SODIUM:3 Fusion Read Online Free Page A

that had devastated Central Florida during the S.A. If positioned properly the gravity wave would act as a shield. Bigg's job would be to make sure it was always in the right place at the right time.
    An interesting thing would happen when the skin of the ship was active. From the outside it would appear to vanish. No light or any radio wave of any sort would be reflected. Anything with a normal particle spin to it would be absorbed by the skin, passed around to the other side and then emitted.
    A bullet fired at the ship would seem to pass through it and continue on from the other side as if nothing had been there. It was a fascinating anomaly that our scientists could still not fully understand.
    There were limits to the amount of matter that could be absorbed and re-emitted. With a large enough mass the ship could be brought to a halt and with an even larger mass the active skin could be overwhelmed. We were told as an example that if we flew directly into a large enough mass that the ship would enter the mass and then slow to a halt. The skin would be overwhelmed and it would then go inactive. The result being that we would be trapped inside the mass.
    On the weapons front Whip was excited about the prospect of firing a live coil gun. For her to have four of them would only make it four times more exciting. Our conversation then wandered onto the topic of the nuclear tipped missiles. They would pack quite a punch if they could be delivered to their target. Currently, the alien's gravity wave technology could easily keep the missiles at bay. Command hoped to find other uses for them.
    Pop would be schooled in keeping every system operational while I would have the simple duties of starting, stopping and turning. If I could get us where we were going and back safely my duties as pilot would be fulfilled. Each of us also received training in the duties of the others. You could not have too much redundancy while at war and in space.
    With a crew of four it would give us each six hours of sleep while rotating shifts if we were on duty. When the hour bell sounded we all made our way to our sleeping quarters. We would have our daily sonic shower and then slide on top of our anti-grav mattress beds.
    The bedding was definitely a perk of being in the USAC. You would float on top of it giving you the most restful sleep you had ever had. That was especially true for a heavy guy like myself.
    Even in our excited states, the prospect of the first flying Defender class ship the following morning was not enough to keep us awake after our third day in the classroom. The needed sleep was an uneven match as we each powered up our anti-grav beds. With the ultra-dark and ultra-quiet of our personal chambers sleep came quickly.

Chapter 3

    I was the first to arrive in the mess hall the following morning. The place was abuzz with anticipation of the launch. This would be the first of the Defender series ships to take to the sky. Whoever the first of our crew was to arrive in the morning would normally wait for the others before proceeding through the chow line. In my excited state I could not wait any longer.
    I expected to be chastised by the others, but my eagerness had only brought about their laughter. I had been lucky with the crew I was with. There had not been any tension between us, no hostile outbursts and no jealous or selfish behavior, other than my minor infraction of the morning.
    Our squadron of 28 crewmen would pilot seven Defenders. We had 11 other squadrons training in the chamber for a total of 84 crews. If construction and training went well, we were told those numbers would be quadrupled in the coming year.
    While well over 300 craft should be enough to easily handle the current four alien fighters that plagued us, it seemed we might be grossly outnumbered when the full fleet arrived. It was scary stuff given the fact that the first Defender was just preparing for its first flight ever.
    When we had finished eating we were