Part 34 (1/2)
”Coendary in skill!” she said gaily ”What do you say we shake the House dust froood plan, he owned; for he eary of being House-bound already There was, however, one difficulty
”I regret,” he said, his voice sounding stiff in his own ears ”Obrelt does not keep a shi+p One is a pilot-for-hire”
”As I ahtly ”But do not repine, if you haven't your own shi+p I own one and will gladly have you sit second board”
Well, and that was generous enough, Ren Zel thought Indeed, the ht about it, the better the scheme appeared They were, as she said, both pilots Perhaps they ether Only look at what had lain between himself and Lai Tor-and see what coht had enerous,” he told Elsu Meriandra ”It would be pleasant to stretch one's wings”
”Good Let et my jacket I will h,” he said ”I will infored packetspacer, built for intra-systeht, eyeing its lines as he followed his contract-wife toward the ras and needle-nose gave it an eerie resemblance to the raptors that lived in the eaves of the port Tower, preying on lesser birds and mice
”There,” Elsu used her key and the shi+p's door slid open She stepped inside and turned to
”Pilot, be welcome on my shi+p”
He bowed honor to the owner and stepped into the shi+p The hatch slid shut behind him
Elsu led the way down the co herself into the chair, her hands flying across the board, rousing systee of the chamber, Ren Zel watched as she woke her shi+p, her motions nearer frenzy than the smooth control his teachers had bade him strive to achieve
She turned in the pilot's chair, her face flushed, eyes brilliantly blue, and raised a hand to beckon him forward
”Coreed! Sit and h voice carried a note that seemed to echo the frenzy of her board-run and Ren Zel hesitated a - ”So an intra-syste?” she inquired, her voice sharp with ridicule ”Perhaps the legendary Ren Zel dea'Judan flies only Ju, and he very nearly answered in kind Then he recalled her as she had been the night before,inflicting her hurts, te him, or so it seemed, to hurt her in return-and he made his answer mild
”Indeed, I took my second class on just such a shi+p as this,” he said and walked forward at last to sit in the co-pilot's chair
She glanced at hiive me, Pilot I am not usually so sharp The lift will i to say to that and covered this lapse by sliding his license into the slot There was apause from the shi+p's computer, then his board came live with a beep Ren Zel initiated systems check
Elsu Meriandra was already on line to the Tower, requesting clearance ”On business of Clan Jabun,”
Ren Zel heard and spun in his chair to stare at her To characterize a mere pleasure-lift as- His wife cut the connection to the Tower, looked over to hihed ”Oh, wonderful! And say you have never told Tower that a certain lift was just a little ent than the facts supported!”
”And yet we are not on the business of Clan Jabun,” Ren Zel pointed out, reers dancing across the board, waking the gyros and the navcomp ”It is certainly in the best interest of Jabun that one of its children not deteriorate into a jittercase, for cause of being worldbound” She leaned back in the pilot's chair and sighed ”Ah, but it will be fine to lift, will it not, Pilot?”
”Yes,” Ren Zel said truthfully ”Whither bound, Pilot?”
”Just into orbit, I think, and a long skiht dinner at Head o'Port e are through?”
Ren Zel's entire quartershare was insufficient to purchase a dinner at Head o'Port, which he rather thought she knew
”Why not a glass and a dinner at Findoir's? There are bound to be some few of our comrades there”
She le
”Dancer”
While she listened to Tower's instruction, Ren Zel finished his board checks and, seeing that she was feeding coords into her side, reached 'round to engage the shock webbing
”Pilot?” he inquired, when she made no move to do the same
”Eh?” She blinked at him, then smiled ”Oh, I often fly unwebbed! It enhances the pleasure iainst every regulation he could think of He opened his mouth to say so, but she waved a sliulation is all very hen one is flying contract, but this is pleasure, and I intend to be pleased!” She turned back to her board The seconds to lift were counting down on the center board Ren Zel ran another quick, unobtrusive check, then Elsu hit the engage and they were rising
It was a fine, blood-ware of her craft's limits and Ren Zelfound plenty to do as second board He found her rhyth the packet through its paces They circled Casia twice, hand-flying, rather than let the automatics have it
Ren Zel was utterly absorbed by the task, caught up entirely in the other pilot's necessity, enwrapped in that state of vivid concentration that coht-partner, and- His board went dead
Autole for the back-up board
Nothing happened
”Be at ease, pilot!” Elsu Meriandra murmured, next to him ”I have your board safe And noe shall have us a marvelous skim!”
She'd overridden him Ren Zel felt panic boil in his belly, forced himself to breathe deeply, to impose calm He was second board on a shi+p owned by the pilot sitting first As first, she had overridden his board It was her right to do so, for any reason, or for none-regulations and custom backed her on this
So, he breathed deeply, as he had been taught, and leaned back in his chair, the shock web snug around hi the descent on the screens
Elsu's path of re-entry was steep-Ren Zel had once seen a tape of a Scout descent that was remarkably like the course she had chosen She sat close over the board, unwebbed, her face intent, a fever-glitter in her eyes, her hands hurtling across her board, fingers flickering, frenzy just barely contained
Ren Zel recruited his patience, watching the screens, the descent entirely out of his hands Gods, how long since he had sat passenger, wholly dependent on another pilot's skill?
The shi+p hit atmosphere and turbulence in the same instant There was a bump, and a twitch Ren Zel flicked forward, hands on his useless board-and sat back as Elsu made the recover and threw him an unreadable look from over-brilliant blue eyes
”Enjoy the skim, Pilot,” she said ”Unless you doubt my skill?”
Well, no She flew like a le just a o very smoothly, indeed
The skim continued, and steeper still, until Ren Zel was certain that it was the old Scout tape she had fashi+oned her course upon
He looked to the board, read hull-heat and external pressure, and did not say to the woman beside him that an old packet was never the equal of a Scout shi+p She would have to level out soon, and take the rest of the skilide, until they had bled sufficient momentum to safely land
She had not yet leveled out when they hit a second bit of turbulence, thisthan the first