 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. 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. It was just like the council to put the screws on; they had a reputation for demanding results at any cost—even at the cost of destroying the only thing you had that would make results possible. One brush with them, in ages past, had almost destroyed Hatcher's people.
 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.