Aloft (Petronaut Tales) (3 page)

“Guys, this is Ensie,” Upforth said, propelling the little Aerial along with him. 

Cooper’s eyes widened.  Her face was even softer than he’d remembered.

“Ensie, this is Skye.  Cooper you already met, right?”

Right
.  Cooper nodded, and so did she.  He couldn’t manage to say anything.
What is wrong with me?

“Her team’s looking for an expert hydraulic consultation on a concept flying machine.  I don’t need to tell you two what an honor it is to have a Petronaut seek out our expertise on something.  Again, Miss Ensie, I’m absolutely humbled.”

“Thank you.  You’re welcome,” Ensie said, curling her fingers around the blueprints she was carrying.

Upforth actually bowed to her.  Cooper stifled a groan.  “Upforth’s is committed to giving your project one hundred ten percent of our best.  My people just have a little more grunt work to do here, then Skye will meet up with you to hash out the first details.  And as soon as I can break away from logistics here, I’ll join you to oversee the partnership myself—”

“I.”

It was part-word, part-bark, part-gulp.  Whatever the sound was, it indisputably came from Cooper’s throat.  He pressed his lips shut and tried to keep his hands still as Upforth blinked at him.

“As you can imagine, technician,” Upforth went on, keeping a close eye on Cooper, “we already have several feastday projects going in partnership with your Aerials and the Parade squad, so this new endeavor will have to fit in with existing commitments.”

“Of course, of course,” the Aerial murmured, giving Upforth a little flickering smile.  Her bright brown eyes shifted over to Cooper and then down to the hangar deck.  A wisp of red-brown hair drifted out of her snood and brushed her face.

Say something!

“My schedule’s clear,” Cooper said.

The cords in Upforth’s neck visibly tightened as he turned.  “Mister Carper?” he said. 

“Skye’s still got the float suspension on her docket—right?  You’ve got Kini working on the trunk now.  But you don’t have me assigned as Lead on anything.”

“There might be a reason for that, Mister Carper.”

Cooper ignored the warning flags and the steam gushing out of his boss’ ears.  “I’m just saying it might be more convenient if—”

“At Upforth’s, we put service to the client above convenience to our employees,” Upforth said, turning his shoulder to Cooper as he looked down at Ensie.  “That’s why Skye—”

“If I may,” Ensie said, raising a fingertip, “since I know how in-demand your company’s services are, I’d, uh, hate to think any of your other projects were delayed because we came by at the last minute.”

“Please, it’s no problem.  Skye!  You’re on track with the float suspension, right?  Another project on your calendar won’t make a difference.”

Skye’s stony face spoke volumes.  “I’ll make it work.”

Ensie tilted her head sympathetically.  “Mister Upforth, I’m sorry.  If you don’t have someone available right now, I’d hate to—”

“No, no no no,” Upforth said, raising a hand.  The gears in his head were thundering audibly as he thought.  With enormous reluctance, his gaze shifted from the Aerial tech—about to walk away with a prestigious job—over to Cooper.  His eyes narrowed. 

Cooper did his best not to make any sudden movements.

“Mister Carper can help you out with this first meeting as soon as this lumber gets moved,” he said through clenched teeth.  “Skye
is
awfully busy.  So busy, in fact, Skye, that you really ought to get back to work on the suspension.  Carper can move the rest of this wood himself.  Can’t you?”

They all looked at the cart, still laden with ten of the massive lengths of pine.  Upforth laced his fingers together at his waist.

“Sure thing, sir,” Cooper said, putting on a smile.

“Where can he meet you, Ensie?  Here in the hangar?”

“There’s, uh.  My team’s got a drafting room.  26D.  Out the back door, first building on your right, second door on the left.”

“He’ll meet you there in fifteen.  And I’ll check in with you myself as soon as possible to make sure your experience is going well.”

Ensie nodded at Upforth, but her eyes were on Cooper’s face.  “I think it will,” she said.  Her voice was almost too delicate to be heard.

Cooper stayed rooted to the spot for a long moment as Ensie darted away, like a squirrel or a rabbit or something equally plush and big-eyed.  He took in a deep breath through his nose and let it out with a snort as Upforth clapped in his face.

“And what was that?”

