"Confound it, yes. French term, I believe. Going to want your guns so
hidden that those two gliders of McCord's will fail to spot them." The
marshal grimaced in the direction of Joe Mauser, who, having his
instructions, had fallen back from the table again. "When you
reintroduced aerial observation to the fracas, major, you set off a
whole train of related factors. Camouflage is going to be in every
field officer's lexicon from this day on. Which reminds me." He looked
to his artilleryman.
"Yes, sir."
"Put your mind to work on devising Maxim gun mounts to be used to keep
enemy gliders at as high altitude as possible, or preferably, of
course, to bring them down. We'll need an antiaircraft squadron, in
short. Better put young Wiley on it."
"Yes, sir."
X
The airport nearest to the Grant Memorial Military Reservation was
some ten miles distance from the borders which, upon the scheduling
of a fracas, were closed to all aircraft, and to all persons
unconnected with the fracas, with the exception only of Telly crews
and military observers from the Sov-world and the Neut-world, present
to satisfy themselves that weapons of the post-1900 era were not being
utilized.
The distance, however, wasn't of particular importance. The powered
aircraft which would tow Joe Mauser's glider to a suitable altitude
preliminary to his riding the air currents, as a bird rides them,
could also haul him to a point just short of the military
reservation's border.
Joe Mauser turned up on the opening day of the fracas, which was
scheduled for a period of one week, or less, if one or the other of
the combatants was able to achieve total victory in such short order.
He was accompanied by Freddy Soligen, who, for once, was without a
crew to help him with his cameras and equipment. Instead, he sweated
it out alone, helped only by Max Mainz who was being somewhat huffy
about this Telly reporter taking over his position as observer.
They approached the sailplane, and while Joe Mauser checked it out, in
careful detail, Freddy Soligen and Max began loading the equipment
into the graceful craft's second seat, immediately behind the pilot.
Max growled, "How in Zen you going to be able to lift all this weight,
major, sir?"
Joe said absently, testing the ailerons, "We'll make it. Freddy isn't
any heavier than you are, Max. Besides, this sailplane is a workhorse.
I sacrificed gliding angle for weight carrying potential."
That meant absolutely nothing to Max Mainz, so he took it out by
awarding the Telly reporter with a rare combination of glower and
sneer.
Freddy said, "Oh, oh, here they come, Joe." However, he kept his head
low, storing away his equipment, and seemingly ignored the approach of
the three distinctive uniformed officers.
Joe said from the side of his mouth, "Get that you-know-what out of
sight, soonest." He turned as the trio neared, came to attention and
saluted.
The foremost of the three, his tunic so small at the waist that he
could only have been wearing a girdle, answered the salute by tapping
his swagger stick against the visor of his cap. "Major Mauser," he
said in acknowledgment. He made no effort to shake hands, turning
instead to his two companions. He said, "Lieutenant Colonel Krishnalal
Majumdur, of Bombay, Major Mohamed Kamil, of Alexandria, may I
introduce the"--there was all but a giggle in his tone--"celebrated
Major Joseph Mauser, who has possibly reintroduced aircraft to
warfare."
Joe saluted and bowed in proper protocol. "Gentlemen, a pleasure." The
two neutrals responded correctly, then stepped forward to shake his
hand.