"
Pull up
," came Pitr’s voice over the helmet radio. "
You only have so much runway
."
Kendi obeyed. His stomach dropped and leaves rushed past him in a green blur as the ultralight sailed up into the air. Ecstacy swelled in Kendi’s chest as he gained altitude, felt nothing but the bright and flowing wind around him. He glanced down and had the strange sensation of seeing emerald leaves far beneath his feet. Behind, the runway made a long rectangular scar in the forest canopy. The ultralight motor was quiet as a whisper, and suddenly he knew how a falcon must feel as it glided gently on the wind.
"
Doing great
," Pitr said over the radio, and the red ultralight dropped down next Kendi’s green one. Kendi flashed Pitr a thumbs-up, then clutched at his controls as the ultralight suddenly bounced and jolted.
"
You’re okay
," Pitr said. "
Just a little downdraft. It’ll clear. Okay, let’s try a few basic maneuvers
."
Pitr had Kendi bank left and right, gain and lose altitude, and fly in a steady circle. Every moment was exhilarating. Kendi’s movements quickly gained a deft confidence and he began to feel as if the ultralight’s wings were an extension of his own body. The ultralight wasn’t holding him up—he himself was flying. And it was glorious.
All too soon, Pitr said, "
Okay, it’s time to go back in. You remember what I said about landing
?"
Kendi nodded, then remembered the gesture was useless over a radio. "I remember," he said aloud.
"
Great. Watch me first, then I’ll coach you in
."
The red ultralight, easily visible against the green foliage, coasted smoothly into the long scar that made up the runway. Kendi circled the area once, then headed around to line himself up with the tree. His was only a little nervous—the ultralight responded to his slightest wish. He was just starting his descent when the ultralight jerked sideways. A strange scream hit him like a slap. Kendi yelped and tried to regain control. Frantically he yanked hard on the control stick, trying to gain more altitude. Kendi looked around in a panic, then sucked in his breath. A big creature with leathery wings, a long beak, and wicked talons was right behind him. The beak, as thick as Kendi’s arm, opened and again the strange scream tore through the sky. Kendi’s stomach turned cold.
"
Kendi!
" came Pitr’s voice. "
Are you all right
?"
"What the hell is that?" Kendi yelled.
"
Dinosaur
." Pitr’s voice was full of forced calm. "
Shouldn’t be here. The pheromones—hell, we have to get you down
."
The thing screamed again, its long wings flapping hard. Kendi gave the throttle more power and the ultralight jerked forward, though it didn’t handle as well as it should have. A quick glance upward told Kendi one of the overhead wings had been torn. He swore. The creature flapped its wings, easily catching up and gaining altitude at the same time. Kendi could almost feel its beak and talons reaching down to rend and tear at the cloth wings. He yanked the control stick sideways and banked. The creature missed. Kendi’s heart was pounding so fast he was afraid it would shatter inside his chest. He wished with every fiber of his being that he were down on the safe, solid ground with Pitr and Toshi.
"
Kendi
," Toshi said, "
we’re going to take control of the ultralight and bring you down. Release the controls
."
Another scream followed by a shudder. The creature’s talons ripped through the wing and tore out a great chunk of cloth. The ultralight yawed sideways despite Kendi’s desperate attempts to right it. Another scream. The beak punched through the cloth and a white pain speared Kendi’s right shoulder. He looked up and saw one of the creature’s glittering black eyes peering down at him. It was gripping the ultralight canopy in its talons. The beak punched downward again. Kendi braced himself for more pain, but none came as the creature hit something behind Kendi’s seat instead. Sparks snapped and the dinosaur shrieked in pain, though it didn’t release the ultralight.
"
Dammit!
" Pitr said. "
Kendi, that thing hit the remote receiver. I can’t control anything from down here
."
Kendi’s heart leaped into his throat. He yanked the stick sideways in a desperate attempt to get the animal to let go. The ultralight shuddered and dropped several meters. Hot blood ran down Kendi’s shoulder and his back. Another shriek and the creature’s beak poked down at Kendi a third time. Acting on pure instinct, Kendi twisted sideways in his seat. The beak slashed down next to him and without stopping to think, Kendi grabbed it and held fast. The creature tried to pull back up, but before it could fully react, Kendi punched it twice straight in the eye.
