The Weapon - Lex - part 30
By Diana the Valkyrie
Flying down to Agra
Update: 14/11/2003 to valkyrie05



Some people go bungee jumping, some people climb the mountain named after the
man who led the first major survey of India. My idea of adventure is to buy a
cardigan and skirt from two different stores and try to make them co-ordinate.
"It's perfectly safe," she said, "Air Guardian won't have a single accident in
the next billion years."

I laughed. "OK, then. Just let me put on some warm clothes." "Won't be
needed," she said, "I'll keep you warm and dry."

She unfolded her legs. I still wasn't used to someone standing up just by
letting their legs reach the ground. And she walked over to the couch I was
curled up on. One hand went round my waist, the other under my knees, and she
scooped me up like a little baby.

I don't remember her opening a window, but soon I felt the wind in my hair.
She uncurled me, and turned me around so I could see the ground below. It was
dark, so all I could see were the lights of San Andreas, and the stars in the
sky. "We're flying slowly," she said, "we're not going far, just a little
jaunt around so you can feel the joy of flight."

It certainly was exhilirating. Even though we were going slowly, I could feel
the rush of air over my face; it was nothing like flying in a big jet.

"OK, now we're going to really move," she said. There was a feeling of greatly
increased weight. My arms were too heavy to lift, I felt like there was a pool
of lead on my stomach. I looked down, and the lights were receding until they
were just twinkles; my field of view became larger until suddenly I realised I
was seeing the whole western seaboard of the United States, outlined in those
flickering pinpoints of light.

Suddenly I realised how high we must be. "We're in space," said Wendy, "near
earth orbit." "How high?" I asked. "About fifty miles up, we'll be going to
eighty miles." Wow. "How can I breathe?" I asked - everyone knows there's no
air in space. "I put a bubble round you," she explained. "How?" I asked. "You
want a physics lesson?" she replied. "Uh, no. I guess not."

Then the feeling of weight disappeared. Completely. We were weightless! "Oh
wow," I said, inadequately. "So this is what space feels like." "No, this is
what free fall feels like."

It was a peculiar sensation. You spend all your life with gravity constantly
tugging you down, there's no respite. Standing still, it's a constant shifting
of your balance to stay upright, while your heart pumps blood from your feet
to your brain. And even lying down at night, you can feel the unremitting pull
of gravity. But now - nothing. It was like someone had taken a huge weight off
my back. "I could get to like this," I remarked.

We moved slowly around the curve of the earth. The planet was dark below us
now, we were over the Pacific Ocean. Slowly? "How fast are we moving, Wendy?"
"About eighteen thousand miles per hour, that's Mach 25 or so." "Is that your
top speed?" She laughed. "Kate, I'm limited in what I can do, by what your
body can handle. Without you to look after, I can crank up to about 600
million mph. But to get there, I'd have to accelerate hard, and for a long
time. And you'd be strawberry jam in less time than it takes to sneeze." Brrr.
I put my arms round her, and pulled myself as close as I could get. "Don't
worry, I know what you can take," she said, "now heads up, I'm going to
decelerate, drop out of orbit and we'll get down near the ground."

I hadn't seen any lights as we crossed the Pacific, which meant that we hadn't
made landfall yet. "We're nowhere near the US!" "Can't fool you, can I? No,
that's not where we're heading." "So where?" "Agra." Agra? I tried to
remember. Where's Agra? And why Agra? Does this have some special significance
for her?

The deceleration squeezed me into her body, but it was a very pleasant
sensation. I suppose I'd heard all those "Girl of steel" phrases and expected
something rock-hard. But she wasn't, not at all. Then the extra weight eased
off, and we were hovering, just a few thousand feet in the air. "Over there,"
she said, pointing.

I looked. "Oh. Oh."

For a long time, I couldn't speak. It was still night-time, and the bright
moonlight was reflecting off the precious stones set into the dome of white
marble. It was lovely, probably the most beautiful building I've ever seen.
Wendy spoke. "It isn't just the beauty of the building. More important, is the
reason for it's existence. It's a monument to love, the love of Shah Jahan for
Mumtaz Mahal, and you can be sure she loved him just as much."

We hovered not very far above the ground, maybe a hundred feet or so. We were
moving slowly, very slowly, so that I could see the Taj Mahal from various
aspects and angles, with the lakes and the river, the towers and minarets, the
gardens surrounding it.

"Kate, would you be my Wielder?"

The question caught me completely by surprise. Oh, I knew what she meant,
every child learns about the Guardian of Humanity the same way you learn about
Santa Claus. But me? A Wielder? "Uh. Uh. Me?" was all I could say at first.
She turned me so that I was facing her. "Uh uh you," she said, and kissed me.

I turned my face away. "I, I." How can I say this? I'm too old for sexual
experimentation. For me, sex is one man, one woman. How can I tell her this
without it being a rejection? "I'm not," I said, "not. I'm not gay. No
offence." "None taken," she said, "of course, you know I'm not a woman."

I stared at her. "You're a man?" She laughed. "No, want a third guess?" I just
stared at her. "Yoo hoo. I'm not human." "Well, yes. But." "The People don't
have genders. We do things differently, really very differently." Well, I
suppose I could have guessed that. I stared at her some more. She kissed me
again, and this time I didn't pull away. This time I closed my eyes, and tried
to imagine I was kissing a man. It didn't work, but it still felt nice.

Now we were on the other side of the river, "The Yamuna," she said, "and we're
at a thousand feet." She deployed those great white wings that were one of her
most impressive characteristics, but instead of flapping them for lift, she
used them to wrap us up in a kind of feathery blanket. I looked down and
across at the Taj Mahal, it was so magnificent. "A monument to love,"
whispered Wendy, and I felt her hand on my back, stroking me, calming me,
pulling me towards her. I didn't resist. I knew that I couldn't stop her doing
anything she wanted; I also knew that if I did try to stop her, then she would
stop.

"I thought you and Herbie ... ?" She shook her head. "Why not?" "Oh, he's a
sweetheart and I love him dearly, but he's not exactly someone you'd want to
ask for opinions on how you humans feel about things. For a long time now, his
closest friend has been his dog." "But he's ..." "Yes, he's sweet and gentle,
and you'll be very happy with him, but he doesn't have the qualities I need
for a Wielder." "What about that young lad he told me about, what was his
name?" "Geoff. "No, he won't do. He's not far from being a teenager. He
doesn't have the experience. And he's so terrified at the thought of making a
mistake, he'll freeze up when I need his input. No, I've found a nice role for
him, he's going to be a co-star in some of the disks that Sandy Gentle will be
making. He's a good looking lad, and at his age, he's got lots of ... juice."

I looked at her, into her eyes. "Me?"

"You."

She sounded so decisive, so sure. I thought, she knows what she's looking for,
and if I've got what she needs, how could I say no? I felt something between
my legs.

"It's my hand," she said. I looked down. Her other hand was touching my back;
she was supporting my weight entirely with her wings. I felt something tickle
my collarbone; it was her hair. "Just relax, Kate, I've had 150 years
experience of this."

I looked at her face. "And I love you, " she said.