path: root/posts/2025-10-19-first-voyage-of-the-aerie.php

<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; ?>