'Til Kingdom Comes - The Banished Prince Vol 4: The System

Airborne

Saturday, 26th November 1442

We gathered up the children over at the launch site of the airships as we watched the whole process of the retrofitting of the propellers that would be emplaced when the airships had returned back to the launch site after gathering the mithril and obsidian pieces from Doc.

"The new propellers are ready, Your Majesty. Right now, all we need to do is to retrofit the new propellers after we had picked up the mithril and obsidian ores. Since 2511 Thunder had already been equipped with VTOL functions, I guess she would be handling the most load today."

"Would you like to ride with us or would you prefer to traverse there alone with the rest of the Royal families or would you like to go with us and then we would be able to airlift you there instead. What do you think?"

I had already planned to be airlifted over there and be placed directly at Safehaven and then returned back by Dragon Boat instead. I don't need to specify at Hellsgate where Doc would be gifting is with the obsidian pieces that would be made into arrowheads.

What we need is to pay homage to Doc, Perky, Aragorn. They were the ones that made this intervention against those monstrosities possible and once we had dealt with them, we would be sure that the chances of them respawning would be much lesser, I hope.

"We would like to load our Dragon Boat on the airship, captain. Once we had done so, you may airlift us and drop us at the outskirts of Safehaven. We would then summon the mythical races and then you should know what the next thing would happen, right?"

I decided to cut short the discussion with the captain as one of the aircrewmen had driven our Dragon Boat up the ramp of the airship 2511 Thunder and this would mean we would be leaving pretty soon.

The children were excited when they saw the Dragon Boat been traversed onto the ramp and into the cargo compartment of the airship 2511 Thunder. The carriage was slightly bigger than 911 Lightning and it had 2 decks where it would be able to carry such load like the Dragon Boat and tonnes of mithril and obsidian pieces as well passengers.

"This airship 2511 Thunder is much bigger than the first one, don't you think so Daddy? I could not only fit our Dragon Boat but it has enough space for 4 AAVs as well too." HRH JR noticed the difference in the capacity of the new airship.

One of the engineers overheard what HRH JR had remarked and he came forward and highlighted to us. "The 911 Lightning would also be equipped with the same carriage size and the retrofit of the new propellers had already been installed."

"It would take some time for us to realign the blimp and attach it to the carriage because if not the whole airship would be unbalanced. Initially, we thought that we would only be fitting in the new propellers but the propulsion system would take about a whole week to redo the whole carriage."

"In the end, our Head engineer suggested that we pull out our spare carriage and refit it instead."

"Hmm, it seems that the engineers here are getting more proficient in their profession. It must be the influence of the rest of the Lord and Ladies that made up the pool of engineers in the Guild."

"Well, at least we can see progress and I wondered how many of the wood elves adventurers would be coming along with us once the mithril and obsidian pieces had been loaded."

"It would take one single trip to bring them in and I think Phoenix, Eagle and the rest would be doing the pre-registration of the induction of the new settlers."

I bobbed my head up and down as I listened to the engineer explain to us regarding the new carriage and the propulsion system and importantly the VTOL system.

The VTOL system was one of the innovation in engineering and flight. Fortunately, all these are made possible by the quick thinking of HRH JR when he copied the diagram and how-to from the realm and brought it back to the real world.

Right now, what we would be experiencing soon would the VTOL system that the airship would be performing. After the Dragon Boat was properly secured inside the cargo hold of the airship, the aircrewmen called out that it is time to get airborne.

The cargo hold of the airship had a steel staircase that brought us to the seating and firing areas around the airship.

It still had the slit archers windows and if I wanted to shoot fireballs from the arse of this airship, there is a small bomb bay door at the rear where half of my body would be exposed once the door is open.

At least I would not be tethered to any lifeline around my waist and tied up to someplace or else i would be blown out from the arse of the airship and be dangling around like a piece of poop from a cat that had swallowed a hairball. HAHAHAHA...

Right after having those nonsensical thoughts in my head about me being like a piece of cat poop, trailing behind the airship, we were all ushered into the airship and we observed how the cargo hold and the seating capacity for the new airship 2511 Thunder looks and feels like.

We were thoroughly satisfied with the whole concept and were very much delighted to see that the engineers were able to come up with their own designs and concepts.

"Welcome aboard everyone and please sit tight and be ready to be airborne in a few minutes time. Archers, please be on standby near the slit windows for any interferences."

There's a seat near every slit windows on both port and starboard area. The sky is blue and the wind is blowing in from the western part. Expect a calm trip to Safehaven and then to Hellsgate. ETA 1 hour and 20 minutes. Thank you and have a pleasant flight."

