draft cleanup and add wwoo stories

2 files changed, 2110 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/posts/2025-10-19-first-voyage-of-the-aerie.php b/posts/2025-10-19-first-voyage-of-the-aerie.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f112912
--- /dev/null
+++ b/posts/2025-10-19-first-voyage-of-the-aerie.php
@@ -0,0 +1,773 @@
+<h1>On Weightless Wings: First Voyage of the <em>Aerie</em></h1>
+
+<p class="description">
+Last year, I decided to halt my fiction writing dark ages by contributing this story to <a href="https://nat1publishing.com/wwoo/qa/">Write, Wrong or Otherwise</a>, a two-week short-story challenge. It's hosted by Nat 1 Publishing every year and gives writers a chance to peer review, receive professional edits from the team, and get their stories published in an anthology. Participants also get cool goodies like posters, stickers, and a copy of the anthology at the end. It was an awesome experience, but I was still a coward about publishing this on my site for others to read. After some feedback from friends and family, and with Nat 1's permission, I'm re-publishing this story right here.
+</p>
+
+<p>Kee perched high on one of the many hangar windows, studying the
+magnificent craft below. She gripped the cedar sill with two scaly feet,
+each ending in sharp, clawed toes, stretching her downy, silver neck out
+to get a better look. Kee was what the flightless off-worlders called
+<em>Wingfolk</em>. It was more polite than <em>bird,</em> anyway.
+Despite the most basic similarities, it was a reduction to be associated
+with the tiny animals inhabiting off-worlder skies. Her iridescent green
+feathers shimmered as they shifted, her wings fluttering to maintain
+balance. She was excited—more than excited—she was <em>eager</em>.
+Almost two years of studying and hard work had built up to this moment,
+now she finally got to flex her skills as part of this momentous
+project.</p>
+<p>Below, the great vessel hung mesmerizingly still; it floated in place
+without swaying or beating wings. The rounded, tapered nose widened and
+stretched out to the other side of the open hangar, where it met four
+tail fins. Its ribbed midsection and sparkling metallic surface made it
+look like some great silvery fish. Its slippery smoothness was
+punctuated by three cars mounted slightly below and away from the hull:
+one central and two peripheral. Each car was truncated by a screw
+pointed with twisted wooden blades. Slung low along its belly was an
+enclosed, stamped aluminum gondola dotted with round portholes along the
+sides, which widened in diameter until they met a large, wrap-around
+windshield. Therein, the bridge of the gondola glowed with warm
+incandescent light.</p>
+<p>The <em>Aerie</em> was an airship, or as some off-worlder designers
+called it, a <em>dirigible</em>. It was the product of a joint venture
+with the off-worlders. Conceived by the Cooperative of Scientific
+Communities, its mission was to explore and document the whimsical
+matter and physics in Kee’s homeworld skies and extend the range of
+shorter wings-on-your-back flights. It was the most technologically
+advanced piece of machinery she had ever seen. Despite only being
+considered a fledgling mechanist, she knew the ins and outs of the
+engines, pumps, dynamos, and the maze of structural girders holding the
+ship together (at least in the shop). Her long, thin beak pointed to and
+fro as her dark eyes scanned every gleaming surface of the mechanical
+marvel, completely assembled for the first time.</p>
+<p>With a whoosh and the click of slender pink toes, a tall and lanky
+figure alighted on the sill beside Kee. It was Eudo, and he had a talent
+for being annoyingly just on time for everything. Eudo folded his stark
+white wings back, gestured his curved orange bill down at the ship, and
+beamed his beady eyes at Kee. “Really something, ain’t it?”</p>
+<p>“You’re late,” Kee reprimanded and cocked her head sarcastically at
+Eudo.</p>
+<p>He coiled his long neck. “No later than you at this rate. ’Sides, we
+ain’t leaving until you wipe the drool off your beak.”</p>
+<p>Eudo was a rigger. He would be working high up in the ship’s hull,
+maintaining the canvas covering and the wire supports throughout the
+ship. The two fledglings spent countless hours tinkering together over
+the past year, Kee with engines and Eudo with construction materials. On
+more than one occasion they managed to sneak into the shop where they
+had been taught to get in a few hours of practice without the rest of
+the group or work on a few pet projects. It wasn’t hard for Kee to
+imagine they’d both be going on the <em>Aerie</em>’s first voyage
+together. There wasn’t anyone else she trusted to do things right. And
+Eudo was always good for a laugh.</p>
+<p>Kee hoisted her pack up, tucked in her short arms, and spread her
+violet, bladelike wings across her back.</p>
+<p>She turned to Eudo. “I gotta prep, no idea where the last egghead
+left the carburetors. Probably need to redo everything.”</p>
+<p>“Alight, <em>Surly Kee the Talon</em>, but promise you won’t stick
+your beak where it doesn’t belong this trip? I’d like to avoid a run-in
+with the chief.”</p>
+<p>Ignoring Eudo, she lept off the sill and fluttered down to the
+gangplank aft of the gondola where the flock of crew assembled. Further
+behind the gondola, large bay doors opened to the belly of the ship.
+Eudo wafted his long, flowing wings and caught up to her. The
+<em>Talons</em>—the ranking officers of the Wingfolk expeditions—were
+there calling roll and dishing out orders. They were responsible for
+navigation and control of the ship, as well as carrying out the mission.
+Kee and a few others were <em>Wings</em>; the mechanists, riggers,
+stewards, and other assorted task doers. Kee wouldn’t have it any other
+way. Flying was something they all did, Kee admitted; getting around in
+the air was a crucial job, sure, but it wasn’t a new or interesting one.
+Kee was going to be working on the ship itself.</p>
+<p>She approached the Talon taking roll. “Kee Sylph, fledgling
+mechanist,” she chirped.</p>
+<p>The Talon looked down at Kee and clacked his blue bill, “Kee Sylph,
+starboard engine, first shift. Make ready for takeoff.” Still holding
+his list, he gestured with a ruddy wing at Kee and then up to the
+gangplank.</p>
+<p>A few paces behind him stood the captain, arms crossed and wings
+furled. He regarded every new crew member intensely with bright yellow
+eyes from behind a hooked, raptorial beak. Kee recognized Captain Rhirr;
+he was present during the selection of every crew member just a few
+weeks prior. His old, mud-colored feathers faded to a grayish white
+along his nape and wing tips.</p>
+<p>As she click-clacked her way up into the gondola, Kee caught the
+captain stretching his left wing gingerly, his right hanging limply and
+at a poor angle. Any crew member paying attention knew, without a doubt,
+Captain Rhirr was crippled. A long past injury never healed properly,
+rendering him incapable of flying. Kee knew this, but she didn’t know
+what trauma brought the captain to this low state. She also knew better
+than to speak of it while aboard. The captain was here because he knew
+the sky better than the rest; he knew where they were going and how to
+get there.</p>
+<p>Kee glimpsed the bridge at the head of the gondola before fluttering
+up a hatch into the ship's hull. A few Talons were inspecting the rudder
+and elevator wheels, laying out charts, and testing various equipment.
+In the hull along the keel was an immensely long catwalk stretching all
+the way to the stern of the ship, above the vast expanse swallowed by
+enormous lifting gas bags tied in place with wire. A haughty crew member
+with orange feathers and a green tail bumped into Kee as he half-hopped
+and half-flew along the corridor. Other crew members scurried here and
+there, loading supplies and equipment or doing final inspections.</p>
+<p>Eudo popped up through the bay doors and grabbed onto the nearest
+ladder. He puffed out his chest and called, “‘Eudo Irriss, gas cells,
+first shift,’” in her direction and saluted with his right wing. “I’ll
+find you first rotation if you’re not married to the engine yet.”</p>
+<p>Kee watched Eudo disappear into the bowels of the ship in a narrow
+shaft between two gas cells. She shuffled down the length of the catwalk
+and out across the starboard ring from which hung the engine car. Before
+the end of the path, a tawny wing flipped out and blocked her way. The
+obstruction’s face was dark with a black, almost conical beak. His
+cheeks wrapped into a brown nape, each side punctuated by a white spot
+directly behind the eye. Kee bowed slightly for the surprise
+introduction as he regarded her with a cocked head.</p>
+<p>“Kee Sylph, fledgling mech—”</p>
+<p>“You’re my mechanist? For the starboard engine?” he interrupted with
+beady eyes.</p>
+<p>“You’re the chief? Er, I mean, yes sir, that’s my assignment.”</p>
+<p>“Chief Halihk, although I don’t know why I need to tell you. I was
+expecting someone else,” he mumbled, reviewing his paperwork.</p>
+<p><em>You’re not the only one expecting someone else</em>, Kee thought.
+She didn’t recognize Halihk at all. Worse yet, this jerk wasn’t anything
+like Llyr, the chief she trained under. Chiefs were finicky about how
+you did things on a good day. At worst, they were a huge pain in your
+tailfeathers about every little thing.</p>
+<p>“Fine, prepare for takeoff. Throttle down, or you’ll blow something
+up before we’re in the air. Don’t break anything.”</p>
+<p>Kee stayed silent and bowed again as Halihk lowered his wing and gave
+access to the engine car. He looked down his beak at her as she
+passed.</p>
+<p>A ladder ran down from the hull's interior to the car itself. Kee
+hovered briefly in the air and dropped down into the car with a clank.
+She was going to grumble something obscene under her breath at Halihk
+but forgot it an instant later.</p>
+<p>She instead marveled at the cathedral of brass and iron cramping the
+rest of the car. The cold engine block squatted on stringers in the
+center of the compartment. Six monolithic cylinders stood in formation,
+topped with a spider-like valvetrain. Pipes for coolant, compressed air,
+and fuel wound their way around like blood vessels from their dormant
+heart. The mechanist dropped her pack and set to work. She went over
+every inch of the engine, checking fluids, adjusting valve lash, and
+inspecting moving parts for wear. What any other engineer would consider
+overkill for a hunk of metal, Kee carried out dutifully. She did it not
+because Halihk told her to but because she loved doing it.</p>
+<hr/>
+<p>As preparations for the voyage were completed, Captain Rhirr gave the
+order to lift the ship from the hangar.</p>
+<p>The wide cedar roof parted and retracted, exposing the great argent
+fish to the bright sunlight. A few dozen standby crew grabbed hold of
+hempen lines along the ship’s length and took to the air. They beat
+their wings and tugged at the rope until the neutral airship began to
+rise out of the hangar’s roof. Kee gazed out of the engine compartment
+porthole as the shady hangar walls were replaced by Yonder—that
+beautiful blue shade of sky where all of the Wingfolk soared freely and
+breathed fully.</p>
+<p>Being in the wide open air was the default state of being. Landing
+was just a distraction; a respite or a meal or a place to work before
+leaping back into the endless breeze. It was obvious even for an
+off-worlder to see why. The world of the Wingfolk was uninhabitable on
+the surface—the entire planet covered in sharp, rocky crags that sliced
+and choked out the life of anything stubborn enough to try and grow
+there. Colossal, pitted stone columns drove up out of the surface and
+rose all the way to the cloud layer. On top of each pillar was a Shelf;
+a mostly flat surface that collected precipitation and fostered
+vegetation and fauna. Some Shelves were vast bowls supporting lakes the
+size of seas. Others boasted the nests of enormous settlements of
+Wingfolk and looked like huge cities constructed of stone and woven tree
+limbs.</p>
+<p>Here, on this small, remote Shelf, far from the concentrated flock of
+civilization or the bountiful pastures and hunting grounds, Kee looked
+down on the hangar from her engine car.</p>
+<p><em>Ti-ti-ti-ting,</em> the engine order telegraph rang. On the wall
+of the car was a cable-driven bell with a dial indicating the bridge’s
+intent. The rounded face displayed basic fractional speeds, direction,
+and status conditions for the mechanists to follow.</p>
+<p>“Idling, brake off,” Kee confirmed and moved the response lever on
+the telegraph to match the bridge order. She quickly began to open fuel
+lines and air valves. Finally, she yanked the starting valve.</p>
+<p><em>Vvvfff-Boom</em>, the engine erupted with sound and motion,
+valves ticked and pistons thrummed as the carburetor throats emitted a
+vacuous sucking sound. It was loud, and it smelled like fuel and oil.
+Kee was giddy. Her chest puffed up, and her feathers ruffled with glee.
+She stamped in place momentarily, ecstatic with the moving mass of
+torque-generating metal she cared for so much. She peered out the car
+porthole and cocked her head this way and that as she heard two more
+engines start-up behind her.</p>
+<p>The telegraph rang again, <em>Ti-ti-ti-ting</em>.</p>
+<p>“Ahead half,” Kee declared aloud to herself.</p>
+<p>She pulled the massive clutch lever, and the long wooden blades of
+the propeller swung in time with the idling engine. She slowly stepped
+up the throttle and increased the revolutions. The thrum of the pistons
+escalated into a cacophonous drone, and the propeller blades all but
+disappeared as they carved through the air like thin, slicing wings.
+Without any sensation at all, the ship pushed through the
+atmosphere.</p>
+<p>Kee marveled at the soft motion produced by the orchestra of
+shuffling metal. It was magic, this new way of progressing through the
+already familiar sky. It was not like being grounded at all. This
+revolutionary mechanism could mean staying aloft indefinitely, an
+enticing prospect for any Wingfolk.</p>
+<p>After a short test flight, the telegraph rang and indicated cruising
+speed. Kee made the necessary adjustments and tinkered with the
+carburetors, keeping them synchronized and adjusting the mixture to keep
+everything running smoothly. The ship was pitching ever so slightly into
+the clouds now, and Kee leaned through the porthole to watch as the
+hangar they left behind shrank comfortingly into a small dot. Before
+long, the great Yonder stretched out in every direction; that endless
+cool blue expanse inviting Kee to let the breeze run through the
+feathers on her arm, coaxing her to leap out to catch warm thermals
+under her wings and savor the currents. The ship ruddered onto a new
+course.</p>
+<p>The fledgling mechanist wasn’t distracted long before a pair of
+pinkish talons worked down the ladder into the engine car. When the
+whole figure alighted on the car floor, Kee looked into Halihk’s dark
+eyes. Kee bowed again and opened her beak to speak. Halihk seemed to
+anticipate this and cut her off. “Shift is over; you’re on rest and then
+standby canvas with Irriss,” he squawked over the droning pistons and
+ticking valves.</p>
+<p>Kee’s feathers bristled. There was no way her shift was over yet. The
+crew worked equal rotations: one third of their time was spent on watch,
+the second resting, and the third on standby watch with less arduous
+tasks. Kee felt the ship had only just lined up with its intended
+course. This jerk was relieving her early.</p>
+<p>She thought of meeting up with Eudo. She didn’t want their first
+conversation to be about mouthing off to the chief, so she regained her
+composure.</p>
+<p>“I set the mixture just a few dives back but we haven’t gained much
+altitude since then.” Halihk began to shuffle between Kee and the intake
+manifold. “Oh, and before we set out, one of the number five exhaust
+values was almost a hundredth too—<em>oof!</em>”</p>
+<p>Halihk forced himself between Kee and the engine, pushing her up
+against the hull of the car with his wings. He interrupted, “Not to
+worry, I’ll take it from here,” and set to work checking fluids and
+mixtures and resetting the throttles.</p>
+<p>“I wasn’t worried; I was just giving a report.” Kee mustered her
+strength by focusing her eyes on the rocker arms. “Respectfully, chief,
+I’m not fatigued yet. I could stay and give you a hand here.”</p>
+<p>“You want to help? How about you flutter around the empennage and
+lubricate every pulley you find?” As he said this, he mocked two tiny
+wings with his fingers and waited for Kee to react. It was a dare, an
+opportunity for Kee to make her life aboard much worse. Halihk searched
+Kee’s face for a retort or any hint of defiance.</p>
+<p>Kee stared directly into his beady dark eyes and gave a short, rushed
+bow. She spun around and climbed up the ladder to the hull, the wind
+rushing through her down as she passed briefly out of the safety of the
+car and into the ship.</p>
+<p>“That one is <em>wet shit,</em>” she thought as she stamped her way
+to the stern close to the tailfins.</p>
+<hr/>
+<p>Kee’s rest shift was as far from restful as one could stray. She
+diligently traced the rudder and elevator control cables through the
+ship’s tail, inspecting and lubing every tensioner, pulley, and gear
+that allowed the Talons in the gondola to steer and control the ship’s
+pitch. She started the work with clenched fists, but after a while, the
+exertion smoothed out her frustration. Satisfied with her work and
+comfortably distanced from the chief, she searched for Eudo.</p>
+<p>She bumped into him amidships on the axial catwalk. The passageway
+ran centrally from nose to tail in the center of the gas cells,
+equidistant from the keel catwalk and the highest point on the ship.</p>
+<p>“I’ve been looking everywhere for you! Rest’s almost over, thought
+you fell out of the engine car or something!” Eudo blurted, spreading
+his arms and wings in irritation. He cut his chafing short when he got a
+good look at Kee. “You look awful.”</p>
+<p>Kee’s feathers were sooty and greasy. They looked matted and
+unpreened, abnormally so. It wasn’t uncommon for Eudo to see Kee get
+lost in her work and forget some basic hygiene, but this was far more
+extreme.</p>
+<p>Kee took a deep breath. “I guess I didn’t get along so good with the
+chief,” she started, and before Eudo could finish craning his neck for
+an <em>I-told-you-so</em>, she finished, “It wasn’t my fault! That wet
+shit has it out for me, has since we set out! He cut my shift short and
+sent me to lube the chains!”</p>
+<p>Eudo stayed silent. This was one of those times Kee needed a friend
+instead of a buddy. After a few silent moments, he cawed, “Come with me;
+I got something to show you.”</p>
+<p>“We’ve got canvas inspection,” she reminded.</p>
+<p>“Then that’s what we’ll say we’re doing, c’mere.”</p>
+<p>He strutted down the axial corridor closer to the center of the ship.
