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They waited another ten before relaxing Pablo agreed to escort the two techs and the aura tower back to caet the aircraft out of the hangar bay
"Clear us a place to land," Skyler said with a hopeful grin "Southeast corner is best, I think"
Pablo nodded and they clasped hands "Adios"
"Adios," Skyler answered
Neither Ana nor Vanessa wanted to rest, so Skyler led thear, the Worked there for sohts inset into the floor lit the plane froe of the ceiling cast the top in a contrasting hue
A control mechanism for the roof rested inside a metal box on the wall by the door Skyler popped it open Inside, a yellow button the size of an orange sat under a clear protective cover He flipped the cover up and pressed the button once with his palears and the strains of atrophied equipment followed, died down, and then beca panels retracted along rails that were disguised as sirooves in the wall
A star-filled sky waited above, thedirectly overhead On the roof outside, red warning lights lit the edges of the portal in pulses of ruby
"What now?" Ana asked, unable to keep the anticipation froht," Skyler said, his eyes on the aircraft "This will take awhile The bird’s been sitting here for almost six years More, maybe I want to be doubly sure she’s okay to fly"
The toood a tih the preparation process A walk around the vehicle went first, but he’d done that previously and saw nothing to be concerned about Then he e Other than a healthy coat of dust, he found no sign of wear in the panels, no sign of rust or deterioration in the rivets Indeed, he saw no indication at all that the bird had ever flown It had, of course, since otherwise it wouldn’t be here
After inspecting the thrust ducts and joints where the flaps attached to the wings, he went to the cabin door and opened it It took soht pressure difference, and then the interior came into view
Smells hit him first Leather and new carpet and industrial adhesives, like a new car He inhaled a second time and tried to find any hint of rot or mold Or worse, death But he came up empty and exhaled with relief
The inside of the craft was dark, save for light co in the tinted s He fu the stewards panel, and on that a hts He flipped it, and warht filled the cabin
"Power!" Ana chirped "After all this time!"
"Indeed," Skyler said Ultracapacitors drained slohen unused, and it didn’t surprise hihts If the cockpit coh, he’d be shocked
"I could live here," Vanessa said, strolling down the aisle toward the back of the plane
Skyler studied the cabin closely for the first tiin to describe it There were only six seats, huge cushioned things done in black leather and accented with silver-gray ultrasuede, thick white stitching along every seam Each seat had a retractable desk of beech wood, a terles A widescreen monitor covered the top half of the back wall Beloas a recessed wet bar
Impressive Skyler couldn’t deny it But his mind shifted quickly to the practical implications The space was sht It would not hold o, unless there was h, if the flight systems were shot
"Who wants to see the cockpit?" he asked
Ana nodded eagerly Vanessa ran a hand along the arm of one luxury chair before she finally turned and cahter, she rown up with luxury of this sort, and she still had an affinity for it
Aarea separated the cabin from the cockpit Their contents could be searched later
Even though he expected it, Skyler swore under his breath when the computers and controls in the cockpit failed to initialize Not enough power A syste a line to the cap spooler He shrugged, decided the risk orth it, and led his crew outside to show the a civilian aircraft like this was only round car
Back inside, he tried the coain and smiled as the screens came to life The cockpit had few traditional instruments Instead, shaped displays covered every surface When off, they looked like part of the walls, ceiling, and dash One display ran from knee level up to the base of the canopy and clearly contained the ht planner Understandably, the ultracapacitor levels were at zero percent, but at least it indicated "charging" The estimated time to completion showed three question marks, so Skyler studied the other screens while he waited
One display on the wall left of the pilot’s seat flashed an overall diagnostic readout, and various entries on it were turning froreen even as he watched Only one line deviated: capacitor levels, which flashed yellow
"Well?" Vanessa asked
"Everything looks good We’ll be able to fire up theestie then, plenty to take it for a test flight and move it to Camp Exodus
"What do we do in the meantime?" Ana asked
Skyler turned to her "We …"
She had her hands clasped just in front of her chin, alently on her tiptoes Vanessa leaned against the doorway behind her, exhaustion plain on her face
"Next," Skyler said, "next we see if there’s anything to drink back there"
A bottle of lasses was all it took before Vanessa drifted off in one of the oversized, cushioned passenger chairs
Ana eased the seat back for her until it became a bed and then found a blanket to cover the wohts were diirl climbed into the co-pilot’s seat without a word, and Skyler took his place in the pilot’s chair Despite the exotic, high-end equipment, the position still fit him like an old comfortable shoe The basic controls were exactly where he would expect, and with a bit of fiddling he even found he could reconfigure the various screens around hi some of the information around to more familiar positions, but it was tedious Then he spotted the option to con the displays to ht, the database was enormous, and in less than thirty seconds he had the entire cockpit looking exactly like the Melville’s The graphical representation was remarkably accurate
Another option on the screen was "setup" Skyler tapped it and found where he could set a name for the aircraft An idea came to him "Would you like to name her?"
"Name who?" Ana said
"The bird This plane"
Her eyes lit up, then her nose wrinkled in concentration In the soft a, Skyler thought
"La Gaza Ladra," Ana said