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	Chapter 3: The Colossus
	4:00pm GMT Friday 10 January 2085 To Zak’s great relief, the jet-car and plane journeys were completed uneventfully. He was now facing a new experience, the shuttle. He had never been into space before. Even late in the 21st Century, while many thousands travelled into space every day, space travel was not commonplace. His escape had to be timed perfectly. It had to be just before a point of no turning back, so that once he was on his way, his family could not return to get him. It would have to be between the shuttle arriving, and the Colossus leaving. Zak took his seat by the window on the left side, near the rear of the carriage. He found the interior of the shuttle comforting, as it was similar to the plane he had just travelled on. His nerves eased as each stage of the trip progressed identically to an aeroplane flight - taxiing on the runway, firing the engines, accelerating at high speed, then lifting off. The first noticeable difference was that the self-serve drinks trolley did not make its way down the aisle. The shuttle continued to rise at a steep angle, until the flight status read an altitude of 15,000 metres, when Zak noticed out of the window that the wings were changing shape. The huge wings that had stretched out to the side to give the aircraft lift, were now folding in, converting the shuttle into an arrow-like shape. It reminded Zak of a bird of prey folding its wings back in order to launch a dive, except in this case, they would be heading up. A soothing male voice made an announcement. ‘This is your Captain. Passengers and crew, prepare for vertical lift.’ The shuttle tilted back. Zak risked another glance out the window, to find that the horizon was vertical. The engines fired again, a deeper roar that reverberated through the carriage. Most of the passengers, including Zak, let out an audible gasp. Now, he felt like he was sitting on a rocket, heading straight up, and away from Earth. Such was the intensity of the ride, none of the passengers were talking to each other. Zak looked to Dad for reassurance on this, only the third most dangerous part of the whole journey. But Dad had his head bowed and his eyes shut. His knuckles were white from gripping the arm rest. Read it on my website: http://www.the2080s.com/ Jeff
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