+Kee lagged behind with drooping tailfeathers. More work didn’t sound
+like the best medicine at the moment. After clacking along the corridor
+for a spell they arrived at the central shaft; a tall ladder rose from
+the cargo bay doors below to the observation platform at the ship’s
+peak. Eudo grabbed hold of two bundled lines and started to climb up the
+ladder. Kee begrudgingly gripped the rungs and followed.</p>
+<p>At the top of the shaft, Eudo turned and opened a hatch. Fresh, cool
+wind rushed past the opening. He tied off the two lines to rungs on the
+ladder and then fastened the other end of one line to his ankle. He
+tossed the free end of the other line to Kee and climbed up and out of
+the hatch. When he passed through, Kee could see it was night already.
+She tied the line around her ankle and finished climbing onto the
+observation platform.</p>
+<p>Wind rushed past Kee’s face and slipped through every feather on her
+body. All around her, the Yonder was a deep shade of cloudless indigo;
+the black envelope of darkness sliced only with bright, radiant
+moonlight, which made her emerald feathers gleam. The rush of noise
+drowned out the faint humming of the engines which normally proliferated
+the ship.</p>
+<p>“You gonna join me or what?” Eudo squawked down from above and behind
+her. He was flying, or at least soaring. The ship was sluggishly
+cruising directly into a headwind. That meant it was moving slowly, but
+the wind across the hull's surface was stronger. Without flapping his
+wings he was able to catch and shape the wash around him to stay aloft.
+He rolled left to right almost lazily, savoring the current while the
+safety line kept him attached to the vessel.</p>
+<p>Kee almost forgot about the rest of her day. She faced forward and
+spread her violet wings across her back. Steadying herself, she pitched
+her flight feathers and lifted off. The sensation was delightful. She
+buzzed her wings occasionally to maintain balance but felt the draft
+doing most of the work for her. She allowed herself to hover a little
+farther away from the platform. The cool night air channeling around her
+body was rejuvenating.</p>
+<p>“Not a bad way to spend your shift, huh?” Eudo finally said, dipping
+his wing to fly alongside Kee.</p>
+<p>“I gotta hand it to you, this is better than I thought,” she
+returned. rotating her head and pointing her slender beak at Eudo. “You
+riggers do have it pretty good up here.”</p>
+<p>“When you’re doing inspection or repair, it’s not as fun. You and
+another pair of wings tryna sew a big patch in? That can get kinda
+annoying. Not as annoying as what you had to do, though.” Eudo always
+knew how to turn the conversation back a few turns.</p>
+<p>“You jerk, you’ve got me in therapy right now.” She squinted at Eudo,
+who just smirked at the corners of his orange bill. Kee continued,
+“Well, I don’t think the chief thinks I’m up for it. He acted all
+surprised when I showed up like I wasn’t on his list or he didn’t
+approve of me. You’d think the damn chief would know who’s working for
+him.”</p>
+<p>“There were a couple of last-minute changes on the riggers too,” Eudo
+offered. “And some of them think Llyr got switched out for your buddy as
+chief. Wonder if Captain had anything to do with it.”</p>
+<p>“I don’t know. But he’s gonna make being on this balloon miserable
+for me; I just know it. I just want to be a part of this project. And I
+know I have something to offer. Think about what life would be like out
+here all the time,” and she did a small roll, washing away her feelings
+with more sensation.</p>
+<p>“It’s still a shakedown flight for everybody, even the Talons. When
+we land you can always let them know what’s up. But for now, stay out of
+trouble. In the meantime, you can lend a hand with inspection whenever
+you need to cool off,” and he winked a beady eye at Kee.</p>
+<hr/>
+<p>After another hour of soaring, Kee was invigorated and determined
+again. She started to get antsy about the actual inspection they needed
+to do, so the two alighted on the platform and clambered down the
+hatchway. For the rest of the shift, they split off in the ship’s
+interior, tracing the accessible portions of the outer cover and looking
+for ripped or loose sections.</p>
+<p>At the finish of standby, Kee was back in the starboard engine car,
+relieving a puffy crew member with great horned eyebrows and wide,
+yellow eyes who barely fit in the engine compartment. He was polite and
+gave her no trouble as he climbed back into the ship. Kee set to work
+with adjustments and cleaning the obviously ignored air screens. She
+enjoyed a trouble-free shift servicing her great iron cathedral, still
+thrumming away, twisting the propeller.</p>
+<p>The next several rotations were not completely without incident, but
+Kee did her utmost to avoid talking back to the chief. Sporadically, he
+would come and relieve her early, making snide remarks about her ability
+or stamina or some other reason why she couldn’t do the job she was
+confident with. To cool off, she would explore other parts of the ship.
+Kee often used the extra rest to actually sleep or eat in the galley and
+meet the other crew. When she got particularly frustrated, she spent an
+hour on the observation platform with Eudo, recharging in the wash of
+the <em>Aerie</em>.</p>
+<p>For three days and nights, the voyage passed much the same, and Kee
+felt it was a rhythm she could sustain, even if it was not ideal. After
+the third night, the <em>Aerie</em> was officially halfway complete with
+the trial voyage and homeward bound. The next morning Kee hummed along
+the catwalk down to the starboard engine car. When she dropped into the
+droning, ticking space, she was face to face with the chief again. He
+was busy fussing with the carburetor altitude settings.</p>
+<p>“Don’t need you this shift,” he chirped over the noise. “Go find
+Cleekiirk and inspect the dynamos.”</p>
+<p>Kee’s beak hung open in shock and disbelief. This insufferable
+egg-smasher was going to push her away for her entire shift.</p>
+<p>She chose her words carefully, “Chief Halihk, respectfully, it would
+be my preference to remain on starboard engine duty this shift. Perhaps
+if my skills are lacking, I can observe and train under you, giving our
+entire crew a greater advantage in the shared experience.” And she gave
+as much a bow as she could in the cramped compartment.</p>
+<p>Halihk bored into Kee with his beady eyes. His chest buffed out, and
+his wings untucked, giving him a much larger appearance. “Respectfully?
+Respectfully! Why don’t you <em>respectfully</em> listen to orders? Why
+don’t you <em>respectfully</em> buzz off when I tell you to? How about
+<em>respectfully</em> letting me run this ship exactly as I please and
+intend to without sticking your beak into everything? It’s against my
+wishes for this crew and vessel that you be here <em>respecting</em> me.
+You’re lucky some Talon somewhere thinks you’re cut out for this, or we
+would have left you back on that Shelf where you belong! Now, why don’t
+you <em>respectfully</em> climb out of my engine car and make a nest
+somewhere where I won’t see you.”</p>
+<p>Kee fumed, and she clenched her fists. Her head swirled, and she felt
+as though the entire compartment lurched, digging the claws on her scaly
+feet into the slippery aluminum deck of the compartment for support. She
+stretched out her neck and puffed her down, the grease and soot parting
+to reveal stripes of cleaner, iridescent layers of feathers beneath. At
+full posture, she was still about a foot shorter than the chief, but she
+would do her utmost to make a nest out of his tail feathers.</p>
+<p>The car’s center of gravity reversed before either of the Wingfolk
+could catch themselves. Halihk, on the tips of his toes, fell backward
+against the car's frame, bumping his head. Kee realized too late that
+the compartment swaying wasn’t her rage and toppled beak forward onto
+the floor.</p>
+<p><em>Ti-ti-ti-ti-ting</em>, the engine telegraph rang.</p>
+<p>Kee whipped around, ignoring the aching pain growing at the front of
+her skull.</p>
+<p>“Stop engine, brake on,” she repeated to no one, certainly not the
+chief, still trying to make sense of what had happened. She responded on
+the telegraph and stalled the engine before grabbing the brake lever and
+yanking it, quickly stopping the propeller's rotation.</p>
+<p>“What did you do? What happened?” Halihk slowly came to his
+senses.</p>
+<p>“I followed orders. Something must have happened forward.” Before Kee
+could complete the thought, the telegraph rang again. It read
+<em>report</em>. “Bridge wants a report.”</p>
+<p>Halihk sobered quickly, and his subdued anger started to rise again.
+“You love reports so much, go give the lame wings at the helm a damn
+report and get out of my sight. <em>Respectfully</em>.”</p>
+<p>Kee was halfway up the ladder before Halihk finished. She sensed
+something had gone wrong, probably dangerously so. Definitely more
+dangerous than the chief anyway.</p>
+<p>She hopped along the catwalk and arrived at the ladder to the
+gondola. She dropped down and clanked on the floor. The Talons shuffled
+to and fro, some calling out readings from indicators along the control
+panels. A white Talon with a heart-shaped face and dark eyes bumped into
+Kee carrying rulers and compasses while others unrolled new charts on
+the navigation desks. Everyone was hopping and flitting and causing a
+stir except the captain. Arms crossed, he stood with his back to the
+helm, listening carefully to Eudo and two other mechanists, probably on
+watch in the other engine cars. Through the windshield Kee saw the cool,
+blue Yonder, punctuated by scattered clouds and—Kee’s heart skipped a
+beat—a wall of floating green masses stretching out on all sides.</p>
+<p>The Wingfolk called it a Vork migration. Vork were bunched up,
+inanimate blobs suspended in the air. The world of the Wingfolk was full
+of these curious, jelly-like collections of elements held aloft by some
+unknown principle. Predicting their drift was challenging, and only top
+researchers could speculate on their origin. Many variants were
+harmless: orbs of atmospheric water sticking together and floating
+wherever the wind carried them. Others were deadly amalgams of chemicals
+wafting along and burning pockmarks in stone as they collided with
+Shelves. Both variants were huge risks for flying Wingfolk. Kee was
+stunned. She had never seen a migration this expansive before.</p>
+<p>Eudo finished giving his report, and the captain noticed Kee staring
+across the gondola.</p>
+<p>“Where is Chief Halihk?” he asked in a high, gravelly voice, piercing
+Kee with sharp, yellow eyes.</p>
+<p>Kee bowed. “The chief sent me forward in his stead, Captain.
+Starboard engine is fit for duty.”</p>
+<p>The captain almost imperceptibly raised one brow. The crew continued
+to survey charts and instruments, occasionally getting distracted
+looking forward at the Vork wall. All the while, the captain continued
+standing calmly. After a pause, he spoke up again, stretching his left
+wing as he did. “Your attention, please.”</p>
+<p>The commotion in the car halted abruptly and all eyes fixed on the
+captain.</p>
+<p>“As you are well aware, our current course has us met with a Vork
+migration. From the looks of it, it’s a pretty nasty one, drifting in
+our direction as we speak. Four minutes ago, we narrowly dodged a
+caustic Vork mass concealed by cloud cover, thanks to the quick reaction
+of our helmsman. Eudo informed me that the strain from our extreme hard
+rudder has severed control cables, which will take a nontrivial amount
+of time to repair. With no steerage, we’re in a bit of a situation. I
+asked the mechanists to come forward to help find a solution.” The
+captain surveyed each of the engineers in turn. “I suspect the only way
+for us to navigate to that solution is by using the port and starboard
+engines for steerage. What do you all think?”</p>
+<p>The mechanists from the other engine cars nodded, and the larger one
+spoke, “Yes, with full reversal on the starboard engine and full ahead
+on the port, we should be able to rotate 180 degrees while hovering.
+Then, we could fly in the opposite direction while rudder repairs are
+made. When we turn to face the wall again, we can navigate through
+it.”</p>
+<p>The Wingfolk from the other engine car chimed in, “Why can’t we turn
+90 degrees and navigate around the migration?”</p>
+<p>The Talon with the heart-shaped face answered in his customary shrill
+voice, “We estimate the wall is too wide. It’s not very dense but has
+extraordinary breadth, like the Vork are in square formation. Changing
+our course so drastically will add many miles to the journey and
+diminish our remaining supplies.”</p>
+<p>“We can patch up the rudder controls in three days at quickest,” Eudo
+reiterated. “Maybe we can find a safe Shelf on the map to do that on and
+resupply at the same time.”</p>
+<p>The captain listened carefully without consenting or refuting any of
+the options presented. When the other mechanists were finished, he
+fixated his eyes on Kee again. “Engineer Sylph, what do you think?”</p>
+<p>Kee was visualizing the alternatives. In her mind, she followed the
+journey carefully, painting a mental picture of all of the shifts and
+work she would need to do back the way they came, whether they’d have to
+land and take off from a Shelf, and what it would be like following the
+line of the caustic wall for an unknown amount of time. After careful
+consideration, she gave her answer.</p>
+<p>“Fuel and oil.”</p>
+<p>“Fuel and oil,” Rhirr repeated. “Could you elaborate?”</p>
+<p>“We flew into a headwind for much of the voyage, consuming more fuel
+and oil. We left with a surplus for four extra days of flying, but I bet
+we’d only have enough for two extra days now. Even if we find a Shelf to
+restock on, we won’t be able to refuel. If the migration is as wide as
+we think, we’ll definitely fall short of reaching the hangar. In either
+scenario, we’ll end up adrift.”</p>
+<p>“I see.”</p>
+<p>“But we could steer through it. Use the engines to steer through the
+migration.”</p>
+<p>All eyes were on Kee now. A few of the crew rustled their feathers
+thinking about the risky maneuver she suggested. One miscalculation and
+corrosive Vork would eat away at the ship, gluing itself to the sides
+and consuming the canvas. If it ate through the fragile gas cells, the
+ship would be lost.</p>
+<p>The back of Captain Rhirr’s beak, where his cheeks met, lifted ever
+so slightly. He was smiling. “Exactly what I was thinking. The wall
+isn’t too dense for us to pass through. We were already planning on
+steering through it, my concern was whether we’d have enough control of
+the engines through the telegraphs.”</p>
+<p>Kee felt determined again. A little sick with fear, sure, but too
+enthusiastic to act on that fear. If anyone understood the risks here,
+it was the one crew member who couldn’t get away from this if things
+flew south. The captain’s courage was energizing, inspiring Kee. She
+wanted to make the plan work, just like for countless days and nights
+she sought to make machines work. More than anything she wanted to be a
+part of some grand solution with her crew.</p>
+<p>She continued working on the problem as the Captain spoke. That’s
+when she said, “You wouldn’t have enough control with the telegraphs.
