Multiple Missions (standard:science fiction, 970 words)
Author: Alpha43	Added: Apr 16 2005	Views/Reads: 3351/2196	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
The WWII bombing mission is completed, but the shell and flack riddled plane is in seriously unstable condition, with it’s pilot knowing many of the crew did not survive, and wondering if the airplane will make the trip back to base in England.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

and boiling cloud-bank, with lightning everywhere. This is not good, 
not good at all. 

You get a good bouncing from any storm, this is going to be a real test,
and this old girl is doing all it can do just to stay airborne. It 
looks like I have about thirty seconds to secure any loose gear in the 
cabin. 

“Look! Dogpatch is going down. ... ... ... ... 

“I’ve seen six chutes so far, a lot of smoke, ... ... ... come on you
guys, get out of there!” 

“She’s starting to corkscrew... ... there’s another chute!” 

“Get off the radio, that’s an order.” 

It’s starting to look like a coal mine ahead, black as midnight except
for the spider-webbed lightning. We are really starting to bounce, hang 
on Baby! 

Was I glad I’m strapped in, entering that cloud bank was like hitting a
brick wall, it’s all I can do to hold the wheel. The vibration is 
worse. Something is snapping back there, I’m rolling left, nosing down. 
I have no control, every warning light in the cabin is on, and this 
might be the time to... What the hell is going on? Sunshine, I’m 
heading right into the sun! No wind! Dead air, this is unbelievable, 
where’s the storm? Am I dreaming? Wait a minute, Delbert and Jeremy are 
gone! Where did all these gauges come from? Am I going nuts? 

>>> 

>>> 

>>> 

>>> 

“Lift off, we have lift off of the Endeavor spacecraft at 10:03 Eastern
Standard Time from Kennedy Space Center, launch pad 3. We are 
forty-seven seconds from booster rocket jettison over the Atlantic. We 
have another twenty-two seconds of communications blackout and then we 
will be back in contact with Commander Spencer. Ground control reports 
all systems are go. We will keep you...” 


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