asked.
“Not right now,” Campeti defended, “but we have to standardize on what we have the most of. ’Sides, Mr. McFarlane, hope springs eternal. We still haven’t got the new propellants sorted out, but we will someday. Then we can tie ’em all together.”
“What about the antiaircraft stuff?”
Campeti looked thoughtful. “We might stick a few of those Jap twenty-five millimeters on the old girl, just for hoots. They’re kinda clunky and don’t seem good for much. They’re not heavy, though, and we’ve got ’em. Lots of bullets, too.”
“Do it,” said Letts. “I want the skipper to have as much firepower as we can give him.”
Ben Mallory had been murmuring something to Tikker during the exchange. He was utterly exhausted, having flown all day. Captain Reddy never did order him not to fly, but the Strakka had him grounded for now. By the time the storm was past, Ajax would surely be out of range. “I got an idea,” he said suddenly. All eyes turned to him. “Yeah,” he said, thinking fast, “I got a swell idea. When you get the ship all put back together, what’s going in that empty space where the torpedo tubes used to be? I know the searchlight tower’s there, but what else?”
“I don’t know,” Spanky confessed. “Maybe those popguns Campeti was talking about.”
“Why not give her one of the Nancys!” Ben said triumphantly. “Skipper’s always going on about recon,” he said a little smugly. “Let’s give him some!”
Spanky, Letts, Adar, and Keje all looked at one another.
“Would a davit lift one of those cockeyed contraptions of yours?” Letts asked.
“Sure! They don’t weigh much. Might have to rig an extension boom. But with all the weight we’re saving, even with the Jap stuff you’re adding on, there’ll be plenty of margin for a plane, fuel, spares and such as well!”
“And I guess you just happen to know somebody who’d volunteer to fly it, too?”
“Well… sure.” Ben grinned.
Letts looked at Adar, then shook his head. “Great idea, Ben, but not you. We need you to train pilots, not go tear-assing off on your own. Besides, don’t forget what Mr. Ellis found. What would we do about that without you?” Ben slumped, but brightened again at the prospect of an expedition to Tjilatjap. Tikker grinned hugely and his tail swished expectantly. “Not you either,” said Letts. “As our only other combat-experienced aviator, you’ll command Big Sal ’s air wing, or squadron”-he shook his head-“whatever you’re going to call it.”
“Then who?” Ben and Tikker demanded simultaneously.
“You said Ensign Reynolds is competent to commence independent operations. We’ll ask him if he’d like to volunteer.”
“This is all very excellent, but this discussion has strayed somewhat,” Adar said. “You have convinced me that Walker will be ready. Good. What else must we do? There are other issues at hand.”
“Well,” said Letts, “ Big Sal will soon be ready for sea. The new frigates too, as soon as we can fuel ’em. They’re finished. We’ll put the planes we have on Big Sal, and send the fleet off against the Grik. Humfra-Dar can then go in the dry dock. We’ll send a couple other Homes with the troops we can’t put in the frigates. Otherwise, we keep doing what we’re doing.” He looked around. “Making the tools for them to do the job.”
“Indeed,” said Adar, “that is as I hoped. We must push the Grik! Whatever support Captain Reddy requires in the east, Saan-Kakja has promised. Already, ships are leaving Manila to intercept and shadow this Ajax. We have finally contacted Lieutenant Laumer on Talaud-his transmitter was damaged-and Captain Lelaa’s sloop will attempt to intercept Ajax as well. We have addressed all we seem capable of, yet one serious issue remains.”
“Ah!” Courtney Bradford declared, speaking at last. He hadn’t had anything to add to the military and logistical discussion, but now his turn had come. “I presume you refer to a certain… ticklish physical and somewhat spiritual notion?”
“It is not a notion!” Adar insisted. “For such a learned creature, you are so very cavalier with the most fundamental laws of things!”
