looks at the sun. It gives off a faint, cone-shaped glow against the sky, similar to a flashlight being shined up against a wall at an angle. For being the same sun he was at home, it looks so different now, so strange. 

I’m on Mars... I’m on Mars! his mind repeats incessantly. This is the first time it’s clicked for him how far he’s come. Times like this make him understand why his brother idolized this job for so many years. Looking at the landscape far below, he realizes most people will never get to see this in their lives. The Starwalker itself makes his situation even more unique. Who else will get to say they got to frolic around on Mars’s largest volcano in a giant robot? For now, no one. Somehow his own recklessness got him here.

He presses down on the right pedal a little more. The mountaintop stretches ahead of him with no end in sight, giving him more freedom than he could ever dream of. The ranger steps on the left panel. It grounds him when he realizes turning at 30 miles per hour might be just a little too wild for him right now. Still, he has enough room to test out turning at slower speeds. He soon finds himself walking around in circles, having the time of his life.

“Having fun, aren’t’cha?”

Angelo unleashes a pterodactyl scream sure to make Romero regret ever opening his mouth.

“Calm down, calm down son, it’s just me!” the staff major reassures.

“A-a-are you watching me?”

“Sort of.” answers the researcher. “I forgot to put cameras on and inside the Starwalker, but lucky for me, there’s enough cameras on the mountaintop for me to see her in motion!”

“I’m sor--I’m s-s-so--I’m sorry.” the ranger shakily apologizes. He feels that his screech was unnecessary, not to mention embarrassing.

“It’s okay, son. You were just… a little… startled.” Romero sighs. “Give me a heads-up next time you do that, or better yet--!" Shuffling is heard in the background. "I’ll just turn down the volume on your end.”

“O-okay…”

“By the way, don’t forget your mission!”

That’s right, he had a mission! He completely forgot about getting the rock after having a pleasant time in the robot. Luckily, a small rock lie just within reach of the Starwalker. Angelo extends an arm towards it, opening the respective claw.

“Hold on now, what are you picking up?” the staff major interrupts.

“A rock.”

“What?”

“A rock.” Angelo repeats, louder.

“Hmm… Nice work so far getting used to the robot and everything, but whatever puny rock you’re trying to pick up isn’t gonna cut it. Go big! We gotta impress the folks back at the geoprocessing plant. Imagine walking back in there with a boulder in your hands; you’ll be a hero!”

Angelo doesn’t really care about the glory, but gets the feeling the staff major won’t let him back in until he gets a sufficient rock. He begins his search. 

As he goes forward, a white, powdery substance covers the ground ahead. Could it be what he thinks it is? One slip of the Starwalker confirms his suspicions. It’s snow. He never even considered that it could snow on Mars! He can’t wait to tell Leon about this. With how knowledgeable his brother is, he probably knows this already, but will still be excited nonetheless.

“Have you come across any ice yet, son?”

“Yes.”

The staff major has trouble hearing his response, so he repeats it louder.

“Pretty, huh? Stay away from stuff now. My baby’s not dressed for playing in the snow. She could catch a cold!” Angelo hears the researcher adjust something. “Don’t let my dear catch a cold, now.”

The ranger has no idea how the Starwalker could “catch a cold”, nor does he want to find out with Romero’s eerily threatening comment hanging over him. Angelo takes it to be the staff major’s roundabout way of saying that the robot is not snowproof. He avoids the snow.

“On the plus side, staying out of the ice should keep you out of the crater at the summit. It’s almost 2 miles deep, didja know that?”

“I did not.” answers the pilot.

“Though if you fell down, it’d only feel like one-third of that!”

“Which is...?”

“Uhhhh, hold on a sec, lemme do some calculations.” Romero can be heard typing on something. “Abouuut 3280 feet, more or less.”

“Ah.” So it would only feel like falling 3000 feet. How nice. I’m gonna stay away from that.

For the most part, the mountain is relatively flat. There’s smaller rocks on the ground that trip up the Starwalker, but nothing big enough to bring back. No loose boulders are lying around. It makes him wonder exactly how long it’ll take him to find what he needs. As if to taunt him, occasionally he passes rock formations that look big enough, but are attached to the ground. If only he could break them off somehow.

Wait.

He has an idea.

A few feet away from him stands a pillar of stone almost as tall as the Starwalker, covered with a light dusting of snow. He walks over to it, within arm’s length. Gripping the right arm handle, he positions it carefully… and jerks it forward as hard as he can!

Crack.

Once more, with the left.

Crunch.

With a muffled yet satisfying thud, the pillar topples over.

“Yes!” shouts the researcher. “Yeeesss!! I’ve been waiting for this moment! That’s my girl! That’s my boy! Oh, I’m so proud of you, son! You really went and did it! I could barely see it from here, but that was just--that was amazing! Incredible!”

“R-really? Thank you so much.” Angelo still has his reservations about the staff major, but receiving his pride gave him overwhelming feelings of joy. He can’t stop smiling.

“Thank me?” Romero scoffs. “No, thank you! If you hadn’t agreed to pilot my baby, we wouldn’t be here right now! I knew you could do it. The moment I saw you, I knew you could do it. Even with all your flinching and screaming and crying, I believed in you the whole way through!”

“Ah, gosh, t-thank you so much, Staff Major!” The ranger is too happy to care that Romero is likely lying about that last part.

“You earned it, kiddo.” Romero sounds almost trustworthy. Almost. “I can’t believe this! I gotta--I gotta tell Karl about this--No, no, I should wait till the boy comes back. He’s gonna be so--”

As the staff major continues raving in the background, Angelo focuses his attention on the fallen pillar. It lays in the nearby snow, which seems like a problem at first, but the pilot quickly figures out a way around it. With the Starwalker’s now-extended arms, he rakes in the boulder from the snow onto solid ground. Picking it up is the next task. Since it’s so large, Angelo has to use both claws to pick it up. It takes a few attempts, but he’s able to manage the rock. He makes his way back to the base with his new prize in hand.