+But you can see the gondola from just beneath the engine cars. If you
+open the gangplank hatch, you could signal someone flying beneath the
+ship to relay more exact throttle settings to the port and starboard
+cars.” Kee didn’t think twice before adding, “I volunteer to fly
+orders.”</p>
+<p>Eudo’s beak hung open. All around the bridge the crew cocked their
+heads and blinked. Many of them leaned or stepped away from their post
+for a better look at the small Wingfolk with the fluttery wings and
+iridescent green feathers who just volunteered to put herself in harm’s
+way for her crew.</p>
+<p>The captain didn’t look surprised for even a second. “You accept the
+risk, I presume, just as we all did embarking on this voyage.”</p>
+<p>“I do.”</p>
+<p>“Then let’s get to work. Sylph, go aft and inform the starboard
+engine watch. Then get into position.” He turned to the other crew and
+continued, “You three return to your stations. I need everyone on the
+bridge to be on watch. Yaia, you’re on the elevator, and Qriil, you’re
+signaling my course corrections to Sylph.”</p>
+<p>The gondola was a flurry again as the Talons returned to their
+stations, and the mechanist Wings hustled up the ladder into the ship.
+Kee removed the safety chains from the aft gangplank hatch and started
+cranking it open. Sunlight poured into the gondola as the bridge became
+exposed to the Yonder. Kee took a deep breath, spread her violet wings,
+and leaped into the air. She didn’t notice Rhirr give a small salute as
+he watched her go.</p>
+<p>Kee beat her wings and buzzed along the ribbed, silvery belly of the
+<em>Aerie</em>. She dropped low enough to see the three engine cars
+slung along the tapering rings near the stern. She altered course and
+hustled up the starboard car. She grabbed hold of the porthole edge.</p>
+<p>Halihk was leaning up against the side, arms crossed. He jumped when
+Kee pushed her head inside. “I’ll be mobbed, Sylph this is the
+last—”</p>
+<p>Kee cut him off, “There’s a Vork migration ahead. We’re going to
+navigate through it. There was evasive rudder damage so we need to use
+the engines. I’ll relay orders from the bridge.”</p>
+<p>Caught off guard, Halihk lost his original reprimand. Instead he
+said, “No way are we going to be able to steer this ship through a Vork
+wall. It cannot be done. I refuse.”</p>
+<p>The telegraph rang. <em>Idling, brake off</em>. There wasn’t time for
+this.</p>
+<p>“The captain gave us our orders, now let’s get a move on!”</p>
+<p>“If that grounded old egghead wants to go out in a blaze of glory
+then let him, I’ll see myself out and find some Shelf to watch you all
+kill yourselves for him from there.”</p>
+<p>Kee let every bottled-up emotion from the voyage go all at once.
+“Listen here, you wet shit! You’re gonna do what I say here and now, or
+this ship is going down. And you might not give two shits about what
+happens to it or to the Captain, I can’t change that, but before you
+smash a few eggs and fly this nest, remember one thing—you’re gonna wind
+up on that remote Shelf. And when you think you’re safe and this pile of
+twisted metal is lying in a heap on the surface, I’m gonna come find
+that Shelf. We’re gonna be best buds while you tire your wings out as I
+chase you around and pluck every last one of your shitty feathers,
+reminding you what a useless sack of plumage you are ’til we’re both
+dead. Ya got that? Now start that damn engine!”</p>
+<p>Halihk’s beak hung wide enough for Kee to see down his gullet. He
+gathered his composure and chirped to clear his throat. Without another
+word, he switched the arm on the telegraph to <em>idling</em> and loosed
+the brake. He quickly set the throttle and yanked the starter, the
+cathedral of pistons booming to life again as they sucked in air and
+pumped out torque.</p>
+<p>Kee pulled her head out of the porthole and dove back from the car to
+swoop under the belly of the ship. She positioned herself in front of
+and below the central engine car, spotting Qriil’s brilliant
+heart-shaped face staring back at her from the gondola. She gave him an
+okay signal with her fingers, and he responded with the same.</p>
+<p>From the central car, Kee heard the faint ring of the telegraph sound
+out. The engine RPMs increased, and the propellers started to drone in
+unison as the ship advanced. Kee kept pace with the ship, which must
+have been powered to only half speed ahead.</p>
+<p>The Vork migration before her was getting closer, and she could make
+out the rough size and shape of the lifeless blobs better. They were
+asymmetrical and rippled with small waves across their surface as if
+they were algae-coated ponds wrapped into spheres. More uniform in their
+size and distribution, most were about twenty feet across at the widest,
+although some must have been double that. Kee remembered the
+<em>Aerie</em> was approximately sixty feet in diameter at its widest
+point. The wind carried a slight acrid smell.</p>
+<p>Ahead of her, Qriil held out two red flags. With one flag, he
+indicated direction, with the other, he circled and stopped at a point
+in the circle to give an approximate degree of rudder change.</p>
+<p>“Left, ten degrees,” Kee echoed to herself. She rolled and ducked
+over to the port engine car, and caught hold of the cables fixing it to
+the hull. She called into the porthole, “Idle down to 550 RPM!”</p>
+<p>The bulky mechanist nodded and flattened his horned eyebrows as he
+brought down the throttle.</p>
+<p>Kee flew across the underbelly of the ship to the starboard car. She
+caught the porthole rim and yelled, “Full ahead, 1700 RPM!”</p>
+<p>“Full ahead,” Halihk echoed, and the great motor surged to cruising
+speed.</p>
+<p>Kee returned to her position ahead of the central engine car. She
+felt the ship rotating away and she corrected her course to keep up. Her
+wings were buzzing quickly enough to be invisible to anyone watching.
+The Vork blob the bridge must have been dodging passed by a good three
+hundred feet away from the starboard of the ship. Kee made a mental note
+that she likely turned too sharply and left too wide a berth.</p>
+<p>Qriil must have thought the same thing because he signaled a course
+correction<em>: Right, 20 degrees rudder</em>.</p>
+<p>She rolled back to the starboard engine. “Idle down to 800 RPM.”
+Halihk echoed the order, and the droning dropped as Kee kicked off the
+engine car and hummed across the gap to the other car to shout, “Rev it
+up to 1300!” The exhaust from the tail of the car coughed black smoke
+before the engine powered up. Kee shoved her head in the porthole. “Lean
+it out a little; she’s rich!”</p>
+<p>At this point, the ship was surrounded by the Vork on all sides and
+the air was heavy with the acidic smell, making Kee’s eyes water. She
+beat her wings to return to the ship’s centerline and stay ahead of the
+aft engine car. From her vantage point, she could see more of the swarm
+ahead. They weren’t out of this yet.</p>
+<p>Qriil held both flags in parallel to signal <em>steady as she
+goes</em>, and Kee hummed over to Halihk to pass the message, “Get it up
+to 1300!” No sooner had she returned to her spotting position the bridge
+ordered another <em>right, twenty degree rudder</em>. The orders kept
+coming as Rhirr navigated through the field of deadly masses.</p>
+<p>Left fifteen degrees. Right twenty degrees. Steady as she goes. Right
+thirty degrees. Left twenty-five degrees.</p>
+<p>Clearly the bridge couldn’t steer as well with the engines as the
+rudders, so their movements were more sudden, and there was lots of
+correction. Kee felt the slight strain of fatigue growing in her wings
+now. She could stay aloft for hours or even days if she could find
+thermals. But keeping up with the ship’s engines like this was
+exhausting. Still, after a few more turns, she got into a rhythm. Her
+translation was getting more accurate, and the bridge didn’t call out
+course corrections as frequently, focusing only on steering side to side
+to avoid incoming Vork.</p>
+<p>The ship began to climb slightly. Kee registered they must be
+pitching the elevators to gain some altitude. She hoped that meant they
+saw an opening and were pursuing it. Qriil continued to signal and Kee
+translated, learning how her engines responded to her commands and
+adjusting her orders to be more precise.</p>
+<p>Right fifteen degrees, port throttle up to 1500 RPM. Steady as she
+goes, starboard throttle up to match. Right twenty degrees, port half
+power. Left fifty degrees, starboard full speed ahead. Steady as she
+goes, both engines half ahead. Left twenty-five degrees, port idle,
+starboard full power.</p>
+<p>Kee cut back and forth through the wind, desperately trying not to
+cough at the pungent, bitter smell—shouting over the prop wash and
+exhaust made her throat rough and scratchy. She thought then and there
+that she’d give every last one of her secondaries to taste fresh Yonder.
+The Vork passed closer to the sides of the ship. She had no idea what it
+was like up on top of the hull, but along the rudder fin behind her,
+there were some close calls as the gelatinous acid floated within twenty
+feet of the disabled tail. It was as if the deadly orbs weren’t just
+drifting on the wind but attracted to the ship itself.</p>
+<p>The muscles in her wings were starting to burn, and Kee could feel
+her speed dropping as she continued climbing to keep with the ship’s
+rising attitude. The bridge pushed the nose up through the migration,
+forking left and right to dodge the Vork. One passed beneath Kee, and on
+its slick surface she could see the reflection of a great silvery fish
+punctuated by a small emerald dot flitting to and fro. She pushed
+harder.</p>
+<p>Left ten degrees, right five degrees.</p>
+<p>Kee panted as she flew orders into the engine portholes now, just
+pushing out enough words to convey the message. Her heart was pounding
+out of her chest, and she almost slipped reaching out for the port car’s
+support strut.</p>
+<p>Right fifteen degrees, left twenty degrees.</p>
+<p>The surrounding Yonder brightened. The Vork began to dissipate.</p>
+<p>Right thirty degrees, left twenty degrees. Steady as she goes.</p>
+<p>Just as Kee called her last order for the starboard car, she heard
+the telegraph inside ring, and the engines in all three cars surged. The
+wind was raking through the feathers on Kee’s face. It tasted fresher.
+The ship rose rapidly; the bridge must have applied a hard elevator.
+Ahead, Kee saw ballast water being discharged from the bow, providing
+the ship with emergency lift. She dodged the brunt of the spray as the
+wind caught it and threw it back at her.</p>
+<p>Her face, arms, and chest got drenched regardless. Kee cleared her
+eyes to see a fifty-foot diameter Vork dead ahead and she was flying
+straight toward it at breakneck speed. She couldn’t grab hold of the
+ship; it was climbing too quickly.</p>
+<p>She tucked her wings and dove, plummeting almost vertically across
+the surface of the Vork. The tips of her toes stung, and she screwed her
+eyes shut to stop the burning. She swore the tips of her primaries
+tingled, but the sensation subsided.</p>
+<p>Eyes open again, she saw the Vork overhead and spread her wings,
+clenching her muscles and holding fast to the onslaught of air she
+caught. She pulled hard, and with every fiber of her body, she managed
+to level herself. Her plummet turned into upward momentum. She felt the
+blood rush out of her skull, and her vision tunneled as she rocketed
+back up into clear, blue Yonder. She extended an arm to the glinting
+argent whale floating a few hundred yards out of reach before the
+darkness swallowed it.</p>
+<hr/>
+<p>Sharp, clenching pain in her arms thrust Kee to her senses. Her
+vision was blurry but bright, and she felt like she was swaying side to
+side in some void. As things cleared, she realized she was still in the
+air, but her wings hung limply on her back. Something tight tugged on
+her upper arms again, and she cocked her head up to see a pair of white,
+downy legs ending in thick, sharp talons gripping her tightly. Qriil’s
+broad wings undulated as he carried her through a Vork-less sky.</p>
+<p>Qriil turned his heart-shaped face down to Kee. “That was some dive,
+I didn’t think you could fly like that.”</p>
+<p>“Well, obviously I can’t, wet shi—er, I mean… sorry.” It was all the
+still-woozy Kee could muster.</p>
+<p>Qriil laughed in his shrill, shrieky voice. “Hey, I think it’s
+well-deserved. We’re the ones who dropped the ballast after all. In our
+defense, if we hadn’t we definitely would have hit that last Vork.” He
+made for the wide-open cargo bay doors. When they passed through the
+opening, he managed to set Kee down somewhat gently on the aluminum
+deck.</p>
+<p>As the bay doors shut, the noise of the wind ceased, and the low
+background humming of the engines droned on. Kee got her footing, giving
+half a flutter to ensure her wings still worked. They were sore but
+intact.</p>
+<p>Before she could get the rest of her bearings, she was surrounded by
+crew; Wings and Talons alike gathered around, cheering her on and
+slapping her on the back with their wingtips. The entire cargo bay was
+an uproar of shrieking, squawking, and chirping. Eudo parted the crowd
+and punched her in the arm.</p>
+<p>“You know you didn’t need to make more work for us out there,” he
+admonished, although his cheeks were grinning. Kee stared dumbfounded
+until he finished, “A piece of Vork didn’t completely miss the upper
+fin; now we need to patch it!”</p>
+<p>Kee smiled involuntarily and punched him back. “Jerk.” Eudo put up
+his hands in mock defensiveness.</p>
+<p>The chief steward arrived with hot rations, which he offered Kee as
+another crew member covered her back and violet wings with a dry towel.
+Captain Rhirr clacked his way across the bay and approached Kee. The
+boisterous crew quickly settled down and formed some semblance of
+order.</p>
+<p>He wasn’t distracted in the slightest by the rowdiness; eyes fixated
+on Kee, he said, “Engineer Sylph, I can say without a doubt that from
+today onward I am in your debt. You ensured not only the success of our
+maiden voyage but also the safe return of your fellow crew members. At
+great personal peril, you served this ship at the peak of its need, and
+I commend you. You, more than any of us, understood the risks we took
+venturing out on this new machine. We thank you for your quick thinking
+and courage in service.” The captain bowed low, and the crew mimicked
+his praise.</p>
+<p>He spoke again, this time to the crew at large: “I think we all agree
+Engineer Sylph has earned a break after that magnificent flying, but
+we’re not home yet. I must ask you all, once you’ve finished your
+congratulations, to cover her watches as we begin repairs. We don’t want
+to be without our steerage any longer than we have to, I’m sure. We’ll
+celebrate properly when we’re home.”</p>
+<p>Halihk, upstaged behind most of the group before now, stepped forward
+to interject, “With respect, Captain, Engineer Sylph is needed promptly
+on starboard engine watch once her rest shift is over.” He eyed Kee with
+his beady, dark eyes and gave a shallow nod.</p>
+<p>Captain Rhirr glanced at Halihk and turned back to Kee, cocking one
+brow.</p>
+<p>The small fledgling mechanist with the iridescent green feathers and
+long thin beak, still soaking wet and stained with grease, smiled and
+quietly nodded before answering—</p>
+<p>“Yes, sir, I am needed on starboard engine watch.”</p>
+
+<?php $nolicense=true; ?>
diff --git a/posts/2025-10-20-second-voyage-of-the-aerie.php b/posts/2025-10-20-second-voyage-of-the-aerie.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d173440
--- /dev/null
+++ b/posts/2025-10-20-second-voyage-of-the-aerie.php
@@ -0,0 +1,1337 @@
+<h1>On Stranded Wings: Second Voyage of the <em>Aerie</em></h1>
+
+<p class="description">
+This year, for Nat 1's WWOO two-week short-story challenge, I revisted Kee and her menagerie of Wingfolk pioneers. I'm invested in writing fiction for fun again, and I wanted to use this story to do a couple of things. First, I wanted to more closely experiment with close third person writing. I wanted to get more of Kee's thoughts around what was happening and "zoom in" on her actions. Second, I wanted to use much richer imagery and situational environments to reveal things about the world, instead of just dumping them on the reader. I ended up writing a much longer story than originally anticipated for this anthology, but I couldn't stop telling the story!
+</p>
+
+<p>The rhythmic thrumming of the engines emitted a drone that hushed out
+all other noise in this part of the ship. Like a lullaby, it smoothed
+over footsteps, tools, and valves, present though they were. The dim
+light was betrayed by glinting aluminum girders, all of which were
+strapped in place by a web of thick steel cables. The canvas walls gave
+off the slightest ripple—the only indicator that there may be a harsh or
+exciting world beyond them.</p>
+<p>A row of slack hammocks filled the voids between large tanks of water
+or oil, a couple of dented workbenches with bins of fasteners, and
+heavily laden wooden toolboxes. One hammock, taught with its burden,
+appeared at first like an open burlap sack full of iridescent green
+feathers. It rarely twitched or deviated from rest, a state most
+appreciated by its occupant. The bundle of feathers rose and fell and
+routinely gave off a snore. Sometimes a clawed black foot or a scaly
+hand would make its way out of its nest in search of cooler air.</p>
+<p>The volume of the engines deadened abruptly. Like a backup quartet
+quickly regrouping into a trio—the drop was soft and proportionate.
