lived which appalled me. Death has a sort of dignity, but the maimed
are obscene. She looked at him with almost fear in her eyes. That's
cruel, David. In Africa there is a beautiful and fierce animal called
the sable antelope. They run together in herds of up to a hundred, but
when one of them is hurt, wounded by a hunter or mauled by a lion, the
lead bulls turn upon him and drive him from the herd. I remember my
father telling me about that, he would say that if you want to be a
winner then you must avoid the company of the losers for their despair
is contagious. God, David, that's a terribly hard way to look at life.
'Perhaps, David agreed, but then, you see, life is hard. When they made
love, there was for the first time a quality of desperation in it, for
it was the eve of parting and they had been reminded of their mortality.
In the morning David went to join his squadron and Debra locked the
house on Malik Street.
Each day for seventeen days David flew two, and sometimes three,
sorties. In the evenings, if they were not flying night interceptions,
there were lectures and training films, and after that not much desire
for anything but a quick meal and then sleep.
The Colonel, le Dauphin, had flown one sortie with David. He was a
small man with a relaxed manner and quick, shrewd eyes. He had made his
judgement quickly.
After that first day, David and Joe flew together, and David moved his
gear into the locker across from Joe in the underground quarters that
the crews on standby used.
In those seventeen days the last links in an iron friendship were
forged. David's flare and dash balanced perfectly with Joe's rock-solid
dependability.
David would always be the star while Joe seemed destined to be the
accompanist, the straight guy who was a perfect foil, the wingman
without personal ambition for glory whose talent was to put his number
one into the position for the strike.
Quickly they developed into a truly formidable team, so perfectly in
accord that communication in the air was almost extra-sensory, similar
to the instantaneous reaction of the bird flock or the shoal of fish.
Joe sitting out there behind him was for David like a million dollars in
insurance. His tail was secure and he could concentrate on the special
task that his superior eyesight and lightning reactions were so suited
to. David was the gunfighter, in a service where the gunfighter was
supreme.
The I. A. F. had been the first to appreciate the shortcomings of
the-air-to-air missile, and relied heavily on the classic type of air
combat. A missile could be induced to run stupid. It was possible to
make its computer think in a set pattern and then sucker it with a break
in the pattern. For every three hundred missile launches in air-to-air
combat, a single strike could be expected.
However, if you had a gunfighter coming up into your six o'clock
position with his finger on the trigger of twin 30-mm. cannons, capable
of pouring twelve thousand shells a minute into you, then your chances
were considerably lighter than three hundred to one.
Joe also had his own special talent. The forward scanning radar of the
Mirage was a complicated and sophisticated body of electronics, that
required firstly a high degree of manual dexterity. The mechanism was
operated entirely by the left hand, and the fingers of that hand had to
move like those of a concert pianist. However, more important was the
feel for the instrument, a lover's touch to draw the optimum results
from it. Joe had the feel, David did not.
They flew training interceptions, day and night, against high-flying and
low-altitude practice targets.
They flew low-level training strikes, and at other times they went out
high over the Mediterranean and engaged each other in plane-to-plane
dogfights.
However, Desert Flower steered them tactfully away from any actual or
potential combat situation. They were watching David.
At the end of the period, David's service dossier passed over
Major-General Mordecai's desk. Personnel was the Brig's special
responsibility and although each officer's dossier was reviewed by him
regularly, he had asked particularly to see David's.
The dossier was still slim, compared to the bulky tomes of some of the
old salts and the Brig flicked quickly over his own initial
recommendation and the documents of David's acting commission. Then he
stopped to read the later reports and results. He grinned wolfishly as
he saw the gunnery report. He could pick them out of a crowd, he
thought with satisfaction.
At last he came to le Dauphin's personal appraisaclass="underline" Morgan is a pilot of
exceptional ability. Recommended that acting rank be confirmed and that
he be placed on fully operational basis forthwith. The Brig picked up
the red pen that was his own special prerogative and scrawled J agree at
the foot of the report.
That took care of Morgan, the pilot. He could now consider Morgan, the
man. His expression became bleak and severe. Debra's sudden desire to
leave home almost immediately David arrived in Jerusalem had been too
much of a coincidence for a man who was trained to search for underlying
motives and meanings.
It had taken him two days and a few phone calls to learn that Debra was
merely using the hostel room at the University as an accommodation
address, and that her real domestic arrangements were more comfortable.
The Brig did not approve, very definitely not. Yet he knew that it was
beyond his jurisdiction. He learned that his daughter had inherited his
own iron will. Confrontations between them were cataclysmic events,
that shook the family to its foundations and seldom ended in
satisfactory results.
Although he spent much of his time with young people, still he found the
new values hard to live with - let alone accept. He remembered the
physical agony of his long and chaste engagement to Ruth with pride,
like a veteran reviewing an old campaign.
Well, at the least she has the sense not to flout it, not to bring shame
on us all. She has spared her mother that. The Brig closed the dossier
firmly.
Le Dauphin called David into his office and told him of his change in
status. He would go on regular green standby, which meant four nights a
week on base.
David would not have to undergo his paratrooper training in unarmed
combat and weapons. A downed pilot in Arab territory had a much better
chance of survival if he was proficient in this type of fighting.
David went straight from le Dauphin's office to the telephone in the
crew-room. He caught Debra before she left the Lauterman Building for
lunch.
Warm the bed, wench, he told her, I'll be home tomorrow night.
He and Joe drove up to Jerusalem in the Mercedes, and he wasn't
listening to Joe's low rumbling voice until a thumb like an oar prodded
his ribs.
Sorry, Joe, I was thinking.
Well, stop it. Your thoughts are misting up the windows. What did you
say?
J was talking about the wedding, Hannah and me. David realized it was
only a month away now, and he expected the excitement amongst the women
was heavy as static on a summer's day before the rain. Debra's letters
had been filled with news of the arrangements.
I would be happy if you will stand up with me, and be my witness. You