The Elementalist

24. Airborne

AirborneA bright light blazed into Voi’s eyes, a cold gust also greeting her face. She raised her arm, shielding herself from the intense elements, though after a while, she found the frigid blast to be liberating. Her heart raced with the desire to soar as she wished her new aerocraft would.

Lester spoke into her ears. “I don’t suppose you remembered to close that canopy yet, did you?”

“Oh.” She glanced around. “Um…”

“Yeah, thaaaaat’ll be the first step.”

“But it’s so nice outside today, Lester,”

“Are you crazy? It’s freezing with that wind out there!”

“Oh, alright. If you insist.” Voi located a handle then slid the canopy shut.

“Otherwise, we won’t really be able to hear each other—especially once you start the engine. Speaking of which, is the hangar clear yet?”

She watched the remaining two crew members leave. “Yes.”

“Good. Now, make sure your safety harness is secure. Don’t want you falling out during maneuvers.”

Pulling her arms through a set of straps, she asked wryly, “Is that what happened to the other test pilots, Lester?”

“Aw, don’t tell me you’re scared now.”

“Hardly.” She secured the harness with a snap.

“Ready?”

“As much as I’ll ever be!”

“Alright, so we aren’t going to do anything fancy just yet. This is just to help you get a feel for the controls. Go ahead and start the engine. When you’re ready, flip the magneto switch.”

Voi scanned the controls. Click! Whoops, that one was for the aether drive, she realized belatedly. Not the turbine engine.

Gradually, she heard a deep, whirling whomp-whomp sound start to churn beneath her, soon morphing into an alternating high-low moan as the gyroscopic drive warmed up. The familiar sensation of aetheric activation washed over Voi, triggering memories of her altitude-climbing days. She smiled and giggled until she felt the craft start to wobble in a narrow radial fashion on its landing gear—a phenomenon eliciting a childlike “Whoooooaaaa” from Voi.

Aetheric energy coursed freely throughout her body, lifting her to a lofty and euphoric place. By heavens, she felt positively high.

“How are we doing down there, Voi?” Lester’s voice came as a distant distraction.

She glanced over the edge of the cockpit, biting her lip. Apparently, the aethercraft was still on the ground. “Leeeeester?”

“Voooooi?”

“I think I’m falling in love with your Manta Ray.”

“Right, well just don’t get delirious on me, and you should be fine. Hey, you switched on the turbine engine, right? Not the aether drive?”

“Hmm.”

“Voi, you weren’t supposed to turn that on yet. Hey, Ms. Furlan wants to know how you’re feeling. Any dizziness or lightheadedness?”

“No?”

“Are you sure?”

Her eyes darted surreptitiously. “What if I like that sort of thing?”

Milia’s voice cut in. “This is serious, Voi. Stop fooling around and answer the damn question!”

Voi wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know… It feels familiar to me.”

“What do you mean by ‘familiar’?”

“You know, like…” She couldn’t really compare it to elementalism—not with Lester listening. She huffed. “Milia, it feels perfectly natural. I think you know exactly what I mean. Honestly, I feel fine!”

A pause. “You better be telling the truth.”

Lester came back. “Well, if anything ever feels wrong, Voi, will you let us know?”

“Yes.”

“Great. Ready for the next step?”

Not waiting for further instructions, Voi placed her hand on the aether drive’s lever, flexing her fingers preemptively.

“Voi… can you still hear me?”

She eased the lever up.

Visible waves of energy began to oscillate from the hull like an overheated automobile during summertime, simultaneously generating pleasant rolling vibrations around Voi. The aethercraft budged, lifting slightly. Noticing motion in the hangar, she looked up; the captain was trying to get her attention again. Worried he was trying to ruin her fun, Voi nudged the lever until she was a few feet off the ground.

The needle of the aetherometer barely moved. Looks like I’ll need more power.

The captain, who’d been approaching, quickly backed away, shielding his eyes from flying dust.

