Chapter 175 Relative End

• When Harman and Silver Eagle entered the pod, it took only a moment to survey the interior. Four comfortable seats faced the front of the rectangular space where a door led into what was likely a control center fully automated and integrated with Luna's Traffic Computer. A second door was located in the rear wall, and revealed a space on the left for preparing small meals, and on the right a washroom. A voice in their implants suggested they take seats and strap in for the start of their journey, which was estimated to take six hours.
• Once they were set, a screen lit up giving them a real-time view of their trip, highlighting any settlements or natural features along their flight path. In the earliest days of Colonization, travel had been mostly by self-contained surface vehicles called `crawlers' until distance became a problem, then chemically fueled shuttles would `jump' from point to point. By the middle of the Twenty-Second Century better technology had replaced both modes with magnetically-powered `pods' that ran in tunnels to nearby settlements, or via launch rails for more distant sites. As computer precision advanced, the trajectories of rail-launches were now set by altering the angles of the rails themselves rather than on-board adjustments. Even so, rail pods carried emergency backups which could initiate landing at the nearest outpost, and included `skin-suits' which would allow surface travel by foot if necessary.
• The two felt themselves being pushed back into their seats as the pod accelerated through the launch tube and along the surface rail until the proper velocity and angle for Daedalus Crater had been reached, then the magnetic grapples released, marking the start of their journey to Farside. Their nanobots adjusted to the sudden lack of gravity so any sense of nausea would be stopped before it could begin, and so too was their inner ears' sense of balance maintained.