What did it feel like to fly at Mach 3?
First, you felt silence.
No sound could catch up to your speed; none of the movement outside could reach your ears.
After the outside world fell away, you gradually began to hear the sounds of your own body: first the throb of your blood vessels, then your breathing, and then, little by little, you seemed able to feel your organs writhing and your muscles contracting.
Second, you completely lost your sense of distance.
You soared high in the sky, the vast earth spread out beneath you, with no reference points for distance in any direction. Only the clouds constantly sweeping past showed just how fast you were flying.
Third, you became so excited you wanted to scream.
Extreme speed always set the blood pounding.
But Murphy did not scream. He was a raven right now, and his beak was sealed inside a titanium alloy shell, so he could not open it at all. He could only choose to look at the scenery to ease his elated mood.
Behind the tiny goggles, his gaze swept casually over the ground. His ultra-long-range vision let him see the people on the ground clearly even from several thousand meters up.
But soon, even the pleasure of that observation was gone, because he had already flown out of San Francisco, and below him had become a stretch of jungle and farmland.
Then he saw another city, but half a minute later, it had been left behind as well. He saw a small lake, then cities, mountains and forests, cities, mountains and forests. After several cycles, he saw a canyon.
A thousand kilometers, and he had reached his destination in just over ten minutes.
He had just been about to slow down when a mass of