“Could you possibly slow our
speed to a point where we are not actually burning up in the atmosphere?”
The ship disdained to
reply. There was no sense of
deceleration, but quite abruptly the ocean and cloud-banks below stopped
flashing past and assumed a more stately progression. Slowly the glow in the air around and the
rock behind faded.
“Mach 5,” announced the ship,
in a satisfied tone.
“Good for you,” said
Lamont. “Do you have any capacity to,
perhaps, steer?”
“I am reluctant to attempt it,”
said the ship. “I would prefer to
attempt a controlled landing.”
“I think I could live with
that,” said Lamont.
“Ah,” said the ship, sounding
imposed upon. “You require a landing
that is not just controlled but survivable.”
(from Newton’s
Wake by Ken MacLeod)
6*/10. The
full review is here.
.
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