City Sector Uplift part 5
#57 of The Life and Times of Jarzyl Mintaka (Slice of Life Stories)
Jarzyl and Atlas tour an airship
"Mintaka Recursive Grey!" Jarzyl breathed, reading out the name that was painted on the airship. "A Stormrider-class light clipper, third off the production line following Mintaka Stormrider and Mintaka Cottonside! Reconfigurable for passenger or cargo transport in all-weather conditions, optimized for the long-range flight routes near the Glassy Sea and the eastern volcanic ranges. Designed and built by Mintaka Heavy Industrial, this magnificent thing entered service only a couple of years ago."
Atlas was less impressed. "It's just another airship."
"It's very cool," Jarzyl insisted, nodding at her friend. "Also, I think it might be the airship my aunt is flying today."
Recursive Grey was smaller than the passenger transports, and the medium-sized craft was sitting in an appropriately more modest hangar. Along the centre-bottom of the airship, metal panels had been removed to expose insides filled with wiring and pipes and other complex things. Dragons wearing protective hats and neck guards were using tools or just their own magic to work on the airship's intricate innards.
A barricade blocked off the space between the larger hanger housing a passenger airship, and this medium-sized hangar. Standing behind the barricade and out of the way, the two fledglings watched the busyness. Jarzyl pointed towards the centre of the ship, where an eerie bluish light was spilling out through the open panels. "Looks like they're doing work on the primary core."
"The power source for the airship?" Atlas asked. Bending down to get a better angle, he could just barely see the edge of a huge glowing crystal located deep inside the airship. "That's a big chunk of crystal. Must have been very expensive to grow."
Jarzyl nodded. Gesturing again, she then pointed halfway back the airship's length, where there was another set of panels that were closed. "Secondary power core is there. Any Mintaka airship built in the last four decades has two power cores. Taslin shipbuilders still prefer single core designs, but Mintaka airships use two for redundancy. I read that we even tried a tri-core design once, but that had some resonance and stability issues. Two power cores is the ideal count."
Atlas grinned faintly, amused by his friend's deep fascination about airships. "Oh?"
"Just like how dragons have two hearts. One smaller one here..." Jarzyl put her paw on Atlas's back, right between his wings. Then she slid her paw forward over his shoulder, and let it rest over his chest. "And the main one here."
"Basic anatomy."
"I know, I know." Jarzyl was still for a few seconds, and then in a quick motion she shifted her touch upwards, faster than Atlas could even flinch. With claws fully retracted, Jarzyl's paw brushed against his chin, then rested against the side of his neck. Atlas took a few seconds to recognize the action--she was checking his pulse. It reminded him of what Zilarin Mintaka had done earlier in the morning, and Jarzyl had undoubtedly learned the gesture from her mother, though of course the younger dragon didn't have healing magic.
And whereas Zilarin was a fully grown dragon who was noticeably larger than Atlas, Jarzyl was right around his size and her paw fit neatly against his neck. Her touch was warm, and her paw pads felt soft--Atlas's head tilted a fraction as he started to lean into it before he caught himself. He swallowed, making Jarzyl's paw shift slightly as his throat moved.
Jarzyl's mouth moved silently as she counted his pulse. Then she said, "One two, one two. Both your hearts are beating a little quick."
"I wonder why," Atlas muttered, but he knew why.
Jarzyl dropped her forepaw back to the ground after another moment, and both fledglings stared at the airship again. Crew continued to work on the airship.
A pair of drakken maintenance workers hauled over a cart containing a large cylinder of glass and crystal that was covered in wires and pipes, which was clearly some sort of airship component, though Atlas didn't have the faintest clue what it was. In unison, the two workers stepped back and raised their paws--they had metal affinity, because there was a flash of magic and the component started to float upwards into the airship's belly. They carefully manoeuvred the component into place, before continuing to work with their tools to screw and fix it in.
