Zachariah, Sola, and Bolan stood beside their aircraft. Gold Bug rode on Zachariah’s

shoulder as he normally did. Knife and Hardy stood by their partners. Hardy seemed

to have grown another half-inch to Zachariah’s eye.

If he kept growing, he would have to ride on the outside of any craft they built, or in

his nest where he waited to be summoned.

“We’re going to have to do our checks in a few minutes,” said Zachariah. “Keep an

eye out for those boys. I think they would sabotage us if we let them.”

“The Keller Kids,” said Bolan. “The rumor is they crash other pilots so they can win

the race, but they have only won two, or three, times in the last ten years.”

“They probably just like to mess other people up,” said Sola. “Oh, look at the rabbit.

He’s so cute.”

Zachariah noted that the cute rabbit impersonator was carrying some kind of lizard

in his hands. He wondered what kind of lizard it could be, but he didn’t know if he

should presume to ask.

Brother Rabbit had shown he was ready to fight at the drop of a personal insult.

The rabbit walked their way as he headed for his slot in the take offs. His ears stood

tall as he grinned at the Riordianians.

“Hello, Zach,” said Brother Rabbit. “This your boat?”

“Yes,” said Zachariah. “This is my daughter, Sola. This is my assistant, Bolan.”

The children made gestures of greeting.

“Is that your pet?,” said Sola. She concentrated on the lizard in the pooka’s hands.

“No,” said Brother Rabbit. “This is Pearl. She’s going to be carrying me for the race.

We made a deal. If we succeed, she gets half the winnings.”

“She looks too small to carry you,” said Sola.

“She will do fine once she wakes up,” said Brother Rabbit. “Luckily, we’ll be able to

use some of your countrymen as cover when we launch.”

“Bolan told me the Kellers, the boys we ran into last night, wreck racers,” said

Zachariah. “Be careful, and keep your eyes open.”

“They’re mechanical prodigies,” said Brother Rabbit. “Don’t worry. I can take care

of myself.”

Zachariah nodded. He couldn’t do anything more for the Shae. His responsibility was

to his racer and his crew. If things went bad, he would do what he could, but the

Rocket needed to be tested before he could do anything more with it.

“Let me take my spot,” said Brother Rabbit. “They’ll be calling us out in a few more

minutes.”

“We need to start doing our own checks,” said Zachariah. “Well met, Brother

Rabbit.”

“Well met, master maker,” said the pooka. He walked down the track to where three,

or four, Riordianians waited with their daemons ready to carry them in the sky.

Other racers hurried by the Rocket as Zachariah and his crew watched the field. Gear

Octo waved a gloved hand as he jogged to where his flying machine needed to be

checked for take off.

“Let’s get going,” said Zachariah. “We need to make sure we don’t blow up on take

off.”

“This baby will roll,” said Bolan. “I don’t understand how you put the engine

together, but I looked at all the notes. The only thing we have to worry about is

sabotage from one of the other teams.”

“And it won’t explode?,” asked Sola.

“Only if someone puts a keg of powder aboard,” said Bolan.

“Which is why we’re going to do the checks and watch anyone coming too close to

the Rocket until we launch,” said Zachariah. “Make sure the map reader is working,

Sola. Bolan and I can keep the Racer in the air. You’re the one making sure we don’t

get lost.”

“Right,” said Sola. “Let’s go, Hardy. We’re going to be the best navigators ever.”

Sola helped Hardy into the cabin of the flying machine. She climbed up after and

went to her station to the right of the pilot’s seat. She powered up the compass and

movable map parts. She put in the route for the whole race. The picture squares

flipped as she watched them mark out the line of travel for her. They came to a stop

when the phantom racer reached Messer’s Reach from the other side of the continent.

That part seemed to work out well enough.

She powered up the other consoles. Everything looked fine to her. Readings on

moving squares told her the Rocket stood ready. All they needed was the signal from

the officials to take flight.

She heard Bolan and Da walking the undershell. They had a checklist of things to be

in place before launching. It sounded like they were almost through with it.

Da had explained if one thing went wrong before they got off the ground, it was

fixable. If the same thing happened in the air and they hadn’t looked for it before

taking flight, then that was careless and deserved whatever fate decided to mete out.

“All the consoles look ready,” Sola called down. “Readings are consistent so far.”

“We’re ready to go,” said Bolan.

