Ship's Ears: Science Fiction

The twinkle of the stars chimed softly against ship's ears, tuned to hear the sounds between the stars, tuned to find the pattern of the melody and follow it, steering clear of the discontinuity of a flaring star, the harsh discord of a local war, the only way that anyone could ever follow the hard paths of all the worlds that all the people had settled on. It was difficult, once off-ship, to readjust to the sounds of people around one, living freely, chattering, babbling, clashing pans one against the other. On ship, the pilot-composer was shielded fully from everyone. If necessary, there was a window that they could signal from, signs that could be held up to communicate. Sound was forbidden. A stray sneeze could send a ship careening off into a cloud of dark matter that would--

Inspiration: "Alamout" by Glen Hall
Story Potential: High.
Notes: I find the notion of this setting and character intriguing enough to want to explore it further, though there's no plot depth here, just a sketch of a profession and a character.