Another drake pulled a hose that was thicker than his neck--with a practiced motion he opened a small panel on the airship's side and attached the nozzle. There was a hiss sound, and a vapour began leaking out from the panel--until the maintenance worker adjusted the connection of the hose to seal it tightly.
There was yet another drake, who looked middle-aged and was wearing a flight harness with rank markings attached to the shoulder straps. He was strolling around the airship, peering closely at the angular metallic hull and also watching the maintenance crew as they worked. "Who's that? He seems to be in charge," Atlas noted.
Jarzyl's neck frill twitched as she considered the question. "I'm pretty sure my aunt is shipmaster for Recursive Grey on today's sector lift, so I would guess that's the auxiliary shipmaster doing a pre-flight inspection. He would be second-in-command of the airship."
As it turned out, the auxiliary noticed the two fledglings standing by the side and he came strolling over. Atlas was expecting that they would be chased off from the hangar under the guise of safety or perhaps_security_, but instead the auxiliary shipmaster casually nodded at them. "You two aren't lost, I hope?"
Jarzyl shook her head. "I'm exactly where I want to be..." she sighed dreamily.
This made the older drake chuckle--a deep, rumbly sound. "Hohaha. Interested in joining the fleet? We always welcome sharp minds and nimble paws. Do you have your magic yet?"
Jarzyl looked intrigued, but she shook her head. "Not yet. But soon! Airships are so interesting."
"We do have some apprenticeship programs, which you can ask your school about. Or wait till you get your magic, and then we can find you permanent opportunities in the fleet." The drake gave an encouraging nod to both Atlas and Jarzyl. "I'm Stelaros, of clan Mintaka, and I'm auxiliary on this airship for today's unique operation. And who are you two?"
"I'm Jarzyl, also of Mintaka. This is Atlas. He's great." Jarzyl excitedly bounced between her paws, then she pointed at the airship again. "What are they doing there with the main power core? Is it being repaired?" she curiously asked.
"They're making some final adjustments to the skybreaker cannon. Normally we would only energize in short bursts, but for the sector lift we need sustained power transmission, hence more cooling required." Stelaros gestured at Recursive Grey, then at the dozen more similar airships that were in nearby hangars. "Dockyard Engineering also added extra capacitor banks for more lifting power and manoeuvring stability during the sector lift, and they're running final systems testing before we spin up the cores and launch."
"Oh! Interesting!" Jarzyl stared up at the airship. "Where are the extra cap banks? I don't see them on the external hull? Or are they conformal?"
"No, they're internal, filling up the cargo bay." The drake looked thoughtful, then he lowered his head and spoke into a small, boxy piece of equipment that was clipped to the shoulder strap of his harness--which turned out to be a radio communicator set. "Bridge, auxiliary. Have we begun preflight procedures?"
The radio buzzed, then spat out a reply. "Negative on preflight, negative on startup. We're still in ground settings."
"Ground settings, understood." Stellaros nodded towards Jarzyl. "We won't be taking off so soon. If you're curious, do you want to come aboard and have a look around?"
"Yes!! Can we do that?! Yes!" Jarzyl literally jumped for joy, but then she cleared her throat and glanced at Atlas, trying to play it calm. "Uhh, if you want to do that too, I mean."
Atlas nodded. Though he was indifferent about airships, he couldn't turn down Jarzyl's barely concealed enthusiasm. "Certainly."
"Since the techs are still working on the underside, we'll go by the dorsal entrance hatch instead." The auxiliary shipmaster took them up to the mezzanine--halfway up the high walls of the hangar bay, a series of platforms provided access to the airship. "Watch your step," Stelaros warned, as he led the two fledglings across a gangway that stretched out onto the airship.
With his three-legged gait, Atlas carefully followed behind Jarzyl. By walking across the gangway, the three dragons ended up standing directly on top of the airship's hull. Recursive Grey was an ovoid shape--the metal hull was made of smooth angular metal plates that fit together with engineered precision, with thruster ports, antennas, lights, fins, and shield emitters protruding at various points from the otherwise flat surface. Despite how it was only a medium-sized airship, Recursive Grey looked much larger when they were standing atop it.
