Звездопад / Starfall: Глава 11

Chapter 11

Camrad_RIP 13.02.23 в 20:31

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Camrad_RIP 15.02.23 в 18:41

The bright red flyer pierced the white cloud and continued to gain altitude. There was no "lack of thrust" - the machine went steeply upward, gaining speed like a rocket. The white sea of clouds remained far below, the horizon gradually curved, gaining roundness. The speed of the flier was indicated by the figures on the dashboard and the white flashes of compaction in front of the pointy nose of the vehicle. There was nothing else but the gentle breeze in the hair and the steady chanting of the engine behind. In front and around, as far as the eye could see, was only the sky, which was growing darker and darker, and for a moment there seemed to be an uneven flicker of stars.

Camrad_RIP 15.02.23 в 18:43

"I think it's too early for us to go into space," Kayrin murmured.

Camrad_RIP 15.02.23 в 18:44

Her breath tickled Alex's ear pleasantly, and her tight breasts rested against his shoulder. The Baroness sat half-embracing him, her hands resting on his arms. The whole thing was called "learning to drive a flyer" by Baroness Rionale.

Camrad_RIP 15.02.23 в 18:45

Alex realized he was being shamelessly seduced, but first, he liked it, and second, anything flying had been a weakness of his since childhood.

Camrad_RIP 15.02.23 в 18:46

"As you say!" he smiled back.

Camrad_RIP 15.02.23 в 18:47

The grip is on himself! And the sides of the flyer swelled up with milky white blasts of compressed air, turning into two huge snow-white wings. The sky and the ground reversed, and the machine looped downward. The overload gauge poured yellow. //Twenty-two units! Alex couldn't believe his eyes. He was sitting in the sports convertible on the sofa that was here instead of the seats, unbuckled - because there was nothing to buckle up with - and he felt nothing at all! Although, in theory, he should have been pressed into the floor with two tonnes of force. Knowing about the inertial compensator from the Baroness' words and feeling it working for myself were "two big differences".

Camrad_RIP 15.02.23 в 18:51

//Still, I bloody like it here! Alex thought as he put the vehicle into a horizontal flight. The flyer flew in a canyon of clouds. The surrounding beauty was breathtaking, a light breeze was blowing in his face, and an incredibly beautiful girl was smiling charmingly beside him, the collar of her shirt generously unbuttoned to reveal a stunning view.

Camrad_RIP 15.02.23 в 18:54

In the back of my mind, however, the unpleasant thought lurked that all this beauty was accompanied by purposeful guys who wanted his dead body, and the girl clearly had some selfish motives. But this thought did not hinder the enjoyment of the flight.

Camrad_RIP 15.02.23 в 18:57

There was a melodious chime and a yellow square with a lightning bolt in the center flashed on the central panel.

Camrad_RIP 15.02.23 в 18:58

"Less than a third of the energy left," Kayrin explained the signal. "Time to go back, and I'd better slow down, or we'll miss it," she stopped talking and then spoke again, probably not to Alex anymore, but in a cooler, more commanding tone. "Navigation lay in a course for the departure point!"

Camrad_RIP 15.02.23 в 19:00

Obediently, the flyer's electronic brains plotted the direction of the castle on the central screen, and in a few minutes, the machine emerged from the clouds in direct line of sight of it.

Camrad_RIP 15.02.23 в 19:01

"Look," Kayrin pointed to the right.

Camrad_RIP 15.02.23 в 19:01

On a parallel course, but much lower, another flyer flew, looking like a silver droplet from above.

Camrad_RIP 15.02.23 в 19:02

/ So observant, Alex marveled as he guided his vehicle downwards.

Camrad_RIP 15.02.23 в 19:03

"It must be the Taer," the Baroness concluded.

Camrad_RIP 15.02.23 в 19:04

There was now a two-hundred-meter difference in altitude between the machines, and the flyer going below was clearly visible - the model, indeed, resembled the one the "security specialist" was flying.

Camrad_RIP 15.02.23 в 19:05

"Let's parrot her!" Kayrin's tone was quite playful. She gave a serious expression and pointed to the silver flyer. "Come on, fighters! To Fyron!"

Camrad_RIP 15.02.23 в 19:06

"Yes!" Alex decided to play along.

Camrad_RIP 15.02.23 в 19:07

The machine lay on its left side and went into a combat approach like a World War II fighter, by all the rules, from the side of the sun. For a moment, the flyer flew upside down, and Alex was once again surprised that it wasn't falling out. The target was fast approaching, increasing in size - a scarlet griffin was already visible on board - when suddenly, having must have spotted the 'attackers'. The silver one jerked to the left and then - collapsed down, turning around near the ground, and reversing, under the belly of the attacker.

Camrad_RIP 15.02.23 в 19:09

Alex didn't risk repeating such a maneuver - he simply took advantage of the incredible maneuverability of his vehicle, turning in an almost zero-radius turn, and dashed after in pursuit. The speed advantage was clearly on his side, but the 'victim' suddenly took a sharp right, swerving behind the castle and pressing up against its wall. He threw his vehicle following. The castle wall was rapidly approaching, and it was clear that the turning radius was too small and was about to hit the wall. A left turn, away from the wall, and the vehicle was dangerously close to the ground. A sharp jerk. Handles in to gain altitude. The flyer kicked up and down, whirling like a skittish horse, hurtling across the ground. The world spun at an unbelievable speed.

