bought it in an 'as-is' rummage sale, and the controls are not all they should be.'
'How so?'
'Well, the 'up' control works okay, but the 'altitude' is shaky so you're never sure how much you can lift or how high it will go. The real problem, though, is the 'down' control. There's no tapering-off effect, so it's either on or off.'
I was never particularly good at technical jargon, but flying was something I knew so I could almost follow her.
'Let me see if I've got this right,' I said. 'When you go up, you aren't sure how much power you'll have, and when you land…'
'…it ain't gentle,' she finished for me. 'Basically, you fall from whatever height you're at to the ground.'
'I don't know much about this magic stuff,' Guido commented dryly, 'but that doesn't sound so good. Why would you use a rig like that, anyway?'
'I don't… at least not for flying,' Massha said. 'Remember, I told you I think it makes me look silly? All I use it for is a utility belt… you know, like Batman? I mean, it's kind of pretty, and it isn't easy to find belts in my size.'
'Whatever,' I said, breaking into their fashion discussion. 'We're going to use it tonight to get up to the cell even if it means rigging some kind of ballast system. Now all we need to figure out is how to open the cell window and a getaway plan. Guido, it occurs to me that we might pick up a few lessons on jailbreaks from your experiences even if they were unsuccessful. I mean, negative examples can be as instructive as positive examples. So tell me, in your opinion what went wrong in the plans you followed in the past?'
The bodyguard's brow furrowed as it took on the unaccustomed exercise of thought.
'I dunno, Boss. It seems that however much planning was done, something always came up that we hadn't figured on. If I had to hang our failures on any one thing, I'd say it was just that… over planning. I mean, after weeks of lectures and practice sessions, you get a little overconfident, so when something goes wrong you're caught flatfooted, know what I mean?'
Nervous as we were, that got a laugh from both Massha and me.
'Well, that's one problem we won't have to worry about,' I said. 'Our planning time is always minimal, and for this caper we're going to have to put it together in a matter of hours.'
'If you take hours, you'll never pull it off,' Vilhelm said, entering our planning room just in time to hear my last comment.
'What's that supposed to mean?' Massha growled.
'Say, are you sure you guys are on the level?' the vampire said, ignoring my apprentice. 'It occurs to me that I've only got your word on all this… that Vic is still alive and all. If you're taking advantage of my good nature to get me involved in something crooked…'
'He's alive,' I assured him. 'I've seen him myself since we were here last… but you didn't answer the question. What was that you were saying about what would happen if we took hours to plan the jailbreak?'
The Dispatcher shrugged.
'I suppose you guys know what you're doing and I should keep my mouth shut, but I was getting a little worried. I mean, it's sundown already, and if you're going to make your move before the execution, it had better be soon.'
'How do you figure that?' I frowned. 'The action isn't slated until high midnight. I had figured on waiting a while until it was dark and things quieted down around town a little.'
'Are you kidding?' the vampire said with a start, his eyebrows going up to his hairline. 'That's when… oh, I get it. You're still thinking in terms of your off dimension timetables. You've got to… umm, you might want to be sitting down for this, Skeeve.'
'Lay it on me,' I said, rubbing my forehead again. 'What have I overlooked now? Even without the blindfold and the cigarette I'd just as soon take the bad news standing up.'
'Well, you've got to remember that you're dealing with a city of vampires here. Sundown is the equivalent of dawn to us. That's when things start happening, not when they start winding down! That means…'
'… that high midnight is a major traffic time and the longer we wait, the more people there will be on the street,' I said, trying to suppress a groan.
Once the basic oversight had been pointed out, I could do my own extrapolations… with all their horrible consequences. Trying to fight back my own panic, I turned to my assistants.
'Okay, troops. We're on. Guido, grab that rope you saw. We may need it before this is over.'
The bodyguard's eyes widened with astonishment.
'You mean we're going to start the caper right now? But Boss! We haven't planned…'
'Hey, Guido,' I said, flashing a grin that was almost sane. 'You were the one who said that over planning was a problem. Well, if you're right, this should be the most successful jailbreak ever!'
Chapter Eleven
'Nice jail. Looks strong.'
VILHELM was right about one thing. The streets were nowhere nearly as crowded as they had been the times we navigated their length well after sundown. Only a few stray beings wandered here and there, mostly making deliveries or sweeping down the sidewalks in front of their shops prior to opening. Except for the lack of light, the streets looked just like any town preparing for a day's business… that and the red eyes of the citizens.
We hugged the light as we picked our way across town…
That's right. I said 'hugged the light.' I try to only make the same mistake a dozen times. In other dimensions, we would have 'hugged the dark' to avoid being noticed or recognized. Here, we 'hugged the light.' Don't laugh. It worked.
Anyway, as we picked our way through the streets of Blut, most of my attention was taken up with the task of trying to map a good getaway route. Getting Aahz out of jail I would deal with once we got there. Right now I was worried about what we would do once we had him out… a major assumption, I know, but I had so little optimism that I clung to what there was with all fours.
The three of us looked enough like vampires in appearance to pass casual inspection. There was no way, however, that we could pass off my scaly green partner as a native without a disguise spell, and I wasn't about to bet on having any magical energy left after springing Aahz. As such, I was constantly craning my neck to peer down side streets and alleys, hoping to find a little traveled route by which we could spirit our fugitive colleague out of town without bringing the entire populace down on our necks. By the time we reached our destination, I was pretty sure I could get us back to the Dispatcher's by the route we were following, and positively sure that if I tried to take us there by the back routes, I would get us totally and helplessly lost.
'Well, Boss. This is it. Think we can crack it?'
I don't think Guido really expected an answer. He was just talking to break the silence that had fallen over us as we stood looking at our target.
The Municipal Building was an imposing structure, with thick stone walls and a corner tower that stretched up almost out of sight into the darkness. It didn't look like we could put a dent in it with a cannon… if we had a cannon, which we didn't. I was used to the tents of the Bazaar or the rather ramshackle building style of Klah. While I had been gradually getting over being overawed by the construction prevalent here in Blut, this place intimidated me. I'd seen shakier looking mountains!
'Well, one thing's for certain,' I began, almost under my breath.
'What's that?'
'Staring at it isn't going to make it any weaker.'
