Warriors

'… so many different and entertaining people at one time. You guys seem to have so much fun together.'

Bennett hadn't interrupted, preferring to let Claudia get to know some of the IPs on her own. Now he said, 'Well, we do enjoy one anothers' company. After all, we have a lot in common.'

Claudia finished her tea. 'Yes-you're all crazy.'

'That's part of our charm,' Ottman insisted. 'For instance, most people would think it's crazy for anyone to want to die at age forty-eight. But I think there's something to it. Probably the best thing that could happen to any of us would be getting killed In action at forty-eight.'

Claudia's face registered disbelief.

'No, I mean it,' Ottman said. And she almost believed him.

'Look at it this way. You're still at your peak mentally, and most of us are in reasonable physical condition at that age. But in another couple years…' He snapped his fingers. 'You're on the way out, kid. It's a long slide from there.'

Claudia glanced at Bennett, seeking reinforcement. He winked at her. 'Listen to the next verse.'

He wanted to die as a legend,
So he climbed it up seven miles high.
He aimed it straight down, drove it into the ground,
Screaming 'That's how a fighter should die.'

He died with his G-suit and boots on,
With a throttle and stick in his hand.
He'd never been beat by any fighter he'd meet
And the legend, it outlived the man.

Bennett and Claudia spent the rest of the evening mingling with other instructors and guests. Claudia was pleasantly surprised to learn she had mutual friends in London with the Saint-Martins and Geoff Hampton. She also had a discussion with Ed Lawrence.

'You've known John a long time, haven't you, Ed?'

'Yup. Twenty years or more.'

'Has he changed any?'

Lawrence thought for a moment. 'Not much. Pirate always was a lot of fun to be with-real dependable. You get to know a lot of people in a career, but there's only a few you really trust. I'd trust John with my life. In fact, I have done just that.'

'Do you think he's happy here?'

'Yes. I know I'm happy here, doing what I do.' He hesitated a moment.

'What is it?'

'Claudia, you and I are different kinds of people. Ordinarily we wouldn't have much in common. But John is what we have in common. I'd say he's been happier than I've seen him in years. Since he met you.'

Claudia squeezed his hand. ''Thanks, Ed. I'm pretty happy, too. It's the best birthday I could hope for.'

Chapter 8

Claudia spent the next two days with Bennett, mostly in the Tiger Force compound. The other guests had departed and the IPs for the graduating class were given leave. The couple were left mainly to themselves, which pleased them both.

Bennett devoted most of one day showing Claudia the academic area: classrooms and individual study cells. 'Here, sit down at the console. I'll show you how easy it is to fly an F-20. '

He tapped out the entry code on the keypad and the full-color screen showed the Tigershark's instrument panel. 'You see,' he began, 'the directions are printed in white for this phase, and yellow for the next. Everything is color-coded from first to last in ascending order. The higher you get into the syllabus the darker the colors. '

'That way you always know where you are in the program,' Claudia said.

'Correct.' He leaned over her shoulder, allowing one hand to rest on her back while he punched in the next lesson. 'This sequence shows you how to start the F-20. It's a tactile screen, touch-sensitive, so you activate the switches in the proper order. You won't hear the engine start unless you do it properly.'

Bennett had Claudia touch the appropriate switches, including the plastic safety covers. At each movement the screen showed, in animation, the covers lifted or the toggles activated. Immediately the whine of a jet engine was discernible. 'There you go, you just lit off an F404 engine.'

Claudia looked up. 'Why, that's the most logical teaching system I've ever seen. Did you devise it?'

'Not hardly. This is a General Electric project, first used in their F-5E training center near Phoenix. The Saudis contracted for this facility from GE's simulation and training division.'

Running her fingers over the console, Claudia said, 'This must do a lot to speed up training. Is it one of the reasons you put the first class through so fast?'

'This and some other innovations in the flight syllabus. The advantage to this individual study cell is mainly psychological. In a classroom you have the teacher up front and he asks Student A a question. Well, Student A may not know the answer. Neither may anyone else, but the others look at A and think, 'Boy, what a dumbell.' This system here allows each student to progress at his own pace, so he retains much more of what he learns.'

Later Bennett put Claudia in one of the F -20 simulators for a few minutes. He had the engineer start the program for takeoff and he showed her how to hold the stick and throttle. She made an erratic takeoff, over- controlling as most beginners do. Bennett cautioned her to keep the nose above the horizon and flipped the landing gear lever for her.

'Okay, continue your climb and level off at ten thousand feet.'

He tapped the altimeter while leaning on the cockpit edge.

Claudia was stunned by the full-color panorama of the, world 'outside' her cockpit. As Bennett coached her through some turns, she over-controlled again and the computer-generated imagery slanted crazily. 'I feel a little dizzy.'

'That's normal. This simulator can almost make you airsick. Level off for a minute.'

Claudia moved the stick less dramatically than before, and the imagery settled down.

'Now, let's say you're going to strafe some point on the ground. That hill over to the left. Turn toward it and lower your nose.'

Claudia shoved forward on the stick, aiming at the top of a rounded hill. Bennett saw what was coming. 'Don't push it too far. Remember, you're at 95 percent power.'

Too late, Claudia realized she was too steep. She gasped audibly, pulling hard on the stick. The scenery tumbled, then the screen went blank. 'What happened?'

'Darling, you bought the farm.'

'Well, any landing you can walk away from. '

Bennett helped her out of the cockpit, catching her arm when she slipped. 'Gosh, I'm still dizzy,' she said. ''That thing is too realistic!'

* * *

That evening Bennett suggested they have dinner in the club. Claudia preferred to go out, but he insisted. When they walked in, decorations already were in place. A large banner hung across the bar mirror: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CLAUDIA! Several IPs were there, notably less boisterous than the night of the graduation party.

Claudia turned to Bennett, grasping his arm. 'You rat! You set me up for this.'

He smiled at her. 'Actually, you can blame yourself. I wasn't going to say anything, but you let it slip to Ed at