Chase Scene!

Doc demands the computer relinquish control of the ship to him. It complains, but he's able to override it. He points the ship west. If he can get to Germany, they might at least be able to blend in.

Doc tries to get a grip on the tactical situation.

Shields?

There's a magnetic field for protection against charged particles and solar discharges, probably what just saved his life. The hull is made of layers of parafin and lead for resisting neutrons and x-rays respectively sandwiched between two thin sheets of titanium to resist hull breaches from micrometeorites, a subdermal ceramic layer to resist the heat of re-entry, all coated in carbon fiber to further deflect the damage of impacts.

None of this sounds like it would do much good against anyone making an honest try to kill you. The blackened carbon stains on the windshield are testament to that. A few more shots might have broken through.

Weapons?

None.

The good news is that their persuers won't have any weapons either. Doc hopes.

Doc checks the aft view. They're closing in fast, but they're not shooting anything at him. He opens the throttle as wide as it goes. The sleek Python slips through the sound barrier with a gentle thud and races faster and faster.

The other ship is keeping pace with Doc's acceleration and is still closing.

"I know this thing can go faster," Doc says to himself aloud. He studies the controls. The engines have several modes and works similar to a car's transmission, at least from a driver's perspective. Liftoff is a subsonic turbojet powered electrically and thermally from the fusion generator. At supersonic speeds, the intake and exhaust nozzles reconfigure themselves to further compress and heat the air, like a RAM jet. Faster still, and the nozzles adjust into a SCRAM jet configuration, allowing the ship to reach hypersonic speeds. After that, the intakes close and the fusion rockets take over completely, blasting the ship to escape velocities and interorbital trajectories.

All these phase shifts are automatic, but also have manual overrides. There are numerous safeties attached to this control, since suddenly throwing into high gear at full throttle would be a lot like hitting a concrete wall at 90 miles an hour backwards. There is, however, a control which allows him to engage more of the fusion rocket into the exhaust, giving him a sort of afterburner effect. However, there are safeties attached to this as well, not the least of which are legal.

"You are not licensed to exceed this velocity," the computer complains whenever he hits the button.

Doc is at top "legal" speed, and the other ship is still closing. Apparently they're allowed to use their afterburners. Doc calls Dr. Ritenrong.

"Steve!"

"Are you clear?"

"Not yet! Help me override the stupid safeties on this thing! "

"Let's see. I could alter your ID data, but you'll have to land, get out, get back in, and take off again to reset it and I'm not sure you have time to do that."

"Not really."

"Okay, I can hack the system, but it will take some time. If you've got any tricks, use 'em."

Doc indeed has some tricks to pull. First he weaves a bit, left and right, up and down. The enemy ship gains on him. He lets them. He makes an easy turn south towards Irkutsk and starts to lower the altitude and slow down. The enemy ship follows and is almost on top of them.

Suddenly, he pulls hard up-right and guns the throttle. The ship wants to disobey and strains against him, but Doc convinces it to forget about physics. The ship banks hard and goes up and over their persuers. This puts the ship on an orbital trajectory. The computer, now believing he wishes to leave the atmosphere, finally obliges him and engages the fusion rockets.

With a sudden burst of energy, they tear out of Earth's protective blanket into the cold of space, leaving the men in black sixty miles below them in almost an instant.

Doc eases the ship into the spacelanes, joining traffic and trying to look inconspicuous. The butterflies of gravity leaving them as Doc eases off the throttle mix with excitement and adrenaline. Doc's never felt so good.

Mark vomits.