go.
At max velocity the Harrier pushes Mach one. The blast wave approached us hard at about Mach three. Tabitha pulled off some magical flying that allowed us to surf the edge of the shock wave for a split second. Then the aircraft tumbled tail over nose and was thrown into a spin that ripped the wings right off.
'Eject Anson! Eject, Eject, Eject!' she screamed as the canopy flew off the aircraft. I ejected. I felt something hit me. Hard!
CHAPTER 13
Anson, wake up!' Tabitha slapped me across the face. My head was pounding and I couldn't breathe. I heaved. Tabi--tha rolled me over onto all fours as I heaved again. I -vomited mostly blood and very few other fluids. I held myself steady on all fours for a moment longer and heaved once more.
'Anson, are you okay?'
'I think so.' I made it to my feet, shook my head lightly, and looked at Tabitha. Her face was scratched up badly and her left eye was swollen shut with a big bloody gash just above it. Her flight suit was torn and bloody across her chest and left side. A slight trickle of blood was noticeable on her left earlobe.
'Are you okay?' I asked.
'I'll live. It's superficial stuff. The worst part is that I think my left wrist is broken. Mostly, I just have a lot of pain. I can deal with that.' She grimaced, 'We have to get some help soon. You've lost a lot of blood. I'm getting concerned about you.'
'Hell I can't believe we're still alive. How'd we survive that blast?'
'Simple shock wave aerodynamics,' she replied. 'I maxed our velocity to get us as high as fast as we could get. The air pressure is lower as you get higher of course. I managed to surf the wave as long as the aircraft would take it, which wasn't that long. When the aircraft came apart, the blast wave overtook us. Then we were on the inside of the wave. What is the air pressure behind a shock wave?' she quizzed me.
'Of course. The pressure behind a shock is at stagnation pressure of that gas. In Earth's atmosphere, that is one atmospheric pressure of air, mostly harmless. Genius! You knew we weren't going to make it. That is why you told me to wait on ejecting until you ordered me to. And you didn't order us to eject until we were inside the shock wave letting the plane take the force of the blast wave.' That was more than I felt like saying at the time, but it was so brilliant I had to say something.
'That's it. You win the prize.'
'God I love you,' I gurgled. 'Let's find a way to civilization. What do you think?' I scanned the area. 'Where the heck are we?'
'I think we're about three miles north of the crash site. Airman Jason said that his Aunt Rosie lives near here. There might be civilization there.' Tabitha paused and gazed at the total destruction around us, 'Or at least what is left of it. Can you walk?'
'I guess I'd better.' I coughed up more blood and gurgled a little as I inhaled. I felt weaker and more tired than I ever had in my life. It had been a long day. Thanks to the ECC explosion the terrain was a one big pile of rubble and smashed pine trees after another—it wasn't easy going. Jesus, the destruction!
We had been walking for more than thirty minutes before we came to a paved road. I was feeling weak. I was so weak that each step took all of my will power and strength to accomplish. I felt like I was about to 'bonk.'
For you non-athletes out there 'bonking' might mean something else,—something, erh, sexual—but to the athletes you know what I'm getting at. I had bonked before once when 'Becca and Jim and I were mountain bike riding in Tsali, North Carolina. Tsali has some of the most beautiful single track in the country. Well, we had been riding for most of the day. I remember being on top of 'Becca's wheel, then we hit a hard climb. My muscles started aching halfway up. Then I had no more energy to turn the cranks. No matter how hard I tried to stroke the pedals, there was no strength in my legs. The next thing I knew Jim was standing over me squirting his water bottle in my face.
'What happened?' 'Becca asked. 'You were right on my ass then you just died and fell over. I looked back and you were on the ground.'
'I don't know?' I told her.
'Drink this, Doc.' Jim handed me his bottle.
My hands were too shaky to hold on to it and I felt sick to my stomach. 'I don't understand what is wrong with me.' I stated.
'Have you eaten anything, Doc?' 'Becca asked.
'Well I ate lunch with you guys.'
'Anson, she means have you eaten anything while you were on the bike. We have been riding for over three hours and your hydration system only has water in it.' Jim pointed to my pack.
'You mean, I'm supposed to eat while on the bike?' That was the weirdest thing I had ever heard.
'Newbie!' 'Becca laughed and shook her head.
'You never read the magazines I give you, do you, Doc?' Jim asked. 'Never you mind. Eat this.' He handed me a sports bar. 'If you're riding for more than a couple of hours, you need to restore your energy supplies here and there. You've used up all the glycogen in your muscles and your body is now trying to use your excess body fat for energy.'
'Yeah, good. What is wrong with that?' I interrupted him.
'Newbie!' 'Becca laughed again.
'Well Doc, nothing is wrong with that. In fact that's where you do some really good fat burning. But, your body cannot convert stored fat to energy fast enough to keep up with the demands of a hard riding pace. Hence, the need to supplement with external calories.' Jim took the sports bar wrapper from me and stuck it in his jersey
