CHAPTER 10



   It was really no different than an app you would download on your phone. The difference was that this one was specifically for the display screen on the chopper’s instrument panel. Lucy had uploaded it for them before they flew out of Valley Point and back to the western slopes. When Danni had first turned it on she thought the screen looked like one of those meters that some music players had, the kind that would jump to the beat of a song. Lucy had explained, “that’s pretty much what it is sugar. Only this one dances to the kind of bands you don’t hear on your car radio.”
When Tony and Lucy tested the meter, Danni was a little confused, “I don’t get it? Why can’t we just put it on my phone?”
As Lucy had been packing up her test gear she pointed upwards, to just above the choppers bubble, at a pair stubby looking bullhorn shaped items that Danni had never even really noticed before. Lucy explained, “those are your chopper’s wireless antennas. That’s not something your phone has on it. Down in the cockpit, the instruments and com systems only use part of the frequencies that the antenna can pick up. This meter just lets you know when you’re getting another part of the spectrum.”
Danni thought about it and asked, “You mean like an emergency beacon? Only, I thought they transmitted on regular frequencies?”
Lucy shrugged to that question and then replied, “some of them do.” What was that supposed to mean?
As they flew out to the slopes, Danni spent a good deal of her time reading the instructions for this very bland looking application. Other than the meter it had some slides that allowed you to tweak things like the sensitivity and the gain. She had no idea what any of that meant and came to realize that she needed a second set of instructions to explain the first. She was also scared to just start arbitrarily fiddling with the slides and options. Danni was kind of scared she might accidentally bring the chopper down or something like that.
Tony actually laughed at that idea. He did point out, however, that they were being charged for the application. He also managed to use Killian’s name instead of the airports. Danni was really regretting her plan now. Finally she tried to get him off the subject, “what about Amy?”
The answer that Tony gave was pretty easy to predict, “what about her?”
Danni felt like she had screwed up all over again. She had practically heard his answer in her mind before he had ever said it, even before she asked her question! You would think that under such circumstances she would have been ready for it. Danni was not and she just kept her mouth shut after that. At least it got Tony distracted from Killian, which made Danni feel guilty. Before yesterday he had never thought twice about the guy.
For the next hour, the meter remained silent and so did Tony. Then out of the blue he said over the intercom, “I think there’s somebody else.”
Danni’s eyes opened wide, “what? What are you talking about?”
“With Amy,” Tony said with some measure of frustration, “you asked me what about her. I’m telling you.”
Danni became confused and told him, “Tony, I asked you that over an hour ago…” After she thought about it, “and I’m not sure that’s exactly what I meant anyway.”
She noticed that he was not really looking in her direction. Sure he had to watch where he was going but, there was just not that much risk of hitting a tree when you were flying between five and ten thousand feet in the air. Tony was not looking at her, even with his sunglasses on, for other reasons.
Then he asked the unexpected, “was that really an hour ago? Time flies when you do, I guess.”
That actually brought about a giggle from Danni, even if she was not sure that he had meant for it too. At least Tony did not seem to take offense. Danni recovered her wits and apologized. Tony let her off the hook even if her amusement had obviously rankled some feathers. It was one of those things that Danni really liked about him. He might not act it but, Tony always had a way of putting others before himself.
Finally Danni said, “I’m sorry Tony. I guess I really can’t understand what you’re going through.”
“Sure you do,” he waived that notion off in a hurry, “you’re really pretty Danni. I’m sure you’ve had some girlfriends before.”
Tony had managed to climb the mountain and fall off the cliff in the space of  less than two seconds. Danni exploded on the intercom, “I’m NOT GAY!”
Tony actually had to pull his headset off and clean out his ears with a finger. When he put them back on he then did something that he had not managed since they left the Arch. He looked at her while he was flying, raised his sunglasses, and seriously asked, “you’re serious?” Danni did not dignify that with a response. She simply crossed her arms and looked at the display screen on the instrument panel. The little meter was still dead. All the while Tony was stumbling over an apology, although, judging by his tone it was clear that he was not even really sure he believed her.
Awkward silence returned and it was Danni who finally blurted out, “Leslie’s gay.”
Tony did not even hesitate in responding, “no she’s not.”
There was fire in Danni’s eyes as her head snapped towards Tony and she accusingly asked him, “how do you know?”
If Tony acted worried he did not show it. If anything, he sounded confused when he replied, “how else? She told me. I mean not in so many words but, she talks about guys while she’s drooling on something.”
Danni backed off. She proceeded with caution, “you mean? You? Her? You two? Haven’t? You know?”
“What’s with all these questions?” Tony was even more confused now. He actually started considering things and Danni got nervous all over again. Finally he just said, “Leslie’s kind of like the brother I never had, if that makes any sense.”
