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MINUS 024 AND COUNTING

 

The earth had dropped away below them.

Richards stared out wonderingly, unable to drink his fill; he had slept through the other flight as if in wait for this one. The sky had deepened to a shade that hung on the borderline between royal velvet and black. Stars poked through with hesi­tant brilliance. On the western horizon, the only remnant of the sun was a bitter orange line that illuminated the dark earth below not at all. There was a nestle of lights below he took to be Derry.

“Mr. Richards?”

“Yes.” He jumped in his seat as if he had been poked.

“We are in a holding pattern right now. That means we are describing a large circle above the Voigt Jetport. Instructions?”

Richards thought carefully. It wouldn’t do to give too much away.

“What’s the absolute lowest you can fly this thing?”

There was a long pause for consultation. “We could get away with two thou­sand feet,” Holloway said cautiously. “It’s against N.S.A. regs, but—”

“Never mind that,” Richards said. “I have to put myself in your hands to a certain extent, Mr. Holloway. I know very little of flying and I’m sure you’ve been briefed on that. But please remember that the people who are full of bright ideas about how to bamboozle me are all on the ground and out of danger. If you lie to me about anything and I find out—”

“Nobody up here is going to do any lying,” Holloway said. “We’re only in­terested in getting this thing back down the way it went up.”

“Okay. Good.” He gave himself time to think. Amelia Williams sat rigidly beside him, her hands folded in her lap.

“Go due west,” he said abruptly. “Two thousand feet. Point out the sights as we go along, please.”

“The sights?”

“What we’re going over,” Richards said. “I’ve only flown once before.—

“Oh.” Holloway sounded relieved.

The plane banked beneath their feet and the dark sunset line outside the window tilted on its ear. Richards watched, fascinated. Now it gleamed aslant the thick window, making odd, fugitive sungleams just beyond the glass. We’re chasing the sun, he thought. Isn’t that amazing?

It was thirty‑five minutes after six.

 


Date: 2015-04-20; view: 510


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