(Now, at last, that book cover image becomes directly relevant.)
As the ship descends, twenty or more fliers emerge from clouds and attack:
metal;
bright in reflected light;
wide, ribbed wings;
sticklike torsos;
"...grotesque empennage, beaks and claws." (p. 224)
They rock the ship, a Comet, while blocking visuals, radar and sonic beams. Flying almost blind, Flandry destroys two attackers with the ship's gun but then grazes a mountain. Controlling the now unbalanced grav drive, he makes a tail-first landing. The force fends off the attackers so that he has a clear view aft which he projects onto a screen. Meanwhile, Djana recites the "'Hail Mary...'" (p. 225)
Now Flandry must confront those "bad dreams" on the surface. And how will he and Djana escape from Wayland? (We know from experience that, at some point, luck will favor the brave. His thought while landing is, "No time for fear." (ibid.))
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul
Some might say Flandry was too BUSY to feel fear. Or would it be more accurate to say he mastered fear and focused on doing what had to be done or could be done?
Ad astra! Sean
Fear is worst before or after or when you can't do anything. If you're trained to react in X manner, and the situation arises, you just sort of follow the program. And in a fight, it's sort as if whole aspects of your mind just go into suspension -- total focus.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And that, of course, must have been the kind of training Flandry got, both in the Navy and at the Intelligence Academy.
Ad astra! Sean
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