HRH Amy was stifling her laughter when she heard the captain narrated the welcoming and opening speech for the maiden flight out of our town.

When I glanced at her, she suddenly burst out in stitches and I knew that she had planned for the captain to say such things before the trip.

"What do you think of what the captain had just spoken earlier, Daddy? Do you like it and do you think you would like to have certain changes to it?"

I smiled at her and pinched her cute nose for thinking of something so catchy for the maiden flight.

Suddenly I had a flashback and I subconsciously touched my waist area and looked for something which was not there at all there in the first place.

Heather looked at me groping for something and asked me what I was looking for but I stared at her blankly as I could not explain to her that I was actually looking the seat belt buckle. Fortunately, i wasn't looking to the upright folding tray in front of me...!

"No worries dear, I was just checking out something that is not supposed to be in this era at all. I...was just checking out something at my sides and the front of me."

"I guess the things i was looking for is not here or had not been devised yet. No matter, everything should be alright since i wasn't expecting any much difference if the item is here or not."

"What is the matter, dear? Would you like to share it with me?" Heather eyed me suspiciously and I just shook my head knowing that she might not know what the hell I would be talking later on.

"Everyone please remain seated. We would be lifting off in less than a minute." The captain of 2511 Thunder announced as everyone present was anxious to find out on how the VTOL system would work.

The propellers began to rotate as the blades were pointing on the downward motion.

We could see the blades of grass swirling on the ground as the propellers were picking up its momentum.

The captain's deck was slightly different from the one on 911 Lightning as there were several levers that control the speed, while other levers control the angle of the propellers.

The carriage was slightly shuddering and after a short while, the wheels had left the ground. I looked out at the slit windows and hollered out, "We are now airborne, folks...!"

Well, I forgot that the captain is the king of the airship and a king off the ground is just like a mere commoner.

I dare not look at the eyes of the captain as I was afraid that I might incur the wrath of captain 2511 Thunder...!

I was expecting the shuddering of the carriage once it had lifted itself off the ground but it was rather smooth instead. Once we had cleared the dome opening, I watched how the captain of the airship 2511 Thunder deftly controlled the whole craft out of the area as we watched how the propellers were manipulated in a way.

I was wondering how come the carriage was able to stay in its pivotal position once it had cleared the opening of the dome above the town square until I remembered that there is a blimp right above us.

Since Priestess Talladrin was not around with us today, the whole airship 2511 Thunder is exposed from the ground. Fortunately, it had been painted with the same motif as the one as 911 Lightning.

The children too were excited and began to ask questions from the aircrewmen and the engineers about the new functions of the airship as compared to the earlier version. The captain was feeling a sense of pride when his men answered HRH JR and Amy as accurately as the men could.

Besides, it was good to have the men explain the technicalities of the airship to HRH JR and Amy since they both had brought along the blueprints and diagrams that they both wish to see being implemented on the new airship.

Although the airship takes quite a long time to complete, the most important thing is that the airship designs, functions and other aspects were to the HRH JR and Amy's expectations.

It seemed that both the children were undertaking some responsibilities from me and had been doing a fine job regarding it.

=*=

It was a little over an hour as the airship was skimming just over the treetops and had reached the outskirts of our town. After the captain had announced the arrival of the destination, the airship slowed down and then began its descent.

After some time, the airship finally touched down and the aircrewmen immediately brought the ramp down and traversed the Dragon Boat out of the cargo hold.

Once it was cleared off the ramp, we took over the vehicle from the aircrewmen and thanked him. Now, we would need to traverse inside towards the temporary encampment and contact the mythical races that the airship 2511 Thunder is on the way.

As for 911 Lightning, it had already been there earlier as it was merely hovering above the balding areas of the previously known logging camp of Hellsgate. We took over the Dragon Boat and moved away from the blades of the propeller.

Once we had traversed towards the temporary encampment, we saw 2511 Thunder lifting off the ground and knew that it would soon reach Hellsgate in about 15 to 20 minutes.

Well, they can not do anything without Doc's permission and would have to wait around for me to contact Doc and the rest of the mythical races.

"Wow...! The new airship does not disappoint me at all and I knew I owe both of you several things that would be ready in the future." I looked at both of the children who were sitting with Heather in the centre seat right behind me and winked at them.

I knew that the children would have what they had wished for since the time when they had requested them before the construction of the airship 911 Lightning.

I guess the passing time had made the children forgot what the deal was before as the two cars would be waiting to be taken ownership very soon.

=*=

Dear friends, if you spot any errors, please leave your comments in the paragraphs or the chapter section. Thank you for the POWERSTONES and God Bless.