Zachariah nodded. It had taken a bit of doing, and devising the engine based on one

of Gold Bug’s machines had been most of the work, but they were ready to take to the

air. He couldn’t believe it.

“Let’s get aboard,” said Zachariah. “We’re going to have a long flight to Baldwin. I

think if things go right, we might be able to pass most of the others on the way.”

“How fast do you think we’ll be able to fly?,” asked Bolan.

“Faster than the next man in the sky,” said Zachariah.

“We’re in the last slot, Da,” said Sola. She sat down in front of the navigation board.

“We’ll have to burn the sky up to catch some of those other racers.”

“We won’t be able to catch them all,” said Zachariah. “But we will be able to catch

the slower ones. Some of those machines weren’t meant for a race like this.”

“The only ones we’ll have problems with are the Keller boys and some of the daemon

riders,” said Bolan. “Those babies can sprint for miles to get ahead, and then glide the

rest of the way in.”

“We’ll be able to catch them on a long stretch,” said Zachariah. He settled in the

pilot’s chair. “But this is a giant lap around. We could be surprised by whatever the

others have hidden. They have been racing a lot longer than we have.”

Bolan settled in the chair on the right. He had the readings from the engines, power

couplings, and everything else at his fingertips. A glance said everything looked good

to him.

“All we need now is our launch call,” said Zachariah. “I should have brought some

food for our wait.”

“I packed a lunch,” said Sola. “Let’s wait until we’re on the way to Baldwin before

we start trying to eat.”

“We can picnic in flight,” said Bolan. “That’ll be great.”

“Excellent,” said Zachariah. “I should have thought about the lunch.”

“You were both busy with the last minute things we needed to have done,” said Sola.

“Besides I would rather have it to eat instead of waiting until we land.”

“Can everyone hear me?,” said a voice booming over the field. “This is Ronald Bell

Thrower. I need everyone to go to your machines and start your engines.”

Zachariah and Bolan looked at their instruments and changing number squares. The

machinist looked over at his assistant. The boy nodded in confirmation.

“All right,” said Ronald. “When I give the word, you will launch according to your

number, circle the city twice, and then head for Baldwin. As soon as you check in

there, you should get some rest, refuel, and then head out for the next leg of the race

which is over Corwin’s Mansions, and then to Lobster Castle. Once you reach

Lobster Castle, you are to do two loops around the island and then head southwest to

the Crater Desert. Once you reach the checkpoint there, you are to fly to Riordiana

Harbor, then back here to the field. Pilots should keep their checkpoint tallies in hand

at all times to verify that you landed and talked to race officials. Everyone understand

the route?”

“Who is he asking?,” said Sola.

“The crowd, maybe?,” said Bolan.

“It doesn’t matter,” said Zachariah. “We have to keep an eye on the racer ahead of us,

Sir Dormir.”

“The Alvas?,” said Bolan.

“Yes,” said Zachariah. “It looks like he entered another tree this year.”

“So as soon as he is in the air, we go,” said Bolan. “Why does he enter trees? They’re

not very efficient for flying things.”

“I don’t know,” said Zachariah. “I should have asked him how he was deploying the

magic in case we needed help on our own design.”

“We couldn’t use it,” said Bolan.

“Not as magic,” said Zachariah. “We could have adapted our own methods to work

around if needed it.”

“Everyone is going,” said Sola. “Is the tree moving yet?”

“Not yet,” said Zachariah. “There’s still a few racers ahead of him.”

Brother Rabbit walked up to the start line. He watched the racers in the air as he

waited to be called. When the announcer called his name, he threw Pearl to the

ground. She grew into an enormous dragon lizard. He climbed aboard as the dragon

exploded into the air.

“Maybe they have a chance after all,” said Bolan.

“That’s a big lizard,” said Sola. “It’s almost as big as the Rocket.”

“Everyone has to show off,” said Zachariah.

Sir Dormir’s tree advanced behind the other fliers on its roots. When his name was

called, he commanded the tree to fly. It floated from the start line, following the

designated flight path.

“I wonder how he gets any thrust,” said Zachariah. “But it is flying.”

“We can worry about that later, Da,” said Sola. “Take us up to the finish line so we

can launch.”

“You’re right,” said Zachariah. He worked the throttle and the Rocket floated to its

spot at the start line.

As the sky cleared some, Zachariah’s name was called and he jammed the throttle

open while working the stick. The Rocket launched into the air with a burst of speed.

The kids cheered as Zachariah smiled to himself.