“I think we’re about ready to try,”Dex says, taking off again and racing back out, much faster this time. “I suggest I do the test myself, while you and Kenz’ox and Aker’iz stay well back in case something goes wrong.”
It’s what we’ve all been waiting for, testing the saucer. Our future lives depend a lot on whether or not it can still fly and be controlled. I wanted to make Dex his propellers first, which has taken days of testing and failed attempts, because those things had to be very precisely made. And neither Kenz’ox nor I ever did much wood carving.
I watch as Dex flies around inside the saucer, prparing for the test. “So you couldn’t fly without all six propellers?”
He stops in mid-air and hovers.“Why do you ask?”
I lean my hip on a console. “Because looking at you fly now, it looks like you have plenty of power. Power to spare, even.”
“Ah. Well, since you’ve figured it out anyway: yes, I could fly with only four propellers. Not as well and not as fast, but I could do it.”
“And did you do it?”
He tilts one side down and backup .“A few times.”
I nod slowly. “Did it have anything to do with Aker’iz? I ask because her being born is a very strange thing to have happen to a tribe that had already have something strange happen: you arriving.”
Dex settles down on a console and spins down.“Not bad, Theodora. I wondered if you’d see the connection. Yes, it was I who manipulated Kenz’ox’s Lifegiver to make a female. It was a challenge. I flew out of the basket several dark nights in a row to do it. Nobody noticed.”
“Why did you do it?”
“Partly for the challenge of it. I was bored in that basket and I wanted something to happen. The tribe was stagnant and passive. Kenz’ox was by far the best of them, and I wanted to see how they would react to something really interesting happening. I didn’t know they would react the way they did. I was horrified, but also entertained.”
“All right. If you don’t mind me asking-”
“No, I think that was it. No more questions.”He buzzes again, takes off and sets down on the main console.“Now for the test.”
“Okay,” I mutter and saunter over to the playpen.
They’re both in there, playing with a stick, two pieces of leather, and four wheels that I want to put on Aker’iz’s cradle to turn it into a cart. She got hold of one of them and was so fascinated that I let her have them all for now. “Dex will try to fly the saucer,” I tell them.
“Daarggggl,” Aker’iz says, holding out a wheel for me to look at. It’s just a thin cross-section of a round tree trunk, not very even.
“Then we should watch,” Kenz’ox says and steps out of the pen, then lifts Aker’iz into his arms. “From a safe distance.”
I know he doesn’t trust Dex after all the weird things the drone said while in his village. But right now, we have no choice. He could take off and leave us behind, forever stranded on Xren. He might crash the thing into the ground and destroy it forever. The drone is perfectly polite and pleasant, but there’s an undertone of something weird in him. That could be because he was made by aliens and also because his voice sounds so tinny, of course.
Dex does a quick loop and stops in front of us, buzzing while all his propellers spin. There’s a little dissonance in the sound, probably from my moderate wood-carving skills.“I will first raise it, have it hover, and rotate in place. If that works well, I will go higher and probably see if I can take it out over the beach.”
“You will come back, right?” I ask for certainty. I prefer speaking English with Dex.
“I will not do the full test today,”Dex tells me. “A short test will give me data to process so that I can control the craft better at higher speeds and greater distances.”
“I think that means ‘yes,’” I mutter to nobody in particular. “You said you are nearly blind,” I say louder. “Will that affect your control of the saucer?”
“Severely,”the drone says and flies into the saucer, closing the hatch.
“Umm. Okay…”
“What was that?” Kenz’ox asks.
I take his hand. “He will only do a short test and come right back. I think.”
“Ah. If he doesn’t, we lose our safe home,” my husband rumbles. “That would be unfortunate.”
“Yes,” I agree absentmindedly as the saucer slowly rises a foot into the air. I’m not so worried about Dex leaving as about the saucer not working.
The Plood flying saucer keeps rising, slowly but surely. Some debris falls off it, some plants are pulled out with their roots, and some branches are still attached to the hull. But the saucer itself looks perfectly fine as it ascends. Soon it touches the treetops, and there’s the sound of branches breaking before it rains leaves and twigs and certain small creatures that plummet to the ground from the leafy canopy, then scurry out of sight.