Jarzyl grinned, and she tapped her claws against the hull. "So cool," she murmured to Atlas, glancing behind at him.
Stelaros pulled open a rectangular metal hatch, which led to a small tunnelway at a sharp incline, before then opening out into an internal corridor of Recursive Grey.
A drakka was standing beside the entranceway, just inside the airship--she also had a radio set clipped to her harness shoulder straps, right next to the markings indicating she was a member of the airship's crew, albeit a lower rank than the auxiliary shipmaster. The crewmember was peering into an equipment chest. She had her tail coiled forward with its tip stained black from a small inkpot, and she was using the prehensile appendage like a brush to mark items off a clipboard as she looked through the contents of the chest.
The drakka glanced towards Stelaros as he entered the airship, before raising an eye ridge on seeing Jarzyl and Atlas. "Welcome back, aux. Secondary core is fully charged, and primary is at 50%. Shipmaster wants us to begin prefight checklists once we reach 80%. And... who are these two?"
Stelaros gestured towards the two fledglings as if he were introducing honoured guests. "Future members of Airship Fleet Command, if they can be inspired. I'm giving them a quick tour around."
Jarzyl beamed, and she bowed her head politely. "Hello..."
"Hmm. Well, we aren't in preflight conditions yet, so I suppose you are allowed to do that. And we do need more to recruit more," muttered the drakka. She went back to sorting through the equipment chest.
Stelaros nodded. "Right you are. How goes the inventory? Is all our equipment in order?"
"Mostly." The drakka pointed to one piece of equipment that she had removed from storage and left on the ground. It resembled a coil of metal wires and leather straps, wrapped around a small rectangular box "That one radio set with a broken transmitter is still here. The maintenance team hasn't fixed or replaced it yet."
"But we have plenty of other spares." Stelaros strolled up to the cabinet that the drakka was sorting through, and he casually grabbed the partially broken radio. "Let me borrow this for a moment."
Without saying anything, the crewmember changed a cross to a circle on her equipment list.
Moving a few paces down the corridor, Stelaros shared a conspiratorial grin with Jarzyl. "Want to listen in on the fleet broadcast channels? This is a radio transceiver set."
"Eiip!" Jarzyl made a happy, chirping squeal. "Can I? Can I really?!"
"Of course. This set is broken so you can't transmit anything, but you can listen in." Stelaros uncoiled the wire from around the radio set. The main device was a small rectangular box that he passed to Jarzyl for her to clip onto the shoulder straps of her flight harness. A long, flexible metal wire was connected to the box, with thin leather belts dangling from around the wire at regular intervals. "Hold still, and I'll help you put on the wire."
"Yes! Thank you..." Though she was clearly overflowing with excitement, Jarzyl stood almost perfectly still. Her only movement was to grin widely at Atlas, who returned her smile. By using the small leather belts, Stelaros attached the wire to Jarzyl's flight harness straps--the length of metal ran backwards from her left shoulder, then traced down her spine all the way down to her tail tip, with the small leather belts helping to keep it in place.
"All done." The auxiliary shipmaster stepped back. "That's the antenna wire." He turned sideways and folded down a wing to expose his own back, revealing that his radio set had a similar wire. "To get the clearest signal, straighten your tail behind you so that the wire is stretched out in a line. There you go. Just like that." Stelaros smiled warmly, and he nodded when Jarzyl tried stretching out her tail. "Normally you would press _that_button on the radio to transmit, but that radio's transmitter is broken."
At the auxiliary's guidance, Jarzyl tried doing exactly that. "Test... testing?" she said, lowering her head to speak into her radio. But there was no response from the radio sets which Stelaros or the other crewmember were wearing. "Oh, this is... this is so fun...!"
