Five minutes later Bateleur appeared in the doorway. Sheleigh's heart sped up. She felt hope soar in her. Bateleur's face held suppressed excitement along with some apprehension. He stepped aside.
The first engineer's mouth dropped open and her eyes widened. "My lady!" she exclaimed.
Sheleigh stood up, smiling. "Come in."
The black-haired young woman entered the office. Her hair was cut very short to her head, like a cap, with sharply defined locks fringing her cheeks and forehead. Her sharp nose gave her a falcon-like appearance. Her black eyes sparkled with curiosity.
The second engineer was a wiry young man with disorderly wavy brown hair and rumpled clothes. He moved quickly, while his eyes darted around the room. He nodded his head to her.
The third engineer was another young woman with wide gray eyes and blond-tipped brown hair down to her waist. "My lady." She gave a bow of her head, making the multi-colored hair shimmer. As she straightened it became clear that she was with child. Sheleigh was startled. The girl looked barely eighteen.
"When is your baby due to be born?"
"In three months. It's my first child." Her face glowed as she spoke.
"You're so young. I thought Averans waited until they were older to have children."
"My father's best friend lost his mate several years ago. I've been giving him comfort for over a year. When I turned eighteen, he asked me to be his mate and I flew the mating flight with him. We had no reason to wait. I've known him all my life."
Sheleigh kept her facial features smoothed. "Congratulations."
"Thank you, my lady. I'm Tera. Tera Thopius from north of here."
Sheleigh stepped forward and shook the young woman's hand. Sheleigh's belly was bigger than the other woman's.
The young man jerked forward. Sheleigh saw Bateleur take a step forward as well. The young man held out his hand and she shook it. "Ecau. My family is the Datus family from the southern hemisphere. If it has to do with flying, people come to us." His words were rapid-fire staccato.
The third woman held out her hand. "I'm Pithe Cophaga, but I just go by Pithe." She cocked her head and peered at Sheleigh. "What does the Avatier's mate want with engineers who specialize in flight?"
Sheleigh drew in her breath and let it out again. "I need you to design and build something for me. I've sketched it on my computer." She turned the computer to them. "I want to be able to fly."
Ecau burst out laughing, short bursts like a donkey braying. Pithe covered her mouth with her hand, but her eyes sparkled with laughter. Guardsman Bateleur's mouth hung open as he looked from her to the computer and back to her again.
It was Tera who remained serious and asked the first question. "Is it because the Avatier can't fly?"
Before she could answer, Ecau interrupted. "You can't fly with that." He jabbed his finger at the computer screen. "It's ridiculous. Don't you know anything about aerodynamics?"
Sheleigh advanced on him and poked him in the chest. "It will fly. I drew it from memory, so it may not be drawn accurately. It's called a hang glider because the pilot hangs beneath it. Humans fly them for sport. A very famous engineer named Rogallo designed it for the space program. It's also called a delta wing because of its shape. For hundreds of years humans have soared with them off cliffs."
She had their rapt attention now. Their eyes shone and even Ecau looked intent, as though calculating aerodynamic equations using her crude drawing.
"It only glides, using thermals. It's made of lightweight metal tubing, lightweight windproof cloth and metal wires. I don't have any actual specs, but you get the idea from my drawing. The pilot sits on a short flat piece of wood or metal beneath it or lies in a cloth sack beneath it. I prefer to lie flat. It's meant to carry one person." She took a deep breath. "I want it to be able to carry two."
"The Avatier," Tera breathed, her eyes wide.
"He won't use this to fly," Ecau scoffed.
"He'll learn!" Sheleigh snapped. "All Averans will have to learn that just because you're not born with wings doesn't mean you're not as good or that you can't fly."
Pithe gasped audibly. "You're making a statement."
"That's right. I'm also helping the Avatier to fly again. He needs to fly. You all understand that, don't you?"
Three heads nodded. She saw Bateleur nodding in her peripheral vision.
