Winter came and life slowed down. The Fixers were now doing most of the work operating the settlement. Lina was working on her history and taking care of the household. The little ones would get cooped up and rambunctious and be sent to work with the other Fixers in the big dome. Everyone shared in their education but much was left to their own choices. If they wanted to work with the blacksmith forge that is what they did. Lina made sure they had good basic reading, writing and math skills. Floyd was their science teacher and Mr. Watson not only answered their questions but also tested and recorded their progress.
Floyd spent his time working on the gliders and teaching the basics of flight to those Fixers who were interested. Ally would often accompany him but mostly she was interested in the flying basics rather than working on the gliders. The Fixers came up with a stretchy material that they could use as a launching sling. The plan was to pre-load the sling and then connect it to the front hook of the glider. As the glider was thrown into the air the sling would fall off and the glider would be free to fly. The gliders were essentially replicas of the airplane only with bigger wings and no motor.
When the weather broke Tesla was all excited and wanted to try the glider. Floyd had planned on doing the first flight but the Fixer was so excited Floyd consented. The sling was prepared on the west side of their hill and the glider positioned. Tesla climbed aboard and donned the helmet. The preflight had been completed and there was nothing left but to go flying. Tesla gave the thumbs up and the sling was released throwing the glider into the air. Unfortunately, the release did not work as planned and the plane got tipped upside down before the sling finally fell off. Tesla struggled to gain control as gravity tried to pull him out of the airplane. Floyd was yelling for all he was worth to, "Get the nose down and roll the airplane!"
Tesla may or may not have heard him but managed to keep the airplane from stalling and did roll it back to the upright attitude. He then circled over the upslope taking advantage of the rising air to lengthen his flight. Only when he had no other choice did he set up for landing and return to the ground. Floyd and all the other Fixers ran out to see him and as Tesla took off the helmet they were greeted with the biggest smile that Floyd had ever seen on a Fixer. Tesla gave the thumbs up sign and jumped down from the glider just like a fighter pilot.
It seemed as if every Fixer wanted to fly next but Floyd grounded the airplane saying, "No more flights until we come up with a better release system." Their good weather did not hold and before a new release system could be made the snow and cold returned. When spring arrived there was no time for flying. The crops needed to be planted and the critters cared for as they came out of hibernation.
Flying lessons resumed only when things slowed down slightly in the summer. The new release mechanism was working and with the right winds each launch resulted in ten to fifteen minutes of flying time. Ally and the other young Fixers would sit and watch the gliders and go flying with their father when he had time. One-day Ally announced that she wanted to fly the glider. She did not even bother asking her mother but instead told Floyd that she was ready to fly. Floyd smiled and asked, "How are you going to reach the pedals?"
"I will make extensions and use two cushions."
Floyd said, "The weight and balance of the gliders is based on the average weight of a Fixer and would not be safe to fly otherwise."
"I can add some rocks."
Floyd knew that this was going to be a long argument so he said, "No flying until you can sit in the seat and reach the pedals. That is the rule."
"I fly with you and do not use the pedals."
Floyd started to explain how important the pedals were for landing but just responded with "No" in his most authoritarian voice.
The tears were flowing but Ally did not say anything else and just sulked off to the critter barn. Floyd told Lina about the incident but did not think much of it. Lina however said, "The little one is stubborn and I doubt she will give up."
Mr. Watson kept a couple of the Fixers busy trying to adapt the circuit boards they had removed from the drones to create a high speed interface. The lack of a decent sized screen was an issue as was the lack of more memory chips. Floyd listened to Mr. Watson complain that all their efforts had been directed towards maintaining the carbon life forms and no effort had been extended to allow him to develop. Floyd responded, "Seems we have plenty of the clear quartz; you need to teach the Fixers how to make the chips you need. One of the Fixers has found several gold nuggets that can be used for making wires. Seems like it is a solvable problem."
Mr. Watson objected, "It takes highly specialized equipment to make my computer chips."
"You mean that you are unable to design a circuit using larger elements?"
"Well, of course, I can design such a circuit but it will be slow."
Floyd was smiling as he replied, "Better slow than not at all."