She heard Dane’s voice right outside.
“Okay, cuff release.”
Bending her elbows triggered the cuffs—they slipped off.
“Hands on the grips,” he told her. “Cable release when you’re ready.”
On either side of her, at shoulder level, was a short handgrip. She grabbed on. The grip on the right included a small lever she compressed with her hand. Click! “Cable free.”
“Now drop your knees toward your chest …”
Her knees pressed against the panel in front of her but nothing happened. “Uh, am I doing this right?”
“Your knees should be pressing against the panel.”
“They are.”
“Oh, brother!” Dane yanked a packing bolt from the escape hatch locking mechanism. “Attention, everybody!” All the techs and observers on the floor looked up at him. He held up the bolt for them to see. “This packing bolt should only be in place during transport of the pod. Be sure to flag it and remove it before the stunt. Got it?”
They were embarrassed. Good thing. Seamus looked disgusted, but with good reason.
“Okay,” he called to her, “knees against the panel.”
She kneed the panel and it popped open. She pushed against the grips, lifting her body, and with one quick tumble, she was out on the platform. High fives.
“Is she out?” came Seamus’s voice from below.
Mandy peered around the mirror system that would hide her escape and gave him a thumbs up. He looked astounded, then delighted.
Okay, so more than just the illusion was working.
Twelve days before Mandy’s premiere …
Dane met with Preston Gabriel, Emile DeRondeau, and Keisha Ellerman in a tree-shaded picnic area behind an elementary school near Preston’s house.
“Mandy’s checked out in the pod,” Dane reported. “All systems are go.”
Emile asked, “Go? Going?”
Keisha told him, “ ‘All systems are go.’ It’s old astronaut talk.”
“Ohhh.”
Dane asked Preston, “Comfortable with the big room show?”
“It’s coming together on schedule. Emile’s building the sets and I’ll bring up some effects from LA. We’ll be ready for the premiere.”
“So Keisha, what’ve you got?” Dane asked.
Keisha opened her sketchbook. “The Grand Illusion involves these two designs …” She flipped to the pages. “This one, in black leather with silver tunic, is in keeping with the macabre, medieval aspect of the stunt’s opening. The cuff release is integrated into the waistband, and I’ll include some extra banding around her ankles as she requested. It’s cut with a little extra room to fit over this one …” The flowing, angelic costume in glimmering white got an immediate reaction. “This was her idea, something totally opposite the black outfit to express a metamorphosis from death to life, escaping this world and soaring to heaven. The train and the streamers fold up against her back inside the leather suit, and the quick change deploys in less than a second.” Keisha loved the thought of it. “Like a butterfly from a cocoon.”
“Weight?” Preston asked.
“Ten and one-half ounces.”
He nodded with a smile and wrote it down.
“The harness is sewn into the gown in this waistband, in the sash, and in the bodice. And these slots running along the tops of the sleeves will hold the torso rigging and trapeze clamps.”
“Those clamps are nearly ready,” Emile told her.
“What about the rigging?” Dane asked Emile.
Emile looked at Preston, who shared his concern. “The weight turned out to be a problem. We’ll have to go with a smaller-size filament. It’ll handle the load but it’s tougher to keep from tangling and obviously it’s tougher to see.”
“We’re sewing it up right now,” said Preston. “We’ll test it tomorrow and give you a report.”
“Fantastic.”
“So how’s she enjoying the hang gliding?”
Dane allowed himself a grim chuckle. “It’s the only thing that doesn’t make her nervous.”
chapter
48
Ten days before Mandy’s premiere …
Hands on the control bar and take off running. Feel that big kite lifting, pulling on the harness. Step off, ride on the air. You’re a bird.
It was Mandy’s second solo, and none too soon. She sailed close to the mountain slope, picking up speed, rocks and scrub blurring under her and looking close enough to tickle her belly. Down the slope was an SUV parked on a dirt road, its tailgate open, its cargo space filled with cages of doves. Preston Gabriel stood ready.
She’d reached through time and space and guided her doves plenty of times before, but never from a hang glider, and never quite as many.
Preston released the birds—twelve this time—and they fluttered from the SUV like tiny angels, wings flashing in the sun. They were circling, orienting, looking for her. She veered slightly left to keep them to her right.
“C’mon, birdies!” she called. She reached, wide awake, eyes open, much of her mind on her own flying.
There! She found Carson, her veteran, el primo. He responded right away, flying in the envelope of her invisible hand, power climbing to meet her. Maybelle and Lily followed him as they always did; Bonkers came around from one of his search circles, made eye contact, and came from behind. She had them, could feel them, and they could sense her, their Momma Dove. Now for the others. She’d worked with them on the ground and gotten them used to the effect. She hoped the training would stick in flight.
It did! First one, then two, then another one, then three more, then the rest all responded to her interdimensional touch— Oops! Not that way, over here!—and followed as she swooped past the SUV and Preston Gabriel waved.
She caught an updraft and could feel the sudden lift in her stomach. C’mon, birdies, c’mon!
They followed her in no particular formation, just flying along, playing a game.
Okay … Carson, take the lead… .
She reached and guided Carson to a point straight ahead of the wing, then set Lily and Maybelle wing-to-wing behind him. Bonkers happily slipped into the rear of the diamond formation.
Now for the point of the exercise: could she handle the rest of the birds and still have enough awareness to fly the glider? She still had envelopes around the others and extra copies of herself to keep track of things, so she and some other shes—she didn’t count how many, she was too busy flying the glider—went to work putting this dove here, those two over there, arranging, arranging, holding in place, aligning— wow, what a trip!The doves seemed to like it. They certainly weren’t alarmed. Maybe they felt sheltered, as if back in their nests.
The moment came. She got them into formation, the diamond out front, four wing-to-wing on the left in a swept-back line, four wing-to-wing on the right in a swept-back line, one big, graceful migratory V aligned perfectly with the glider’s leading edge—and they were holding formation! She could feel, touch, guide each and every one of them, and they were letting her, easy and steady, just doing what birds do.
It was weird, but oh, so beautiful!
Eight days before Mandy’s premiere …
Preston Gabriel had to strike a few deals and grease a few palms, but he got what he wanted: use of a rubble-strewn vacant lot where an old hotel had been imploded and a new one would soon be built. The lot was one of the few open areas left in town, and as luck and Providence would have it, only one block from the Orpheus. Wearing orange reflective vests and hard hats to look like they belonged there, Preston and a crewman walked the empty ground and looked back at the Orpheus to get a compass bearing. According to the weather forecast, the winds should be light and favorable. A little prayer might help.
The day before Mandy’s premiere …
VOOOOM!
Now, that was one impressive volcano. When the forty propane jets ignited and filled the crater with flame, the effect made Dane jump. He could feel the heat halfway up the bleachers. Andy the stage manager had warned all cast and crew to clear the stage for the burn, and with good reason. The heat was enough to singe their hair if not worse.