The creature yanked its beak out of the ultralight. With a scream of pain, it flew unsteadily away. Kendi’s knuckles stung. The ultralight tilted downward, and Kendi realized that the animal’s wings had been helping hold the damaged ultralight aloft. He was losing altitude.
"
Kendi, are you all right
?" Pitr demanded. "
I’m taking off right now. Hold on!
"
Kendi gritted his teeth, unable to spare the energy to answer. His shoulder was afire with white pain as he smacked the control that would activate the grav unit. Nothing happened. The ultralight was perhaps thirty meters from the treetops and closing. Kendi’s mind raced. Either the entire unit was shot and he was dead, or just the controls had been shorted out. Logic said there had to be a manual activation control on the anti-grav unit itself, but where was the unit?
Behind his seat. Had to be—that was where the creature had hit when things started going wrong. The treetops were less than fifteen meters away. Kendi released his restraining harness and, ignoring the screech of agony in his shoulder, twisted around in his seat. The unit was there, a small gray box clearly labeled and clearly dented. The ultralight tilted further forward and the trees were rushing up to meet it. Kendi tried not to think about what would happen when his ultralight slammed into the branches. A big red button winked above a sign that said
Emergency
. Kendi slapped it. Leaves and branches crunched the front of the ultralight. Kendi shut his eyes.
Abruptly he was jolted downward. With a yelp he managed to grab the back of his seat with his good arm. His feet found purchase on the control panel. He hung there, panting. It took him a moment to understand that he was no longer falling. The ultralight, tilted at a forty-five degree angle, was hovering with its nose nestled among the uppermost leaves of a talltree.
Air brakes
? Kendi thought wildly.
"
Kendi, are you all right
?" Pitr demanded.
Kendi started to answer but all that came out was a squeak. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Yes and no," he said. "I managed to activate the anti-grav, but that thing stabbed my shoulder and I’m stuck here. If the control panel can’t hold my weight, I’m in for a long drop."
"
I’m almost there
," Pitr said. "
Just hold on
."
Kendi glanced down at the branches and leaves beneath his feet. "I have a choice?"
A few minutes later, Pitr arrived and, activating his own grav unit, put his ultralight into hover mode. Mindful of his shoulder and the deadly drop below, Kendi carefully climbed out of his ultralight and into Pitr’s. The cockpit was tiny, built a single occupant.
"You’ll have to sit on my lap," Pitr said.
Oh, gosh
, Kendi thought.
Do I have to
?
"I’ll fly us back by anti-grav," Pitr said, "since these things aren’t built to fly the regular way with more than one person."
The ride back was uneventful, if crowded. The close contact with Pitr seemed to dull the pain in Kendi’s shoulder. They didn’t speak—Pitr had to concentrate on flying. Once they landed, Kendi saw a stretcher hovering at the end of the runway. Two women in brown stood next to it. Toshi helped Kendi out of the ultralight. Blood dripped steadily down his shoulder.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
"People keep asking me that," Kendi said. "I could be better. My shoulder feels like it’s on fire."
The two women turned out to be medical technicians summoned by Toshi. They got Kendi to sit onto the floating stretcher and quickly cut off his blood-soaked shirt so they could examine him. He hissed when they pulled it away from his skin. Pitr hovered nearby, worry written all over his square features.
"Looks superficial," one of the technicians said from her vantage point behind him, "but painful. I think we can treat this here, unless you really want to go to the medical center."
Kendi thought about the way Mother Ara would react if she learned he was in hospital. "No," he said. "Do it here."
One of the techs pressed a dermospray against his arm. It
thumped
, and Kendi’s pain almost immediately vanished. The other technician washed the wound thoroughly and pressed the ragged edges together. Then she cracked open a plastic vial and spread the contents over Kendi’s back and shoulder. It stiffened as she finished.
"This will hold the wound together and help it heal," she said. "You might have a scar, but only a faint one. I’m going to give you a dose of time-release antibiotic to keep out infection. If you get any symptoms such as nausea or diarrhea, call the medical center right away. Got it?"
