A Big Shiny Blue Marble Ch. 59

"I don't know," she answered, "My friend Copper must be blind. I just hope there's nothing wrong."

She jumped up at a run and climbed the sloping front of the Bradley before she climbed up onto the top of the turret. Simmit called back to Copper, but the half-dwarf was a little lost in thought and missed it.

Rachel saw someone from very close up in the targeting screen. And then she was so close that all that could be seen was her jeans and that was only for an instant before they moved sideways out of the picture.

"There's somebody on top of us," she said to Copper.

Copper turned her head, "What?"

She was fuming now, "What kind of - "

She looked at Neath and saw that he was watching her intently, so she revised her thoughts, " -- Fogging ICE-hole just walks over and climbs up on my GOSH-darned Bradley?"

She glared at little Neath as though daring him.

He looked at her and did his best, but Neath was just a little guy and, ...

It still came out of him.

"Icehole," he said, "Fog-ging icehole!"

"ICEHOLE!!!"

Simmit glared at Copper, but the half-dwarf grinned at Neath and winked. She sighed to herself then.

Ah, she loved those kids.

The little demon laughed and laughed.

The top hatch of the Bradley opened and Randi hollered down into the cavern as she began to climb down inside, "Copper Kettlebottom, what the hell is the matter with you? It's ME! It's --"

A large male demon stepped in front of her just as she was working up to full volume, "COPPE-

Oh, ..." she looked up, "Sorry, um, excuse me," she stepped around him in the cramped crewspace and came up almost against Rachel, who was staring at her, more than a little bewildered.

"Nice, um, ..." she looked back at the demon, "He's uh, yours?"

Rachel nodded, looking past Randi momentarily, "Rokhanh, she's ok."

It was a little satisfying to hear the quiet grunt behind her.

"My husband," Rachel said, "Who are you and who's the beast on top of your uh, ... tank-thing?"

"My husband Ayt'han and I'm um, Randi, is Copper in here? I mean at all?"

Copper yelled and ran around to collide with Randi, who hugged her tightly, "Nice crawler, Randi!"

The two friends were the only ones who had a clue what was going on, but eventually, everyone tumbled out of both vehicles and the many introductions were made. Rachel and Randi formed a really quick friendship only because they liked the way that their husbands found a lot of common ground. Rokhanh still had a lot of trouble with English, but he liked Ayt'han right off the bat because he was understood by him fairly well. Their wives just laughed at them. Rudhi and D'Arcy were amazed at it all.

The questions and answers looked to be about to take the rest of the day, but everything stopped as a peculiar sound began from a ways off and rose in pitch and volume. While everyone looked around, Ayt'han was the only one who knew what it was, though he hadn't heard one on a long while now. A second series of sounds began underneath the howl of the first. Aythan ran to the top of the hill which had almost caused the collision between the two armored vehicles.

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Katje and Ellie stood looking at the blur of the contra-rotating propellers at the front of the ancient machine with their hands over their ears. Talon looked at the fuel state gauges and knew he was listening to a sound which he'd always loved, but that now he was listening to it for the last time. He pulled back the throttles to ground idle and reached to flip the igniter switches off.

The sound died off and he kept a wary eye on his two girls, hoping that they remembered his very explicit warnings about staying the hell away from the exhausts and most especially, those black and difficult to see blades.

He slid back the canopy and prepared to climb down, sad now that he'd never get to give them a ride in something that had been the central focus of his life for most of it. He looked down at them, but they were looking to their right at something, so his gaze went there as well.

There were two large machines there at the far end of the runway approaching at about a walking pace.

Along with twelve riders on horseback.

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Talon climbed down and the three of them began to walk with their weapons held loosely in their hands. Within twenty feet, Ellie looked like a demon who walked in the company of two things which were very seldom seen there and could hunt demons if the mood was on them.

Ayt'han had told both Copper, Simmit and Randi not to drive on the long ribbon. "Stay off to the sides of it. The horses can walk there, but these things will ruin what's left of the runway with their tracks. There's only three people. I don't think they're a threat. Let's just go see what this is all about."

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They met in the middle, or near to it. Nobody pointed a weapon at anyone, they just talked.

"You're shitting me," Copper exclaimed, "That's all you need?"

She laughed and pointed to the trailers that each vehicle was hauling, "What dya think is in those? We can get you a swimming hole full."

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Talon flew all day. He took everyone up, two riders at a time- more if he could squeeze them in and gave them sightseeing tours, of all things. When it was Rachel's turn, she told him where to fly after she got used to the headphones.

Not four minutes from where the Gannet was housed in its hangar, Talon stared at a mountain where Rachel and Rokhanh often stayed and she told him of the others there and said that she'd arrange a meeting. When they landed and before he took off with the next sightseers, Rachel spread her wings with Rokhanh and they flew off toward the mountain.

Copper and Simmit took their kids up with them, though the space was cramped in the rearmost compartment, but after finding that the oxygen cylinders were still full with functional valves, Talon took Ellie and Katje up to where they'd never been. They admitted that things looked a good deal different from forty thousand feet.

When he landed the last time that day, Talon pulled the old aircraft back inside of its home with the old tractor and when he stepped outside; he was met by Copper and Rachel.

"Talon," Rachel said as he walked over with Katje and Ellie, "There's somebody that you all have to meet.

A lot of somebodies, actually.

That mountain that I showed you? A lot of us live there and there are more coming. Could you three find your way to coming with us tonight? We'll spring for dinner and you can stay the night. There are things we need to talk about. Will you come?"

They talked it over for a minute, but all three nodded and they were guided to the Bradley, which rumbled off along with the roadmen and the Sheridan into the darkening gloom.