Aloft (Petronaut Tales) Read Online Free Page B

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.
    “So, right!  When I think of a burly man or woman in armor jumping through the air no problem, and then I envision someone on the svelte side—like you—piloting a Flicker that, all things being equal, is the same weight but with, you know, better airflow?”
    “Hang on,” she said.
    “Sure.  Sorry.  I know I don’t have the right terminology—”
    “Did you say, uh.” 
    She pressed her lips together.  Business!   But there was no hope. 
    “Did you say I’m ‘on the svelte side?’”
    Cooper’s looked down at her.  His face went gray with horror.
    “I hope that word means what I think it means,” he whispered.
    She looked to the far wall.   Cute?  Petite?  Is that what you meant?  She longed to ask him that like a Parade squad nymph would say it, drifting towards him with an archly raised eyebrow and a lazy, kissable half-smile.  But just playacting through the line in her head set a swarm of nervous giggles buzzing around in her throat, perilously close to her voice box, and it was all she could do to keep a lid on them.
    “You’re.”  Was that my voice?  The word was a mortifying squeak. 
    Ensie swallowed and tried again.  “You’re right that the aerodynamic profile of the Flicker sure beats an armored ‘naut,” she said, folding the corner of the blueprints back for the fourteenth time.  “And weights are comparable.  But the jumping action we’re thinking of is on a different scale.”
    “Ah, okay.  Higher elevations.”
    “Yes, but more importantly, jumping’s the primary locomotion for the Flicker.  A ‘naut can leap around from time to time, sure, but most of what they do is run.  A totally different use of the coils and their, uh, built-in suspensions.  Their legs.”
    “Whereas the Flicker does nothing but jump,” Cooper said, rubbing the back of his neck.
    “Jump, and glide, and jump, and glide.  You see?  That’s why we need to make sure the coil box we build can handle tons of impacts, and launch with tons of force; but not so much force that the pilot loses control.  See?  It’s tricky.”
    “It’s tricky,” he agreed.  Cooper raised his hands.  “To be honest, though, I’d trust you Aerials more to make it work right than I’d trust us.”
    “But, uh.”  Was he really going to walk out of her life because he was too honest to land his company a contract?  Keep him.  Keep him here! a hungry voice blared out somewhere inside her.
    “You must have done something this size