Stelaros turned to Atlas. "What do you think? Your friend looks just like she belongs in the fleet, doesn't she?"
"She does," Atlas agreed.
"Eeeee!" Jarzyl giggled, and she bounced between her four paws.
"Your currently on the shipboard wavelength, which is for crewmembers to talk with each other, and the hangar maintenance team too." Stelaros jabbed a button on his own radio, and instantly Jarzyl's radio set clicked and started playing his voice as he spoke into his radio set. "Rec Grey bridge, auxiliary. Comms check, please."
After a few seconds, a reply came back that was played on both of their radios. "Aux, you are loud and clear."
Jarzyl experimentally tried adjusting the knobs of her radio set. "This is the best. It's so cool," she murmured towards Atlas, which made him grin.
"Well, well. My auxiliary finally returns from his hull inspection. I trust it was comprehensive, given how long it took." Mira Mintaka glanced over her shoulder, and she hardly batted an eye when Stelaros led Jarzyl and Atlas onto the airship's bridge.
Placed around the bridge were various control consoles covered in with dials, buttons, and instrument gauges, in front of floor cushions for their operators to sit on. There were three dragons sitting at their respective consoles, all wearing radio transceivers and crewmember markings on their harnesses.
Jarzyl's aunt was clearly in her element. She looked comfortable yet alert as she sat at the shipmaster's console, which was located at the centre and slightly elevated to have a better view through the wide windows that surrounded the bridge. The red-scaled drakka drummed her claws against one particular gauge. "Stel, how went the inspection? Did you find anything unusual? Aside from two curious fledglings, obviously."
"The engineers were closing up the underbelly access panels as I was coming up. All tight and tidy," replied the auxiliary shipmaster.
"Excellent."
"And these two were standing by the side of the hangar looking all wide-eyed, so I thought I'd have them on for a quick look around since we haven't entered preflight conditions yet."
"Hmm. The procedures do permit you to do that." Mira shifted her gaze towards Jarzyl and Atlas--whereas Atlas was mildly curious to see the inner workings of an airship, Jarzyl was radiating awestruck admiration for her aunt, the various other crewmembers, and the airship itself. "I suppose that I did promise to one day let you come see what I do at work..." Mira casually said to Jarzyl.
Stelaros frowned slightly. "Oh, you two know each other?"
"Bahaha." Mira let out a short, confident bark of laughter. "She's my niece. And last I heard, she's supposed to be in a viewing gallery in sector 48B with her parents."
"Oh, but the airship docks seemed a much more interesting place!" Jarzyl retorted. She was still grinning happily and looking delighted to just be here.
"You're absolutely right about that."
At that moment, a small white light flashed on all the radio transceiver sets--including Jarzyl's--and a voice came through. "Recursive Grey, this is hangar maint."
Atlas thought that the Mira would respond on the radio, but instead it was another crewmember sitting in the adjacent console. "Maintenance, Rec Grey. Ears open."
"We've completed the calibration works... and closed all the panels up. We're still clearing equipment from the hangar floor, but, uh, you can begin preflight start when you're ready."
"Calibration completed, floor still clearing. Thank you."
The way they spoke was sharp and practiced, but it was so quick that it took Atlas a split second to process the words which had been said.
Calm and professional, Mira spoke up towards one of the other crewmembers on the bridge. "Kaspin, what's the power level on our cores?"
"Primary core is at 78% and climbing. Secondary is full."
"Noted." Turning back towards Jarzyl, Mira nodded at the fledgling. "So Jarzyl, what do you think?"
Jarzyl grinned at Atlas, then she grinned at her aunt again. "I think you have the best job ever. Is that seat as comfortable as it looks?"
Mira patted the floor cushion she was sitting on, then the control console. "It fits me well. Though it's not as comfortable as it once was." Her voice got slightly softer, and she glanced out through the bridge windows. "It used to be a lot easier, for personal reasons. I think you know what those are."