Voi chuckled.

Lester spoke on the radio. “Voi, you’re making me nervous.”

“Everything is fine, Lester. No need to worry.”

“The altitude you’ll need to achieve before redirecting the angle of thrust from the aether drive without the turbine engine on is too high for the hangar, Voi. You can’t just—”

Voi gave the drive more juice, and she spouted into the air—“Oh!”—the core’s responding whine drowning out Lester’s voice. Quickly, she countered this, falling just as quickly. She managed to find a happy medium and hovered in midair, cringing; apparently, the aether drive’s lever required more nuance than the captain had intended.

Voi looked outside; the poor man looked ready to pull his hair out of his head. She ignored him and said to the aethercraft, “Well, you’re just a sensitive little thing, aren’t you? Quite like my Belareaux!” She peered ahead, wondering how to leave the hangar without shearing anything off the aerocraft.

Or killing herself.

“Voi, you need to get back on the ground.” Lester was not happy.

“Fine, fine…” She pulled the aether drive’s lever down until the craft bounced on its wheels. Pouting, she glanced over at the captain, whose eyes were practically bulging out of their sockets. He began pacing on the runway with his hands on his hips, fuming.

“Have you touched down yet?” asked Lester.

Voi sighed. “Yes.”

“Please don’t try that again unless I tell you to.”

“Sorry.” Truthfully, she wasn’t. The risk was thrilling.

Following Lester’s instructions, Voi located the ignition switch for the turbine engine then turned it on, producing an increasingly high-pitched whine. Once the engine was warmed up, she proceeded to increase throttle then taxied out onto the runway.

“Perfect handling!” said Lester. “I can see you now.”

“Does that make you feel better?”

He didn’t respond.

Off to her right, Voi spotted one of the crew members directing her with hand motions to taxi out even further, so she did. Nothing but open desert stretched before her now, with other, larger hangars surrounding her at distant intervals. Plenty of room for takeoff.

Voi pulled the turbine’s lever back to an idle position. Brakes seem to be in order. That’s always good.

“Okay,” said Lester, “so hypothetically, you could do a conventional takeoff without the aether drive using the turbine engine and stick, or you could go up vertically with the aether drive then use the turbine to take off flying in midair. I’m pretty confident you could pull off a conventional takeoff no problem; that method has been tested enough. Why don’t we try the less conventional method first?”

“But Captain Neverri said we were only supposed to test the turbine engine today.”

“Wait—did I just hear you complain?”

She froze. “Um… no. I don’t suppose you did.” In the following silence, she smirked.

“Attagirl! Now, go on and ascend to an altitude of one hundred feet. Keep an aetherometer reading of no less than one percent before you turn on the turbine and take off flying. Oh—and don’t forget to retract the landing gear.” He described the controls for this.

“Alright.”

Lester also asked Voi to keep an eye on the temperature gauge, which shouldn’t exceed a certain level beyond brief changes in the throttle level applied. “Okay, ready when you are!”

Voi took a deep breath then gripped the lever for the aether drive. Slowly, she increased aetheric thrust and lifted off the ground, keeping her eye on the altimeter. She checked the aetherometer, as well, and saw it was just over the lowest tick mark. Satisfied, she pulled the landing gear’s controls to ‘retract,’ took another breath then declared gaily into the microphone, “Wish me luck, Lester!”

“Faera’s speed.”

The religious reference caused Voi to pause, as she hadn’t heard it since her last stay in Borellia over a year ago. She stared ahead in thought momentarily before shaking her head then increasing throttle to the turbine engine. Once the aethercraft picked up momentum, she eyed the airspeed indicator for Lester’s recommended speed, pulled back on the stick slightly…

And she was off!

* * *

Voi gave a whoop as the MR-6 accelerated to an astonishing speed of 425 miles per hour. She reported the readings to Lester breathlessly: 435, 445… She never thought such a feat was possible! Disliking the way that the MR-6 seemed to wobble around its gyroscopic aether core at 455 miles per hour, however—the plane also slipping sideways against her directions with the stick—she slowed to 400 miles per hour.