"I understand what it's like when a man has lost something important to him," Tera added. Her eyes seemed to look inward. "He needs to replace it with something else."
"Yes, that's right," Sheleigh exclaimed.
"But he'll fight it," Tera argued. "My mate did."
"The Avatier is a stubborn man, too."
"How will you get him to try this glider?" Ecau asked, looking at the drawing.
"I don't know yet, but that's my job to worry about. Your job is to make it, test it for flight worthiness and teach me to fly it. I'll buy all the material, provide you with whatever you need and pay you for your time. But before we do anything you each must agree not to tell anyone what we're doing. Not your mate," she looked at Tera, "not your mother, father, brothers, sisters or your friends. Not your teachers or anyone at your school. Not the Avatier's guards except this one," she gestured to Bateleur. "Not the Avatier's mother, no one in the council, not the Avatier himself. Do you agree?"
Two heads nodded.
Tera looked troubled. "Not even the Avatier?"
"The Avatier is a proud man. He's suffered greatly in the past few months. He doesn't need humiliation or pity. He's going to be a great man like his father was. In order to attain that greatness, he needs to fly again. But he needs to make his choice to fly this way in private. He must not know until the glider is finished and he has a viable choice in front of him. He's your Avatier. Show your respect to him with your silence."
"All right," Tera agreed. Her hands lay on top of her baby, where the future of Avera resided.
"You can use these offices. I'll have to tell the USP envoy something about your presence here. He and his partner are staying in the human apartments downstairs. His partner is heavily armed. Don't be afraid if you see him. He's extremely tall, black hair and eyes. Don't interfere with him if he comes to see what you're doing. He's just protecting the envoy. He won't understand you, so just go about your work.
"I don't know how often I can get away to be with you here. You have the general idea of the design. You know more about flight than I do.
"All communication should go through guardsman Bateleur if you can't reach me directly. Let me know what materials you need and I'll see you get them immediately.
"I'll want to be there when you start making test flights. Hmm, we'll need to find a secluded spot for that. I don't know if you can rig a sample glider in one of the offices for me to practice on. Does anyone have any questions?"
There were many in fact. When she finally got away, she'd been there for nearly two hours. Bateleur had ordered material that would be delivered to her office the next day. It was going to be hard keeping a secret from Kleet, especially knowing that this secret could make him whole again.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sheleigh received a call the next day after the material arrived. The engineers wanted her opinion on the cloth. She detected a note of strain in Tera's voice. When prompted, she got an earful from Ecau about Pithe's idiocy in figuring the length of the metal tubes. She rolled her eyes heavenward. With three intelligent young people, she should have expected conflict.
She broke away from the envoy as soon as she was able. She pleaded an urgent errand and left him deep in discussion at a secondary school. He had asked what the children were taught about non-wingeds. At first the teachers and administrators were reluctant to mention anything negative, but Messer Akelee was a skillful questioner. He made the educators feel comfortable and soon they freely answered his open-ended questions. He was right to begin at the youngest ages to trace how prejudice grew on Avera.
Sheleigh felt guilty for
leaving the envoy, if only for a little while. But her project was almost as important to Avera's future as the envoy's was. Her thoughts splintered as the transport sped towards her office. The hang glider had to come to fruition so that Kleet could become whole again. The planet's population had to be educated about bigotry and tolerance so that Avera could become a peaceful society again. So much healing was needed by a man and a place she had thought were strong and beautiful. There was so much pain hidden underneath their beautiful facades.
"We're here, my lady," Bateleur's voice riveted her to the more immediate problem.
She heard Pithe and Ecau arguing as soon as she stepped out of the hydrolift. She strode into her old office to find a war zone. Pithe and Ecau stood face to face, toe to toe. Pithe's finger prodded Ecau's chest. Her cape was off, allowing her wings to mantle with her agitation. She looked even more like a falcon now. Her cheeks were mottled red.
Ecau's face was darkened, his disorderly hair stood up in tufts around his head. He flung Pithe's hand away from his chest.