"Got it," Kendi said.
The pair finished their ministrations, then piled their cases of medical equipment on a shelf beneath the stretcher and took it quickly up the stairs to the main monastery. It was only then that Kendi noticed how shaky his legs were. He started sinking to the ground. Pitr caught him before he could fall. Kendi leaned on him gratefully. Pitr’s arms were strong, and Kendi liked having them support him. He wanted to lean his head on Pitr’s chest, and wondered if Pitr would accept that.
Stupid thing to be thinking about
, he thought.
You almost died up there
.
"It’s okay," Pitr said soothingly. "Hey, it’s all right. You’re okay. Everything’s fine."
"I’m all right," he said, still leaning. "I just ...felt a little light-headed for minute."
"I can understand that," Toshi said. "I’ve got a few dozen gray hairs myself, and I wasn’t even up there." He paused. "I suppose I’ll have to talk to Mother Ara about rearranging your schedule. You won’t want to be flying again after—"
Kendi stiffened and came upright. "The hell I don’t!" he spluttered, and Pitr laughed.
"My god, Kendi, are you all right?" Mother Ara demanded.
"Yeah. Can I get a freemark or something every time someone asks that? I’ll be able to buy my own ship in an hour or so."
"Kendi," Mother Ara said, "you scared the life out of me. My god, this isn’t a good time to be flip. How do you feel?"
Kendi shrugged and winced. "Shoulder’s a little stiff, but it doesn’t hurt much, and they gave me some painkillers."
"I’ve already called the animal control board and let them have it," Mother Ara said. "The pheromone sprays are supposed to keep the dangerous dinosaurs away. I’m so sorry this happened. You must have been terrified."
"It wasn’t your fault."
"I arranged the lesson," Mother Ara countered. "Pitr says you still want to fly, though."
"Hell, yes. It was great, Mother Ara." His eyes shone, the pain forgotten. "The best! I wish I could go every day instead of just once a week."
Mother Ara puffed out her cheeks. "I don’t think my heart is up to that. Once a week is plenty."
They were on one of the monastery’s innumerable balconies. Clouds had moved in, covering the sky in an even wave of gray. The balcony was off the beaten path, which meant they had a fair amount of privacy. There was a small bench, and a green ivy vine had twined itself around the balcony rail.
"Mother Ara," Kendi said abruptly, "if you like someone and you don’t know if they like you back, what do you do?"
Mother Ara blinked. "What? Why? Who do you like?"
"I meant it just ...you know ...hypothetically and all."
"Oh. Hypothetically." Mother Ara drummed her hands thoughtfully on her knees. "Well,
hypothetically
I think you—the hypothetical you—need to tell the person and see what happens. After all, if you don’t say anything, the other person might never figure it out."
"But what if it’s the sort of person who might not like me—you?" Kendi asked. "What if there could be ...other factors."
"I’m not sure what you mean."
Kendi swallowed, suddenly wishing he hadn’t said anything at all. "I mean what if the other person might not be interested?"
"I still think you should speak up. Hypothetically, that is." She smoothed her brown robe and readjusted the gold amulet that hung on a chain around her neck. "The Awakening Festival is next week. It’s a traditional time to start a romance. Maybe you’ll see the person there and that would be a good time to bring it up."
"Not me," Kendi said. "Just a hypothetical me."
Mother Ara got up with a smile and reached for her handbag. "Of course. Exactly what I meant. And now we have a lesson in meditation to begin."
"Meditation?"
"If you want to enter the Dream, you have to learn to meditate," Mother Ara said. "It quiets the soul and allows the mind to float free. Very, very few Silent can get into the Dream without meditating first, and it requires a lot of practice. There are practice rooms in a section of the dormitory. Ready for your first lesson? I promise it won’t be anywhere near as difficult as your flying exercise. It’d be a good stress-reliever, too."
"All right."
They went back to the dorm together, and Mother Ara showed Kendi to a hallway with a series of tiny, soundproofed rooms. Each room had a fainting couch, a chair, and only a teensy amount of floor space. From her handbag, Mother Ara took a bracelet and her data pad.