Blood and Stone by C. E. Martin Read Free Book Online Page B

lid-like. “Sorry we didn’t get to train you on one of these from a C-130.”
    “I’ll be okay,” Victor said, climbing awkwardly into his own tube. Once he was laid down, two ground crew members came over and began buckling him in. The straps crossed his chest and came up between his legs, connecting him to the tube and the parachute he was now laying on. His rifle lay between his legs, muzzle pointed down, toward his feet. One of the ground crew connected a strap on the end of the weapon to the vest Victor wore.
    Once he was buckled in, the ground crew asked if he was okay. Victor gave them a thumbs-up and tried to smile.
    >>>THINK OF IT LIKE A ROLLERCOASTER<<< Kenslir texted him over the tactical targeting visors.
    The lid closed on the transport tube, then Victor could feel his tube being moved. His cart was steered under the large MA-12, then hydraulics raised it up, under the aircraft’s belly, just left of center. Bolts could be heard clicking into place.
    “Air these things air tight?” Victor asked. His voice echoed in the transport tube, despite the padding. “How do you breathe?”
    >>>I’VE GOT AN OXYGEN BOTTLE<<< Kenslir responded. Despite the audio capabilities of the TTVs, he preferred cybernetically controlling his headset and sending script messages. >>>AND IT WON’T BE A LONG FLIGHT<<<
    Once both tubes were loaded into place and secured, Victor felt the aircraft begin to roll forward. He imagined the hangar doors opening and the craft being quickly towed out. Something that had never been done in daylight before. But these were special circumstances.
    The roar of the engines started and Victor soon felt himself pressed back down, his weight pushing his feet against a footrest at the bottom of the transport tube. The sensation of laying on his back changed to one of standing.
    The acceleration was brief, and the pressure pushing down on his shoulders subsided. They were airborne. The altimeter reading on the TTV was scrolling wildly upwards, while the compass indicated they were swinging south, making a huge, banking turn and flying out, over the ocean. The pitch indicator showed them in an eighty-degree, near-vertical climb.
    >>>HERE COME THE SCRAMJETS<<< Kenslir texted less than two minutes after takeoff.
    The main engines seemed to shut off, the noise from the twin engines dying out suddenly. Victor knew this just meant the turbines had been disengaged. Air was now flowing past the compressors into the main body of the engines—located just above and beside his feet.
    Then it was as if gravity increased three-fold. The aircraft surged violently upward, accelerating from just under the speed of sound to over Mach 3 in seconds. Victor guessed this must be what it was like for Space Shuttle astronauts on lift off. Even made of stone, with his sense of touch greatly reduced, he felt the g-forces.
    After several long minutes the MA-12's nose tilted down, level. They were flying at one-hundred thousand feet now, and moving at nearly four-thousand miles per hour. And the plane was still accelerating. For an aircraft built in the early 1960s, it was impressive.
    “How long is this going to take?” Victor yelled. Even in his sealed tube, the sound of the engines was deafening. And that was at an altitude where the air was too thin to even breathe.
    >>>WE’LL BE OVER THE TARGET IN 35 MINUTES<<< Kenslir said.
     

CHAPTER TEN
     
     
     
     
     
    Thirty five minutes later, Victor began to get terrified again. The AF-12 had begun a steep dive, slowing only slightly. The altimeter was scrolling so fast on the TTV, Victor couldn’t even read the numbers. He imagined the aged aircraft shaking itself apart.
    >>>STAY CALM<<< Kenslir said. >>>ALMOST THERE<<<
    Seconds later, Victor heard the bolts and pins holding his transport tube disengage from the belly of the hypersonic aircraft. He felt oddly weightless for a moment as the tube slowed, no longer being propelled at such terrific speeds towards the