+There was no harsh banging of equipment. No explosions or ringing to
+indicate a state of alarm, but the new quiet was plenty enough to
+disturb the slumber in the one weighted hammock. Any dreams that might
+have been filled with bright, blue skies and the thrill they brought
+were quelled with the intrusion of new silence. That silence would
+assuredly beget work. Not the boring or toiling kind, but satisfying and
+thought-provoking work. These thoughts tucked away dreams and rushed in
+to replace them with alertness and drive. For Kee, they did this rather
+slowly.</p>
+<p>“Mmmmsome engine down…” Kee grumbled, hoping it was loud enough for
+someone to hear the complaint. She cracked open one eye. <em>Nope, just
+me.</em> She sighed and unfurled in the hammock, swaying as she sat up.
+She stretched her arms over her head and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
+A yawn escaped her long, thin beak. “Can’t even finish rest before
+someone mucks up on watch?” she asked aloud to nobody.</p>
+<p><em>Oh well</em>, her gripes were always half-hearted anyway.
+In-flight repairs meant thrilling engineering, and she wasn’t going to
+miss a second of the action. Kee hoisted herself up and slid down from
+the hammock, sucking in air when her claws clanked on the cold aluminum
+deck. She fluttered her wings to wake them up as she started off.</p>
+<p>Kee headed forward down the catwalk through the belly of the ship.
+The droning of the engines got louder as she moved. <em>If it’s still
+this noisy over the aft engines, it’s gotta be the forward port or
+starboard engine that died.</em> She continued musing as her footsteps
+clicked along the planks of the catwalk. Could it be fuel delivery?
+Oiling? Or maybe some mechanical failure. She was confident that the
+crew had done a thorough overhaul and inspection before the voyage, and
+everything looked in order. <em>Maybe—</em></p>
+<p>“Kee, the devoted early riser, on her way to set things straight, no
+doubt!”</p>
+<p>Kee jumped out of her thoughts to see lanky white plumage strutting
+up the corridor toward her. Eudo’s arm was raised in greeting, and the
+gape of his orange bill was curled in a friendly grin. Kee smiled back
+and returned his wave before rolling her eyes in mock annoyance. “Eudo
+the rigger, managing to somehow eek his way through trim watch no
+doubt.”</p>
+<p>He nodded with his too-long neck. “Cheeky and grumpy this morning,
+great combination. Just finishing up, actually. Moved a hundred gallons
+forward. Figured you’d already be up and thought I’d see if you wanna
+hit the galley before I go off watch. When’s the last time you slept
+through a down engine?”</p>
+<p>She blinked and gave an exaggerated yawn in reply. “Well, you know
+me. Can’t stand the thought of sleeping in.”</p>
+<p>“Yeah, ’swhat I thought. The rest of the crew and I do our best to
+keep you on your toes anyway,” he said and bowed in mock service. “Now
+it’s your turn. If we go to eat, you should know Halihk is in there.” He
+smirked and twisted his long neck so he could look pointedly down his
+bill at Kee.</p>
+<p>She bristled, and even though the plumage on her nape was sticking
+straight up, she waved her hand through the air to dismiss Eudo’s
+comment. “He and I aren’t mortal enemies, you know. We just got off on
+the wrong foot.” <em>Well, more like both feet, fists, and all</em> now
+that she thought about it.</p>
+<p>Halihk’s first impressions ranged from mildly antagonistic to
+downright malicious. “What matters is he and I both care about getting
+stuff done and leaving each other alone; it doesn’t make any difference
+what he thinks of me.” She hoped it sounded convincing.</p>
+<p>Eudo retorted, “Yeah, seeing you two get stuff done is what makes
+breakfast so entertaining for me and the other guys.” Before she could
+sass him, he spun around and took long, bobbing strides down the
+corridor. Kee switched from thinking up comebacks to figuring out how
+she was going to get reassigned to the downed engine. Halihk might give
+her a go at it if the rest of the workload was light. She clicked along
+the wooden catwalks to keep up with Eudo. Her line of sight stretched
+down the catwalk, which arched slightly back up at the end of the hall.
+Her gaze drifted up to the massive cells full of lifting gas looming
+overhead. The gargantuan bags quietly assumed most of the ship’s bulk
+and kept her aloft. Kee admired the off-worlders. <em>Featherless and
+wingless things, but they do have some bright ideas</em>.</p>
+<p>Before long, they arrived at the galley door. It was one of the only
+compartments of the ship that was walled off from the inner workings.
+Cooking, eating, and communing were best done out of sight of work. The
+privacy was largely for show; the room was still wrapped in canvas and
+did nothing to muffle the chatter and noise from inside. But somehow the
+guys still used it to divulge all the latest scuttlebutt. Eudo slid open
+the canvas door and stepped through. Kee followed right behind and drew
+the door shut behind her. Along one wall, a row of electric cooktops and
+an oven were lined with aluminum pots, pans, dishes, and utensils. Kee
+immediately spotted Yarrick dancing back and forth, prepping and dishing
+out rations, his black feathers dusty with flour and his apron stained
+with whatever he had happened to be reheating that day. Perches and
+tables lined the perimeter of the cabin, running down the middle from
+one end to the other. Electric lights bathed the whole room in an
+artificial but cheery glow. The watch change meant the place was already
+teeming.</p>
+<p>The menagerie of crew present was busy squawking or chittering away
+in conversation. Edd was trying his best to distract Yarrick (or anyone
+who would listen, probably) with a tale of someone he met at the dry
+dock. Eudo did his best to push his way past Edd in the cramped space
+and get something to eat. Kee turned her attention to the tables.
+Sriharc, a navigator and one of the Talons who ran the ship from the
+control gondola, ate across from Halihk at a far table. Halihk looked
+more abrasive than usual. Kee’s throat dried up. He was probably ready
+to peck the eyes out of anybody who’d so much as open their beak at him.
+<em>This should be good. Well, only one way to get what you
+want.</em></p>
+<p>She marched her way right up to their table. “Morning, Sriharc. Fine
+flying weather out there?”</p>
+<p>Sriharc nodded in greeting, his yellow eyes darting from Halihk to
+Kee and back. “Fine weather, just a few passing Vork.”</p>
+<p>Vork were a mystery to Kee; essentially, they were bonded globs of
+elements that floated around in the air from place to place. They
+populated and sometimes moved through Wingfolk skies like vast
+migrations. Most of them were harmless, such as the jelly-like masses of
+water, but others were dangerous—floating blobs of caustic acid-like
+substance, burning pockmarks into the sides of the Shelves. Steering
+clear of them was a job for the Talons.</p>
+<p>“We’re making good headway, too, a few thousand miles in over the
+Underwood already. Another couple of days and we’ll break the record for
+crossing over it wings-on-your-back. Then comes the rest of the
+surveying flight, charting, etc.” He smirked and lifted his pitcher with
+an arm trimmed in brick red plumage. “Course, we’d do it a lot quicker
+with four engines.” He retrained his eyes on Halihk.</p>
+<p>Kee braced for impact but managed to offer, “Sure, well, I’ll get
+right on that.”</p>
+<p>Halihk answered on cue, “Nuts, Sylph, there’ll be no asking for an
+invite to the party on starboard engine, ‘cause the answer’s
+<em>no</em>. You stay on trim watch this shift or go pick flowers in the
+Underwood for all I care.”</p>
+<p><em>Oh yeah, it’s on.</em> The crude words flowed from Kee’s mind to
+the tip of her beak without filtration. “Thanks Halihk, but actually was
+feelin’ a little worked up—came to check whether you gents were lekking
+in here. Gotta say so far I’m pretty disappointed, s’like a cold shower
+with you around.”</p>
+<p>Eudo smacked the table from across the room, head reared back in
+laughter. Yarrick beat his wings and chuckled while he shifted pans
+around. Halihk sneered, but his beady black eyes glowered up at Kee.</p>
+<p>She reloaded and took her next shot before he could get one
+out.“Besides, if I wanted that job, I’d ask the chief or one of the
+Talons,” she jabbed a scaly black thumb at Sriharc.</p>
+<p>Sriharc raised his gray head and rolled his eyes at the ceiling. “Oh,
+no, you two and Llyr work that out; he’s in charge of you mechanists.
+’Sides, in this galley, the only one in charge is Yarrick over there.
+Right, Yarrick?”</p>
+<p>Yarrick looked up from what he was doing long enough to caw out a
+dry, “You better believe it!”</p>
+<p>Sriharc stood from his perch and made his way past the rest of the
+menagerie and out of the galley. Before he shut the door, he flung one
+last piece of ammo toward the impending battle: “Oh, and Halihk failed
+to mention that he already asked the chief if he could look at that
+engine. Poor guy got shut down.” He gave Kee a wink. The jerk looked
+pretty satisfied with his handiwork.</p>
+<p>The pot was adequately stirred. Halihk stood, his tawny wings
+stretching out and puffing up his stature. “That’s right, Sylph. Chief’s
+orders. You stay on trim, and I go on rest, and Krarr learns how to pull
+a cylinder all by himself. Sky above knows he’s gotta figure it out
+in-flight one way or another.” His white cheeks shifted. He looked
+amused more than anything. “Besides, if you really want to pull a fella
+in here, all you gotta do is show him your nest.”</p>
+<p>Kee felt her wings quiver and the down on her chest swell. She stuck
+her neck out and threw her arms up, gesturing to the tight room. “Maybe
+I would if there were any guys with rank in here, but there aren’t, are
+there?”</p>
+<p>She felt the blow hit home. The dirty cone-face’s amusement faded
+faster than it came. That got him. All he could get out was, “Perch on a
+cactus, Sylph,” and he stomped back up to his table.</p>
+<p>“Yeah, lay an egg, Halihk.” Kee turned on her toes and scraped her
+way across the deck back to Eudo, who was already perched at a table
+with Edd. Yarrick coughed and growled out, “That’ll be enough o’ that
+while I’m prepping food for your foul gizzards!”</p>
+<p>Kee sidled up to Eudo. She avoided eye contact, instead fixing her
+gaze on the black and white photograph above the table. It had been
+taken back at the dry dock before the maiden voyage when Halihk had his
+chance at being Chief Mechanist. The caption read: <em>The</em> Aerie
+<em>and her crew</em>. Eudo started, “You know you really ought not to
+bring up the guy’s rank. He was really proud to be ‘chief for a day’.
+Besides, you’re both Soaring Mechanists now, you don’t have anything
+left to prove to anybody.”</p>
+<p>“It’s just how we get along. Llyr will smooth things over.” Kee
+stared at the photo, or rather, past it into some middle distance. She
+let her vision blur while her time as a Fledgling Mechanist trickled
+back. All the hard work, the sweat, the late nights. Why did she do it?
+’Cause she liked it, duh. Should she have something to prove? That she
+wasn’t too small or just some broody girl in denial? If she did have
+something to prove, she wasn’t sure to whom. Herself? Her family? Llyr
+or the crew? She wanted to work on the <em>Aerie</em> the moment she
+knew the ship’d been offered to the Wingfolk by the off-worlders. She
+flew a long way to apprentice with the best. She wanted to get her hands
+dirty, make things tick, solve problems. <em>Building things had a
+purpose. Wasn’t that reason enough?</em> Should she have some aspiration
+to fly higher, fly farther, like everyone else? Or maybe one day design
+and build ships. Give flight to the flightless. That wasn’t such a bad
+reason; most everyone had that goal. It was troubling, not because it
+was a bad goal, but because it didn’t feel like it was <em>her</em>
+goal.</p>
+<p>The table had been quiet for too long, and her chest felt tight. She
+thought she’d die stewing on it if she didn’t talk about something else.
+“So uh, what’s up with the Underwood?”</p>
+<p>Luckily, Eudo took the hint. “Well, we’re pretty deep into the
+territory. You know we’re gonna be the first ones to cross it? It’s so
+big nobody’s ever been able to wing it across the whole thing.”</p>
+<p>Big deal, lots of trees to look at. “We stopping anywhere?”</p>
+<p>“No, don’t think so. In our briefing, Qreel just said we’re mapping
+the whole Shelf. Taking measurements, pointing out spots where we might
+be able to settle or something. Besides, the canopy is too thick to land
+anywhere.”</p>
+<p>Edd added his usual flavor to someone else’s conversation, “Ain’t no
+sense trying neither. Talons said the last expedition that touched down
+at the edge just reported it’s dark, dank, and full of nasty
+varmints.”</p>
+<p>Eudo and Edd continued gossiping about the mission and the crew while
+Kee ate. Her thoughts drifted to the desolate foreign shelves, like
+those of the Underwood. <em>Why would we explore a place not worth
+living?</em> She supposed it was better than the Crags. The lowest
+surface of the Wingfolk world wasn’t a nice place to be. Jagged rock and
+nothing grew there. Up high on rock columns called Shelves is where
+everyone lived, ate, and had fun. Lakes, beaches, her hometown. Thoughts
+wandered back to it for a brief moment before the memories got too
+boring. No, the best was being in the air. All the time if you could
+help it. At least here she could fly, tinker, and see what else was out
+there.</p>
+<p>The conversation drifted to the captain. Edd waffled on, “Well, this
+is how the hangar guys said it went down. Captain’s flyin’ through this
+wicked squall, yeah, and he gets to flyin’ too close to the deck, and
+then <em>bam</em>!” He slammed his fist on the table. “He smacks
+back-first into the Shelf-face. Radius nerve is smithereens, and he’s
+grounded for life.” Kee caught Halihk turn around at his table and
+survey them with one eye. Edd was too stupid to notice or listen when
+Eudo shushed him. “So I’m jist askin’, how come the guy steerin’ the
+ship is the one who’s caught in a gale flyin’ upside down.”</p>
+<p>Halihk rose from his table and walked closer until he stood beside
+Edd. He set his fingers on the table, his wings looming such that they
+blocked out the electric light overhead. He spoke with a controlled tone
+that Kee couldn’t remember ever hearing from him in all her hours on
+board. “There’ll be no more talk of the captain in this galley. And if I
+catch you doing it on watch, chief or no chief, I’ll set you to work.
+Did that make it into your hollow skull?” Before they could respond, he
+turned, opened the canvas door, and left.</p>
+<p>Edd recoiled and tried to stammer an apology, but it was too late.
+“Sheesh, you guys know I don’t mean nothin’ about the captain, he’s a
+great Talon. ’Sides, he got us out of that jam on our maiden voyage.” He
+turned and raised his pitcher to Kee. “With some fancy flying from our
+fearless, shimmering bolt of green!” Kee giggled and rolled her eyes.
+Looking back, her “daring” flight between the engine cars wasn’t her
+proudest moment.</p>
+<p>The drone of the ship’s remaining engines was cut by the whistling
+hiss of an air starter and the <em>pop</em> of ignition. It quickly
+erupted in knocking and intense vibration, which reverberated through
+the lightweight girders of the ship and rattled its way into the hollow
+bones of everyone in the galley. The <em>Aerie</em> was shivering like a
+beast in distress, and the clanging, knocking sound made Kee wince. Then
+it was over, gone seemingly as quickly as it had started. Kee jumped
+from her perch and made for the door. It slid open, and Halihk’s tawny
+face and white cheeks blocked her way.</p>
+<p>“Get to it, Sylph, on the double.” He gestured out the door with his
+wing.</p>
+<p>Kee bolted out into the corridor. Her jaunt almost turned to flight
+as she jumped and flapped her way down the catwalk to the cargo bay. The
+cargo bay was essentially a series of storage lockers situated between
+two rings of the hull. A few loading rails and lifting chains hung from
+the ceiling, and crates and sacks of supplies were stuffed anywhere they
+would fit—between cables, girders, and the supporting nets of the
+massive gas cells above. It did, though, have large bay doors beneath
+for raising and lowering palettes of cargo into the ship. These were
+usually left open for the crew to catch some wind. <em>Perfect, they’re
+still open!</em> Kee took one look over the edge into the clouds and
+rolling green canopies below and dove off the ledge.</p>
+<p>Every plume, every fiber of her body savored and cherished the wind:
+the cool rush of the <em>Aerie</em>’s wash and the warm, uplifting
+currents from the Shelf below. It was heavenly. She kicked her legs out
+behind her as her pointed, violet wings fanned out to grab the air. She
+buzzed them to keep up with the ship, but the updrafts flowed over and
+through her primaries and held her aloft. The enormous silvery fish
+above her propelled itself through the air effortlessly, if noisily. No
+beating of wings kept the <em>Aerie</em> aloft.</p>
+<p>Mile after mile stretched the green canopies, all the way to the
+horizon in all directions, without so much as a bump in elevation.