Camrad_RIP 15.02.23 в 19:16

And suddenly, everything stopped. The vehicle froze, staring nose up into the sky, stopping a few meters from the ground. Alex burst out laughing nervously, with hysterical notes - he hadn't had time to be frightened in flight, but now he was scared, even though it was already over. The Baroness was genuinely amused; she did not seem the least bit frightened by what had happened.

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 07:21

//After all, with that kind of recklessness, the first day's driving could get you killed, Alex decided. Though the Baroness had assured him that the Osaro could crash into a rock at full speed without any harm - the fields and inertia compensators would hold up.

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 07:23

She was persuasive, but there was no sense in checking it out for himself. He was still in shock from the fact that he was driving the flyer himself and at such speed.

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 07:25

It all started when Alex, talking to the Baroness, dropped the fact that he didn't know how to fly a flyer because he'd "forgotten everythingЭ. Kayrin immediately offered to teach him, and right away. She was jolly, easy-going, and with a great sense of humor, so the three hours that Alex "entertained" Baroness Rionale flew by without a trace. She was a rare pleasure to spend time with. The joy was marred only by the fact that this NLP enthusiast wanted something out of him, and her interest was clearly not dictated by the depth of his personality.

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 07:27

Anyway, the baroness went to change because her dark blue short sundress with an inflated waist was, in her own words, "not suitable for driving a flyer". Five minutes later, Kayrin was in front of an admiring audience in a short-sleeved white shirt with a high stand-up collar. The high collar, however, was unbuttoned by more than three buttons revealing a gorgeous chest. The shirt was accompanied by light blue trousers and moccasins. After all the compliments they were due, they went to the garage to choose the most suitable apparatus for the trainee.

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 07:35

In the huge room filled with a cloud of machinery, the Baroness gave him a full-scale tour, telling him about the various models and expertly explaining their advantages and disadvantages - it seemed that sports flyers were her little weakness.

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 07:37

"You know, this doesn't seem right to me!" Kayrin ran her hand lovingly over the shiny side of another sports engineering marvel. "A man who hardly ever drives has such a huge collection of sports flyers. They're supposed to fly, they're built for speed, and you keep them locked up!"

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 07:38

"I admit my fault," Alex smiled guiltily. "I'm ready to make amends immediately and start flying. As soon as you choose what we're going to fly."

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 07:40

Kayrin stopped in front of a large convertible with a sharp, predatory nose painted bright red.

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 07:41

"Great shadows, Faison-Osaro!" she almost groaned. "Where'd you get that thing? You're not..." she paused, remembering something. "What am I talking about, though? It would be strange if it wasn't here."

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 08:53

The Baroness slammed her palm on the bonnet:

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 08:53

"We're flying it!"

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 08:54

"Is this the suitable vehicle for the first time?" Alex hesitated.

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 08:54

"More than that! Powerful fields, an autopilot that makes the machine fly better than a pilot, excellent emergency automatics..." Kayrin went on to detail the charms of the machine.

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 08:55

As it turned out, it was the fastest production convertible: a thrust generator of monstrous power, easily taking five times the sound, with an inertial compensator, with a limit of eight hundred units, and an arbitrary overload vector that would do honor to any fighter, if it wasn't too expensive to put on fighters.

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 08:56

"But most importantly," the Baroness said with a gasp. "Dynamic control plane generation system"

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 08:56

She pointed her hand to a spherical bulge at the side:

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 08:57

Normally flyers, even sports flyers, do not use aerodynamic control systems except for stabilization. But the Osaro's special field generators create differently shaped wings and stabilizers, depending on the flight profile and control torque required. With an experienced pilot, this machine literally dances.

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 08:59

//Oh! It's like she's reading! Pretty girl - and a sports car fan, who'd have thought? Pretty girls rarely have hobbies at all - maybe aristocratic origins have an effect?

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 09:00

Kayrin smiled slyly and swung herself over the side, plopping down on the sofa:

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 09:02

"Get in," she slammed her palm down beside her. "I'll teach you how to fly."

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 09:03

Alex opened the door and sat down next to it - there were no armchairs, just a single rather wide sofa with a low back covered in something that looked like velvet. The interior was trimmed in leather and chrome metal.

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 09:04

//Aristocrats degrade with taste, he smiled and ran his finger over the inlay on the light-polished wood dashboard.

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 09:05

While the Baroness was taking the flyer out of the garage, she had time to tell him what Osaro had had to pay for all his wonders. First, the price of a million and a half denarii, and second, the almost hand-assembly and the incredibly complex calibration of the equipment, which made them scarce and left the Osaro, as for most of Fizon's products, in a queue. And quite an impressive one at that. They consumed a great deal of energy, making the normal energy cells empty almost immediately. A special power unit with an enormous capacity had been developed for the Osaro. They would only fly for an hour and a half, though, and then they would have to recharge from the generators. There was no quick cell change system like on most fliers.

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 09:15

//All in all, a very smart and exclusive machine. I wonder. Why is it here if Lord Cassard wasn't a fan of piloting himself?

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 09:17

The flyer jumped out of the garage, the generators hummed melodiously, and the vehicle went up, gaining altitude at a rapid pace.

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 09:18

As the nose stared up into the sky, Alex frantically searched for something to cling to but was surprised to realize that he was in no hurry to fall out. As it turned out, the apparatus, for the comfort of the noble public, was equipped with a small gravity-generator, which created its own field of gravity, always directed at the floor of the machine, so that there was no need to worry about the contents of the stomachs and the calmness of the vestibular apparatus.

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 09:56

When the vehicle came to a halt, hovering silently several kilometers high, Kayrin turned to him and smiled dazzlingly:

Camrad_RIP 16.02.23 в 09:57