BARIS, STENCHIA. JUNE 1961
IVAN IVANOVICH IVANOV swept low over the field in the Mick-21, Zenobia's gloriously cutting-edge fighter jet. The designers at the Mc O'Yan bureau had outdone themselves this time, but even they had no idea of what Ivan was planning, or that it was even possible what he was about to do.
Sometimes Ivan didn't know what Ivan was planning. This little stunt was going to take quite a bit of nerves, and luck. And a dash of vodka, to taste. Have to loosen up his reflexes, after all.
The last pass had pinpointed his target - a small patch of dirt past the end of the runway, surrounded on three sides by trees, with the last fully open to the view of the crowd. Ivan circled around to make his approach from above the trees, just where everyone would see his final approach.
Skimming just above the treetops, Ivan throttled down and braked until he was just above stall speed, the clearing just moments ahead. The angle-of-attack limiter already disengaged, he yanked back on the stick, abruptly flipping the jet up so that its nose pointed straight at the noonday sun; Ivan would have been half blind if it hadn't been for him looking at the ground and certainly
not praying to any nonexistent anachronistic concepts in outdated and reactionary belief systems!
With the throttle back up and Ivan wrestling the stick as if it were a Thanasian with a knife to maintain the plane's attitude, the jet somehow miraculously glided nose up for a few moments as it lost forward speed, until just above the clearing he saw that, beyond all odds, the environment wasn't moving any more.
He cut back the throttle quickly, fearing to take a hand off the stick still fighting to get free, and the Mick-21 dropped back tail first onto the soft dirt of the clearing, the empennage luckily plunging into the soft soil instead of breaking. Fortunately, Mc O'Yan built them tough. Ivanov breathed a sigh of relief. He'd done it. He'd done it! It shouldn't have even been possible, but that stunt ought to drive the Murcans nuts trying to respond to it. He unbuckled his straps and opened the beautifully clear glass canopy - not even a speck of mud on it, and relaxed for a moment, listening to the crowd cheer and the surprised announcer telling them what had just happened -
" - maneuver called Ivanov's Cobra, demonstrating the Mick-21's dirt-field VTOL capability. Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov, one of Zenobia's most distinguished test pilots and now part of that nation's space program - "
Lying back in the pilot's seat, Ivan smiled.
And then frowned suddenly. How the hell was he going to get out of here?
"DO YOU WORSHIP HOMOSEXUALS?" - Curtis Saxton (source)
- PeZook
