The two who had survived were in the lounge, squatting in consternation on the wall which now served as a floor. Contriving to gain the control board, he set the ship gravity to a low level and switched it on.
With squeals of alarm, the fairies slid to the real floor and clung to one another.
Laedo switched on the close manoeuvring engine, raised the ship off the ground and brought it upright.
He switched on the external screens and turned them to image intensification so as to be able to see clearly by what little light there was.
The cargo carrier soared idly over the scene below. Gnomes were swarming like ants. Then Laedo observed to what purpose. One of the catapult machines was being frantically cranked. At the same time it was being rotated, on some sort of turntable. It could be aimed.
The cabin was removed. In place of it came a simple bowl, and into this a large rock was being levered with great effort.
Laedo took the ship higher. Seconds later, the catapult flung aloft its projectile.
The rock came surprisingly close, passing within yards. Laedo watched as it continued upward until it dwindled into invisibility. Was it destined to crash somewhere in Fairyland’s forests?
Now more engines were being wound down. Laedo doubted that the missiles could knock his ship out of the sky even if one struck, but he didn’t want to take the chance. He headed for the world overhead.
On the way, he reflected that on Erspia-1 he would not have found matters as easy as he had on both Fairyland and Gnomeland. In some ways the fairies and the gnomes remained simpletons. They were too separated to have learned astuteness through regular contact with one another.
Was Klystar or his agents observing their behaviour? Were there watching devices recording all that took place? Laedo still had no better explanation for this group of worldlets than the one given by the staff of the Ormazdian projector station. Klystar was studying human nature.
He turned to the two fairies he had succeeded in rescuing.
“It’s all right,” he reassured them. “You’re going to a better world. Sleep now, if you want.”
They stared at him, stunned at the sudden change in their circumstances, but they asked no questions. It was as if their ingrained habit of obedience was now transferred to him, for they lay down on the floor, closed their eyes, and soon were asleep.
Briefly he felt the ship go through the inertial barrier, then he turned it round to descend on the other landscape. Again using the image intensifier, he cruised around until he located the clearing where the projector station was parked, and settled down beside it.
Then he, too, decided to sleep, and retired to his rest cubicle.
He had set the timer to wake him an hour after daylight. Returning to the lounge, he found the fairies still asleep. In all probability they had little or no knowledge of day and night. They woke and slept at the behest of the gnomes.
After a leisurely breakfast he went outside. Best to check if Histrina had behaved herself, he thought.
He found no sign of her in the projector station. Re-emerging, he scanned the sky.
Up above, he saw what looked like a pair of strange birds writhing together far aloft, as though in a mating dance, or else fighting. Suddenly they plummeted, then just as abruptly, checked their fall.
Laedo ran back into his ship, switched on an external viewscreen and directed it upward at full magnification. What he saw made him hold his breath, cursing his oversight in not taking the gravpacks with him on his sojourn to Gnomeland, instead of carelessly leaving them in the projector station.
Histrina was wearing one of the gravpacks and was once again disporting with some fairy girl, expressly against Laedo’s orders. She was laughing, her features ugly with sadistic glee. The fairy was clutching at her, panic on her face.
Histrina had broken both her wings, which twitched and trailed uselessly.
With a cry Laedo ran from the ship and into the projector station. He quickly found the second gravpack, strapped it on, dashed outside and surged into the air.
So engrossed was Histrina in what she was doing that she failed to see Laedo coming. She tore the fairy girl’s grip free of her clothing and held her up by her forearms, staring avidly into her terrified, helpless face. Then, despite the injured girl’s pleas, she dropped her.
With a wail the fairy plummeted slowly past Laedo, steadily accelerating in the low gravity and instinctively trying to scull the air with her broken wings, which fluttered pathetically behind her. Laedo’s hand went briefly to his gravpack’s control knob. He swooped after her, caught her deftly in his arms and felt her cool, slim arms go desperately round his neck.
He headed away from the station towards where he knew there was a tree village. His hope was that the fairies had medical skill and would know how to mend the girl’s broken wings. If not, he would offer to attempt help with his ship’s facilities.
Dipping into the lush and pleasant foliage, he dropped into a flower-bedecked bower and flew along it until coming in sight of a flat expanse which was actually a fork between two gargantuan boughs. It was like coming upon the central green of an ancient village, for clustered around it at various levels were picturesque tree houses, perched cottages roofed with giant leaves. Laedo alighted on the moss-covered bark.
Emerging from doorways, fairies glided or stepped to where Laedo gently laid his burden on the moss, careful of her bedraggled wings. He turned to the villagers, seeing their dismay.
“She has been injured,” he said. “If you cannot mend her, bring her to me.”
With that he was off again, back to the projector station and Histrina. He found her lying on her back on the grass, limbs outspread, eyes closed in a posture of utter contentment.
The gravpack lay beside her. Laedo snatched it up, at which Histrina opened her eyes and sprang to her feet.
“Oh, that was go-o-o-od,” she growled softly. Then she suddenly became angry and accusing. “But you spoiled it! You caught her!”
Arching her fingers like a cat, she struck out to scratch his face. The gravpack dangling by its straps from one hand, he fended her off with the other and slapped her hard.
“What did I tell you?” he bellowed. “And what do you expect the fairies to do about this?”
She nursed her reddened cheek. “They can’t do anything. They’ve only got bows and arrows and spears.
We’ve got your gun.”
“I’ve got my gun.” He snatched it from its holster and pointed the beamer at her. “Maybe I should use it on you. Now get back in the station and stay there.”
Sullenly she obeyed, glancing back at him with resentment. Laedo waited until she had disappeared into the station, then went into the cargo ship.
The wingless fairies came sleepily awake as he entered, looking at him half from curiosity, half from fear.
He fed them, then took them outside to gawp at the scenery.
“This is the world where you belong,” he told them. “This is what the gnomes took your ancestors away from and made them slaves. Here there are other fairies like yourselves who will help you. There’s just one thing wrong.”
He paused. “The other fairies have wings and can fly in the air. The gnomes cut yours off when you were young. Do you know that?”
They nodded. The male replied. “The story is passed down that what the gnomes remove is for flying.
But we never really believed it. It’s just that they would get in the way when working in the tunnels.”
“It’s true. Here, fairies fly. Unfortunately your wings cannot be restored to you. But with these devices on your backs you can still fly, as if you had wings.” He indicated the gravpacks. “Then you can take your proper place here.”