“Physics,” Bradford agreed. “And I assure you Mr. Chairman, I’m not in the least cavalier about that at all! The problem is, as I’ve so often told you-and not to put too fine a point on it or to intentionally insult you in any way-your understanding of some physical aspects of the world are… well… wrong.” He pointed at the map before them. “According to Captain Reddy’s last transmission, Commodore Jenks has at last freely revealed what many of us have long suspected: this Empire of New Britain Isles is centered in a chain we called the Hawaiian Islands! It is quite distant indeed. It is, in fact, according to your, um, mis understanding, quite an impossible place for anyone to be, or even exist. You recognize the world is round, like a cannonball, but since gravity pulls downward, you believe we here stand either near or upon the very top of the world! I assume this tradition is due to our proximity to the equator and the fact that the midday sun passes almost directly overhead. On its face, that would seem a most sensible and understandable position. I take it, however, from our discussions and a few old sayings I’ve heard, that you believe anyone who ventures too distant in any direction will plummet into the void of the heavens!”
“That is a simplistic summation, but essentially correct. Of course, one may venture quite far before that occurs. You have shown me maps of where this Mada-gaaskar lies. You insist it is our ancestral home and I doubt it not. The distance and description are consistent with the Scrolls. Clearly one can exist even that far away, since we once did ourselves. The Grik dwell there still, and in places even more distant. But this… Ha-waa-ee… It is so far! It is in the Eastern Sea, where monsters even more terrifying than the mountain fish dwell! You cannot lightly ask anyone to venture that far.”
“We must, and so will you,” Alan Letts said, “because that’s where Ajax is going.”
Bradford pondered a moment. “My dear Adar, I know we have asked much of you and your people in matters of faith. We popped in here and, in some ways, stood many things you’ve always believed upon their heads. I personally apologize for that. Having one’s beliefs constantly under assault is always traumatic, and I do respect your beliefs even if they are wrong.” He cleared his throat, realizing that didn’t come out quite how he’d intended. “I shall ask you a rhetorical question. You are of the sea folk. You have wandered far indeed throughout your life. Perhaps, at times, you have even wandered far enough that you feared you were getting, oh, at least a little close to the dropoff point. True?”
“Perhaps,” Adar reluctantly agreed. “Once we voyaged around the bottom of the land you call Aus-traalia. I admit I grew somewhat concerned.”
“Tell me, as you drew farther south, did you notice anything extraordinary?”
“It… was less warm.”
“Yes, yes, but what I mean is, did you notice any tendency at all to walk strangely, or lean? Did you feel any sideways pull of gravity at all?” Adar didn’t answer, but he seemed frustrated and even a little irritated. “I must point out that we, these other humans and myself, have little better understanding of what gravity is than you do. We have learned that it works quite well and it is surprisingly consistent wherever one goes, whether here, Australia, or even the other side of the world. No matter where one goes, gravity always pulls downward, toward the center of the world! This, sir, is a fact. When Captain Reddy told you and Keje that he was born and raised on the ‘bottom’ of the world, he was quite sincere. Most of our American friends are from a land situated on the far side of this globe. I have never been to America, but I can assure you the Americans have, and they did not have to hang upside down, clinging to their land with their fingers!” He looked thoughtful. “Your beliefs are correct in the respect that the sea returns to the sky, but it does not pour off the side of the world to do it; it evaporates and travels upward, much like the smoke of your pyres carries the souls of your dead to the heavens! It is always dreadfully humid here, but surely you’ve experienced a day or two in your life when the air seemed less thick, less heavy?”
Adar nodded speculatively.
“Then there you have it! That thickness of the air is water being carried into the sky!”
“If this ‘gravity’ works so well, then why does it not prevent that?” Adar demanded.
Courtney sighed. “It’s a long story. I can and certainly will be more than happy to demonstrate the experiments required to prove it to you, but for the moment, I ask only that you trust me-trust us. The ultimate fact remains that, in order to retrieve those who have been taken from us and deal with this… situation in the east that threatens to distract us from our bigger business, Captain Reddy will chase them when he arrives. As you have had faith in us before, have faith now; those who go east will not fall off the world. They”-he looked defiantly around the chamber-“ we may well face unknown dangers, but falling into the sky is not one of them!”
Achilles arrived in Baalkpan Bay on the very heels of the Strakka, after what must have been a record
