Chapter 30

DAY 7 9:11 A.M.
The helicopter pilot pushed the doors open as we ran across the pad. We jumped in. Mae said, “Go!”
He said, “I’ll have to insist you get your harnesses on before—”
“Fly this fucking thing!” I yelled¹.
“Sorry, it’s a regulation, and it’s not safe—”
Black smoke started to pour out of the power station door we had just come out of. It billowed into the blue desert sky.
The pilot saw it and said, “Hang on!”
We lifted off and headed north, swinging wide of the building. Now there was smoke coming from all the exhaust vents² near the roof. A black haze³ was rising into the air. Mae said, “Fire burns the nanoparticles and the bacteria, too. Don’t worry.”
The pilot said, “Where are we going?”
“Home.”
He headed west, and within minutes we had left the building behind. It disappeared below the horizon. Mae was sitting back in her seat, eyes closed. I said to her, “I thought it was going to blow up. But they turned the safety system back on again. So I guess it won’t.” She said nothing.
I said, “So what was the big rush to get out of there? And where were you, anyway? Nobody could find you.”
She said, “I was outside, in the storage shed.”
“Doing what?”
“Looking for more thermite.”
“Find any?”
There was no sound. Just a flash of yellow light that spread across the desert horizon for an instant, and then faded. You could almost believe it never happened. But the helicopter rocked and jolted⁴ as the shock wave passed us.
The pilot said, “Holy Mother of God, what was that?”
“Industrial accident,” I said. “Very unfortunate.”
He reached for his radio. “I better report it.”
“Yes,” I said. “You better do that.”
We flew west, and I saw the green line of the forest and the rolling foothills of the Sierras, as we crossed into California.

1 yelled   

v.叫喊，号叫，叫着说( yell的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He yelled at the other driver. 他冲着另一位司机大叫。
• The lost man yelled, hoping someone in the woods would hear him. 迷路的人大声喊着，希望林子里的人会听见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 vents   

（气体、液体等进出的）孔、口( vent的名词复数 )； （鸟、鱼、爬行动物或小哺乳动物的）肛门； 大衣等的)衩口； 开衩

参考例句：

• He always vents his anger on the dog. 他总是拿狗出气。
• The Dandelion Patch is the least developed of the four active vents. “蒲公英区”在这四个活裂口中是发育最差的一个。

3 haze   

n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊

参考例句：

• I couldn't see her through the haze of smoke.在烟雾弥漫中，我看不见她。
• He often lives in a haze of whisky.他常常是在威士忌的懵懂醉意中度过的。

4 jolted   

（使）摇动， （使）震惊( jolt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The truck jolted and rattled over the rough ground. 卡车嘎吱嘎吱地在凹凸不平的地面上颠簸而行。
• She was jolted out of her reverie as the door opened. 门一开就把她从幻想中惊醒。