They were built to deal with this, McNair reminded herself. She had studied all the specs when she had been assigned this duty. There were emergency systems…
As if hearing her thoughts rockets under the shuttle fired a burst that echoed like cannon fire inside the hull. They were pushed back up into the air momentarily then fell again. Another blast, another hop, and fall but not so quickly now. This repeated several more times until McNair felt like she was going to puke. Somewhere around her someone did, the sound of retching not quite lost in the shriek of alarms.
Then they stopped, the last wrenching really no worse than the rocket firings. The ride was over. With shaking hands, McNair unbelted herself from her chair. She stumbled in the unfamiliar gravity, about a third more than th
