‘Manual,’ Geoffrey repeated.
‘I’m afraid that manual flight authority is not available,’ the airpod said, with maddening pleasantness. ‘Please give a destination or vector.’
Jumai glanced at Geoffrey. ‘You’re locked out?’
‘Take me to Tiamaat Aqualogy,’ he said.
‘That destination is not recognised,’ the airpod replied. ‘Please restate.’
‘Take me to the sea, over the Somali Basin.’
‘Please be more specific.’
‘Head due east.’
‘I’m afraid that vector is not acceptable.’
‘You’re not allowed to take me
‘I am not permitted to accept any destinations or vectors that would involve flight over open water.’
Geoffrey shook his head, confounded. ‘Who put this restriction on you?’
‘I’m afraid I’m not permitted—’
‘Never mind.’ Geoffrey clenched his fists, giving up on the airpod. He cracked the canopy, letting out the bubble of cool, scented air, letting the African heat back in. ‘Fucking Lucas and Hector.’
Jumai pushed herself out. ‘They’ll have locked them all down, won’t they?’
‘All the airpods,’ Geoffrey said. ‘Not the Cessna.’
It was parked at the end of the row of flying machines, already turned around ready for taxi. ‘Engine start,’ Geoffrey voked before they’d even got there. The prop began to turn, the hydrogen-electric engine almost silent save for a rising locust hum that quickly passed into ultrasound. That was good, at least: he didn’t think that the cousins had the means to block his control of the Cessna, but there was little he’d put past them now.
‘If you knew they couldn’t stop the Cessna,’ Jumai said, ‘why didn’t we—’
The hydrogen feed line was unplugged, lying on the ground next to the plane. Geoffrey had connected the line when he’d arrived, still focused enough to do that, but he had no idea when the cousins had come along to remove it.
‘Watch the prop-wash.’ Geoffrey opened the door and allowed Jumai to climb under the shade of the wing into the co-pilot’s position. He removed the chocks and joined her in the cockpit. Skipping the flight-readiness checks, he released the brakes and revved the engine to taxi power. The Cessna began to roll, bumping over dirt and wheel ruts on its way to the take-off strip. Only now did Geoffrey check the fuel gauge. Lower than he’d have wished, but not empty. He thought there was enough to make it to Tiamaat.
‘We’re running away, aren’t we?’ Jumai said, fiddling with her seat buckle. ‘That’s basically the deal here, right?’
Geoffrey lined up the plane for take-off. ‘I screwed up. I hit Hector.’
She said it back to him as if she might have misheard.
‘You “hit” Hector.’
‘Tried. Before the Mech intervened and dropped a boulder on my skull.’
‘Ho boy.’ She was grinning, caught somewhere between delight and horror. ‘Way to go with the conflict resolution, Geoffrey.’
‘I’m at war with my family. Escalation was the logical next step.’
‘Yeah. You know, I think that’s what they call pretaliation.’ She was shaking her head. ‘And now what?’
He pushed the throttle to take-off power. The Cessna surged forward, the ride bumpy at first until sheer speed smoothed out the undulations in the ground. ‘We’re on our way to Tiamaat.’
‘Too cheap to send their own plane?’
‘They can’t now I’ve got myself into trouble with the Mechanism. They won’t be rushing into a direct stand-off with the family, either.’
They were at take-off speed. He rotated and took them into the air.
‘Something about you has changed,’ Jumai said. ‘I’m not sure it’s good, but something’s definitely changed. You used to be boring.’
‘And now?’ Geoffrey made a steep left turn, bringing them back over the white and blue ‘A’ of the household.
‘Less so.’ Jumai loosened her seat buckle. ‘So – how far to the coast?’
‘About five hundred kilometres.’ He eyed the fuel gauge again, wondering if he was being optimistic. ‘Call it two hours of flight time. And then we still have to get out to Tiamaat.’ He patted the console. ‘But we’re good.’
‘We’d be better off walking.’
‘She’s an old machine, but that’s good – cousins can’t touch old machines.’
‘Maybe it isn’t the cousins we should be worrying about,’ Jumai said. ‘Especially if you’ve just pissed off the Mechanism.’
Geoffrey smiled. The household wheeled below. Two figures were standing by one of the walls, looking up at
