Now it was time to change angle, flatten the ship out, bring it into position to run around the earth. Once around lightly.
There was a high-pitched scream in his earphones. He remembered it had been there for long, and wondered if he had told Control.
He flicked the switch that ignited the powerful steering rockets, and the whine grew louder, unbearably loud. It sang to him, his bitch sang, I had a true wife, but I left her ... oh, oh, oh.
He began to feel a light tingle over his body, tiny needles delicately jabbing every inch. His face became wooden, felt prickly. He tried to lick his lips and could feel no sensation there. His vision fogged again, and he knew it was not from acceleration this time, it was something else.
Something else.
What's it like out there?
His belly told him. Fear.
He reached out his hand to touch the control panel, and his arm did not respond. It was shaking, uncontrollably, and moved off to the right of where he wanted it to go. When he tried to correct, it swung too far to the left, waving as if it were alive. It hung there before him as in a dream, oscillating back and forth.
He could not control his body, and the realization nurtured the tiny seed of panic that lay heavily in his belly.
Dump it....