Valeria Read Online Free PDF Page A

longer before the pull-up snapped the wings?
    “I will! We’ve got another four seconds before we’re in danger,” she called back, laughing.
    “What? How d–” he cut himself off, “Don’t risk it, damn it,” he shouted.
    Her hands eased back on the stick. He felt the wings shift down, the tail angle slowly, and they eased out of freefall into the fastest flight he’d ever experienced, making his eyes water and his face freeze even with his scarf and hat tied close. He blinked, realizing his goggles were still atop his head, and fumbled them over his eyes, trying to think properly around Valeria’s jingling laugh, the wind in his ears, and the clamoring conviction that he had escaped certain death by the ground for the second time in as many days.
    “That…was…” he panted. “Are you insane?”
    “That was wonderful,” she crowed.
    “Not the word I was going to use,” he muttered under his breath. She didn’t hear him, leaning forward in her seat as she jammed her foot on a pedal, banking the airfoil a hard right and pulling up. They turned in a tight, upward spiral that made Mache nervous though he was sure he’d done it himself the moment he’d received his free flight certificate. Instead of screaming, he gripped Valeria’s waist, one eye wincing in fear.
    The airfoil evened out and there was a strange clunk in the nose. Then there was another. The plane didn’t shift in the air, though he felt several vibrations. “Are you sure you’ve never flown before?” he shouted against the wind.
    “Only behind the CEO,” she shouted in return, and pushed them into another dive and climb cycle. Mache tried not to show the terror pounding in his ears.
    “Does she do this kind of thing?” he asked.
    “Never.”
    “Then why are you?”
    She laughed. “Because it’s fun, silly.”
    Well, that settled that. He was going to die.
    * * * *
    Valeria was a natural once in the air. It shocked Mache, who needed many hours of training to not cringe with every buffeting airstream. The air might have been his favorite place to be, but that didn’t mean he had no respect for it. They looped and lazily circled the dirigible for nearly an hour before Mache finally brought up the nerve to mention landing. “Maybe I should land,” he said.
    “Oh!” Valeria said, still grinning with delighted joy. “I’m sorry. Did you want a turn?”
    “No, no, quite all right,” Mache said. “This is my job, remember?”
    “I’m sure it’s different,” Valeria said. She changed subjects. “What kind of failure made you crash?”
    “The wing was pushing my nose down,” Mache said, and started as she turned without warning to look, whipping hair in his face. “When I tried to bang it back, it broke and I lost a lot of maneuverability. I was trying to make an emergency landing under Sky Post regulations.”
    She scrutinized the wing for a moment and then leaned in to look at him. “It snapped off in your hand?”
    “Aluminum,” he said with a guilty smile. “I think it broke in the cold?”
    “How long had you been flying?”
    “An hour and a half when it malfunctioned, two when I crashed.”
    Valeria was silent as she took them in a gentle loop around the ship. “Okay, I guess we can learn landing later.”
    “Only if you promise not to pull the brake ahead of time,” Mache said, unable to erase the relief in his voice. Valeria looked at him, and though he couldn’t see her eye behind her goggle tinting, he got the feeling she was frowning. He didn’t feel like retracting the words and didn’t offer anything more.
    They changed seats awkwardly, but the airfoil remained steady. Valeria leaned over, resting her chin on his shoulder as he took the controls and tested them to get a feel for the craft. It was no wonder Valeria had done well. It was rock steady in the air. He frowned in contemplation as he dipped the airfoil this way and that. The aircraft moved easily enough, and there was a faint touch of