+Scattered clouds cast shadows down onto the lush foliage. A few Vork did
+meander in between clouds. They didn’t look caustic or dangerous, mostly
+clear. More likely than not, they were just balls of water. Ahead, Kee
+could see the control gondola slung beneath the bow. Through the
+porthole windows, she could see Talons—officers of the
+<em>Aerie—</em>busily charting out their course and maintaining the
+ship’s heading. Kee pulled back to slow up. She drifted back along the
+sloping, ribbed hull, dipping her right wing and rolling over to
+starboard to meet up with the engine car.</p>
+<p>The small pod was affixed to the hull of the ship with a few girders
+and a ladder. The propeller windmilled freely. <em>Alright, girl, what
+do you need?</em> Kee dove toward the ladder and tucked her wings. She
+deftly grabbed hold of the rungs with her claws, firmly joining the
+<em>Aerie</em> once more.</p>
+<p>Wind rippled through the down on her arms and back as she slid into
+the car below. She landed on the deck with a clank. Krarr was panting
+and hunched over the engine, frantically disassembling the rockers with
+an open-ended wrench. Soot covered his light gray and tawny down. His
+bushy ear tufts, normally flattened back against his head, were standing
+straight up and scraping the canvas ceiling of the engine car. He jumped
+and spun his head around, fixing his enormous, yellow, globed eyes on
+Kee.</p>
+<p>“Kee! I don’t know what happened,” he pleaded. “It was running rough
+and then just quit. I made some timing adjustments, but it wouldn’t
+start, so I removed a couple of cylinders. But when I got ’em off, I
+didn’t see anything wrong, so I put it back together and started it up
+again, that’s when things shook. It felt like the whole car was going to
+come apart! And now I don’t—I just don’t know—” he tripped over the
+remaining words and eventually trailed off without forming a complete
+thought.</p>
+<p>Krarr was even more out of his element than usual. On a good day, he
+was a half-decent mechanist, just a little too by-the-book to
+troubleshoot things himself. Kee looked around the place. Tools and rags
+littered the already cramped compartment. Spare parts were unboxed and
+scattered about, and the toolbox appeared to have been turned upside
+down at some point. Worst of all, the engine order telegraph—the method
+the Talons used to communicate desired speed and direction— was still
+set to <em>Cruising speed</em>. The big guy was clearly flustered.</p>
+<p>“Krarr, take a deep breath with me. In through the nares, out through
+the gape.” She sucked in air, held it, and exhaled, motioning for him to
+do the same. His bushy chest inflated as he breathed in, and then
+compressed as he let the air out. “We’re gonna figure this out together,
+okay?” He nodded. Kee pointed to the telegraph. “Always, <em>always</em>
+set the telegraph first so the Talons know what’s up, alright?” He
+nodded again while she rolled the dial back and forth, ringing the bell
+with a <em>Ti-ti-ti-ting</em> and setting the indicator to <em>stop
+engine, brake on.</em></p>
+<p>Kee motioned for him to scoot over. The great iron behemoth dominated
+her attention, and she greedily fixated on it, running over it with eyes
+and scaly fingers, trying to assess what had been done or not done. The
+gorgeous brass and iron fixtures looked to be mechanically intact. Six
+cylinders stood in a row, one clearly half-bolted. The spider-like valve
+train atop the cylinder was in pieces, no doubt Krarr’s next avenue of
+attack. The rest of the assembly seemed untouched: a network of pipes
+and hoses carrying oil, coolant, air, and fuel all strung out like veins
+from the cold, dormant heart. In her head, Kee could see everything:
+valves actuating, pistons traveling up and down, connecting rods
+translating linear motion into circular motion, and finally turning the
+crankshaft and propeller. All she needed to do was see who in the family
+was misbehaving.</p>
+<p><em>Spark plugs first.</em> Kee grabbed a socket and wrench from the
+wooden toolbox and started pulling all twelve spark plugs one at a time.
+She held them out under the light from the porthole, studying the
+electrodes for damage. Finally, she got to the last cylinder. They were
+both fouled, sooty with oil and unburned fuel.</p>
+<p>“Krarr, during your watch, was she blowing fire or blue smoke out the
+exhaust at all? Or using much oil?”</p>
+<p>Krarr shifted on his feet in the compartment and nodded. “Yeah that
+started happening on my watch. I tried adjusting things, but nothing I
+did helped, and then it quit.”</p>
+<p>Burning oil and bad oscillation. Kee wasted no time. She reached back
+down to the toolbox and rifled through it, setting out everything she’d
+need to disassemble the last cylinder. Notably, it wasn’t the one Krarr
+was halfway through taking off.</p>
+<p>While she was working, another pair of clawed feet started traversing
+the ladder from the hull down into their car. Llyr’s jet black feathers
+poured into the compartment as he squeezed along the other side of the
+engine next to Krarr. She looked up long enough to give a, “Hey chief,”
+and continued working. The place was cramped with three mechanists in
+it.</p>
+<p>“Kee, Krarr, sorry I’m late. How are you two getting on?” Llyr was
+always pleasant, and Kee felt a warm sensation of confidence every time
+she worked with him. Her apprenticeship at dry dock was mostly overseen
+by Llyr, and he was the best there was, no doubt. He knew things about
+engines no other Wingfolk had picked up yet; it was borderline
+supernatural. But he never talked down to anyone—everything was a
+learning opportunity if you were willing to put in the work.</p>
+<p>Krarr jumped at the chance to provide some iota of progress, “Well,
+Kee pulled the spark plugs, and the number six cylinder is fouling
+pretty badly. She—I mean, <em>we’re</em> taking that off for
+inspection.”</p>
+<p>“I see, well observed. And what are we thinking could be the culprit
+so far?”</p>
+<p>“Krarr told me blue smoke and flames right before she stalled, so I’m
+thinking rings or connecting rod. With the vibration we all felt, gotta
+be the rod.”</p>
+<p>“Well diagnosed, you two! I can see I’m not needed here. But Krarr,
+why don’t you lend Kee a hand with those valves?” Llyr was good. He
+wasn’t a watch-and-learn kinda guy. He taught through hands-on
+experience and built confidence.</p>
+<p>Kee and Krarr squished together on the outboard side of the engine,
+working in tandem. Llyr watched their work over the top of the motor,
+making small talk. Kee heard less and less of it the more focused she
+got. She was savoring, calculating, keeping track of parts. After
+another hour, they had everything neatly organized into small buckets of
+parts on the floor, and together, they lifted the cylinder apart. It was
+pretty bad. The top half of the cylinder was pretty scored up. The
+piston itself clearly failed in some way, as there were black scorch
+marks all around the rings and down the sides of the piston. Everything
+was still connected, but there was clearly overheating and loss of oil.
+Kee studied the piston, dangling freely in the air as if it were holding
+onto the crank for dear life. She worked it back and forth and noticed
+the wrist pin was dead seized.</p>
+<p>“Well, I think you’ve found the culprit, alright.” Llyr beamed over
+the valvetrain at his two mechanists.</p>
+<p>“Yep, definitely bad wrist pin,” Kee confirmed and offered the piston
+to Krarr to study. “We’re going to need some parts from the engineering
+station and more tools. It should only take an hour to get a new pin in
+and put everything back together.”</p>
+<p>Llyr blinked and frowned. “I’m not so sure we can. Look at the slight
+curve in the connecting rod; it’s bent out of shape, and I think it took
+too much meat off the cylinder with it. I think we’ll have to remove the
+piston and run on five the rest of the voyage.” Kee’s tail feathers
+drooped. A wrist pin or even re-ringing was an easy job. The conn rod
+meant dropping the pan, turning the block over, and getting the end caps
+off. It was a major overhaul. But Llyr was right, there was no way this
+piston was moving up and down without hitting the sides of the cylinder.
+It just wouldn’t fit right, unless—</p>
+<p>Kee’s heart skipped, and she perked up. “Well, let’s file the piston
+then!” she chirped. “We can ream out the bushing a little so it’s oval,
+and then file the edges of the piston to give us some clearance with the
+cylinder. New rings should take care of the rest, right?” She pointed
+her beak at Llyr, zealously waiting for his reply.</p>
+<p>The chief turned things over in his head, looking not at Kee but at
+the piston. After musing for another minute, he made eye contact with
+Kee, smiled, and cawed, “We’ll need to run less fuel through there, but
+I don’t see why not. Let’s get to work.”</p>
+<p>Kee danced in place; she couldn’t help herself. She was radiating.
+Resurrecting an engine was like magic. The tools were like wands or
+mystical adjuncts, connecting Kee with some tapestry of innate motorized
+life force.</p>
+<p>The crew set to work. Kee and Llyr flew back out of the car and up
+through the now-orange sky back to the cargo bay. They clanked their way
+to the engineering station, gathering parts and tools as they went, and
+chatted about the wind conditions, ballast levels, clouds, and their
+stuck piston. They swapped stories of great discoveries made on watch
+and late nights banging their heads against problems that tired eyes
+would never solve. They gathered their collection into a few light packs
+and flew them back to the engine car.</p>
+<p>The Underwood continued endlessly below them. It looked like a
+bubbling, rolling green sea of tree crowns. As the daylight waned, the
+shadow of the ship passing overhead grew longer.</p>
+<p>When they got back to the starboard engine car, they resumed their
+positions. Kee and Krarr stood on the outboard side, taking turns filing
+away at the disassembled piston. A little metal there, a little shave
+here. They checked and rechecked the fit as they worked, making sure
+they removed just what was necessary. Finally, they had a fitment they
+were happy with. By now Kee’s white chest was sooty and matted with
+grease in spots. Her iridescent green arms gleamed a rainbow-black hue
+from the oil. Llyr worked on the fitting of the new wrist pin, ensuring
+it had a full range of motion and adequate lubrication for startup. By
+the time they had the cylinder back on and everything ready to go, the
+light through the porthole had gone completely, and an indigo night was
+rapidly giving way to pitch blackness. A small electric lamp was all
+they had to work by now.</p>
+<p>Llyr wiped his claws on a rag and ran his hand back along his nape.
+“Well, who’d like to do the honors?”</p>
+<p>Kee almost spoke but caught the words at the last moment. She instead
+gave Krarr a gentle thump on the wings. “How about it, Krarr?”</p>
+<p>Krarr’s yellow globes trained on Kee. He smiled, nodded, and moved
+into position. The chief rang the telegraph with a
+<em>ti-ti-ti-ti-ting</em> and signalled <em>idling, brake off</em>. Kee
+and Krarr echoed the command. She released the brake while Krarr set the
+choke and mixture for startup. At last, he yanked the air starter.</p>
+<p><em>Vvvfff-boom</em>, the engine coughed and then erupted with
+motion. The carburetors sucked in air, and magic and life returned to
+the dead cauldron of fluids in the engine car. It sounded distinctly
+different from Kee’s memory, probably because it still wasn’t running in
+top shape, but it was smooth and powerful. It tickled Kee’s
+senses—sight, sound, smell. It was an orchestra of fumes, valves
+ticking, and coolant and fuel flowing through a maze of energy.</p>
+<p>Llyr rang and signaled <em>cruising speed</em> with the telegraph,
+and assumed the throttle controls while Kee handled the clutch that
+connected the engine to the propeller. Llyr put the power on, pumping
+more fuel and air into its starving cylinders to increase the RPMs, but
+not quite to the level they usually ran at. Kee yanked the clutch to
+engage the prop. The shock was instant, and the oscillating in the car
+was intense. Kee immediately reversed her actuation.</p>
+<p>Nothing happened.</p>
+<p>She pulled harder, but it wouldn’t disconnect. <em>What’s wrong with
+this thing?</em> The entire car was shaking and creaking with the
+vibration. Llyr yelled something to Krarr, but Kee couldn’t hear it. The
+car swayed.</p>
+<p>Krarr killed the engine. The vibration stopped, but the car continued
+swaying. Llyr shouted, “Strut’s loose—both of you out!” and he motioned
+up the hatchway ladder.</p>
+<p>“Krarr, move your tail feathers! Get out of here!” Kee started
+shoving Krarr around the engine toward the ladder. “Chief, you’re in the
+way, move.” The car was tighter now that the three Wingfolk were
+spreading their wings in a panic, as if any moment they’d need to fly to
+safety. Kee and Krarr couldn’t maneuver around Llyr up the ladder.</p>
+<p>“I’m going last, no arguing!” Llyr demanded. The car sagged and
+swayed again as a creaking, twisting sound tore through their ears.</p>
+<p>“You don’t get to choose, now hustle!” Kee shoved Krarr’s bulk up
+against Llyr, pinning him up against the ladder. Finally, he struggled
+to free himself and start climbing. He disappeared through the hatch as
+Krarr followed as quickly as his size would allow. Kee grabbed the rungs
+of the ladder. Past Krarr’s tail, she could see the torn canvas of the
+ship and girders protruding like splintered bones piercing skin. As the
+car sagged, the fuel and oil lines severed, showering the car and ladder
+rungs with a smelly, slippery lubricant. Llyr and Krarr took a bath in
+motor oil, shielding their eyes as Kee grabbed hold of the rungs with
+both hands and started to hop up the ladder. <em>The telegraph</em>. Her
+eyes darted toward the dial face, in the dim light still indicating
+<em>cruising speed</em>.</p>
+<p>“Sylph, let’s move!” Llyr shouted down the ladder.</p>
+<p>She reached for the lever instead, rang the bell, and felt her
+stomach lurch. The creaking, crunching noise of twisting aluminum and
+the snapping crackle of wire braces gave way to the noise of wind.</p>
+<p>The light in the car went out, and Kee felt her whole body shunted
+against the far wall. <em>Dropped.</em> Everything spun and turned over
+as she spread her wings, trying to get airborne. Her wings flapped and
+slapped into pipes, flinging tools, and the canvas sides of the car.</p>
+<p><em>Caged.</em></p>
+<p>Kee slammed back-first into the side of the car, the momentum she
+built up impacting all at once and knocking the air out of her as the
+car smashed into solid matter again. She reached out for a
+handhold—anything she could use to climb out of the car and get into the
+open.</p>
+<p>The car’s speed picked up again as it rolled over on its side. She
+jumped just as the car reentered free-fall, once more pinning her to the
+side. The disorienting blackness and falling sensation kept her
+scrambling for a way out of the cage. <em>Falling.</em> Any egress she
+could use for flight was invisible, out of her grasp. Parts and tools
+continued to spiral around, assaulting her face, chest, and arms. She
+covered her eyes with her hands as she flapped and rolled.</p>
+<p>The motion halted violently again with a shuddering smash as Kee
+rocketed sideways into the engine block, one of her wings buckling with
+a sickening crunch as her head impacted the manifold.</p>
+<p>Everything was still, but her vision was still swirling. Her wing
+hurt. Her legs hurt. Her head hurt. Sticky, warm fluid ran down into her
+eye, and fog seeped in, stealing her consciousness away.</p>
+<hr/>
+<p>The air was stagnant and thick with moisture. Unbreathable.
+Everything was a fuzzy approximation of reality, swirling around in
+invisible mist. Kee’s head pounded, the feathers on the left side of her
+face still hot and sticky. A cloud of gnats invaded her thoughts and
+faculties and drew her vision to the gray light and the car around her.
