Titanium Texicans Read Online Free Page B

waiting for daylight to dig into the engine, but he decided against it. The problem might be an easy fix and he could be on his way again.
    He didn’t see any smoke or overt damage. The little engine looked fine. He popped open a panel, studied the schematics in the manual and stared at the pieces and parts. It took a while, but he spotted the problem. There was a broken tie rod between the rear fan adjustment valve and the air induction flow monitor. Of course, tie rods were an unbreakable design so there weren’t any replacements in the toolkit.
    Tasso worked the tie rod until the piece popped free and he looked at both ends. The tie rod wasn’t broken, but partially cut through.

CHAPTER 4
    TASSO LOOKED around at the darkness. The night was too dark to see much beyond the lights of the little flitter. He was as close to the safety of the flitter as he could be and he was as far from the flitter as he could get. He put the tie rod on a flat rock, butting the cut ends up against each other. He braced them with other rocks, holding them in place.
    He had one long electrical cord stripped from the entertainment center in the console. He hadn’t even known the flitter had an entertainment center, much less that the system was loaded with music and holos. He had a second electrical cord made up of a series of short lengths he twisted together. He deemed half a dozen systems unnecessary, like the transponder, the running lights and the holo-vision set.
    He wired one end of each electrical cord into the engine power outlet and he wrapped an extra pair of socks around the other ends. He turned his eyes away and squeezed them shut as he touched the loose ends of the wires together and lowered the sparking, glowing end onto the tie rod. At home he would’ve used the arc welder and the welder’s helmet in the barn.
    He was sure the heat would melt the cut ends of the tie rod, but he wasn’t sure whether it would melt it into uselessness or meld them together. The dazzling flashes were too bright to watch it welding, melting, or melding. The light was painfully bright through his eyelids. He hoped he didn’t short out the power box. He really hoped he didn’t start a brush fire. He really, really hoped he didn’t set his spare socks on fire.
    He yanked the two wires apart. He blinked in the dim light, willing the spots before his eyes to go away. He stared up into the night sky and swore there were more stars than usual. He shook his head. Two bright lights wouldn’t go away. In fact, they seemed to be getting brighter and larger. He realized another aircraft was setting down in the field.
    Tasso calmly walked back to his flitter and stood next to the open hatch. He didn’t like strangers. They made him nervous. Of course, he didn’t have much experience meeting strangers. Plus, someone cut the tie rod on the flitter. He didn’t know when they did it. He didn’t know how they did it. He didn’t know why they did it. Most of all, he didn’t know who did it.
    The other aircraft settled into the weeds a few meters away. A couple stepped into the lights of his flitter. The man was huge, bearded, and rough looking. He nodded at Tasso, but didn’t move any closer. The woman was as tall as the man, but slight and pale. Even in the dim flitter light, Tasso could see her freckles.
    “Mr. Menzies, I assume,” the man said.
    “Yes, sir,” Tasso replied. “I’m Tasso Menzies.”
    “Where is your grandfather, boy?”
    Tasso didn’t answer. His grandfather was his own business.
    “I see your grandfather still didn’t teach you manners,” the man said with a shake of his head.
    “You don’t remember us, do you, son?” the woman asked. “We’re the Lamonts, your neighbors.”
    Tasso reached down and grabbed Grandpa’s shotgun from the front seat. He didn’t point the gun at the Lamonts. He rested it in the crook of one arm, thumbed the selector to chain shot, and took two steps forward.
    Mr. Lamont didn’t back up,