The two combatants noticed Sheleigh at the same time.
"My lady, you're just in time."
"My lady, you can tell her she's wrong."
Their simultaneous complaints clashed against her ear drums. She held up her hand for silence.
"Please explain the problem to me."
"She's measured the tubing for fourteen lengths. It won't fly that way."
"He's making it too heavy. The longer length will be too heavy to maneuver."
They glared at each other again. Sheleigh's chest muscles tightened. She breathed out slowly to ease the tightness. "The glider has to be big enough to carry two adults, yet light enough to be handled by the pilot and still fly on the thermals."
"Fourteen lengths is too short."
"Eighteen lengths is far too heavy."
"Stop it!" Sheleigh snapped. Pithe and Ecau turned surprised faces to her. "This is only the first day. If the two of you intend to argue this project to a standstill, one of you will be dismissed."
"But my lady, she ..." Ecau began, gesturing at Pithe.
"I said stop it," Sheleigh reminded him in her sternest voice. "We don't have time for an argument like this. The Avatier hasn't flown in months. We need to get him airborne again. This isn't a transport we're building. It's a fabric-covered frame to catch wind and heat. The frame holds the fabric in place so the wind and heat is trapped underneath. Is that so hard to imagine?"
Ecau stiffened. "I can design anything to fly, my lady. After all, I'm a Datus."
"The Datus family is traditional. This hang glider isn't traditional. What we need here is untraditional thinking. I need you to think outside of the box."
Ecau's brows came together. "What box?"
"It's a human saying. You know what a box is, right?" Ecau and Pithe nodded. "Traditional thinking is shaped like a box with your thinking confined to the space inside the box. We need you to think of possibilities that are not inside the box. Ask yourself 'what if' and follow the question through to an unconventional answer. This hang glider is new so it requires new thinking."
Tera spoke up from where she sat quietly behind the desk. "It's like your speech to the council about taking a new look at what's happening with the non-winged on Avera."
Sheleigh felt hope soar in her chest. Someone outside of Lefair and the council understood what she'd said. She stared at Tera, seeing a content young woman with hands laid lovingly over a pregnant belly. Here was a woman who'd recognized a man's need to live again and gave herself unstintingly to him. A woman who loved unconditionally like that would understand much.
"Yes, Tera. It's just like my speech. I'm glad you understand."
"I think unconventionally," Pithe offered.
Sheleigh turned to Ecau. The boy looked harried. "Will you be the forward thinking Datus who linked Avera with the future? Or will being a Datus hold you back and leave you behind? Averans are going into space soon, during your lifetime. Will a Datus be at the forefront of spaceflight, or will it be another family who leads the way?"
He straightened his lanky frame and she saw in his face the man he would become someday. The fire of creativity burned in his eyes.
"I will lead the way into space." His words rang with pride and certainty.
Sheleigh nodded. "Then you know what I need of you. Show me the cloth before I go."
Pithe led the way two doors down. The office contained a number of bolts of white cloth laid across the bare desk top. Sheleigh felt the coarse, lightweight material and frowned. It was tightly woven, but not airtight.
"This won't work." She looked at Pithe and Bateleur. How did she describe nylon to them? "Have you no cloth on Avera that can trap the wind?" She sifted through her memories of Averan life, trying to find a simile. "Not coarse like this," she fingered the material, "but silky smooth. Very tightly woven, very lightweight."
"Daness!" Pithe and Bateleur exclaimed together.
"You have such a material?" Excitement bubbled in her veins.
"Daness is a byproduct of the ore smelting operation. Averans don't like it because it doesn't breathe. We become overheated when we wear anything made from it. They use it in industry, my lady."
"I'd like to see a sample and make sure it's what we need. How soon can we obtain a sample?"
"Within the hour," Bateleur answered.
"Good. Have it delivered to me. If it's the right material I'll order a quantity delivered here." She looked at Pithe for confirmation and the girl nodded.
