Article 23 Read Free Page A

dozens of tourists out in the vacuum of open space, standing along the railing and leaning over for a look straight back down to Earth.
    "Better not slip," Brian observed with a chuckle. "It's a long way down."
    "Hey, I heard that somebody jumped off right after the station was completed," Matt said.
    "Yeah, the dummy thought that since he was out in space, it was zero gravity. He didn't understand that you needed to be in orbit moving at twenty-seven thousand five hundred kilometers per hour around the Earth to fall free, so he stepped off. They said he screamed all the way down until he hit the atmosphere and burned up."
    "What the devil is that?" Matt exclaimed as he leaned forward and pointed.
    Four white figures leapt from the side of the station and started to fall, shooting past the car and heading straight down towards Earth.
    "Newest sport around," Brian said eagerly. "That guy taking the fall sort of invented it, I guess. Space diving. You leap from the five hundred-kilometer station and free fall for almost four hundred klicks . You have a small reentry shield on your back and retro-rockets to slow you down when you hit the atmosphere. When you get to ten thousand feet, your main chute opens. Best darn thirty minutes of your life!"
    "You've done it?" Justin asked.
    "Yup," Brian said with a grin. "The Academy opened it up as a competition sport last year. There's talk that it'll be part of the next space Olympics and I plan to be on the team. We see who can land closest to a target back down on the Earth's surface. We're scheduled to do some jumps later this month. Hey, we need a couple more members on the team why don't you two try out?"
    "Sure, I'd love it!" Matt said enthusiastically. "It'd be a kick to fall from the sky like that."
    Justin nodded as if in full agreement, but in his heart he wished that Brian would forget about it. The idea of falling hundreds of kilometers and thundering through the Earth's atmosphere was not necessarily his idea of a good time.
    "I'll put you guys down on the list then," Brian announced.
    "Yeah, thanks," Justin replied, wanting to kick Matt for agreeing.
    Another jumper leapt off and Justin found it strange that the tourists were applauding, their gloved hands striking together soundlessly.
    They shot through the middle of the station past a docked car on a side track, and several seconds later they emerged topside. To his right Justin saw an old-style low orbit transfer ship departing from the station. He had heard that it was a heck of a ride. The moment the ship undocked from the side of the tower it'd start to fall straight down towards Earth, all rockets firing until it accelerated to orbital speed; then it would climb back up and insert into orbit. It was definitely not for the weak of stomach. He was glad that for this trip up he had made sure that he had put on an anti-space-sickness patch, unlike the last time.
    "All passengers please remain seated," the computer requested. "We will now accelerate up to our maximum speed of seven thousand two hundred kilometers per hour. Our arrival time at Geosynch Orbit Base is scheduled for 1919 Greenwich Space Time."
    "Here we go!" Brian said. "This is my favorite part."
    Justin felt as if he had been kicked in the pants. He raised his arm and it felt decidedly heavy. Looking over at a computer terminal display, he saw that they had just hit 2.1 gees acceleration and were holding. Their speed quickly climbed through a thousand kilometers an hour. The side of the tower became a blur. They crossed through two thousand and then three thousand kilometers per hour, the car riding smoothly. Downbound cars on other tracks snapped by and were soon almost impossible to see except for a flash of light that shot past in the blink of an eye.
    He turned his head to one side and saw the curvature of the Earth sweeping away. All of Central
    America and southern Mexico were clearly visible along with the turquoise blue of the Caribbean Sea. Feeling