Cooper raised his hands, leaning away.  He could smell Upforth’s pomade as the man came in uncomfortably close.  “What in the black flames are you thinking, Carper?” 

“I… nothing, sir—”

“Do you want to be the boss?  Do you want to make personnel decisions?  Are you gunning for my job, Carper?”

“No, sir, absolutely not.”

“You can’t do what I do.  But there are a thousand people in this town who can do what you do, and I could hire any of them to replace you like that.”  Upforth snapped in his face three times, moving his hand closer to Cooper’s nose each time.  “You are replaceable.  Say it.”

“I am replaceable.”

Upforth glared up at him.  His tirade was losing traction in the face of Cooper’s submissive attitude.  “That’s right,” he said, marking time as he waited for inspiration.  “Talk yourself up like that in front of a client one more time and you’ll never work in the Row again.”

Cooper just stood there, shoulders slightly stooped, looking as unimposing as possible for a man of his size.  Skye was long gone, shaking her head at the theatrics.

Upforth gave a series of vigorous nods, satisfied by the display of contrition.  “Spheres help you if you screw this up, Carper,” he said.  “I just hope you can muster up the brainpower to keep up with this Ensie.  It’s gonna get real technical, real fast.  Try not to pass out.”

“I’ll try not to pass out.”

“Good.”

The men stared at each other.

“Get this wood out of my face,” Upforth finally snarled, slapping one of the boards on its underside.  The whole load rattled in the back of the cart.  It was a sufficiently authoritative noise to make an exit on, so Upforth turned on his heel and went to make important gossip with the other civilian work bosses.

Cooper staggered towards the wall with a pair of four-meter beams tucked under his armpit.  It was all he could manage to keep the lumber balanced without clocking any passers-by with the blunt wooden lance in front of him or the tail behind him.  The wood was digging into his ribcage painfully, and he was sure his muscles would pay for the awkward position later that night.  And yet, mysteriously, he couldn’t seem to keep a smile off his face as he worked his way to the wall and back.

The drafting room was cramped as a spheric’s cloistered cell.  The six-by-ten box of a workspace was dominated by a lacquered desk, sized for the parchment sheets a drafter would fill with precise blue lines.  Straight-edges, a protractor, and enough stencils to amuse a schoolhouse full of idle children hung from hooks on either side of the desk, and a wooden cup of fine steel-blue charcoal sticks rested in a corner of the angled work surface.  A gaslight was embedded dead center in the low ceiling, though there was more than enough sunlight from the window to keep the room more in light than in shadow at this time of day.

Ensie smoothed out the dog-eared corner of the blueprints for the dozenth time.  She shifted her weight on the bench, feeling the warmth of the sun on the back of her neck.  She was too poor to own a watch, but she resisted the temptation to duck out into the hallway again and check the sepia-faced clock mounted on the wall.  It had been 10:20 on the spot when she’d checked it moments ago.  That meant that, by now, twenty-five minutes at most had passed since she’d left Mister Upforth and the rest of his team.  And Upforth had said Cooper—
or was it Carper?—
would meet her in fifteen minutes.  But the drafting room might be hard to find, for a civilian who’d never seen the Aerial compound before.  And there had been an awful lot of wood left in that cart for just one person to move quickly. 
Even someone so tall, with those big arms and broad shoulders…

“You need to get a hold of yourself,” she said aloud, pressing her palm against the desk.  She closed her eyes. 

You’re an Aerial technician.  Your ‘naut wants a consultation from a civilian firm.  You’ve been trusted with getting information vital to the success of your project.  This is Business with a capital B.  Not some kind of private—

—and don’t you dare even finish that thought, because seriously: this is Business.

She scratched the space between her too-thick eyebrows as she looked at the door. 

And even if it wasn’t Business
, the morose thought crept through her defenses,
it’s not as if anything’s going to happen.  Any friendly vibes you’re getting are because he’s good at his job.  Do you really think that there’s anything about you that would inspire unprofessional thoughts in a civilian guy like him?  When he’s meeting all the other wisecracking Aerial girls and the Parade squad knockouts on the same day?  Count yourself lucky you’re getting to talk to him at all.  You’re just—

The door inched open.  Ensie leapt to her feet behind the desk.  There he was.

“There you are,” she said, rubbing her hands against her hips.

