Senses Crystal behind her

I flew down and at an angle, to try to break away, and I felt the near-miss, a rush of air that made my hood flap and my hair fly out in disarray.

That rush was cause for me to change direction. Evasive maneuvers.

Driving required an expanded awareness of the world. It was a mode that I presumed could be switched on, and it was a mode that I'd never really mastered. I'd read that the reason cell phones were so bad for driving was that they pulled the driver out of that mode, into the five by three inch world of the glowing screen.

Flying was another mode-shift, especially when it came to aerial encounters. To be aware of the above, the below, left, right, forward, back. Flying typically saw a person flying with their body parallel to the ground, because the ground was worth paying attention to, and because the shape of a human body meant either the ground or sky were faced. To fly facing forward with the body upright meant flying against the air resistance.

I was too slow to flip over and look up. I felt contact on my back, pressing against the bag I wore. My breastplate was in two pieces in the bag, and I felt one piece slide against the other, catching me in one shoulderblade.

Then the pressure, the steady push downward. If I were a plane, it would have been forcing me into a nosedive.

- Torch 7.7