"Oh?"
"Travelling back and forth from the colonies is a routine adventure. But it's the anthesis of settling down. Now every time I leave the city, I count the days till I get back home. It used to be the other way around--the airship was my home, and whenever I returned to the city, I counted the days till I could fly out again." She chuckled softly, then glanced at Stelaros again. "Alright, you two have had your fun. Now we need to do our jobs. There's a new sector that needs to be lifted. Stel, escort these two back out to the hangar. Kaspin, let's run through preflight checklist. Asmanja, contact traffic control and request navigation clearance out to one of the nadir gateways. See if we can get a direct descent."
"Got it. Preflight checklist, for standard city-side departure. All hold items are..."
"Calling control, Recursive Grey in hangar one-three-one, requesting navigation clearance for straight out departure..."
Jarzyl let out a dreamy sigh, and she and Atlas both followed the auxiliary shipmaster as he led them back out the way they had come. Jarzyl had an excited skip in her step, and she bumped her shoulder against Atlas's as they strolled side by side.
Carefully walking across the gangway, the two fledglings dropped back onto the hangar mezzanine. Spinning around, Jarzyl unfurled her wings and waved them at Stelaros. "Thank you so much! This was great!"
The auxiliary shipmaster chortled. "Hoho. I hope you enjoyed the quick tour. You can watch us as we drop from the hangar, but after that you two make your way back to the passenger hangars, alright?"
Jarzyl waved more enthusiastically, then she dipped her head in a brief, but respectfully low bow. "Good luck with the sector uplift! And... and tell my aunt to have a safe flight? And you too!"
"Indeed, and I hope to see you in the fleet one day." Stelaros returned the bow and raised his wings in a salute, then he strolled back across the upper surface of the airship and stepped back down into the entranceway. A sharp tug with his tail pulled the hatch shut behind him with a satisfying metallic chlunk.
Standing on the mezzanine, Jarzyl let out a happy sigh. She looked over the airship, then at the surrounding hangar, which was noticeably emptier now. All equipment had been cleared away from below the airship and was neatly placed at the side of the hangar in designated locations marked out by paint. The technicians were now moving to an adjacent hangar where there was another airship similarly being worked on.
"You really would like to work in the airship fleet, wouldn't you?" Atlas asked, turning to look at his friend. "Just like your aunt. A routine adventure."
"Maybe. Yeah, maybe," Jarzyl murmured, still staring at the airship. "It would be fun. Though I'd miss people if spent all my time out of the city... I'd miss my family, friends... I'd definitely miss you." Then without any warning, she lunged sideways and threw her wings around Atlas in a tight hug. "Hnng. This is great! What a glorious day," sang the orange-scaled fledgling cheerily.
"Uh..." Atlas wasn't sure what to say, but Jarzyl didn't mind. She released him a moment later.
"And it's going to get even better. Just imagine--a whole new part of the city to explore. New streets, new buildings, new fountains and gardens and restaurants and... and..." Jarzyl shivered, and she bounced between all four paws.
"Interesting day," Atlas agreed.
The radio set sounded out again. "Hangar control, Recursive Grey. Status check, please."
"Airship, the floor is clear and we're in condition two. Give us another minute." The sound was choppy and indistinct, until Jarzyl straightened her tail to stretch out the antenna wire still strapped to it. She also reached up and adjusted the volume knob of the radio she was wearing.
"The airship's going to launch soon!" she told Atlas.
Atlas nodded, but then something else occurred to him. "Do they... not want that radio set back?"
"Oh!" Jarzyl's neck frill perked up. "I don't know. This is definitely flight hardware, but it was broken. Stelaros gave it to me, but he never said he was giving it to me. Umm, does this count as stealing?"
Atlas wasn't sure either. "You could give it back? Or maybe just go ask the auxiliary if he wants it back?" He took a step forward off the gangway and back onto the airship's upper surface.
