“It’s just as Purple said. You have to make the tools with which to make the tools to make the tools,” Orbur called from above. “That’s just what we have been doing. You can’t just build an airboat — you have to build the put-it-together line which can make the pieces which will make the airboat.”
“Imagine the size of the put-it-together line for Purple’s black egg,” replied Wilville.
I tried to, but I couldn’t.
I noticed a figure trudging up the hill then — it was Shoogar. He had come to inspect the flying machine.
“Oh, not again,” groaned Orbur. “He’s up here almost every day now, asking questions and annoying us —”
“He’s only trying to understand the spell,” I said. , “He will never understand the spell,” said Wilville. “He is a —”
“Watch it,” I cautioned, “whatever else he may be, he has phenomenal hearing.”
Shoogar arrived then and tsk-ed satisfactorily over the progress of the work. “But when will you hang the sails?” he asked.
Orbur said, “Sails? We won’t be hanging any sails, Shoogar. We don’t need them.”
“Nonsense,” said the magician peering up at Orbur who was hanging in the rigging. “How many times must I explain to you — you can’t be pushed by the wind without sails.”
Orbur began climbing down. I could see that he was sighing to himself. He swung down a rope to the boat’s cradle then dropped off the edge to the ground. He walked around to Shoogar, “Purple has explained it to us over and over. “We won’t need sails. We have the windmakers instead.”
Shoogar stamped his foot impatiently. “No, Orbur — if you have windmakers then obviously you are planning to use sails. The windmakers will make wind and push the sails, and the boat will move.”
“No, Shoogar — the windmakers push the air backward and the airboat moves forward. Without sails.”
“Without sails, what will they have to push against? The boat won’t move at all through the air.”
“The boat will move.”
“It won’t.”
“Purple says it will.”
“And I say it won’t.”
“I say it will!”
“Are you arguing with a magician?!!”
“Yes! We have tested the windmakers already — and when both Wilville and I are pumping as hard as we can the boat seems to edge forward as if it could hardly wait to leap into the air.”
“It may get into the air,” said Shoogar, “but it’ll never move an inch without sails!”
“But —”
“Don’t try to correct me, Orbur. I’ve already ordered the sails from Lesta. You and Wilville had best plan on masts for them.”
“Masts?” asked Orbur. “And where will we put masts? He pointed at the boatframe. It sat gently on the cradle, its two outriggers stretching wide on either side, its heavy keel hanging below on a spar of bambooze. It had a flimsy looking set of bambooze rigging above empty and waiting for the airbags. It looked strangely incomplete. I tried to imagine it finished and in the air, but could not.
Shoogar peered at it. He circled the boat thoughtfully, stepping around Wilville who quietly and calmly continued .to paint.
He climbed up on the launching cradle and peered into the boat itself. Orbur and I followed. He climbed in and rapped on the floor. “What’s this?”
“It’s sand-ash wood. We’re using three thin planks to add stability to the floor.”
“It’s too thin. We can’t possibly mount masts in it.”
“That’s what I’m —”
“We’ll have to hang them from the outriggers.
“Where? There’s no room at all behind the airpushers!”
True enough, there wasn’t. There was a bicycle frame at the back of each outrigger. The airpushers hung a good man height below the bicycle seats and well behind the pedals — so that the pedaller would not be riding in his own wind.
“You’ll have to put them in front/ said Shoogar. “Plenty of room if you do that. Put the masts and sails in front of the windmakers, then pedal in reverse. The wind will blow forward, into the sails. You’ll be facing in the direction you’re going.”
“But pedaling in reverse is hard work.”
“Then reverse the gear!” Shoogar snapped. “Do I have to do all your thinking for you?”
“We do not need any sails!” Orbur shouted at him.
“All you have is Purple’s word for that.” Shoogar’s voice suddenly turned persuasive. “Set the masts now, put the sails on before you leave. Then you’ll be prepared for anything. If the sails don’t work, you can take them off!”
“Well —” Orbur hesitated. He looked at Wilville. Wilville studiously ignored him, slapped the paint on extra fast.
“It wouldn’t hurt,” I suggested.
“There!” said Shoogar. “You see — even your own father thinks so.”
“Yes, but —”
“No buts about it. The sails will be ready in seven days.”
Pleased that he had won the battle, Shoogar began climbing down from the boat. As he dropped to the ground, he rapped sharply on the sturdy side of hardened aircloth. “Good construction,” he noted. He grabbed my arm and started dragging me toward the village, “Now then, Lant, we have to get straight on this matter of the spell tokens. The blue tokens are obviously not being properly appreciated by the villagers.”
“What do you mean?”
“They are trading four Shoogars for one Purple — why just this morning Hinc the Lesser told me that it was because I was only one fourth the magician that Purple is. Excuse me, Hinc the Hairless told me.”
“Oh,” I said.
“Now tell me honestly, Lant — could you agree with a point of view like that?”
“Uh, well —” I began.
“Don’t be afraid, Lant. You can tell me the truth.”
“Well, Shoogar — it is well known that you do much more work than Purple. You do most of the spell casting in the village, and Purple hardly does any. That makes Purple’s magic much rarer and worth a lot more. The people know that they can always redeem your coins for spells — but Purple’s magic is rarer, and hence they seem to think that it is more valuable or else he would use it as freely as you do.”
“H’m,” said Shoogar.
“Well, you wanted me to be truthful.”
“I didn’t mean for you to be that truthful.” He grumbled on down to the village. Certainly he had the right to be miffed.
But there was no help for it. Already villagers were calling Shoogar’s blue tokens “quarters”. The custom was now fixed in the language.
Orbur was having some trouble with his gears. He had dismantled the whole assembly and rebuilt them from scratch. When finished, he had increased the speed of the airpushers so that the boat had to be tied down when he tested them.
He had connected three sets of pulleys to each windmaker in descending orders — Purple called it “high gear”. There was the large wheel which was turned by the man pedaling. The pulley from this was looped around a very small wheel which was caused to turn very fast. On the same shaft as this small wheel was another large wheel. A pulley from this large wheel was connected to the shaft of the bladed airpusher.
Orbur had also changed the pulley cloths, alternating the loops in order to reverse the spin of the airpushers. Now they threw their wind forward, toward the masts.
Purple came to inspect the progress and nodded in satisfaction. Then his eye caught the masts that protruded below each outrigger, and he asked, “What are these?”
“For the sails,” Orbur explained.