"Of course you do. Of course you do."
Choo shook his head fondly, his eyes going distant as though he were seeing the memory unfold in front of him. "That little training program, out in the middle of nowhere. I almost didn't go. I had three other inspections that week and that one was at the bottom of the list. I only went because my aide insisted. And there you were."
He spread his hands.
"A skinny little thing at the back of the room, waiting for your turn at the simulator. Everyone else had gone before you, and they'd all done about as well as you'd expect from children who'd never sat in a cockpit. And then you sat down, and you flew that simulation like you'd been born in it. I've never seen anything like it. Not before, not since. I knew right then, right in that moment, that I was looking at something special."
He leaned forward slightly.
