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There's a trick to navigating in and out of a gravitational field, and Spike knows that Beth is nowhere near experienced enough behind the controls to do it. But once they're on Earth, she can fly the Swordfish all she wants, so long as there aren't heavy meteor showers. He thinks she'll have fun piloting from the Bahamas north to Virginia, if they decide to make that trip.
As they take off from the grav deck, off into the stars in the cramped quarters of the Swordfish II, he turns to her and grins and reaches for her hand and offers her a cigarette: he never would have thought to try coming to Earth just to sample the warm waters if it wasn't for Beth. Hell, he wouldn't even have thought to visit the damn planet. It would have been just another place to avoid unless necessary.
But now, he's kind of excited. Mostly because it's been a dream of hers for so long to visit the place and if he can't take her in her time, he can take her in his. There won't be resorts and people waiting on them, bringing them iced fruit drinks and fried conch and all that shit, but the beaches and the ocean and the coral reefs are still there, or at least that's what the latest surveys say. He has no reason to believe otherwise.
"Sit back, Slim: it's going to get shaky here for a while." And as they enter into the Earth's atmosphere at speeds huge enough to strain all its resources, the Swordfish gives a definite shudder, like it's thinking about breaking apart.
But it doesn't. It's thin enough and fast enough and shielded enough to get through without burning up and as they leave the blackness of space behind, the bright forms and shapes and colors of the continents and islands and oceans become visible beneath them. Here, there are no domed colonies; the whole planet is fair game. But the planned trajectory brings them right over North America. Spike weaves the ship in and out and around some chunks of meteors that want to fall all of a sudden, flying east.
It's really beautiful. Beth's seen the view from the air hundreds of times, he knows, but he can't not ask. "Like how it looks?" He checks the altimeter and the navigational system and the weapons system too, just for grins. "Down there? Texas. That's where Doohan fixes ships."
As they take off from the grav deck, off into the stars in the cramped quarters of the Swordfish II, he turns to her and grins and reaches for her hand and offers her a cigarette: he never would have thought to try coming to Earth just to sample the warm waters if it wasn't for Beth. Hell, he wouldn't even have thought to visit the damn planet. It would have been just another place to avoid unless necessary.
But now, he's kind of excited. Mostly because it's been a dream of hers for so long to visit the place and if he can't take her in her time, he can take her in his. There won't be resorts and people waiting on them, bringing them iced fruit drinks and fried conch and all that shit, but the beaches and the ocean and the coral reefs are still there, or at least that's what the latest surveys say. He has no reason to believe otherwise.
"Sit back, Slim: it's going to get shaky here for a while." And as they enter into the Earth's atmosphere at speeds huge enough to strain all its resources, the Swordfish gives a definite shudder, like it's thinking about breaking apart.
But it doesn't. It's thin enough and fast enough and shielded enough to get through without burning up and as they leave the blackness of space behind, the bright forms and shapes and colors of the continents and islands and oceans become visible beneath them. Here, there are no domed colonies; the whole planet is fair game. But the planned trajectory brings them right over North America. Spike weaves the ship in and out and around some chunks of meteors that want to fall all of a sudden, flying east.
It's really beautiful. Beth's seen the view from the air hundreds of times, he knows, but he can't not ask. "Like how it looks?" He checks the altimeter and the navigational system and the weapons system too, just for grins. "Down there? Texas. That's where Doohan fixes ships."