+<em>Shit.</em></p>
+<p>She and the car sat in at least three inches of muddy, oily water,
+and gnats and mosquitoes assaulted her ears. As the fuzziness left her
+skull, the car became clearer. The pain got worse. <em>Double
+shit</em>.</p>
+<p>Everything was sore, but parts of her were in agony. Her left wing—
+“Ouch!” she winced and hissed as she grabbed it. “Oww!” It hurt worse
+the more she touched it, the more she flexed it. Her heart pounded, and
+nausea slowly crept up her throat from her stomach. She sucked in
+breath. <em>Keep it together. Just a little sprain. One inch at a
+time.</em></p>
+<p>She relaxed and then tensed her shoulder muscles, slowly extending
+her wing joint by joint. “<em>Shhhhhit</em>! Ow!” Her feathery wing
+wrist burned and throbbed. Worse, it was immobile. Despite the pain, she
+felt no control over it. She stiffened it again, hoping to find a
+restful position where her muscles didn’t sear.</p>
+<p>Now wide awake, the masked pain came in full force. “Oh no, oh no no
+no!” <em>It’s fine, just sore, you can do this Kee, just gentler—</em>
+She hissed again as she extended her right wing, and the pain coursed
+back into the wrist. It felt like her muscles had been pried loose from
+her bones with a chisel.</p>
+<p><em>Grounded?</em> It sank in too fast. Her eyes welled with tears so
+quickly she choked on them. She couldn’t cry, she just couldn’t. She had
+to find a way. But the sobbing came in spurts anyway. Holding back made
+her throat raspy. “My wing, not my wing!” she croaked through tears.</p>
+<p>This was it. She was grounded. Like the captain, she’d never fly
+again. But unlike the captain, she was stuck in some stupid forest
+nobody even wanted to live in. Just a dumb little wannabe mechanist. Her
+last flight was carrying some tools around. She wished she had the
+forethought to take just one last soar from the observation deck with
+Eudo. But here she had no Eudo to lean on. No Llyr to teach her. The
+gnats and the humidity were all she had. No crew, no friends. No
+<em>Aerie</em>. They would rescue her, right? How could they? Llyr
+probably didn’t even see the engine car fall. How would they even know
+where she was in the dark? She’d give anything for that last flight now.
+Maybe it would be better if she hadn’t woken up at all. She cried for
+only the sky knows how long, emptying any energy she had left into her
+tears.</p>
+<p>A flapping sound and something landing with a thud and a splash
+outside jerked Kee to her senses. She called out, “Hello? Guys, I’m in
+here!”</p>
+<p>More rustling and a kickoff. Something was flying away fast. Kee
+pushed herself up off the wet floor, holding her breath through the
+pain. The car lay roughly upright, tilted a few degrees to one side. She
+climbed what was left of the slick ladder, carefully tucking her lame
+wing so it didn’t impact the hatch. With her head out of the car, she
+laid eyes on the Underwood for the first time.</p>
+<p>The forest was dense with the largest swamp gum trees Kee had ever
+seen. The tupelos had massive trunks, and their canopies stretched at
+least one hundred feet toward the sky. There was no sign of any
+Wingfolk. Kee’s eyes scrutinized the canopies. <em>Am I
+hallucinating?</em> Everything was dimly lit as minuscule amounts of
+light cut in through the foliage; only a small hole let daylight down
+directly above where Kee landed. <em>Landed? Hell of a landing.</em></p>
+<p>Kee scoured the ground around the car. The base and roots of the
+trees were completely submerged. The whole area she could see was
+flooded. Leaves and debris floated on the water, which was surprisingly
+clear everywhere except where the broken engine bled oil. She blinked.
+At the base of the car, on what looked like a small raft made of tree
+roots, were flowers. A whole pile of green-white flowers the size of her
+fist. Beside them sat a few dark blue fruits, all floating calmly on the
+raft.</p>
+<p>Kee was still dizzy and overcome with pain. Her stomach added a new,
+gnawing sensation to the party. Suddenly, she was starving. She
+clambered out of the hatch, careful not to rock the car too hard.
+Climbing down the car's side was not easy, but Kee managed to grip the
+ribbed, torn-up surface. She splashed down into the mud as deep as her
+calves.</p>
+<p>The raft wobbled as Kee swashed up to it, sinking slightly into muddy
+deadfall beneath the surface. The flowers smelled amazing, their sweet
+nectar alluring. Kee picked one up and drank from it. <em>Wow, that’s
+great.</em> It was sweet, and with every sip, her body begged for
+more.</p>
+<p>She drank through half of the flowers before she caught herself
+thinking about Halihk. She chuckled. <em>If that jerk could see me now.
+Picking flowers in the Underwood.</em> She dismissed the memory and
+turned to the fruit. She bit into it. It was good, but not as good as
+the flowers, more like a sour plum than anything.</p>
+<p>While Kee ate, her spirits recovered marginally, and the sense of
+hopelessness melted away into questions. She always felt better when she
+had questions to think about. But here, there was nobody to ask them but
+herself. <em>Who left this for me? Was the crew here or someone else?
+Would the crew even be able to find me?</em> She winced again. How long
+would it take for her wing to heal—if it did heal fully, she wondered.
+She set that question aside and finished the food.</p>
+<p>The little raft was made of just a couple of logs bound together with
+reeds and vines. Kee saw some utility there, and as best she could, she
+tied a small splint to hold her broken wing in place. No sense in making
+things worse. The wood looked like it came from the tupelos around her,
+but it was dry, even seasoned. She carefully piled the remaining dry
+logs.</p>
+<p>“Well, I’m alive for the moment. And I can’t leave. If someone does
+come looking for me, it’s going to be right here. Might as well make
+myself useful.”</p>
+<p>She waded around in the water, studying the dirty bottom. The twinkle
+of tools shone up into her eyes. Every instrument, tool, and scrap of
+metal she could find, she gathered into a neat pile. This pile she
+carefully rinsed off and oiled with what was floating on the surface
+around the car, and returned to the scuffed wooden toolbox in the car.
+She took stock of what was left. The car was tattered, and the frame had
+buckled. The tools were in decent enough shape, though. There were a few
+welding masks and miscellaneous parts from their repairs. The engine had
+sunk into the ground up to the manifolds and flattened out the girders
+beneath. It was toast, as were two of the propeller blades.</p>
+<p>Kee couldn’t help herself. She was tired, and already the little
+light she had to work by was fading. She began disassembling the engine,
+including the clutch and propeller brake. She wasn’t sure if she was
+passing the time ’til she could be rescued or just passing the time
+until the inevitable happened. It didn’t matter; she couldn’t help
+herself. She needed to tinker, and if she couldn’t fix what happened,
+she needed to <em>understand</em> it.</p>
+<p>Her postmortem revealed another broken wrist pin, just like the one
+they repaired in flight. Other signs indicated under-oiling, which
+likely contributed to the failure in both pins. As the pistons started
+to seize, the vibration shook the engine car hard enough to break
+struts, cables, and supports. The clutch was another mystery entirely.
+Why it wouldn’t disengage when Kee tried to stop the quaking didn’t make
+any sense. Not, that is, until she opened it and realized the forks that
+the lever tied to and which disengaged the clutch had been shorn off. No
+doubt from the oscillations in the engine car. She made a mental note to
+report the need for rubber dampeners and a variety of structural
+reinforcements. <em>Not that it’ll do me much good here.</em></p>
+<p>She knew she was just satisfying her own curiosity. She supposed she
+felt better thinking about her work. It distracted her from the pain,
+too. Her wing still throbbed, albeit not excruciatingly. She had no
+doubt now that her wrist had broken, and there was no flying for at
+least a few weeks. She pretended to be confident there’d be no lasting
+injury. Focusing on the engine helped her to not think about that.</p>
+<p>The dim light faded into night, and the cool air ushered in an
+all-encompassing fog throughout the Underwood. The lush, green gum trees
+all turned into shades of formless gray. Kee could hardly see beyond the
+clearing surrounding the engine car. Only the tiniest sliver of pale
+moonlight penetrated the narrow opening Kee crashed through in the
+canopy above.</p>
+<p>She sat on top of the car for a couple of hours listening to the
+stillness, hoping she’d hear the distant hum of the <em>Aerie</em>’s
+propellers or a pair of flapping wings. Nothing came. Nobody came.
+Everything was quiet. <em>Come on, guys, where are you?</em></p>
+<p>From deep into the hazy distance, Kee could barely make out the
+faintest splashing sound. It wasn’t very regular, not like water lapping
+up against a tree trunk. It would echo off the trees from Kee’s left and
+then go silent. <em>Fish?</em> The splashing echoed off the trees to
+Kee’s right for a few seconds and then retreated again. Kee had been
+fishing before. Fish jumping made little splashing noises, but this was
+different. It was almost a dragging, heaving <em>kerplunk</em> onto the
+bottom, displacing all the water in a small area. Kee flinched. There
+was one that couldn’t have been more than fifty feet away.</p>
+<p>She wasn’t sure why, but she had the most uncomfortable sensation.
+The plumage on her chest puffed out, and her nape stuck up. The flopping
+swashes moved this way and that, closing the distance between whatever
+they were and the engine car. Kee slid off her tail into the car and
+rummaged through the toolbox as quietly as she could. Her heart was
+pounding. Even her breath sounded loud. Another splash. She grabbed a
+flashlight, hoping it was dry, and scurried back up the ladder. She
+turned every which way, holding her breath while she listened. She heard
+no splashing. No flopping, lurching, or smacking sounds. Kee exhaled
+softly. She quietly moved the chrome flashlight from her chest, and her
+fingers fumbled for the switch. Her hand trembled as she pointed it at
+the foggy surface beneath the car.</p>
+<p>The light clicked on, and the water surged. Four massive, flat beasts
+with black scales and purplish feathers all rampaged toward the car on
+six legs. They slammed into the frame and started tearing at the canvas
+with monstrous, snapping jaws, hissing and lunging at the girders.</p>
+<p>Kee leapt, and the light slipped from her fingers, clanking through
+the hatch into the car. She slid down after it, the frame shaking and
+shuddering from the creatures’ onslaught. Snarling, hissing jaws ripped
+through the silvery flesh of the car and gnawed on its aluminum bones.
+<em>What the—</em> One head pierced through the canvas behind Kee just
+shy of her tail feathers. Her good wing flapped automatically as if
+begging to carry Kee away. If only its twin worked. She backed up to the
+end of the car and bumped her head into the telegraph; the
+<em>ti-ting</em> of the bell rang out into the space.</p>
+<p>Abruptly, the swarming stopped. A tentative hiss emitted from the
+jaws outside. Kee reached around and cranked on the lever, banging it
+back and forth between <em>engine off</em> and <em>fire</em>. Kee was
+sure she’d go deaf from the ringing, but the hissing, biting onslaught
+rapidly gave way to scattered turbulence. Kee rang the bell until her
+arm was sore. When she finally relented, her chest was heaving with
+exertion, her mind dazed with fear. She halted, held her breath, and
+listened. There was stillness. No splashing. Nothing at all.</p>
+<p>Kee slumped down to her knees and crouched in the oily puddle, her
+back to the manifold. She wrapped her arms and good wing around her
+knees and started to cry. Not because she couldn’t help it, but because
+she wanted to. Wisps of mist floated in between the folds of tattered
+canvas.</p>
+<hr/>
+<p>Kee awoke with a start. The stillness of the dim gray morning
+unsettled her after the night’s attack. She couldn’t bear being grounded
+in such an awful place. Every little sound she heard startled her. She
+felt flighty, twitchy, restless. She slept, but only fitfully. Her awake
+mind focused on one singular thought: <em>I’ve got to get out of
+here.</em></p>
+<p>She stood and sloshed toward the ladder. She scaled it and sat on top
+of the car, staring down at the marshy surface. Her eyes roamed and
+eventually settled on the tupelos, then back to the car, and finally on
+herself. Kee was never prim or neat. In fact, her mother used to say she
+looked downright unpreened on occasion. But Kee never paid much mind to
+her appearance to date. She hated to admit it, but she’d give anything
+for a preening comb right then. Her feathers were matted and greasy. Her
+iridescent green plumage was grungy with dirt, oil, and swamp water. The
+cuts and scrapes she got during the fall made her look patchy and
+squalid. She did her best to ignore it, but she couldn’t help feel like
+she already looked half-dead.</p>
+<p><em>Well, if I’m gonna die, I’m gonna do it from where I belong. From
+high up.</em> Kee had decided in the middle of the night that she’d
+figure out how to climb one of the gum trees. She wasn’t sure how yet,
+but she wasn’t going to spend another night on the ground. And who
+knows, maybe she could gather some sign of the <em>Aerie</em>, or send
+up some kind of signal. It’d be a better camp. Safer, and at the very
+least, she might see some sliver of the sky again. She craved some
+semblance of sky.</p>
+<p>It was time to work. She deftly began dismantling the canvas
+surrounding the engine car. It was mostly in tatters, but there was a
+rigger’s kit inside she could use to make some small patches. She also
+unbolted any dangling, frayed cables that once secured the struts to the
+<em>Aerie’s</em> hull. When she was done, she had a large silvery blob
+of canvas and a pile of line and rough-looking cable.</p>
+<p>The engine car looked like a twisted-up mess, a massless cage
+entrapping an iron beast that surely would never growl again. She
+quickly got to unbolting the rear-most girders of the car: the small and
+light ones would make a decent basket to lift off the ground. If she
+could find a way to secure a few cables or vines, maybe she could winch
+herself up to the broken canopy she crashed through.</p>
+<p>She was deep in thought when out of the corner of her eye she caught
+it: another raft! Like the first one, it was piled high with flowers and
+fruit. She reared around looking for its carrier. Had she missed the
+flapping last night? Early this morning? She made some noise taking off
+the girders. Her eyes went where they never had to: up. She inspected
+the gum branches.</p>
+<p>A half-scream fled from her beak when she saw her patron perched on a
+branch, staring down at her with bright blue eyes. The Wingfolk in the
+tree returned a surprised squawk, nearly losing her grip on the tupelo
+limb she roosted on.</p>
+<p>Kee caught her breath; her heart was pounding out of her chest again.
+The perching Wingfolk wafted and settled her wings and resumed her
+relaxed posture, watching Kee. On second look, she had yellow eyes with
+blue eyebrows and nape. Her head had a tall, black crest that flowed
+down to her conical beak. Her belly was a fluffy, off-white color which
+sloped back to vibrant purple wings. She said nothing, but rested her
+chin on one hand, an elbow on her knee, absorbed apparently with the
+busywork below.</p>
+<p>“He-hello up there?” Kee attempted to sound more welcoming than
+frightened. Her guest uttered no response, but blinked once. “Can you
+talk?” Again, nothing. <em>Alright, we’re not making much headway
+here.</em></p>
+<p>Kee changed tactics. She elongated her right wing and hand and tipped
+them in a wave. Wingfolk sometimes did this in flight to be friendly as
+they passed in the air. It seemed to help: the stranger extended a wing
+and a hand, waving back down to Kee. <em>Alright, now we’re getting
+somewhere.</em> She gestured toward the flowers. “Thank you for the
+food. You’re very kind.”</p>
+<p>At Kee’s gesture toward the raft, the stranger seemed to perk up. She
+spread her violet wings and soared down from her perch, alighting on the
+engine car above Kee. Kee felt a pang; it looked so effortless. The
+Underwood dweller seemed to understand and fixated on Kee’s splint.</p>
+<p>“My wing is broken. I’m kinda stuck here until my friends get me.
+<em>If</em> they come get me…” She wished Eudo could be here. At the
+very least, a familiar face would feel comforting.</p>
+<p>The dweller hopped down from the car and splashed in the water beside
+Kee. She pointed to the fruit and then back at herself, uttering
+something unrecognizable. Kee turned and picked up one of the dark blue
+fruits, then handed it to the dweller, who took it and seemingly
+expressed gratitude with more unfamiliar words. Kee saw an opportunity
+and took it. Kee pointed to her own chest. “Kee.” Then she pointed
+toward the stranger and waited.</p>
+<p>“Reeka,” the dweller responded, munching on the fruit and
+nodding.</p>
+<p>“Reeka. Kee,” she said, pointing first to the newcomer then to
+herself. “Nice to meet ya, Reeka.” Kee took a break from her work to
+perch with Reeka and share the food. She was accustomed to forgetting to
+eat while solving a problem on watch, but she never went hungry. Reeka,
+whoever she was, seemed to know what to eat and where to go to get it in
+this place. She sat mostly in silence while Kee talked, more to herself,
+recounting her journey on the <em>Aerie</em>, the crew, and her fall
+from the hull. Some words drew Reeka’s attention more than others. She
+would interject and substitute a piece of her own language for something
+Kee said. They tried as much as possible to use gestures, but Kee was
+sure most of it didn’t make it through. Not until she described the bog
+beasts by splashing around and making chomping motions with her hands.