Danni was dumbstruck by that. She replied with a gaping tone, “Tony, um, you have six or seven brothers. I think. I lost count.”
“I know,” Tony replied, “and she’s like the brother I wished I had.” After playing with his words he said, “you don’t get it Danni. You were an only child. I was the youngest of a pretty large family. You might have noticed that all my brothers and cousins are firemen and I’m not.” Tony even had to qualify that much, “except for the one petty crook, two used car salesmen, an electrician, a jewelry store salesman, and we must not forget Kevin who is still living in Aunt Jeane’s basement. Course, he did place third in that Music Hero game competition so, maybe we‘re letting him back in to the reunion next year.”
Danni knew exactly what she wanted to ask him now but, there was no way in hell she could make herself do it. Instead she asked, “so what was your problem with Killian this morning? You don’t think, I mean, you know? Him an Amy?”
Tony quickly waived the notion off, “oh hell no. I mean I know better than that.”
“Then what was it Tony,” Danni pushed him to the point of almost demanding. Naturally she framed the question to leave her a way out, “you know we do have to get along with the Raynes. They help us out up here, a lot. Not to mention, Killian is a nice guy.”
If Tony were not flying, Danni suspected he might have flown off the handle right about now. His actions remained calm even if his voice had something of an edege, “of course he is. That’s the problem.”
Danni shrugged, “I don’t get it?”
“Danni,” Tony sounded serious and almost pleading, “the guy is everything I’m not. He knows how to control himself. He’s handsome, he’s kind of dashing, he knows what to say and when. He knows how to keep his mouth shut. I don’t ever do any of those things. I wish I could but, I just can’t even make myself do it.”
Danni reached out and touched his arm. Tony didn’t seem to notice. He had on a thick jacket and, no matter why he didn‘t, that’s what it looked like to Danni. She still went, “you’re a great guy Tony. I wouldn’t worry about that.”
“Thanks Danni,” he replied to her. “I appreciate the sympathy, I really do. It’s just, it’s not going to help right now.”
At least there was work! Danni let out a heavy sigh and let her eyes fixate on the little monitor in front of her. It was proving to be just as dead as everything else at the moment. She realized she was pretty snitty when she asked Tony, “you sure this is the area?”
Tony did not notice her tone, “the waterfalls are about two klicks south of our position, we’re dead on.”
“Well there’s nothing on this little app,” Danni told him. “Want me to play with it a little? Maybe we’ll get lucky?”
If Tony had any perceptions about the nature of Danni’s last sentence, he sure kept it to himself. He didn’t even make it into a joke. He just sounded straight and flat as he said, “can’t hurt.”
There was nothing left for Danni to do besides what she said she would, literally. She reached out on the little screen and tapped into the program’s options menu. It gave her a new set of slides and each one had a name that she had never seen before. Danni bit her bottom lip as she thought about it and then, finally, she just shrugged and said, “oh well.” She slid the little bars to the left and the right. Nothing happened. Then she tried a new configuration and nothing happened. Then, Danny saw the button at the bottom of the screen. It said, “apply” so she tapped it with her current configuration.
The chopper went bang!
Danni jumped back in her seat and in a terrified voice she screamed, “I didn’t do that! Honest to god! Please tell me I didn’t do that!”
At least Tony did not seem particularly worried. He was busy looking down at the ground but, it was not in a panicked kind of way. He even had time to tell her, “you didn’t do it, relax.”
There was no relaxing when your helicopter went bang. Danni even saw some black smoke swirling away from them. It wasn’t much and it quickly dispersed but, that still could not be good. All of it made Danni think of a million questions but, she decided, they could all be summed up into just one, “are we gonna die?”
“Hell no,” Tony replied in a very calm voice. He was flying lower to the ground! Then he actually explained in an even voice, “you saw me sticking the tanks this morning?”
“Um,” Danni’s eyes got bigger as they got closer to the ground, “yeah? I thought you were just seeing how much gas we had.”
“I got fuel gages for that Danni,” he was a bit distracted now. “I was checking the fuel quality.” There was no reply since, too Danni at least, they were moving kind of fast to be this low. For Tony, who was obviously concentrating, he seemed to be talking as much for his own benefit as hers, “we took a long trip. That meant we burned off more fuel than we usually do. Guess what happens inside a fuel tank in a humid climate like we live in?”
“Uh,” Danni was pushing back on the seat rather hard. The seat was winning the fight as she asked, “you crash and die?”
“Condensation,” Tony told her.
“Then you crash and die?”
Tony reached over and tugged at her safety harness. He seemed to be satisfied but, Danni reached down and pulled it even tighter. As the ground got really close, Danni closed her eyes and began to scream. She got louder when it felt like her body had just slammed into a wall.