第79节

olley took off. Rising

steeply like a heron from a marsh, it cleared the stone wall by at

least twenty feet and continued to climb.

Beyond the wall was a narrow stretch of boggy ground spinkled with

tussocks of long grass, and beyond that a large pond whose far end was

fringed with trees. As Steve crossed the edge of the pond at a height

of fifty feet, the last two rockets cut out. The trolley, whose glide

characteristics were only marginally better than those of the humble

house-brick, promptly went into a steep dive. Steve stood it on its

tail to lose speed, then took a deep breath as it wallowed drunkenly

out of the stall and went in more or less ass-first. Kerr-SPL UNCH!

The watching Iron Masters burst into great guffaws of thigh-slapping

laughter as a huge cloud of spray rose into the air above the wall.

Toshiro's enjoyment was tempered by his concern about the fate of his

chosen assassin, but even he found himself smiling broadly.

Min-Orota's samurai-major, who had travelled with a ten-strong party

from Ba-satana to watch the demonstration, turned to the Herald and

gave him a comradely slap on the shoulder. 'Ha! If this long-dog can

make carts fly like chickens, then you and I will soon have horses that

can fly like eagles!" 'That day cannot come soon enough for me,'

replied Toshiro.

Jodi and Kelso, who were up and running as soon as Steve left the

ground, were the first over the wall. Jodi, like the Herald, was

genuinely worried; with Kelso, it was more a case of wanting to be

there when they picked up the pieces. His unforgiving half had been

hoping to see that self-satisfied grin wiped off Brickman's face when

he hit the wall; the other half had been tinged with grudging concern

for a fellow wingman who had drawn the short straw. But the lucky

sonofabitch had gotten away with it again and was now wading ashore

draped in green slime. Behind him, the crumpled stub-wing floated in

the middle of the pond, surrounded by a few broken struts.

They met Brickman as he stepped ashore with a cheerful grin. He had

blood running down one side of his face.

'Go back in and wash that gunk off,' said Jodi. 'You smell just

awful."

Steve obeyed meekly.

'You must be crazy pulling a stunt like that." Neither she nor Kelso

had known about the ramp.

'You got it wrong, lady. I didn't volunteer. I was drafted."

'Nyehh, what the hell, it worked,' growled Kelso.

'These birds are gonna fly."

'Looks that way..." Steve took hold of Kelso's outstretched hand and

clambered back on to firm ground.

Jodi checked his scalp wound. 'You'll live."

Kelso eyed him keenly. 'Kaz tells me these rockets were your idea."

'That's just between the three of us. Officially it's all down to

Mister "Brickman'' - okay?"

'Yeah. I've been meaning to ask you about him. Who the hell is he and

why is he using your name?"

'Dave, I'd like to tell you, but. it's a long story and it would only

confuse you."

They picked their way back towards the wall through the tussocks of

marsh grass. A handful of Trackers were gathered on the other side.

Having seen he was in one piece and on his feet, they hadn't bothered

to climb over. As far as they were concerned he was only another

stinking Mute - and a nosy one at that.

Steve scrambled over the wall ahead of the two wingmen and skirted

round the waiting linemen.

'Hey, Kelso! Make sure you wash that hand o' yours!" said one of them

loudly. 'Touchin' lump-shit makes your fingers fall off."

The others greeted this jibe with raucous laughter and looked

expectantly at Steve, but he averted his eyes and ran limping across

the field towards the workshops.

'Well done,' said Cadillac, as Steve stopped to massage his knee. The

visiting Iron Masters had all departed.

'You okay?"

Steve grimaced. 'Yeah. I just twisted this leg a little.

How did it go your end?"

'Terrific. They're over the moon. That lift-off put them in a really

good mood. Ryoshi - the head of the party that came down from

Ba-satana - is one of Min-Orota's top men. He says we can have

whatever materials we need. They want to move ahead as fast as

possible. All the plans under construction are to be completed.