Jax Kiznet had had more air miles on Earth than anyone else, so Zainal had given her the charts to see what she thought of piloting for the trip.
"Well, I haven't flown over Africa," she demurred, looking at the flight charts, "but if we could land the KDM here, I don't see why we can't at Nairobi. The Jomo Kenyatta Airport's an international facil ity-or was," she added. "There's a good one at Mombasa, too, plus the port. We aren't circumscribed to just this area, at least I didn't get that impression from our interrogation on the way in. I'll just check frequencies and weather reports."
"We need to go to the northeast of Nairobi to the coffee planta-tion area: and the Kiambu Ridge area." Kris found the place, which had been underlined on the detailed map.
"Oh, near the Rift Valley," she said, following Kris's pointing fin-ger. "Well, that's hard to miss and so is Lake Rudolf."
"We don't need to go that far north."
"No, we don't," Jax said, staring down at the map. "I like the idea of getting coffee."
"I think we all do," Kris agreed. "Even Zainal's beginning to be-come addicted."
Jax grinned back. She was doing some figuring. "Look, if we can go orbital, we can do the great circle route at orbital velocity and it'll only take the KDM an hour and ten minutes to reach our destination. Wow! Hey, I like hypersonic!"
"Kenya's where Chief Materu comes from, isn't it?" Peran asked. "Right you are," Zainal said, giving the boy a hug. "And we have another reason for being there. Alkoriti."
"Oh, hey, that's right," Kris said, remembering their earlier search for the acacia plant that had proved to be the unexpected weapon that had brought about the defeat of the Eosi, who had suffered respira-tory failure from inhaling the dust.
She grinned at Zainal, spreading her hands in acceptance of the excuse. "As if bringing vaccines to Kenya isn't enough."
"Only how did you happen to get to be messenger?" Clune asked cynically.
"Evidently, individual coords will arrange things to suit them-selves."
"We'll just hope that's a good enough excuse."
"Well, we know the Biffs are at two hundred and fifty kilometers and their sensors are fixed outward, not inward," Kathy pointed out. "So we're delivering medicines. Big deal."
Jax talked with the meteorology folk at Newark Tower, got the latest reports-no turbulence anticipated-and had her flight plan checked. There had been judicious gifts of rock squats to the tower staff, so they were disposed to be helpfuclass="underline" once they got over the shock of a vertical landing and takeoff craft.
"We coulda used a whole flock of the durned squats," Clune said as they finished the last of the supply.
"They're a game bird so they're also kosher," Kris said, and no one else quite appreciated why Eric guffawed.
The equipment that was now lodged in the cargo hold had fasci-nated Ferris. Later Zainal told Kris that Eric had explained to Ferris exactly what he had traded from Eddie Spivak and what it was used for. They decided that a number C-4 Vitapan shade matched the boy's tooth color, and Eric had pantomimed how he would use it, bonding it to a tooth in layers. Although Eric couldn't set up his equipment, he did check Ferris's teeth and found some cavities that ought to be taken care of as soon as possible. Ferris did not remember ever having been to a dentist and, because he knew Eric, did not have any anxi-eties about having his teeth fixed. During the evening, Eric checked over everyone on the ship, even Kris, and he shook his head over the state of her teeth. Zainal submitted and Eric said that he could prob-ably fix the chip off one of Zainal's eyeteeth: in Zainal's case, not caused by a brawl but by a fall against something tougher than Catteni teeth. Peran and Bazil were pronounced to have excellent teeth with not a trace of decay, though Bazil's bite could stand a little correction. he next morning, after Jelco boarded the KDM, they received clearance to leave Newark Airport, with many good wishes for a safe flight. New York Center was going to turn them over to Air Africa Control so certain protocols were taken care of. And now that they were aware of the surprise a vertical lift and takeoff vessel gave Tower
Control crews, they would handle their appearance at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport with more aplomb if they had to land there. Kris decreed that, since the rolls had been so useful in New York, she didn't see why they wouldn't be in Kenya, where they might meet more people who would be delighted with freshly baked bread. The notion of baking her way across the Atlantic and the Dark Continent left her grinning.
She did her baking with the help of Clune and Floss. The girl was still a restless type and had not liked being immured in the KDM the previous day when "everyone else" appeared to be out and about and having fun. She ignored the fact that Ferris and Clune had lugged heavy sacks of potatoes back to the ship, and that Bazil and Peran had carried in bundles of carrots and greens. They had been out and about her native planet. Kris recognized a certain merit in her argument and hoped she would be able to include Floss in some unusual activity at their current destination, even if she only helped with the rolls and bread they were going to use as goodwill offerings. She couldn't re-member if Kenyans ate bread as a rule but it had once been a British colony and probably bread was known, no matter what other cereal grain was more popular. Jax remembered something about manioc but didn't know what it was. Kathy had suggested rice but Kris didn't think Kenya was rice country, which required irrigated fields. Kenya did have avocados, bananas, and other fresh fruits that might be avail-able. They'd just have to wait and see. A banana, Kris thought whim-sically, would taste very good. It had been so long since she had had one!
They were not challenged on the flight. The Atlantic Ocean was not that exciting from a high altitude. Even Africa was more a pattern of greens and beiges as they sped across it on the great circle route. Jax handled the controls well as they dropped out of hypersonic space, being high enough for a view of Lake Rudolph and the ripple of the Rift Valley. Nairobi Tower welcomed them in their space and gave them directions to their destination. ollow the big road northwest fifty miles: you can probably see it-it's the C-84 and keep the Karura forest on the port side. You're looking for a small town among ridges. About thirteen land kilome-ters from the airport. We understand that you are VTOL and there is sufficient parking in front of the warehouse to accommodate you." "Over, Nairobi, and thank you. Out."
"They said they were from Botany," they heard the air controller say. "Where the hell's Botany?" Whatever response he got was lost as he shut off his microphone but those in the cockpit grinned at his confusion.
They found the site without too much trouble. The forest was un-mistakable and the road twisted, visible to the starboard of the thick trees. Jax reduced airspeed. In fact, she laughed that it took almost more time to lose speed than it did to make the transatlantic segment.
It was easy to follow the road, visible through the lush forestry when the land swept upward to the very edge of the Rift Valley area. As a final identification, the warehouse had KIAMBU RIDGE painted in big white letters on its roof.
"Hey, neat," Jax said with relief at having almost completed such a prestigious run. "Hope they don't freak out seeing a spaceship land" "Open the hatch and let the smell of fresh bread waft out and en-tice them to our web, hehehehe," Kris said, doing her evil-witch imitation and rubbing her hands together. Chuck grinned but the display was lost on Zainal, though Floss, whom Kris had made sure had one of the jump seats to witness this landing, gave a contemptu-ous "Pshaw!"