第83节

the front

passenger seat.

To the casual observer his performance was every bit as good as

Steve's. Jodi and Kelso, who knew the difference, were impressed but

not bowled over.

Cadillac's flying lacked that indefinable something that separates the

gritted-teeth routine of a competent pilot trying to do his best from

the easy brilliance of the born-to-fly aces who simply can't do it any

other way.

After an alfresco lunch, the Iron Masters sent a samurai from

Min-Orota's party up with Cadillac. He burned off two rockets in a

steep eastward climb, circled silently over the port of Ba-satana, then

made a swooping dive over Lord Min-Orota's palace. The samurai had

maintained a white-knuckled grip on the rim of the cockpit during the

climb-out, but as the minutes passed his initial terror eased. And

when he saw the field-workers pause in their labours, and the soldiers

and servants stream out of the palace to catch a glimpse of them as

they flew overhead, he chortled happily and waved with both hands.

Cadillac fired the third rocket to regain altitude and expended the

remaining pair doing gentle aerobatics in sight of the field.

When Cadillac landed, Shigamitsu, the samurai in command of the Heron

Pool, announced that the Shogun's Herald had expressed the wish to be

taken into the air by the pilot who had made the first flight of the

morning. After a new set of rockets had been fitted to the glider and

trolley, Toshiro Hase-Gawa was ushered forward with the usual elaborate

courtesies. Once he was settled comfortably in the front seat, Steve

was allowed back on the scene. Shigamitsu had overcome the ticklish

problem of protocol by ordering up a pair of gloves and a straw mask

for Steve to wear. In this way, the Herald would not come face to face

with a Mute slave.

Since sheet glass was in short supply and Perspex was unheard of, the

windscreens on the glider were pretty basic. Cadillac had managed to

get a couple of pairs of goggles made up, and a cotton scarf tied

across the nose and chin completed the flying kit. Steve, who could

only see the back of his passenger's head, had no inkling of his

identity until he heard a muffled voice say: 'Okay, take it away,

sport."

In response to Toshiro's request for a brief scenic tour, Steve

followed Cadillac's flight pattern, taking in Ba-satana and the

Min-Orota's family estates. On the way back he circled above the

Consul-General's residence and Two Island Lake. Clearwater was down

there. Was she in the garden, looking up at the white stiff-winged

bird floating lazily overhead? With the power off, the only sounds

were a gentle swish of air over the glider's silken skin and the

flip-flapping tail-ends of their headscarves.

Toshiro edged round in his seat as far as his safety harness would

allow and pulled the scarf clear of his mouth. 'Have you thought about

where you're going to make the drop?"

Steve jabbed a finger over the side and shouted into the slipstream.

'I thought the lake would be a good place.

Give him something to think about on the way down."

Toshiro nodded. 'Nice touch! How are you going to do it?"

'By rigging the safety harness! The lap straps are anchored to the

floor by pins and the shoulder straps are fixed here - on the bulkhead

behind your seat!'

'Got it..."

'I'll fix the pins so they'll come loose when I pull a wire, and

before he knows what's happening, I turn her oven' Steve rammed the

stick against his right thigh, ' - like this!" Toshiro's mouth flew

open in alarm as the plane rolled onto its back. Up to now, the flight

had been fairly sedate, and here he was, suddenly hanging upside down

3,000 feet above the ground, supported by four two-inch-wide straps.

'And away he goes!" Steve kept the glider inverted for a couple of

minutes, and watched Toshiro's head bob from side to side as he

scrabbled around inside the cockpit for something to hold on to. It

wouldn't do him any harm to know how the Consul-General would feel in

that gut-wrenching moment before he started treading air.

Steve pulled the nose down in a half-loop, then levelled out the right

way up. His passenger sank down gratefully into his seat. 'You see?

Couldn't be simpler!" No response.

'Are you okay?"