"But... but... I don't think that's... Uh...!" Jarzyl froze for a second, then she sprung forward. "Alright then! I don't really think this is allowed, but fine," she murmured.
Now it was Atlas's turn to pause. "Wait, what's not allowed?"
Looking suddenly anxious, Jarzyl walked briskly forward over the airship hull, though she specifically avoided running. "They called condition two!"
Atlas followed after her with his uneven gait, but with some confusion. "What? What does that mean? Jarz!"
"Hangar condition two means cargo loaded, crew and any passengers aboard, and all maintenance work ended. It means the airship is about to fly, and it means we're not supposed to be up here!" Jarzyl walked briskly towards the front of the airship, until she reached the circular hatch again. She hurriedly yanked on the hatch, but it didn't budge. "Um." The orange-scaled fledgling tried again, then she tried turning and pulling on the handle in various ways, but the hatch remained firmly sealed. Jarzyl then tried banging on the hatch with her paw, but there was no response.
Suddenly a deep tremor ran through the airship, and Atlas could feel the hull plating shake under his paws. "That would be the primary core spinning up," Jarzyl noted. A second, more subtle vibration followed almost immediately after. "And secondary spinning up too."
At the same time, the bright floodlights which had been illuminating the hangar flickered off. The only illumination came from light spilling from the adjacent hangars, as well as from bright navigational lights that flashed on the surface of the airship.
As a nocturnal dragon, Atlas could still clearly see around, but Jarzyl hunched down against the airship, not able to see much. "So, yes..." she said slowly, "I told you we shouldn't be here."
"What?!" Atlas exclaimed, but then a bell sounded and red lights began flashing around the hangar. He saw motion behind them as the gangway leading to the hangar's mezzanine retracted backwards. Accompanying this was a sudden gust of cool, moist air from below, and the woosh of wind--the huge metal doors that made up the hangar floor began folding away, clearing the way for the airship to launch.
"And that's condition one. Hangar doors open, all gangways and loading ramps retracted, ready to launch," Jarzyl stated factually.
Recursive Grey shuddered again, but now the vibrations intensified into an intense rumble that was clearly audible. Atlas could feel the airship shudder under his paws. Jarzyl's borrowed radio set buzzed, but the speech was inaudible over the rumble of the airship.
"That's both cores spinning up to thirty percent. Hold for stabilization, and then up to flight power." Jarzyl blinked around in the darkness again, but then she spotted Atlas still beside her and grinned at him. "You should hold onto something."
"I... What?!" Atlas was almost speechless. He glanced around, not quite believing what was happening. "Jarz! Jarzyl!" he hissed.
The sensible, reasonable thing would be to get off the airship before it launched. The gangway had retracted away, but they could have just jumped back to the mezzanine with a flap of their wings to ensure they made the distance. But Atlas hesitated, because he saw the expression on Jarzyl's face. His friend was a little nervousness, but excited too, because she had found exactly what she was looking for--adventure--and Atlas was being dragged along for it.
With a toothy grin, Jarzyl nodded at him. "I guess we're getting that tour of the new city sector after all. Seriously, you should hold onto something."
"Hold on to...? There isn't anything to... to hold on to..." Atlas glanced around, but the upper surface of the airship was made of flat metal plates. The only thing to hold onto was the hatch handle, which Jarzyl was already clinging onto. "There's nothing to hold!"
"Hold on to me?" Jarzyl suggested.
Atlas tried to squeeze beside Jarzyl and hold onto the hatch handle too, but there wasn't enough space with her in the way. He couldn't reach the handle, but he could reach her shoulders and her wings.
Atlas wanted to say something--he wasn't sure what, but he definitely had something to say. However before he could get the words out, the airship lifted smoothly upwards and out of the clamps it had been sitting on. The clamps folded away into the wall, and then Recursive Grey dropped out of the hangar and into the open skies, with two fledglings still clinging on top of it.
TO BE CONTINUED