# The field

> The field, officially the Distributed Tactile Spatial Environment, turns eight drones' model of a mountain into pressure across a skier's body.

**Canon.** This entry is written from inside the CharliVerse, so its people and companies are fictional. Behind the scenes says what is real.

**The field**, officially the Distributed Tactile Spatial Environment, is the system with which [Emma Heart](https://charli.info/charlipedia/emma-heart/) raced Paralympic Super-G without a human guide. It was built by [Aegis Dynamics](https://charli.info/charlipedia/aegis-dynamics/). Emma calls it the field; the long name is used mainly in technical documentation and by people trying to secure research funding.

## How it works

Eight drones fly around the skier: two ahead reading the snow, two wide on either side, one above tracking her movement, one watching wind and visibility, one holding the data link, and one in reserve. Together they build a live three-dimensional model of the mountain and send it into more than 40,000 tactile cells woven through a racing suit from neck to ankle.

The field does not speak. The left boundary of the course is a faint pressure along the left flank that strengthens as it nears. A drop moves from chest to thighs; rising ground travels the other way. Gates are brief paired points of resistance. The clearest route is not marked by an arrow. It is represented by quiet.

When its sensors disagree, in heavy snow, glare or wind, it grows cautious: boundaries move inward, hazards feel larger, openings narrower. It does not tell the skier it is afraid. It makes the mountain feel less permissive.

## The rules

Under the International Paralympic Alpine Federation's Perceptual Assistance Standard, the field may communicate boundaries, gates, gradient, obstacles, surface changes, the athlete's own movement and immediate threats. It may not calculate a racing line, compare runs, recommend speed or predict split times. It can tell the skier what is there. It cannot tell her what to do about it. In competition the software is locked and its output recorded for inspection. In 2038 it was approved for Super-G and giant slalom, not downhill.

Any eligible B1 athlete could use an approved field. In 2038 only Emma had completed the four-year training needed to race Super-G with it. The system was available. Mastery was not.

## Behind the scenes

The field appears in [Heart Attacks](https://blind-ant.com/pieces/heart-attacks/), by Charlotte Joanne at Blind Ant.