The Difference in Complexity Between a Miniskirt and FTL Travel

Acha gripped her seat as if it were the only solid thing left in existence as Senatla lifted into the air.

There was no warning. No rumble. No roar. The engines were completely silent to those inside.

Fasti, meanwhile, was having a wonderful time.

Her reactions to something he considered as ordinary as walking were priceless.

He adjusted the controls, subtly altering the thrust vectoring until they drifted forward at a leisurely pace, slipping neatly through a gap in the cityscape that looked intentionally designed for departing ships.

Acha kept her eyes locked on the horizon, suddenly unsure she trusted flight at all.

She only looked away when Fasti pointed ahead.

“See the other ship I mentioned?”

She squinted, catching a flash of reflected light.

“It looks quite small.”

He smiled.

“Give it a minute.”

She tracked it as it approached, just off their nose and heading toward the landing pad she’d noticed earlier. Slowly, steadily, it grew larger.

And larger.

She found herself leaning further back into her seat as the vessel expanded from distant speck to looming presence. By the time it thundered overhead, it dwarfed Senatla completely, its massive hull rumbling past above them.

Her heart hammered.

Fasti laughed softly, confirming that her relief had been painfully obvious.

She scowled.

“At least I’m expressive!”

He shrugged, still smiling.

“I never said it was a bad thing. It’s very entertaining.”

She huffed.

“I’m going to make you do something humiliating one day.”

“Yeah?”

She crossed her arms, sulking.

“I am. Mark my words.”

He guided the ship smoothly toward the next checkpoint.

“I’m listening.”

She thought quickly.

“I’ll make you wear a miniskirt for a day.”

“And how exactly will you accomplish that?”

“Blackmail. Or something. I’ll figure it out.”

He chuckled.

“I wish you luck with your future endeavors.”

She glanced at him, scowl deepening.

“That’s not funny.”

He shrugged.

“As your employer, it was hilarious.”

She huffed and surrendered the argument, turning her attention back outside.

The city outskirts slipped beneath them. Floating advertisements drifted between skyscrapers, rotating slowly to capture the attention of passing pilots.

And then she realized something.

She wasn’t scared anymore.

She raised her hands in front of her face, confused, as if expecting to see evidence of the fear that had vanished moments earlier.

She looked over just in time to watch Fasti gently pull back on the control stick. The nose tilted upward. At the same time, he eased the throttle forward.

Acceleration pressed her firmly into the seat.

She almost asked what he’d done - how he’d made flying feel normal - but stopped herself.

Let the pilot be the pilot.

The world shrank beneath them as they climbed through the clouds. Sunlight scattered across vapor trails before giving way to open sky. The curvature of the planet slowly revealed itself, vast and impossible.

The pressure eased as their climb stabilized.

Fasti finally spoke.

“Don’t move.”

She glanced at him.

“Why?”

He didn’t answer. Instead, he pressed a button on his armrest.

Instantly, weight returned.

She blinked.

“What did you do?”

His eyes remained fixed on the stars now appearing ahead.

“Turned on artificial gravity.”

She nodded, feeling faintly foolish.

Then she noticed something else.

The world was gone.

Ahead of them stretched only inky blackness, pierced by steady, silent stars.

She glanced sideways and saw the planet falling away behind them.

Yet she still couldn’t move from her seat.

They were still accelerating.

She looked back at Fasti.

“What’s happening now?”

“We’re approaching minimum safe jump height. In five… four… three…”

He stopped counting.

Two silent seconds passed.

“Now.”

The weight suddenly lifted as he pulled the throttle back.

Acha exhaled in relief.

“That feels better.”

He smiled.

“It gets worse.”

She blinked.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

He grinned.

“Just kidding.”

He pointed toward the dashboard.

“Have you ever jumped before?”

She shook her head.

His grin widened.

“You’re crossing off a lot of firsts today.”

She followed where he pointed. The display meant absolutely nothing to her, but his voice carried her through it.

“Jumping works by locking onto the destination star system,” he said, “then accelerating beyond light speed until we get close. That’s the extremely simplified explanation.”

She nodded.

“So what do we need to do?”

“Honestly? Not much. Once we’re in the jump we’ll have an hour or two before we’re needed again.”

He adjusted a few controls as he continued.

“Right now the engines are running at maximum thrust, but the energy isn’t pushing us forward. It’s being stored in a containment zone.”

She frowned.

“A containment zone?”

He nodded casually.

“It holds enough plasma energy to sandblast a planet’s surface flat.”

She immediately regretted asking.

“And if something goes wrong?”

He gave a small shrug.

“Then we’ll stop having problems.”

She stared at him.

He continued before she could process that.

“That energy charges Senatla’s outer hull and forms a field. A bubble, basically. By changing how the bubble’s charged, we accelerate space itself instead of accelerating the ship.”

She blinked.

“…Huh?”

He waved a hand.

“You’ll get used to it.”

She decided not to fight the concepts anymore and simply let them swirl uselessly around her brain.

But he wasn’t finished.

“You might be thinking there’s nothing in space to push against,” he added. “That’s why we bring our own reference frame along with us. Simple idea. Horrifyingly complicated execution.”

She nodded again, pretending comprehension.

Fasti clapped his hands together - a gesture she was beginning to recognize.

He hoped she wouldn’t realize it was what he did whenever he felt nervous.

“Ready to jump?”

She gave another silent nod.

He nodded back and pushed the throttle fully forward.

The speed display lost its mind.

Numbers flickered wildly - negatives, impossibly large figures, values expressed in exponents stacked on exponents.

Outside, only two things changed.

The world behind them vanished.

And the stars stretched into brilliant lines of light.

They didn’t rush past like nearby objects.

They slid by at impossible distance, like meteors burning across a perfect night sky.

It was beautiful.

Acha barely noticed when Fasti stood up, stretching with a groan. He rolled his shoulders, completely relaxed.

He turned toward her, smiling.

“Well. We’ve got an hour and forty-six minutes to kill. You coming?”

She didn’t know what he had planned.

But she nodded anyway.

She stood and followed him into the common room, leaving Senatla to fly herself.

And that was when it truly clicked.

She was in space.

That wasn’t unusual.

She was travelling hundreds of times faster than light.

Also not unusual.

She was aboard a private starship, with a man she had met only hours ago, being paid to cross the galaxy beside him.

That was unusual.

And somehow…

it already felt normal.

She smiled to herself and followed Fasti deeper into the ship, excited to see what came next.