+Reeka locked onto that.</p>
+<p>“Tarkzu,” she repeated a few times, making the same chomping jaws
+with her fingers, occasionally scanning the visible edges of the
+Underwood as if the creatures could be around any tree.</p>
+<p>Their exchange continued for over an hour. Reeka seemed to be a good
+friend, or at least neutral to the whole situation. She must not have
+had much else to do around here because she continued to watch Kee’s
+every move with intense interest. As nice as it was to have someone to
+talk with, it was time to get back to the task at hand. That being
+figuring out what to do when the Tarkzu came back. She fished a few
+tools between the girders and unbolted the telegraph from the side of
+the car. A hand-held deterrent would be ideal, especially if the car
+were naked on the ground.</p>
+<p>Reeka seemed to enjoy the ringing bell thoroughly and egged Kee on to
+repeat it several times. After the novelty wore off, Kee revisited the
+tupelos. She wasn’t much of a climber. She couldn’t remember clawing her
+way up a tree since her fledgling days, and the trees back home were
+perfect for climbing. They had lots of low-hanging branches and hollows
+to reach for. These gum trees were trickier: tall and wide, and all the
+branches were up in the canopy. It’d be great if Reeka could fly a cable
+up there and secure it to help Kee get her basket up high, but that was
+obviously beyond their level of communication.</p>
+<p>Several hours passed with Kee trying to find various ways to wrap a
+cable around a tree and shuffle her way up it. It wasn’t as
+straightforward as it ought to be. The only conclusion she drew was that
+climbing sucked and nobody should have to do it, ever. Her thoughts
+wandered back to the captain who hadn’t flown for years. How did he do
+it? The <em>Aerie</em> seemed a lot more appealing, considering he’d
+never be able to take to the wing again.</p>
+<p>A small, <em>click, click</em> sound emitted from Reeka’s hands. She
+had been examining every object in Kee’s toolbox with great curiosity,
+her crest bobbing this way and that as she studied their apparent
+functions. Now she was playing with a flint striker stuffed between the
+welding masks, apparently trying to get it to catch on one of the little
+dried logs Kee saved from the first food raft. Surprisingly, it actually
+caught quickly.</p>
+<p>Reeka set it gently afloat on the surface of the bayou. As it rolled
+and burned, Reeka watched it earnestly. The smoke played tricks on Kee’s
+eyes, apparently shimmering and pooling above the roots.</p>
+<p><em>Wait a second—what?</em> Kee dropped the cable she was futzing
+with and waded over to Reeka’s log. Reeka looked up and grinned at the
+edges of her gape, her eyes bright with glee. Her eyes weren’t playing
+tricks; the smoke really <em>was</em> collecting<em>.</em> As the smoke
+rose from the root, it pooled and reformed into a tinted bubble. It had
+a gray, wispy, smoky quality to it, but unlike smoke, which dissolved,
+it stuck together and stayed buoyant. More bubbles started to lift from
+the stick and join the steadily growing mass hovering a foot above the
+water.</p>
+<p>Kee’s beak hung open, mesmerized by the effect. <em>It was Vork!
+Here, of all places, Reeka created Vork!</em></p>
+<p>Vork were a relatively poorly understood phenomenon in the world of
+the Wingfolk. Kee wasn’t a Vork expert. She didn’t know where they came
+from or how they formed—she had only the most basic experience with
+their composition, but spent more time dodging them on the wing than
+anything else. But here, she was watching Smoke Vork form before her
+very eyes, and all it took was burning the wood from a gum tree.</p>
+<p>Reeka took the now sizable Vork and spun it around in the air like a
+ball, pushing it over to Kee like she was initiating a game. The misty
+globe floated through the air toward Kee and stopped short when it
+encountered too much wind resistance. Kee took it in her hands and
+tested it. The surface tension held it together, giving it a sense of
+consistency. It was not hot to the touch, although the smoke within
+continued to swirl like it was from a fresh campfire. Little bubbles of
+Vork continued to pool above the log; every small contribution caused
+the bigger mass above it to gain altitude. Reeka grabbed it and sent it
+sailing over to Kee. <em>Sailing just like the Aerie</em>. She felt a
+bolt go through her mind. “Vork! Lifting Vork! Reeka, you’re a genius!”
+She bounced the ball back to Reeka, who blew air out of her beak,
+sending it soaring over her head.</p>
+<p>“Reeka, can you get more of these? We need more, <em>tons more</em>!”
+Kee held up the splint on her wing and pointed to the smoldering pyre.
+Reeka seemed to understand, nodding and clicking the striker a couple
+more times. Kee waved her hands around in the air. “Awesome, yes! We’re
+gonna have a big fire, Reeka!”</p>
+<p>Reeka chortled and shook her head, apparently amused by Kee’s
+excitement. But she dutifully extended her wings, beat them a few times,
+and leapt into the air. She soared out of sight, dodging gum trees with
+an impressive amount of skill. Kee reached through the engine car and
+removed the rigger’s kit, unraveling it to find thick thread and sharp
+needles. She unrolled her pile of silvery canvas and busied herself
+patching and reshaping it. She didn’t know how long it would take Reeka
+to come back with enough wood, but she wanted to have something ready
+for when she did. She needed to. Mist was already rolling in.</p>
+<hr/>
+<p>The murky light of the Underwood was waning. Kee engineered what she
+felt was a craft capable of carrying her up through the canopy and
+roughly where she guessed the <em>Aerie</em> was headed. Confidence was
+lacking, but it was better than nothing. The basket of thin aluminum
+girders was light enough, Kee assumed, that she would take up most of
+the weight. Cables and vines tethered it to her makeshift canvas
+envelope, which was essentially a large umbrella designed to collect the
+lifting Vork. Reeka brought surprisingly bountiful hauls of deadfall
+from only sky knows where. Her trips away from Kee became shorter and
+shorter as the night and mist crept in. They had built a good bonfire
+below Kee’s envelope. The Vork percolated from the smoky gumwood and
+gathered into the envelope, which began to tense on its restraints. The
+basket was fastened to the ground by a string of pistons, connecting
+rods, and other heavy components. It must already support more than its
+own weight. <em>Just a little more and it’ll carry me too. I
+hope.</em></p>
+<p>To pay for Reeka’s time and firewood, Kee offered her the whole of
+the toolbox, which she greedily accepted and continued admiring. She was
+busy with the socket set while Kee fanned the flames of the bonfire with
+her good wing. Soon she’d fly again. Very soon.</p>
+<p><em>Splash.</em></p>
+<p>It was definitely a splash. Isolated but unmistakable. Kee stopped
+wafting the flames and listened. Reeka’s yellow eyes were fixed on the
+wet path zig-zagging through the trees away from the car. More lapping,
+watery sounds followed. And another splash. <em>Shit</em>. Reeka dropped
+the tools and thumped her wings, the beats taking her airborne in a
+split second. Kee looked up and already saw her tail feathers in a high
+tree branch, not twenty feet to the side of the engine car. <em>Great,
+thanks!</em> Kee couldn’t stay mad; she knew she’d be up there too if
+the roles were reversed. Time to get a move on.</p>
+<p><em>Splash.</em></p>
+<p>Kee’s nape stuck up. She trudged through the tepid water to grab her
+telegraph deterrent from the engine car and yanked the lever twice. The
+shrill ringing sounded out and echoed off a few of the trees. She
+listened with bated breath. Nothing disturbed the water. Kee counted off
+the seconds, the crackling of the fire the only disturbance in the cool,
+misty hush.</p>
+<p><em>Splash.</em></p>
+<p>And then another, off to the distance on the right. The floppy
+paddling and lunging continued. More water was displaced by the wet
+smacking, further to the left. And another. Kee rang the bell
+incessantly, not bothering with listening. She needed time. Vork
+continued to glob together from the fire’s smoke, filling her envelope
+further. She continued chiming the bell, its tone resounding off the
+trees. High up, she saw Reeka looking wide-eyed at Kee. And then, a
+shriek from where she roosted; Reeka was shouting down and pointing to
+Kee’s flank. The water erupted as gargantuan jaws snarled and opened
+wide to seize Kee. She beat the purplish feathers on its head with the
+telegraph, every strike sounding off another <em>ti-ting</em>. “Get away
+from me!” she howled. She kicked at its black scales with her claws, its
+six stubby legs struggling to push its flat, flabby body closer to its
+prey. Kee bumped into the car, tools sliding off the roof and plunking
+into the water. She reached down and grabbed a pipe wrench, cleaving
+into the beast’s head with jaws of her own. It went limp. Was it dead?
+Maybe just stunned.</p>
+<p><em>Splash. Splash.</em></p>
+<p>“Alright, time to get the hell out of here.” Kee untied the tethers
+at the base of the basket. Each one cast off with a thump, the basket
+rising and straining ever more as its earthen grasp gave way. Up above,
+Reeka shrieked again. Another Tarkzu attempted to leap over the flames
+but fell short, searing its chin on the bonfire and shooting steam out
+of its nostrils before recoiling in pain.</p>
+<p><em>Splash. Splash.</em></p>
+<p>They were everywhere. Her beak hung open, hyperventilating. She swore
+her heart was beating out of her chest. Adrenaline coursed through her
+veins as her shaking hands fumbled with the tethers. “Come on, come
+on!”</p>
+<p><em>Splash. Splash.</em></p>
+<p>The fire. She grabbed one of the few good burning logs and wielded it
+like a brand, touching it to the remaining ties. The basket jolted as
+the ties thumped and smoldered away. Kee jumped on, hissing as she
+bumped her injured wrist into the envelope above.</p>
+<p><em>Splash. Splash. Splash.</em></p>
+<p>The last of the tethers burned off. All that was left was the steel
+cable, bundled up and bolted to the engine car. Kee attacked the bolts
+on the basket with her pipe wrench. It slipped, rounding off one of the
+bolts.</p>
+<p>She was sloppy, panicking. <em>LET. GO. WHY WON’T YOU LET
+GO?</em></p>
+<p>Another pair of black jaws exploded from the water inches from her
+face, latching onto the side of the basket. Kee screamed as the
+leviathan gnawed on the aluminum girders, twisting them like sinewy
+bones. The cable wrapped around its glistening white, razor-sharp teeth
+and started to fray. Kee assaulted its head with the pipe wrench, but it
+wouldn’t budge. Finally, the cable snapped, twanging away and ripping
+open a red gash in the monster’s mouth. Still, it held firm.</p>
+<p>Kee’s arm was tired from swinging the wrench. She didn’t have much
+left to give. Her eyes were wide with fear, her muscles aching, her beak
+lulling open and panting with exertion. Her chest was pounding with
+respiration. This wasn’t a problem solved with tools. When you have
+nothing left to give, some problems just chew you up and spit you
+out.</p>
+<p>The Tarkzu’s beady black eyes rolled around and blinked as it
+shredded away at Kee’s basket. She drew everything she had left into
+both arms: one last swing. The wrench met its mark right between the
+beast’s eyes, which crossed as its skull caved in. Its jaws jerked open
+and withered as the creature slumped into the muddied water.</p>
+<p>As soon as she was free, Kee’s craft began to rise. Inch by inch, she
+felt herself leave the sky-forsaken surface of the Underwood. She
+watched the seething bog quickly engulf and snuff out the bonfire. A few
+blobs of smoky Vork drifted off as the steam mixed with the mist.</p>
+<p>Kee’s vessel accelerated as it climbed uninterrupted toward the
+canopy. She held fast to the lines to stabilize herself, grasping the
+basket with her feet as it swung in the air. Moonlight poured in through
+the shredded hole above. Kee wafted her good wing through the air,
+propelling herself and lining up her balloon with the egress. She swore
+she could taste fresh air and even a cool breeze dripping down through
+the hole.</p>
+<p>The canvas ruffled slightly as it bumped against a branch, deforming
+and squishing back into shape. At long last, the branches thinned out,
+and a whistling breeze rocked the highest foliage and Kee’s envelope.
+The cool air washed through her dingy plumage, setting her heart
+a-flutter. <em>Feels so right.</em> The whole sky was a deep indigo, and
+long, flat clouds slid softly across the expanse as the moon shone in a
+bright, full white glow.</p>
+<p>Kee got her bearings and rearranged herself on the basket. She stuck
+her good wing out and gave it a buzz. After a few seconds, she had some
+forward momentum. It wasn’t as fast as winging it, but it was still
+flying, and that was good enough. She breathed a sigh, not just of
+relief, but of satisfaction.</p>
+<p>She was the second Wingfolk she knew who flew without wings.</p>
+<p>Alongside Kee’s airship, a blue and off-white figure beat her wings.
+The breeze ruffled Reeka’s crest. She was struggling slightly to gain
+more altitude, but easily kept up with the slow headway Kee was making.
+She turned her head and smiled, waving. “We did it, Reeka, we made
+it!”</p>
+<p>Reeka paid little attention to Kee’s gesture, but wore a wide grin on
+her face the whole time. Her head was twitching this way and that,
+taking in everything the sky above her home had to offer. “You know, a
+part of me never thought I’d make it out of there. I didn’t realize that
+you may never have left either.” A small gust shook the basket, and
+Reeka struggled to maintain a clean flight line. “Try this,” Kee said,
+lifting her arms up and stabilizing them like she would her wings if she
+were soaring. Reeka studied Kee and seemed to get the message. She
+straightened out, and her flapping became less frantic.</p>
+<p>Kee settled in and tried to get comfortable holding the lines and
+slowly wafting her wings. It was going to be a long night.</p>
+<hr/>
+<p>The sunrise emitted a beam of orange and pinkish hues that carved out
+a semicircle in the endless indigo over the Underwood. Kee’s eyelids
+drooped. It was a struggle to keep them open, especially as the warm sun
+began to shimmer into her pupils, almost lulling her into nodding off
+and enjoying the rays and the breeze.</p>
+<p>Twice during the night, she had almost fallen asleep—Reeka would
+perch on the back of their little airship, beating her wings to help
+propel them so Kee could have a break. Eventually, they’d lose enough
+altitude that they were forced to hop off and let Kee rise again. The
+whole while the endless rolling canopies of the Underwood swept by
+beneath them. It felt good to be above the foliage again. Kee wondered
+at the vast expanse and how many miles of treacherous swamp lay beneath
+the tupelos. <em>How much longer can I keep this up? What if I have to
+live in these woods forever, after all?</em> Her chest tightened.</p>
+<p>She twisted her neck to check up on her companion. Reeka’s wingbeats
+were starting to get languid. She’d been flying through the night, and
+clearly much longer than she was used to being airborne. Maybe there
+would be a village that Reeka could show her. She could heal up there.
+<em>And then what? Spend the rest of my days dodging shitty Tarkzu?</em>
+She wasn’t ready to give up yet. Like her compulsion to join the crew of
+the <em>Aerie</em>, her need to return to it coursed through every
+hollow bone in her body. It was like breathing or flying. Automatic, she
+just had to do it.</p>
+<p>An occasional glint in the green sea of canopies jolted Kee out of
+her ruminations for a brief spell. The sunlight bounced off some
+geometric surfaces like a faceted mirror. Kee course corrected, pointing
+herself right at it. Her gut stirred as she stared transfixed at the
+glimmer of hope. As the sun rose higher, the glinting became
+increasingly frequent. She swelled. It was like a strobe light,
+signaling and beckoning Kee. Her wing buzzed harder, her eagerness
+driving her forward. <em>It has to be there</em>. Falling out of the
+sky, fighting for her life, and building a way to fly again, it was just
+another mountain to soar over. She <em>needed</em> it to be there. Her
+affinity for tinkering, for the <em>Aerie</em>, and for her crew’s way
+of life were a part of her. They were innate, her whole reason for
+living. She knew then and there that there was no chance she’d fight it
+out in these woods.</p>
+<p>Like the captain, she’d be glued to the <em>Aerie</em> come what may.
