Within seconds he began to feel the warmth as he entered the region where a few air molecules3 began to brush over the surfaces of his ship. He rotated the delta-wings full, but there was no response. He was not yet deep enough into the sea of air for the control surfaces to react. He watched the tips of the wings, so ridiculously close to him, though he knew he would not be able to see anything. Soon he began to feel a gentle bucking4 motion as the wings met resistance. He flattened5 them out, horizontal, and began to draw them up again slowly, so they would move the tiny ship upward instead of simply tearing off at the roots.
The heat was already uncomfortable, and he was slowing. Now he was pressed forward against the seat belt as deceleration increased. The control surfaces bit into the thin air more solidly now, and Cressey thought the nose had come up a bit, but it was so slight he couldn't be sure. The bucking motion was more pronounced, but there was nothing he could do about that.
Slowly, slowly. The wings had to tilt6 so very slowly, or they would be ripped from the pod-like hull7, leaving it to plummet8 into thick air and glow briefly9 like a cigarette in the dark before it plunged10 down to earth. His face was wet behind the fish-bowl, but he could not reach it to wipe the sweat away. Nor could he have taken his hands away from the controls in any case.
The nose had come up, he was certain of that now. He was definitely rising, but the heat was becoming unbearable11. Imperceptibly, a thin shrieking12 had arisen in the cabin, almost out of sonic range, just enough to make a man's nerves feel as if they had been dragged across a rough file. The heat transmitted through the body of the pod and into the bucket was beginning to burn his legs. He was being held out of the seat itself by the force of his deceleration, but the backs of his calves13 still touched metal. He thought he could smell the fabric14 of his suit burning, but realized it was probably his overwrought imagination.
His cheeks felt too large, puffed15 out, as though strong, implacable hands were pulling all his loose flesh forward. His eyes strained forward, threatening to come out of their sockets16. The red haze17 began, and he had a sudden frightening thought that he might lose consciousness before the Hornet had well begun its rise out of atmosphere. The red darkened into black.
He regained consciousness. The first skip had been made. The ship began to settle back into atmosphere again, and now its speed was lower. With each pass the heat would become more intense, as the plane would not have a chance to cool completely before it began to heat again. He had to maintain a delicate balance between going deep enough to slow him, but not so deep he couldn't bring the ship up before it burned, cherry-red. His body was drenched18 as by a shower, and the inner lining19 of his suit felt soggy from sweat.
The second skip was worse than the first, and he lost consciousness almost too soon. The third was worse than the second. After the fourth, he could not lift high enough to clear atmosphere. He had gone too deep, and was now bound by the great mass of Earth below.
He was still at a shallow angle, relative to the ground. He estimated he would make at least one complete orbit, perhaps two, before his spiralling trajectory20 brought him to the contact point on the surface. If he were still conscious, he would leave the aircraft at 30,000 feet, and hope. He knew his speed was still too high, well over Mach 2, higher than it had been on either of his other approaches. The ship was threatening to tear apart under the furious pounding it was taking from air and shock waves.
Hobson's choice. Bail21 out high, and suffocate22 because the automatic chute release would not allow him to make a delayed opening. Bail out low, and the thick air would pound his body to a pulp23, and below the steel webbed chute would hang nothing but a suit, full of a still, red messiness.
The timing24 had to be precision itself, but it had to be done by guesswork. There was no training that could prepare a man for this. It was all new. He uncoupled the air hose leading to his suit, and placed his hand on the ejector lever. He knew he was too high, but the wings showed quivering signs of buckling25 under the strain.
He pulled the lever, releasing the canopy26 and arming the seat cartridge27. The canopy disappeared miraculously28 from over his head. He was deafened29 by the thunderous roar of air that entered the cramped30 cockpit, like an explosion peak that remained constant, not diminishing. Instinctively31, he ducked his head, recoiling32 at the sound. He did not remember triggering the seat ejector.
Cressey fell. The seat dropped away from him, the incredibly strong parachute opened, all automatically. He fell forty-five thousand feet into the Pacific Ocean, unconscious. His face was battered33 by windblast almost beyond recognition, and his body equally so. When the rescue team pulled him from the water, three hours later, they thought he was an old man. His eyes were a mass of red, from dozens of sub-conjunctival hemorrhages. He would see again, but not until after weeks of near blindness.
But he was alive. When he woke up in the California hospital four days later, he considered ruefully that that was about the best one could expect in his business.
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1
regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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2
plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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3
molecules
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| 分子( molecule的名词复数 ) | |
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4
bucking
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| v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的现在分词 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃 | |
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5
flattened
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| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
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6
tilt
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| v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜 | |
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7
hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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8
plummet
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| vi.(价格、水平等)骤然下跌；n.铅坠；重压物 | |
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9
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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10
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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11
unbearable
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| adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的 | |
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12
shrieking
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| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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13
calves
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| n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解 | |
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14
fabric
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| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
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15
puffed
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| adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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16
sockets
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| n.套接字，使应用程序能够读写与收发通讯协定(protocol)与资料的程序( Socket的名词复数 )；孔( socket的名词复数 )；（电器上的）插口；托座；凹穴 | |
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17
haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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18
drenched
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| adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体） | |
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19
lining
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| n.衬里，衬料 | |
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trajectory
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| n.弹道，轨道 | |
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bail
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| v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人 | |
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22
suffocate
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| vt.使窒息，使缺氧，阻碍；vi.窒息，窒息而亡，阻碍发展 | |
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23
pulp
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| n.果肉，纸浆；v.化成纸浆，除去...果肉，制成纸浆 | |
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24
timing
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| n.时间安排，时间选择 | |
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25
buckling
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| 扣住 | |
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canopy
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| n.天篷，遮篷 | |
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27
cartridge
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| n.弹壳，弹药筒；(装磁带等的)盒子 | |
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28
miraculously
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| ad.奇迹般地 | |
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29
deafened
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| 使聋( deafen的过去式和过去分词 )； 使隔音 | |
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30
cramped
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| a.狭窄的 | |
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31
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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32
recoiling
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| v.畏缩( recoil的现在分词 )；退缩；报应；返回 | |
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33
battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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