“So sorry,” he mumbled, turning sideways to come through the narrow door.  He sounded a little out of breath.  “I… I thought I heard you say ‘third building on the right,’ but I must have misheard.  That’s actually the, uh, fuel center, I learned, where you guys are doing some crazy things with petrolatum…”

“Oh, gosh, you went to the refinery?”

“Yeah, through a back door.  Got a little turned around with the fumes.  But then someone—I forgot his name—pointed me here…”

“Spheres, I led you to the refinery without a mask!  I am so sorry.  I don’t know why I… I meant to say ‘
first
building on your—’”

“You did.  I’m sure you did.  I just heard it wrong—”

“No, no, I’m sure I said… I don’t know what I said!”

“Listen, with these ears, all bets are off.  It’s a miracle I’m here at all.”

“It is.”

They stood facing each other with their hands flat against their hips.  The sunlight illuminated the lower halves of their bodies.

“I’m Ensie,” she said, for no reason. 

Why, oh why, oh why do I speak?

He smiled at her.  His teeth were a little small and his gums were a little long, so when he smiled he looked like a kid, with a child’s whole-hearted good humor.  “That makes, what, the third time we’ve done introductions?”

“I’m sure, probably,” she laughed.  She touched her fingertips to the desk and found herself leaning towards him.  “
My
third time, at least.  And somehow I’m still not sure what your name is!  Carper?  Cooper?  Caper?”

“Cooper Carper, actually.”

She felt herself smiling like a porpoise.  She ordered her lips to stand down. 
Business
.  “Nice to meet you, Mister Carper,” she said, very professionally.

“You too, technician.”

She tilted her head at him. 
‘Technician?’  Who are you, Sir Tomas? 
“You can call me Ensie.”

“Well, then,” he said, pressing the door closed behind him with a click, “you can call me Cooper.”

Business!

“I’m on a project now for a concept craft called the Flicker,” she said, brushing the blueprints with her hands as she stared fixedly at the parchment.  Cooper came over to the side of the desk to look.  His hands floated in space for a moment as he considered resting a big palm on top of the desk to lean over the plans, as she was doing, which would have brought their heads very close together.  But instead his hands interlocked behind his back in a sort of parade rest and he just bent his head to look down.  Ensie tried not to watch him as she folded the dog-eared corner back into place for the thirteenth time.

She laid out the specifications for the grasshopper-like craft, discussing fuel projections, the airflow models they’d run, and the properties of the alloys they’d debated for the hollow, curved wings.  Cooper’s head bobbed up and down, and he offered a succession of
mmm’s
and
I see’s
at appropriate times.  As she heard herself talk, she fidgeted with the bottom edge of the desk and only allowed herself quick glances up at his face.  It was hard to tell if he was following the run-down at all, which gave her a heavy feeling in her stomach. 

Burn me.  Maybe Mister Upforth had a good reason for wanting that woman Skye to be the one to talk to me…

 
“So,” he said at last, shifting his weight.  She looked up at him.  “What exactly do you need us for?”

“Just wanted to, uh, forge a partnership with Upforth’s for a consultation on our ranine apparatus.  That’s all.”

Cooper nodded.  His forehead was wrinkled with vigorous thought.  Ensie folded her hands together and tried not to let her disappointment show.  He had the look of someone at an absolute loss for the right thing to say. 
Please, please, don’t be stupid.

“Honestly?”  Cooper said.

“Mmm-hmm?” she said, tucking one of her bangs back into her hairnet.

For a long moment, he just looked at the plans.  Then he shook his head and gave a heavy sigh.  His hands reappeared from behind his back and he leaned down so quickly their foreheads almost brushed. 

“Mister Upforth’s going to kill me,” he said, “but I don’t think you need us at all.  The ranine designs you already deploy don’t have any trouble getting a Bulwark Petronaut off the ground, do they?  And a Bulwark ‘naut in full armor’s gotta be eighty percent of the weight of this Flicker; maybe even the same, if their suits are steel and this alloy of yours is as light as all that.  And I can’t imagine your test pilots are bulked-up the way Bulwark grunts are.  I mean, who flies your things?”

“Knighted ‘nauts and expert techs, mostly,” Ensie said, her eyes widening.  There was a whole new energy to him.