Chapter 365: Freedom Above the Clouds
Three hundred kilometres per hour. Five hundred. Eight hundred.
The Protego shell hummed as air tore around it, the sound rising from a low rumble to a sharp, keening whine. But the awful high-frequency shudder from his first attempt never came. The redesigned shell spread the load evenly, and it held.
Regulus climbed.
The cliffs dwindled beneath him. The sea broadened into a vast sheet of grey-blue, its whitecaps thinning to pale threads.
One thousand.
Air began piling up in front of him, moving too quickly to get out of the way. Compression ripples formed ahead of the craft, one after another. Light bent through them, making the world outside shimmer and warp.
He pushed harder.
The ripples crowded together. The wall of air thickened, and the shell began to shake. Near the speed of sound, parts of the airflow had already gone supersonic. Their shockwaves hammered the shield in rapid succession.
Shockwave drag.