Commander Hades smiled, Now they were getting somewhere.
“Your answer is right on target Corporal, as you all know, you use flaps to increase/decrease drag/lift, for instance during liftoff you lower the flaps in order to increase lift.”

. “One question sir. Why would you ask about Flaps if this particular craft doesn’t use them? At least I haven’t seen the sections of the wing that are supposed to move. And you showed the sides before, it looked like one piece.”

Hades turned to look at Kimberly. “That is correct, private. Why indeed would I pose a question on flaps when the plane apparently has none?”

He was about to continue when he heard Molly’s response. “ Using thrusters to replace flaps is a terrible waste of energy, and actually thrusters would generate more heat and create more turbulence and may make the plane easier to detect, that is why we limit their usage to delicate moves. If you took the XSP-1 to dock with say the International Space Station, then you would use the thrusters.

Back to the flap question, I asked you what was the efficiency of the flaps, perhaps I should rephrase that question, what effects/limits the efficiency and effectiveness of the flaps?”

This time it was the Colonel who answered the question, he could not just let these young whippersnappers do all the showing off. “Is it the size or the surface area of the flaps sir?”
“It is indeed. The size of the flaps determines the maximum lift rate a plane has. The XPS-1 has the largest max lift rate of any plane in existence. It does this by being one big flap, or you could see it as having billions of small flaps.

In a nutshell, the outer shell of the XPS is covered is mission adaptive material, smart material, material that can change its shape. So say when you take off, instead of the lift being generated by the wing flaps, the lift force is generated by the whole underside of the plane. By the same principle even at high speeds, the XPS can turn on a dime compared to other planes, as the arc it needs to trace to turn is the smallest in the world.

All right, it is getting late, and we will start relatively early tomorrow, and we will be doing something relatively unrelated to the XPS, anyway by your bedsides is a more detailed guide to the XPS. Tomorrow we will start at 7. Dismissed.”

Kant nodded. So they whole thing could change shape? This was no kid's toy, Kant was sure of that. He got up and left, and headed for his room. He walked for a full ten minutes before admitting that he didn't know where his room was. He stopped a passing person, asking where the pilot's rooms were. He was given directions, and swiftly made his way there. But he somehow got the feeling that the passing techie did not like him. Probably had something to do with his attempt at flying the spaceplane. He went into his room, and saw a rather thick book resting on the bedside table. He picked it up, and leafed through it, pausing on the page that showed a picture of the c0ckpit. Numbers had been put over each control, and a list was on the next page. He spent a good half hour studying them, before setting an alarm on his watch and going to sleep.

Steve’s geeky side was coming out again. He’d been quiet but listening hard, taking in every thing that he could. He found it awesome that the plane could reshape it’s self in mid flight. If that was true it really would turn on a dime.

Now being dismissed Steve walked out following Kimberly to the pilot barracks, after Kimberly had asked for directions. Once tucked in he sat down, laying across his bed, and started reading the booklet issued by Hades on his bed.

Molly followed Kimberly to the pilot barracks and knocked on the door to Kim's room. "Hey Kimberly, mind if we room together?" She smiled, "I'd like company as we will be spending at least three months here." She stuck out her hand, "What do you say?"

Kimberly had just walked into her room, setting her bag on her bed, when there was a knock at the door. Her brow furrowed. Wondering what this was about already. She stepped back to her door promptly opening it.

“Yes?” She said coming face to face with the other girl. “Oh sure. Come on in.” She stepped aside motioning for Molly to come in. “It’s probably not a bad idea.”

"Cool, thanks." Molly stepped in the door with her bag in hand. "Better for us gals to stick together eh?" She went over and sat on the other bed then fell backwards. "This will be an interesting assignment indeed. What do you think?"

Kim smiled. “Yeah should give a leg up in a way.” She walked back to her bed switching on the lamp and pulling her hair out of the back of her collar so that her braid hung loose. Molly asked what she thought. “I think we could take the geeks lead, who is sleping across the hall and start looking through these books we’re given.” She held up the manual that was laying on her bed.

“I heard that.” Came Steve’s voice from across the hall. Sounding like he was laughing through the words.

Kant sat up, and looked at his watch. Damnit. He'd been asleep a whole ten minutes. He stomped to the door, fully ready to beat the crap out of whoever was making so much goddamn noise. But then he recognised it as the two girls, and sighed. Bloody women. He stomped down to their room, and stood in the doorway. "Do you mind? I'm trying to sleep."

Molly undid the bun in her hair as she giggled. "Sorry guys, night." Molly got up and shut the door, "The boys are funny." She nodded, "Yeah, I say we hit the books for a bit then go to bed." Molly looked in longing at Kimberly's hair, "Your hair is gorgous girl. So what do you think of those new flying contraptions?"

Through all the ruckus, Colonel Edwards slept. After the mission debriefing was over, he immediately went to his room and wrote down the things he had learned from today, he then spent an hour and a half reading about the c0ckpit and controls, as well as the general overview of the plane. Then he read through the reports of the airstrip and proceeded to turn out the light and fall into a deep and refreshing sleep.

Meanwhile, Hades called the James the techie over and issued a series of orders, James nodded and hurried off to do that as Hades retired to his room to work.

That night six crates were opened and their contents were moved to a huge room underground. There was more to wolf airstrip than met the eye, there was A LOT more, one little known fact was that there was a labyrinth of rooms underground who’s size ranged from meeting room size to hangar size. Into one of the large rooms six vehicles were moved. These “vehicles” consisted of what looked like the c0ckpit of a one man attack helicopter, minus the main and tail rotor, and add some thrusters to it, and you got the CMV the c0ckpit looks a bit like the Slave 1 spaceship of star wars). So to fly it the pilot sat in a chair where his legs were slightly elevated and he was leaning back slightly, a combination of standing and sitting.

There they were moved and they sat waiting for the dawn of the next day.

“Yeah the boys are funny.” Kim smirked. “Sorry Boys.” She called through the closed door. Then laid down on her stomach, with the pillow under her shoulders and the book under her nose. “Thanks. Your hair’s cute too.” She thumbed open the manual. “I’m not sure what to think of the thing yet. The idea has a great deal of possibilities but I still have yet to see the thing in action with a trained pilot. I’m going to hold my complete opinion till then I think.” She began reading the manual for an hour, then turned over and went to sleep. (Hope you don’t mind the time laps kit.)

(OCC waiting for you guys to wake up then it will resume)

OOC: oh, ok, didn't realise that lol

IC:
Kant woke up. Kant was not happy. His opinion of the girls had dropped dramatically last night, and it wasn't particularly high to start with. He found the canteen, and helped himself to a breakfast comprising of the two major food groups: cereal and milk. Then it was almost seven, so he headed back to the breifing room. Why did he get the feeling that the four places; the briefing room, the canteen, his room and the simulator place; would be where he would be spending all of his free time for the next few months? Not the most tantalizing of prospects.

Kimberly had woken up with the alarm clock, leaving it on long enough so that it would wake up Molly. She’d tucked her text book on her night stand and, taking the time to redo her braid from the day before. Then it was off to breakfast where she noticed Steve was already enjoying his bowl of cereal. It looked like he’d been up longer that morning just a little bit longer then herself. She finished her breakfast and the two went off to the briefing room.

Molly rolled out of bed as the alarm went off. She yawned as she repinned her hair into a bun. She stretched for a few minutes before dressing and following Kimberely over to the canteen. She nabbed a few pancakes and sat down at a table. She soon finished eating and headed over to the debriefing room. She wondered if she might be able to try a test run. That would be interesting. [/color]