"Is it injured?" Annie asked casually as she turned the helm.
"Scientifically speaking, the explosions of those three antimatter bombs probably caused gravitational turbulence, throwing its internal pressure out of balance and rupturing its outer skin," Little White said. "The Star-Planter really does look a lot like a soft-bodied creature."
Annie suspected the kid was being a little too serious while making things up, but she couldn't be bothered to argue. "Climb to 50,000. Speed 3."
"Climbing to 20,000. Speed 3." Banner finally felt like a proper first officer. He repeated the order as he carried it out, then added, "Disarm all antimatter bombs. Set the timers to sixty seconds. Attack using the gliders."
Sixty seconds really was cutting it close. One mistake, and everyone would be reduced to cosmic particles alongside the New Shenzhou 2 by a mass of highly energetic antimatter.
Still, they'd pulled off even riskier maneuvers countless times today. Everyone was used to it by now.
The New Shenzhou 2 swerved almost like a drifting car, dodging a cloud of light that swept across the starry sea, then accelerated toward the vortex. By then, the temperature inside the ship had exceeded 300 degrees. Unknown cosmic radiation seeped inside, and sparks flickered here and there.
Everyone knew that the instruments and the hull were nearing their limits. Their bodies probably were too. Yet none of them could feel tired. Instead, they entered the calmest, steadiest, and most fired-up thirty seconds they'd had since the battle began.
Eight seconds later, the New Shenzhou 2 reached an "altitude" of 20,000 kilometers above its target. It opened the bomb bay and used a gravity slingshot to launch the two remaining mines and all twelve antimatter bombs, each fitted with an automatic glider.
The process took the New Shenzhou 2 twenty-three