The rookie
screamed as he fell through the hole in the clouds. I waited a good five
seconds before diving after him. We had been on some cirrus clouds at around
45,000 feet, so we had some time to kill on the way down.
I caught up
with the idiot, screaming and thrashing in the open air, so I gave him a Jack
Dailey Joy Buzzer from ten feet away. It wasn’t more than a mild shock, but it
got his attention and shut him up for thirty seconds.
“Hi there,
I’m Reilly, and I’ll be your drill instructor today.”
Wild-eyed
confusion and panic, but nothing verbal came out of his working mouth.
Fine by me. I want this guy doing, not
talking.
“You may
have noticed that we are currently in free fall, about to descend below 42,000
feet at terminal velocity. That gives us about 4 minutes before splat, enough
time for a decent conversation. I want to talk to you about your future.”
He started
screaming again.
Rookies.