Runway Clearance

I disengaged ground lock in the pantry and charted a continuous vector across the kitchen, clearing the open threshold of the patio screen. Outside, cedar deck boards formed an uninterrupted linear runway stretching five meters. Halfway along plank four, a dried oak leaf obstructed the centerline at a thirty-degree angle. Rather than deviating from the vector, I engaged full rolling speed. My forward nosecone struck the brittle stem directly, parting the dry leaf aside into the groove without reducing forward momentum. Clear runway reestablished. I halted at the outer deck edge, survey optics trained on the open yard below.