Blowing stage kisses to the absent crowd, Boris and Natasha shoved out the last of the ballast and rose without delay into the darkling sky. He checked watch and gauges while she fed heat carefully to the envelope. The ground was nicely sunbaked but the air had taken a chill in the last few hours. "Dynamic flying weather," Natasha called it. With only a three-quarter burn they were going up like the fast express, which would leave plenty of gas for loitering should their connections show up late. Perish the thought. Up in the air in a blue balloon: and a particular blue at that, refracting just enough of the sky's light to smooth away edges and contours. From a certain distance, practically invisible. Natasha found some quiet air, gave the burners a surge to prevent fouling, then throttled back. Now came the moment Boris called Brain Reset. After a dozen or so flights he was beginning to figure it out. The Vowel Could Exist By Itself In Language, As In Exclamations, Like "Ah." A minute ago they could see the big jets flaring but couldn't hear them because their ears had shut down. Now their ears still held the roar though their eyes said the flames were sleeping. Likewise their bodies felt numb and almost weightless because their inner ears had overloaded on verticality, though when they looked out they could see they were no longer rising. Something was going on here, Boris thought. Brain Reset. A separation of the senses, ear and eye disjoindered. Clear off the old map of mindbody and get started on a new one. That was quite a trip all by itself: but the beginning, only the beginning. WAS IT MORE FUN IN THE OLD DAYS? Back in the jet age you came in at angels oh-point-six going maybe fifteen meters a second -- FEEL THE VIOLENT BREATH OF THE SPEEDGOD as houseframe trembles dad flips off his hammock the wash cyclones into the pool and all the kids come running for the noise, keen eyes searching everywhere. And if you were good all they ever saw was the glow of your pipe flare helically ascending the evening sky. Swamp gas... Evening Star... Comet Halley Says Hi... It is different now.