+She was sure, like him, she could find a way to bear not flying again if
+she had to. But to be completely grounded, to watch the ship sail away
+forever… she was sure she couldn’t survive that. The thought of being
+away from home, spending another night out of her hammock, surrounded by
+tools, parts, and machinery, was unbearable.</p>
+<p>The sun continued to rise all the while the duo’s journey went on
+toward the glimmer, hoping for an end to their plight. Closing the
+distance between themselves and the twinkling afforded them more detail
+of the subject. Kee’s eyes were glued to the glinting. They strained,
+squinting to make out lines, shapes, anything worthwhile in the
+brightness. The shine gave way to a spot of silver. A rounded shape, a
+quartet of raked tail fins. Straightaway, her vision focused, and
+everything became clear. An argent, beached whale slumped atop rolling
+green dunes. Kee’s heart leapt, and she blinked tears from her eyes. The
+corners of her gape lifted into a grin. She picked up her pace. With
+every wing stroke bringing her closer, she took in the beautiful sight.
+<em>Home.</em></p>
+<p>“This is it, Reeka, this is it! We made it!” Kee let out a whoop.</p>
+<p>Reeka beamed at Kee and shouted something Kee couldn’t make out, but
+was certain was celebratory. She looked to be transfixed by the
+<em>Aerie</em>. Kee wondered whether that’s what she looked like when
+she first perched on the sill in the hangar and drank in the massive
+craft; the wonder and adventure it foretold beckoning her to come
+aboard. Everything was in focus now. Despite the damage, the ship still
+took Kee’s breath away. The nose pointed a little skyward of
+equilibrium, as if looking toward the blue yonder for help to extricate
+her from terrestrial ties. Where there once was an engine car, there
+were now exposed, twisted aluminum girders. Several cables hung down
+outside the hull, free from their restraints. A gas cell was exposed to
+the harsh sun and moisture of the sky above the Underwood. Hastily
+applied patches bandaged over cuts to its delicate surface, where the
+cables once secured it. A handful of wings flapped their way around the
+cover. <em>They’re stranded too!</em> Gas must have leaked from the cell
+when the cables snapped. The ship had no capacity to lift itself, no way
+to fly. <em>No way to find me</em>, she gulped.</p>
+<p>A rush of wind shook Kee’s basket. <em>Not home yet</em>. Her biceps
+strained as she gripped the ropes and ruddered her wing to maintain her
+current course. She gingerly spread her bad wing a little to let the air
+rush through her primaries. It wasn’t quite flying, but it felt so good.
+She dismissed the possibility she could still be trapped here. It didn’t
+matter where the <em>Aerie</em> was or what shape she was in; she just
+felt right.</p>
+<p>Kee started calling out. She emptied her lungs of air, trilling and
+calling until her throat was sore. Reeka joined in, waving her hands and
+scrying.</p>
+<p>They watched the wings and talons flitting around the <em>Aerie</em>,
+dropping what they were doing and taking to the air. They started
+swarming, beating their wings to gain altitude and heading directly for
+Kee. The menagerie of bright plumage swept through the air in
+formation.</p>
+<p>Kee allowed her wing a rest and just drifted. Soon she made out
+beaks, eyes, downy cheeks, and entire faces. She started pointing them
+out to Reeka. “That’s Eudo!” Her chest was swelling with glee. “And
+Qreel is next to him there. And that’s Sriharc, they’re both Talons. And
+there’s Halihk, he’ll bite your head off like a Tarkzu if you’re not
+careful.” Reeka tilted her head at that.</p>
+<p>The gap between her friends and crew tightened, and she could finally
+hear the litany of cawing and shrieks of delight. Eudo went on and on in
+between wafting wing flaps, “Kee, you’re alive! We thought we lost
+you—didn’t know where you were—but you’re really alive!”</p>
+<p>“Nuts, Sylph, only you could bring a whole engine gondola to the
+ground with yourself in it!” Halihk sounded exasperated and not a little
+bit sarcastic to Kee’s ear. He gave a wry smile at Kee all the same.</p>
+<p>Qreel and Sriharc grabbed hold of the tethers to her gondola,
+jostling it slightly but holding fast to Kee’s arms. Sriharc interjected
+between Eudo’s unabashed zeal and Halihk’s taunting. “Good to have you
+back Sylph. It looks like you’ve had quite the journey.”</p>
+<p>In his trademark raspy voice, Qreel begged this be the last time he
+had to carry Kee back to the ship. Kee wanted to sass him but was too
+drained of energy to care. She didn’t want to dig up her big flight on
+the first voyage. Instead, she did introductions while the crew beat the
+air around her craft, “This here’s Reeka. She honestly saved my life.
+She’s a good friend. Reeka, these are friends.”</p>
+<p>Reeka announced something Kee didn’t understand. She was going to try
+mimicry or signing before Halihk spoke up. “Chu’rec debok?”</p>
+<p>Surprise swept over Reeka’s face. She quickly replied, “Debok,
+trejartu!” She went on and on in her own language while Halihk nodded
+and shook his head.</p>
+<p><em>How in the sky?</em> Kee was floored. “You can speak her
+language? What are you guys talking about?!”</p>
+<p>“No, I can’t speak it. At least not fluently. She speaks a similar
+dialect to one I have studied; some of the tribes outside the Underwood
+use it. What, Sylph, you think I spend literally every day up to my
+armpits in grease like you?” He gestured at the state of her
+plumage.</p>
+<p>Kee chuckled. “You’re wet shit Halihk, you know that?”</p>
+<p>He just smiled and said, “Yeah, you too, Sylph. Not like we could
+leave without you, though, on account of the <em>Aerie</em> bein’ heavy
+and all.”</p>
+<p>“I know you couldn’t leave without me fixing all your problems,
+Halihk. Check out the Vork in this thing—you get a big bonfire going and
+you’ll get plenty to get the <em>Aerie</em> up again.”</p>
+<p>Sriharc and Qreel helped Kee out of her basket and held onto her so
+tightly she thought her arms were losing circulation. They carried her
+down the rest of the distance to the control gondola while Halihk towed
+away her craft. The bulkhead was open, and the boarding ramp was down,
+resting on the foliage. A handful of thick lines held the <em>Aerie</em>
+to the canopy.</p>
+<p>Inside the gondola, a stack of charts was piled up at the navigation
+desks. The fresh maps of the Underwood were splattered with arrows,
+circles, and big cordoned-off sections of the <em>Aerie</em>’s flight
+path with the names of crew alongside them. <em>They did send out search
+parties. Dozens of them.</em> The captain was there to greet Kee
+immediately and welcome her back aboard. His mud-colored feathers grayed
+at the tips, and his right wing sat lower and limper than the other. His
+eyes were piercing yellow, but exuded a calmness that put Kee at ease.
+“Kee Sylph, Soaring Mechanist reporting for duty, Captain.” She
+straightened up and tipped her good wing awkwardly in salute.</p>
+<p>He gently raised his hand and then lowered it, giving the sensation
+that there was no need for studiousness or ceremony. He spoke in a
+gravely voice, “Good to have you back in one piece, Mechanist Sylph.
+Long have we searched for your whereabouts and turned up nothing.” He
+donned a grave look, “We were starting to fear the worst with no sign of
+you after the first night. I wish only that I personally could have seen
+to your rescue.” He blinked and glanced out the window at her craft
+being towed in as he continued, “But, I see that there’s no situation
+that doesn’t present itself as an opportunity for you to exercise your
+skills. Once again, that was some fine flying miss.” He saluted her and
+bowed his head.</p>
+<p>Kee ballooned with pride. “Thank you, Captain. I couldn’t have done
+it without Reeka here. She’s native to these parts and got me out of a
+tight spot.”</p>
+<p>The captain bowed to Reeka, maintaining eye contact as he did so.
+Reeka, who Kee almost missed entering the gondola, looked decidedly out
+of place. Her crest waved to and fro as she glanced from Kee to the
+gondola’s instruments, and the other crew around her. She finally
+noticed the captain and awkwardly returned his bow.</p>
+<p>“Captain, the Underwood is going to get the Aerie out of here. I
+recognize we’re low on lifting gas, but there’s a source for Vork here.
+You burn the gum trees and—” Kee stammered halfway through her
+explanation and suddenly felt dizzy.</p>
+<p>“Easy, Kee,” the captain softened. “I believe you’re in need of
+medical attention. Officer Qreel will escort you to sick bay. Let’s have
+you looked at before we do anything else.”</p>
+<p>“Aye, captain, that’d be… nice.”</p>
+<p>Qreel helped Kee up the ladder and through the catwalk of the ship.
+The monstrous cells and aluminum girders were familiar, comfortable, and
+somehow inviting. Kee felt the urge to build, fix, and solve problems
+give way to the need for rest and recharging. She eased into a hammock
+in sick bay. Wooden shelves were stocked with bandages, ointments, and
+basic dressing materials. While her wing was being tended, not seconds
+after Qreel left, the door burst open again, and Eudo and Krarr stumbled
+over each other into the room. Krarr’s ear tufts were back, and the
+great yellow globes of his eyes ran with tears.</p>
+<p>“Kee! I’m so sorry, Kee, it was all my fault—I broke things and then
+you fell, and I tried finding you…”</p>
+<p>“Krarr, easy Krarr,” Kee tried to interject, but it was no use.</p>
+<p>Krarr blubbered on, “…but the ship was going to crash, so I had to go
+help, and then we couldn’t find where you—and we tried going under the
+canopy and there were these, <em>things</em>… Oh Kee, it must have been
+horrible—” he continued to shudder and sob.</p>
+<p>Eudo put a hand over Krarr’s beak and shushed him while patting his
+shoulder. “Krarr, hey, Kee’s okay. She’s here now. I think she just
+needs some rest. Right, Kee?”</p>
+<p>“Er, yeah Krarr I’m okay. You know, you didn’t do anything wrong. You
+did a lot of good. Means a lot to me that you came looking.</p>
+<p>Eudo took his chance to get a word in and spouted a rapid collection
+of excited topics that didn’t really join together right; his lanky neck
+twisted this way and that with every phrase. “You really did a number on
+that engine car, Kee. Looks like it fought back all the way down. You
+gotta tell me all about it, and that airship you made, I mean, how’d you
+come up with that? It was so cool seeing you flyin’ in like that! We've
+been patching the gas cells but have nothing to fill them with, so—”</p>
+<p>Kee raised both her hands to pipe down the overexcited boys. “Look,
+fellas, I think I just need some shuteye here for a while. When I’m back
+on my feet, I’ll tell ya all about it, but ’til then you’ll have to go
+find Reeka and get the scoop from her.”</p>
+<p>Krarr’s blubbering diminished, “Reeka, who’s Reeka? You mean you met
+someone down there?”</p>
+<p>The two squeezed together on their way out of the room, Krarr still
+sporadically sobbing and Eudo trying to push past him to find the
+Underwood dweller. They slammed the door shut and clanked down the
+hallway.</p>
+<p>Kee rolled over and lay on her stomach, taking in the smell of the
+old cloth. An initial assessment revealed her wing wrist was indeed
+broken. It would take weeks for it to heal. She got something to help
+bring the inflammation and pain down, but the one real order was bed
+rest. She took a deep, deep breath of relief when the doc answered her
+careful probing questions and said, “Of course you’ll fly again.”</p>
+<hr/>
+<p>Kee glided over clear, teal water while warm currents held her aloft.
+Occasionally, a gust of wind carried cool spray from the lake’s surface
+up to her primaries. She let her legs hang down and drag in the water,
+enjoying its cool contrast with the basking sun on her back. Her
+iridescent green feathers shimmered and sparkled off the surface of the
+water. The hiss of a starter and the roar of an engine seemed to belch
+out of the lake at her.</p>
+<p>She catapulted back from her dream into the sick bay. “The engines,
+they’re running! We’re airborne again!” She rolled over and sat up,
+yearning for a look. She flinched when she first noticed the black
+figure perched near the doorway. Chief Llyr blinked and yawned. “Forgive
+me, came to talk to you and saw you were asleep, so I just rested my
+eyes for a bit.”</p>
+<p>Kee’s energy surged, but only briefly. “We’re on the move again,
+already? Don’t you need my—”</p>
+<p>He cut her off before she could clamber out of the hammock, “Easy,
+Kee, you’ve already done more than I could have asked of you. Halihk
+managed to work out your discovery with Reeka. Cell number seven is full
+of your <em>Smokey Vork</em> now. Actually, I think it works better than
+the off-worlder gas. Besides, we don’t need as many crew to tend the
+engine cars, seeing as we’re down an engine permanently.”</p>
+<p>“Well, I can’t fly for a while, but I can still help.”</p>
+<p>Llyr snickered, “You really have no quit, do you, Kee?”</p>
+<p>She didn’t—she knew that, and he knew that. She was a relentless
+learner, a doer, a fixer. There would be no sitting around on her tail
+feathers while others had all the fun.</p>
+<p>Llyr continued, “You’re going to need to rest up at least a few more
+days for me before you go back on duty. This time, as a highly skilled
+mechanist of terrific intellect once told me, <em>you don’t get to
+choose</em>.” He grinned.</p>
+<p>“Yeah, not my brightest moment with the telegraph either. I’m sorry I
+ignored you; I just felt like I owed it to the crew to do everything I
+could to help them first. To get you two out of the car, tell the Talons
+what’s going on. I thought I could do it all.” Her shoulders wilted a
+little.</p>
+<p>“None of us can do it all, Kee, that’s why we do it together. You and
+Eudo, for example. Or Krarr. Or even Reeka. You and Halihk could
+accomplish a lot, too.”</p>
+<p>She turned her beak up and squinted at Llyr. “Eh, you were on a roll
+there, and then you lost me.”</p>
+<p>He put his hands up in mock defense. “Hey, don’t look at me, it was
+Halihk who first started organizing the search parties. He made the
+first moves to get you back here safely.”</p>
+<p><em>Well, shit.</em> She’d owe him for that. “Guess I can learn to
+work with him on some level then.”</p>
+<p>Llyr nodded and gave a thumbs-up. He stood up from the perch and
+stretched his wings. “You know, Sylph, you’ll make a great chief
+someday. You put the crew first, and you’re good at solving problems.
+You figure out how to get Halihk to play nice and you’ll be a better
+chief than me, that’s for sure.” He turned toward the door.</p>
+<p>“Hey, chief, I got something to ask you.”</p>
+<p>He slid open the canvas door and turned back. “Yeah? Shoot.”</p>
+<p>“Why do you do it? The <em>Aerie</em>, the engineering. What’s the
+goal of it all? Why do we bother with this stuff when we can already
+fly?”</p>
+<p>Llyr looked stumped. He concentrated for a couple of seconds,
+brushing his hand under his beak. Finally, he spoke: “You know, Kee, I
+don’t really know. It just feels like I got to. Now get some rest, we’ll
+talk more tomorrow.” He slid the door shut, and his footsteps clanked
+away down the catwalk and melded with the droning thrum of the
+engines.</p>
+<p>She shook her head at Llyr’s answer. Maybe she didn’t need to have a
+reason either. Maybe she’d find it as she went along, or make one up if
+she thought she needed one. She slid down in the hammock and rolled back
+onto her stomach, resting her head on her hands.</p>
+<p>Then again, maybe being driven is reason enough to do something.
+Maybe you don’t climb into an engine car to be an engineer; perhaps you
+do it because you’re built to do it. Perhaps it really is like flying;
+when you don’t know anything else, everything just falls into place.
+It’s more than a passion; it’s realizing when it’s missing that you
+never could have lived without it.</p>
+<p>She closed her eyes. To any onlookers, the hammock appeared at first
+glance like a burlap sack full of iridescent green feathers, tarnished
+slightly by traces of mud and grease. The hum of the engines was still
+short one member of the quartet, but it didn’t stir or rouse the bundle.
+Kee drifted back into dreams where she could soar and float to her
+heart’s content, confident and sure that if her wings couldn’t carry
+her, the <em>Aerie</em> would.</p>
+
+<?php $nolicense=true; ?>