A Visitor to the Future - 13 - No Gravity Sports
We closed the airlock door behind us and remained in there for about fifteen seconds before Sarkona spoke up.
"If you're wondering why the airlock opened for us instantly, but now we have to wait – there's a kill-switch in Antonia's plants that reacts to a certain wavelength of harmless radiation. When we leave, we won't take any contaminants into the rest of the ship. Standard procedure for most experimental Biodev work."
Soon enough the outer door opened and we floated outside. I looked up above us – protruding from the ship was the large climbing wall I had seen earlier. Sarkona followed the direction of my gaze. "Well, seeing as you're interested, we'll go to Contact next."
Sarkona made a leap straight up towards it and feeling ambitious, I followed. I quickly passed Sarkona and realized that my leap had been too powerful – I was travelling too fast to safely stop myself at the other wall. The Safeties I had put on earlier made a few large hissing noises, and I felt the sensation of air blowing past my hands. My speed slowed slightly, allowing me to comfortably grab one of the wall grips near the base of the climbing wall and stop myself. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I had been holding, and Sarkona gracefully arrived next to me.
"Hopefully that'll reassure you that the Safeties work well! A few bursts of compressed air are the difference between a painful impact and a safe arrival. Anyway, this is Contact," they said, pointing to the climbing wall, "One of the oldest and most popular no-gravity sports."
I looked up at the wall and tried to take in every detail. It looked very much like a climbing wall from my own time. There were colourful grips, contours and both concave and convex areas that all led straight up about fifty meters. The main differences were that the grips were translucent, and that some of them were more like the bars which we'd been holding onto throughout the ship.
"How does it work?" I asked.
Sarkona approached the base of the wall and pointed at a small screen. "You set the challenge rating and settings here – let me show you." A few presses later, and there was a slight beeping sound. I looked up and saw that one of the grips had lit up about halfway up the wall. "All you have to do is touch that grip. Then the next one in the sequence lights up and gives a noise too. The timer ends when you press the last one in the sequence. This is one of the simpler Contact walls – the more complicated ones have multiple walls and interesting features."
I looked up at the shining red grip up above me, and my mind suddenly filled with a sense of purpose that I hadn't felt for a very long time. "Can I try?" I asked.
Sarkona smiled and gestured at the wall, "By all means!"
I gently leapt up the wall and managed to grab onto the first grip without issue. Sarkona shouted both mixed encouragement and directions at me to direct me toward the relevant grips, which was very helpful as I missed many of the audio cues. I scrambled between one grip and another, bumped my shoulders on the contours of the wall more than once, and narrowly avoided missing a grip and flying off the wall entirely. I mostly climbed along the wall to where I needed to go – and by the end the final chime played I was huffing for breath – even in no gravity, it wasn't easy.
"Five minutes!" said Sarkona, "Not a bad time at all for someone so new to both zero gravity and your new tuned-up body! Would you like some feedback?"
Still catching my breath, I nodded.
"The main thing is that you were entirely dependent on your arms. You’re making the same mistake that a lot of people do - you’re trying to keep things simple so you folded your legs up behind you, using your arms as they’re what you can see in your field of view."
I hadn’t realised it, but Sarkona was right - even right now my legs were bent behind me uselessly. I hooked my left foot under a grip.
"Better," they continued. "Next is your rotation. You kept your head pointing at the top of the wall the whole time, which is a super gravity-based mindset. If you want to improve, you’ll have to rotate a lot more. But at this stage you might find that disorientating!"
"I’m surprised that I’m not dizzy right now," I said, "I’m still struggling with the ceiling of this room actually being a floor."
Sarkona held up a finger, pointing upwards. "When in truth there is no ceiling or floor! You’re still in that gravity mindset."
I groaned, pinching my nose briefly with one hand.
"You’re doing great though! You haven’t thrown up or anything yet. You probably would have been a great astronaut in your own time."
"Thanks for the compliment," I said. "But I don’t think I’ll be a Contact pro anytime soon."
There was a voice from behind me, and I flinched instinctively. A red-headed, very muscular man was addressing Sarkona with a wide, beaming smile - he had been floating just behind me, in my blind spot. He waved at me and then conversed a little in Human with Sarkona as they made hand gestures in the direction of the wall, including a spinning motion with the palm of the hand.
"We’re in luck," Sarkona said, "Aln’ten here is very good at Contact, do you want to see how a 'pro' does it?"
I nodded enthusiastically. Aln'ten leaped to the base of the wall, and began his run with a very fast leap directly upward. He didn't bother to stop at the grip once he pressed it, instead continuing to fly upwards at speed. A foot lashed out in one direction, using one of the grips to both spin and changed direction, hitting the next button – which I hadn't even realized was there. He navigated the concave and convex sections with ease, using one arm as an anchor, and then swinging around the obstruction in his way. I laughed to myself – from where Aln'ten had been watching, I must have looked like a child taking its first steps – and he an Olympic sprinter!
"Forty-two seconds!" said Sarkona, as the final chime sounded. "Very good!" Aln'ten floated back down the wall and landed next to me, gave me a pat on the shoulder, and exchanged a few words with Sarkona. Then he gave us both a wave and leapt off into the air.
"He says that your attempt was a very good start, but your technique needs work – nothing that couldn't be resolved with a decade or two of practice. He offered to teach you some of the basics too, if you'd like."
"That's very kind. He doesn't speak English?"
"No," said Sarkona, "But that won't be an issue – Contact is one of those sports that it is best to learn by watching and doing anyway!"
"Are there many no-gravity sports like Contact?"
"Oh, yes," said Sarkona, "Too many to name – but two of my favourites are Momentum and Breakthrough. Momentum is not too complex and purely about speed – you have to navigate the course as quickly as possible. Breakthrough is a team game and a lot more involved – it involves propulsion and simulated weapons. The Luna Games are in three months, might be worth checking them out in person!"
"Can I ask - Aln'ten was going very fast - is there a reason his Safeties didn't kick in? I saw he was wearing them."
"The Safeties are smart enough to know when people are participating in Contact," answered Sarkona, "They'd only kick in if they anticipate injury. That's probably something I should discuss with you actually. If you ever want to do something a little more dangerous - like the more extreme sports - you should explicitly let the Consortium know. It's very rare but sometimes it can step in a bit overcautiously."