 What does it mean to be a navigator?
Whatever it was, he had no business in it; for five minutes before he had been spaceborne, on the Long Jump from Earth to the thriving colonies circling Betelgeuse Nine. McCray was ship's navigator, plotting course corrections—not that there were any, ever; but the reason there were none was that the check-sightings were made every hour of the long flight. He had read off the azimuth angles from the computer sights, automatically locked on their beacon stars, and found them correct; then out of long habit confirmed the locking mechanism visually.
 To trust mathematics and instrument readings more than common sense.
 To trust mathematics and instrument readings for the greater good of exploring the cosmos.  To have a quick wit sharp enough to parse the problem of becoming a captive.  To trust mathematics and instrument readings more than common sense.  To have a quick wit fast enough to escape the deadly trials of Hatcher’s Stage Two.