第82节

ent but their squeals of delight turned to cries of

disappointment when he surfaced holding the big wooden plug and hurled

it across the room.

Besides learning the Iron Masters' tongue-twisting language, Cadillac

had picked up their love of ceremony.

The communal bath was followed by an invitation to eat breakfast in the

house wearing one of Cadillac's wrap-around robes - supplied courtesy

of Lord

Kiyomori Min-Orota.

'Feel nervous?"

'Haven't given it a thought,' said Steve lightly. It was a lie of

course, and he could see Cadillac didn't believe him.

When they had finished eating, one of the body-slaves brought Steve a

white cotton outfit: the usual loose square-sleeved jacket and wide,

calf-length trousers. On top of the neatly folded garments were a

fresh set of underclothes, white cotton socks and rope-soled, lace-up

sandals. There was also a white headscarf bearing several blood-red

Japanese word-symbols.

Cadillac folded it carefully, laid the portion with the symbols across

Steve's forehead, then knotted it on the nape of his neck. 'That too

tight?"

'No, just right." Steve looked at himself in the small, square

wall-mirror. 'What does all this junk mean?"

' "We praise the wisdom of Lord Min-Orota and the greatness of all his

works." '

'Hmmmph... D'you write that?"

'I could have, but that would have been unwise. So I composed the line

in Basic and got one of the scribes to translate it for me."

Steve pushed the headscarf clear of his eyebrows.

'You're turning into a real toady."

'It's part of the basic survival kit, Brickman. You should know that

better than anyone."

'Just kidding. C'mon, let's go."

Cadillac escorted Steve over to the Heron Pool. The aircraft they had

worked on till dawn stood poised on its launching trolley at the edge

of the field, with a short stepladder leading up to the cockpit. Jodi

Kazan and Dave Kelso, still red-eyed from their extended nightshift,

stood by in fresh worksuits. A long stretch of fishing net had been

raised on poles on the far side of the field to snare the speeding

trolley, and most of the Tracker wOrkforce were ranged behind it

presumably to pick up the pieces if Steve should fail to get off the

ground.

Cadillac and Steve positioned themselves on the straw mats placed by

the nose of the aircraft and knelt to pay homage to the assembled Iron

Masters, who were seated some fifty yards away on a cloth-covered dais

with their aides ranged behind them. Long bamboo poles with narrow

banners bearing three different emblems fluttered above their heads.

'The ones on the left are the Min-Orota,' whispered Cadillac. 'Those

on the right belong to Yama-Shita, and the group in the middle are the

Toh-Yota - the Shogun's house."

'A neat way of saying we've got you surrounded,' said Steve.

They bowed again, touching the mat with their noses.

Behind them, Jodi and Kelso did the same.

'Okay, let's go for it,' said Steve. He checked the movement of the

five hammers that would fire the rockets, then settled into the

cockpit. After satisfying himself that the control surfaces responded

to movements of the stick and rudder bar, he pulled the row of triggers

that had been fitted to a rudimentary dashboard.

Cadillac confirmed that all five firing-pins had slammed home.

'Okay. Prime the chambers!'

Jodi and Kelso pushed the wads of percussion caps into the firing

chambers fixed to the rear of the rocket tubes.

'Chambers primed, hammers cocked,' cried Cadillac.

Steve closed his right hand firmly round the stick and looped his left

forefinger through the ring-pull that would fire the first rocket.