Sheleigh reached out to touch Pithe's arm. "Don't argue with Ecau. Use your energy to let your imagination soar."
"I will, my lady."
"Thank you." Sheleigh turned and followed Bateleur out of the room. She paused at the doorway of the room where Ecau and Tera were hard at work at their computers. Ecau's stylus made a rapid tattoo on the computer screen. Sheleigh let out a sigh and continued down the hall to the hydrolift.
* * * *
Bateleur slipped her a small cloth-wrapped package less than an hour later, then moved to stand slightly in front of her. He scanned the secondary school auditorium while she opened the package. Inside was a tan material. She rubbed it between her fingers, and then she sucked in her breath. It didn't have the rougher texture of a natural fiber, or the slipperiness of her raw silk. It felt heavier than nylon, yet it did have the man-made feel of nylon. She pulled it between her hands, feeling its tensile strength. Her heart pounded. She wanted to be alone in a room with yards of this material so she could envision it stretched across a hang glider frame.
She tried to calm her racing heart and wipe the excitement from her face before she looked up at Bateleur. She feared she hadn't succeeded when his eyes widened. He gave an imperceptible nod and moved past her and out of her sight. She trusted him to order the material, freeing her to concentrate once more on the envoy.
Messer Akelee was finding it more difficult to get forthright answers to his probing questions here. These teachers and administrators were used to dealing with teenagers and near-adults. They weren't easily cowed, although to Sheleigh's eye they showed the skittishness of aliens she hadn't seen very much recently. Messer Akelee was fairly innocuous...her eyes traveled to his partner. The Grimari had his hand on his weapon.
Sheleigh straightened. What the hell? "What's going on?" she hissed to Captain Steller.
"I don't know, my lady. But something made the Grimari uneasy."
Sheleigh moved forward, but Captain Steller stepped in front of her.
"Stay behind us, my lady."
"Get out of my way, Captain. I won't allow anything to stand in the way of peace."
He gestured her forward and she walked down to the front of the room. Frightened eyes turned to her as she moved, locking on her like she was a lodestone. She stopped close to the Grimari, but not between him and his partner or blocking the Grimari's line of sight.
Slowly she scanned the auditorium. All eyes were focused on her, which
was what she wanted. Messer Akelee stood quietly watching her. When she sensed calm had been restored she addressed the head of the school, looking her in the eyes as she spoke.
"Administrator, do you harbor radicals here?"
The woman's eyes widened. She glanced at the Grimari before she rose to her feet. She shook her head. "No, my lady!"
"Is there a reason your subordinates are afraid? Are they afraid of the radicals or afraid of the Avatier? Do they have a reason to fear the Avatier?"
The administrator stretched her hand out to Sheleigh. "My lady." Her eyes clouded and she swallowed. "My lady, some of those who are to be executed were students here. We thought that's why you came."
Sheleigh couldn't breathe. She fancied she heard a collective sigh escape the group. Oh, what a secret these people held so fearfully to their chests. She opened her mouth to ask the next logical question, but a hand pressed her arm.
Messer Akelee asked the question instead. "How long ago was this, madam?" His voice gently probed.
The administrator swallowed. "Four years ago, envoy."
"Were they the only non-wingeds you've ever had at this school?"
"No, envoy." Her brows furrowed, her mouth twisted. "Envoy." She choked and turned to Sheleigh. "My lady, they were trouble! Trouble. They fought other students, they disobeyed rules, they misbehaved. But we didn't know they were radicals. We don't teach things like that here! We teach students to respect and obey the Avatier. We don't teach murder!"
Messer Akelee's hand pressed Sheleigh's arm for silence. She didn't think she could speak if she tried. She suspected the school might have played a bigger role in making the radicals desperate than they thought. These people were innocent of wrongdoing, yet they feared reprisal because they'd come into contact with the radicals.
Again the envoy asked the question. "Were they the only students who caused trouble during the time they were here?"
Mating Flight Page 23