Both the wobbling and slipping stopped.

Voi considered landing but was too thrilled to bail out now.

She wasn’t sure how far from the hangar she’d traveled, though Captain Neverri had long stopped shouting in her ear about getting “back to the base or else.” Having taken a fairly straight path west of the Aerokorppa base with nothing but desert below, Voi decided to try her own maneuvers.

She broke left, gripping the stick with both hands. The aerocraft bumbled beneath the stresses of the high-speed turn, her cheeks vibrating as she emitted a jolted “uh-uuuh-uuuh-uh-uuuuhhh!” The view of a city appeared in her windshield. Leveling out then continuing straight, Voi took a moment to catch her breath.

“Whoa.”

Flying above the legal airspace of five thousand feet, Voi decided to try something else. She pulled the stick right, throwing the MR-6 into what would have normally been called an aileron roll, had the craft any ailerons. Voi didn’t know what to call it in this case, though what did it matter when the world was spinning?

Eventually, she pulled out of the roll, leveling the aerocraft with the horizon. Excellent maneuverability! A big smile crept onto her face as her head spun and she panted for more.

After flying straight for a while, Voi pulled back on the stick. The horizon disappeared as the MR-6’s nose arched towards the sky. She tilted her head back until she spotted the horizon line again, experiencing a moment of weightlessness. Finally, she fell, then leveled out, gracefully completing a loop.

Voi stared down at her hands on the stick, impressed by how well the aerocraft handled. When the city passed below her again, the guilt of taking off with the MR-6 started to settle in. She decelerated some then reported over the radio with a sigh, “Lester, are you still there? Lester?”

Almost a minute went by before she received an answer.

“Where the hell have you been?” asked Captain Neverri. “Never mind. Where are you?”

“Just passing over Kippoli into the suburbs, I think. I should be back at the base in a few minutes.”

Silence.

“She’s fast.”

More silence. “How fast?”

“Four fifty-five.”

He didn’t respond.

“I’m going to attempt a conventional landing.”

“Try not to get yourself killed.”

Frowning, Voi gripped the stick in determination, squinting at her destination. Each hangar’s number had been clearly painted on the rooftops. Humbling herself, she requested a target landing speed, which the captain provided. Albeit grudgingly.

Voi ignored this as she engaged the landing gear then set her sights on Hangar 12.

* * *

The Manta Ray met the ground with startling bounces and squeaks. Momentarily thrown forward, the safety harness quickly yanked Voi back with an oomph! “A little slower next time,” she told herself, despite having followed the captain’s instructions.

Displaced dust flew up as Voi brought the MR-6 to a halt. When the cloud settled, she spotted a group of Neverri’s personnel rushing over to greet her, shouting and waving their arms wildly. She switched off the aethercraft’s power then disconnected her flight helmet from the receiver, undid her safety harness, opened the canopy, and stood on her seat in the cockpit. Before she could get her leg over the edge, she found herself surrounded by Emíl and the rest of the crew.

Voi froze, and so did they, staring back with wide eyes as she straddled the plane in an awkward position. Emíl asked in Borellian, “So, did it give you the ‘coucous’?” The term ‘crazies’ was an approximation of ‘insanity.’

“What?” Voi laughed. “No, not at all! Besides a little elation, I feel perfectly fine.”

“She’s sane!” Emíl shouted, throwing his hands into the air. The others tossed their caps skyward and cheered.

Suddenly, someone whisked Voi off the aerocraft. She cried out in alarm, clutching the man for fear he might drop her. However, several more crew members lifted her to the sky, hoisting her onto their shoulders while chanting an improvised mantra.

“Dammissi Román, deiti du j’aer! Dammissi Román, deiti du j’aer!”

Apparently, she was some sort of goddess of flight now.