“Absolutely, positively, never,” Skylark said, “and I’m not about to start, so just get me back on the ground now.”
“You lucky girl, you,” Lottie said. “We’re offering you a free jump today. What about you, Arnie?”
“Yes, I got my certificate in the Army. For solo as well as tandem.”
Lottie’s eyes lit up. “Great, then you can do the jump with Skylark?”
“Well … yes.”
“Primo,” Lottie answered. “Here was I thinking I would have to take you both down myself. This really solves my problem — I’m expected back this afternoon to do our stocktake. Not to mention that I only got my hair done yesterday and helmets play havoc with the styling.”
“Haven’t you heard anything I’ve said?” Skylark yelled. “I know I’ve come all this way to go through the Time Portal but jumping out of a plane is not on the agenda and I’m not going to do it.”
“Of course you are,” Lottie answered.
“Oh no I’m not.”
“Oh yes you are.”
Skylark started to push Lottie away, but every time she pushed, Lottie pulled. Before Skylark knew it, one arm was in one sleeve, the other arm was in the second.
“What are you doing!” Skylark screamed. She kicked at Lottie, and one leg went into the jumpsuit. She kicked again and, oh, clever Lottie twisted, zipped and voilà!
“Done,” Lottie said. By magic, Skylark had been trussed up like a turkey.
Meanwhile, Arnie was really sparking, gung ho, loving every minute — and Skylark hated him for it. “I think you’ve met your match, Skylark,” he said.
“And I th-think you’re about to m-meet yours!” Quentin said to Lottie. “The tower has c-contacted the Department of C–Conservation. They’ve got a plane on the r-runway right n-now. They’re coming after us.”
Lottie clambered back into the pilot’s seat. “This is all your fault, Quentin.” she said.
Quentin let it pass. “The pursuit p-plane is in radio c-contact with us, Lottie. What do you want me to do?”
“Ignore them. Keep pretending that our radio is broken — and don’t forget to break it before we land! Otherwise we’ll really be in the proverbial.”
Skylark cast her eyes upward: If there is a God in Heaven …
“So what’s with the Department of Conservation?” Arnie asked. “Why would they try to stop this plane?”
“Well,” Lottie began, “what we’re planning to do is not exactly wrong, but it’s not exactly right either.”
“I gathered as much,” Arnie said.
“The fact is that where we’re going was once part of Nani Deedee’s land. But it was taken by DOC when some fool tribal elder blabbed about what was on it. They came to take a look and, next minute, Nani was slapped with a forced sale of the land when DOC brought in a new Act of Parliament which allowed them to do it. Some Act to do with historic places or antiquities, blah blah blah. Anyhow our lawyers are on to it, so the point of view I take is that the land is still ours, though DOC says it isn’t. Meantime, the police have put the land off limits until the matter is settled in the courts. No trespassers are allowed there. But I don’t consider myself a trespasser.”
“So what exactly is there?” Skylark asked.
“Why, the Cathedral of the Birds of course,” Lottie said. “I thought you knew. You don’t? Well, in the days when the manu whenua ruled the world, they were born, lived their lives and died in the Great Forest. At old age, when they felt Death approaching them, many of the birds would actually fly to particular places in the Great Forest to wait for His coming.” Lottie unrolled a topographical map and pointed out the location. “One such a spot is here. See how it’s adjacent to Nani Deedee’s land?
“Now, the place that I’m referring to is over 150,000 years old. It’s a secret location. The ground is porous limestone and, over the years, rain has carved out channels that lead to potholes and subterranean caverns. No wonder DOC went gaga when they saw it. Well, when the birds said their farewells to the world above and died, their bodies lay on the ground. When the rains came, they washed the bones down the limestone channels and into the labyrinth below. You must remember that we are talking about thousands of birds and millions of beautiful fragile bones. Eventually, all the bones piled higher and higher and collected in one giant amphitheatre. Nani Deedee described it to me once. When she shone her torchlight in that place the light shimmered on all those tiny bird skeletons and made it look like a giant cathedral. She thought it was a holy place. She told me that she was able to walk through it to a small circle at the very centre of the cathedral.”
Lottie’s eyes gleamed with awe. “That is where the Time Portal is.”
“Couldn’t I have walked there?” Skylark wailed.
“Not an option, sweetheart. You left no time for yourself. You’re jumping, and I’m sorry if you don’t like it, but you’ll just have to be very brave and suck on it.”
At that moment, the plane lurched. Lottie grabbed at the webbing that covered the interior fuselage to prevent her from falling. “Jeez, Quentin, can’t you keep the plane level?”
“Sorry c-cuz, but I’ve just had v-visual contact with the pursuit plane. From the l-look of it, I think W-Wayne’s on our case.”
“Get out of here,” Lottie yelled. “Dive, dive, dive!”
“Great,” Skylark muttered. “Now we’re turning into a submarine.”
The plane went into an almost vertical descent. The engines whined, and boxes, equipment, anything that wasn’t strapped down, came flying through the air. Down the plane went, through the clouds to the clear air below. Quentin levelled out.
“Do you think they saw us?” Arnie asked Lottie.
“I don’t think so,” Lottie answered.
Next moment there was another whining sound, and through the clouds came the pursuit aircraft. It drew level and the pilot looked across at Lottie and shook his finger at her. His voice came over Lottie’s headphones: “Betty Boop, you naughty, naughty girl, over.”
“Bloody Wayne,” Lottie said. She clambered back into the pilot’s seat.
“Turn back, Betty Boop, there’s a good little girl, over.”
Lottie blew Wayne a kiss — and made a rude gesture with her fingers.
“Like it or loathe it,” she said to herself. She banked the plane in a 30-degree turn away from the other aircraft.
“Wayne’s one of the conservation rangers. He likes to make my life a misery,” she explained. “He’s so into control and his ass is so tight he could crack walnuts with it. But he’s not getting me today. We’re heading for the clouds. Let’s try to lose him there.”
Skylark saw red. “Look, I’m perfectly willing to go through the Time Portal for Mum, but not this way. Arnie, call Hoki right now and tell her to get me there by some other route.”
But nobody was listening. Wayne had imitated Lottie’s strategem and was fast catching up. “Oh, Betty Boop,” he chortled. “You’ll have to do better than that.”
Ahead were tall cirrus clouds. “He’s figured out your plan,” Arnie said to Lottie. “He’s trying to cut you off before you get there.”
“Not if I can help it,” Lottie answered. “When it comes to flying, Wayne’s just a wannabe.”
She pushed the plane to greater speed and they were in among the tall towering clouds, engaged in a hair-raising game of hide and seek. When the clouds thinned, sometimes Wayne would be there. Sometimes he would be flying parallel with them; sometimes he would be above them. He seemed to be teasing: Now you see me, now you don’t. Little did Wayne know that Lottie was playing for time.
“Come on, Betty Boop, stop shaking your booty and come out with your hands up in the air, over.”