All Aboard

Angel stood alone in a small room. There was a bed - maybe he could put his nest on top of it - in one corner and a desk in another. It was just big enough to stretch his wings as far out as they would reach. He was pretty sure the rest of the crew did not get their own rooms, but he was also sure that he would not be welcome among them.

The process of boarding the Cloud Breaker had been surprisingly anticlimactic. Julie had greeted him at the entrance of the airfield, barely calling out a greeting before she dragged him to their ship: a small one. Something about it’s architecture was a little different than all of the other airships. Its lines were sharper, and its sides bowed out more than the usual. Angel had attempted to start a conversation and ask about being paid in advance, but he’d hardly got the question out before she agreed and led him onto the Cloud Breaker, past the rest of the crews’ room, and to his own. She had practically shoved him into the small room, instructing him to wait there for the captain.

So he had spent the following half hour examining the room. He ran his hand across its fresh wooden floors and walls. He was awkwardly resting his face against the planks of the wall when someone burst into his room without warning. Jumping back and turning around to see his visitor, Angel succeeded in knocking over the lamp on his desk with one of his wings.

Looking between the tall man and the shattered lamp, a look of feeble apology marked Angel’s face. “I- I can pay for that,” he managed to whisper. It was a very expensive looking lamp, and he was pretty sure he could not afford to replace it.

The dark-dressed man looked unimpressed before a smile forced its way onto his face. “That’s perfectly fine. I’m afraid I’m to blame; if I’d known we’d be having an Avian passenger beforehand, I would have built a room to fit.”

The Avian pulled his wings in towards himself, suddenly feeling self-conscious. “Oh! Julie told you I was coming… right?” A wave of panic swept through him as the thought crossed his mind that this had all been a mistake and that he would have to go home.

“Julie?” The man asked. “Ah, yes! Julie. I haven’t introduced myself. My name is Karp Lagounov. I’m the captain of the Cloud Breaker. And you are?”

Angel took an eager step forward, awkwardly halting himself and throwing his hand forward to shake the captain’s. “Angel.”

Karp looked at Angel’s hand like it was a tentacle.

His self-consciousness growing, Angel started pulling his hand back. “Is something-?”

Before he could finish, Karp had grabbed his hand and shook it vigorously. “No, sorry, you just threw me for a loop there. It’s not part of Avian culture to shake hands. So why did your mother name you Angel? Why not a traditional Avian name?”

Angel felt himself becoming more flustered, and he wondered silently if he could outshine a tomato at this point. “My mom didn’t name me. She- She died when she gave birth to me-”

“Oh you poor thing! So your father named you.”

“No. I never knew my father. My mother gave birth to me in the company of a close friend named Line. Line’s been taking care of me my whole life. She’s like a big sister to me. She named me.”

“It’s a very cheesy name, don’t you think?” Karp said with a laugh.

“Well she…” Angel pulled his mother’s hat off his head, toying with it in his hands. “She said she gave me that name because she said my mother was an angel. Line was part of an anti-slavery group. She said it wasn’t until Line rallied their forces did they actually make a difference.”

“Wait, your mother was Motya?”

Angle blinked at Karp’s astounded expression. “Yeah, how did you know?”

“Everyone knows about Motya,” Karp said thoughtfully. “I mean, yes, she was pretty well known for her involvement with anti-slavery groups, but she was famous in the Floating Islands, too. She was real high up there in their government.”

This brought a smile to Angel’s face. “I never knew that.”

There was a short, companionable silence before Karp straightened his coat and gestured to the door. “How about a tour then, Angel? You’ll need to know your way around the ship, won’t you?”

The Avian gave an eager nod, shoving his ragged hat back on his head. He followed the captain out the door, securely shutting it behind him. They walked down the main hallway, which led to all of the bedrooms and the infirmary, had one dead end and another that led to the navigational deck. To the side of the deck’s entrance was a short ladder that led to the floor that was divided up into the small dining room, the even smaller kitchen, and the engine room.

Karp led the Avian to the infirmary first, which was marked clearly with a red cross. The Cloud Breaker’s physician was nowhere in sight, which, to Angel’ surprise, did not seem to worry the captain in the slightest. Karp continued the tour by pointing out all of the bedrooms - but when he thought about it, Angel couldn’t remember Kapr pointing out Julie’s room - and taking the ladder down to the dining room.

The chute containing the ladder was barely big enough for Angel to fit his wings through. When they reached the dining hall, they could see that a couple crew members were eating. The room was almost lavishly furnished, in a way that was just a little too fanciful for a commercial airship, but the men were eating simple sandwiches. Karp took Angel to the kitchen next, which was very cramped and only had one man there.

The Avian watched the energetic blur of a figure run to and fro until Karp caught his attention- that is, her attention. Angle tried not to look surprised when a tall, slim woman approached him excitedly. She grabbed his face in her hands, squeezing his cheeks.

“This must be the Avian boy!” she cried excitedly before Karp could get a word in edgewise.

Angel attempted to examine the woman while she practically throttled him. She had extremely long, blonde hair tied back in a braid that nearly reached her legs. Her face was slim and pointed, and her eyes - Angel had a hard time looking her in the eye. It was like looking into her eyes was physically unsettling, and tried as he might he couldn’t hold his gaze to hers.

“Ingrid, this is Angel. Angel, Ingrid.”

Ingrid gasped, and Angel’s wings shot out defensively at her reaction, knocking over the majority of the pots hanging above him. Karp pulled him to the side just in time to save him from a concussion.

“Oh, what a darling name!” the chef cried among the ringing of the crashing pots. “It is inspiring, is it not? Perhaps you are our guardian angel. Coming just in time to help us gain entrance into the Floating Islands, yes?”

“What?” Angel asked, looking over his shoulder at Karp. “Julie said you guys had permission to come in. What’s this about me-”

Karp cut him off with a loud and probably fake laugh. “Oh, Ingrid has no idea what she is talking about.”

The chef seemed to take high offense to this, standing to her full height to shoot daggers at the captain. “But you said-”

Kapr laughed again. “Well I didn’t. I said that we asked ahead of time and they said they would let us in.”

Now Ingrid seemed confused. She bit her lip, face contorting in thought. “I have very good memory… Perhaps I am ill. I must leave immediately to tend to myself.” With that, the woman turned on her heel and serenely made her way to the exit.

“What was that about?” Angel wondered quietly.

“Ingrid is very… imaginative,” Karp responded. “Let’s go see Radomir. He’s our tinkerer.”

The Avian jumped in excitement, but stopped when his foot hit a pot on the ground. “Oh, we should really clean this up.” He stooped to start picking up one of the pots, but Karp stopped him with a hand to his shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it. Ingrid will only throw everything about when we don’t put them back in their rightful place. Let’s go.”

Angel nodded. As they walked, he thought about the strange effect Ingrid’s eyes had had on him, and he tried to remember what color Karp’s eyes were. When the captain half turned to say something that Angel wasn’t listening to, the boy couldn’t focus on Karp’s eyes. He looked at his cheeks, his hair, his nose, his chin. But he couldn’t look at his eyes.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by entering the engine room. It was dim and hot and smoky; and he felt perfectly at home. Angel looked around the room curiously. The only light produced was from the three fires along the room’s three walls - two for the engine, one for working metal. The room was fairly spacious, and the middle of the room was full of little projects. There was a man hunched over the forge at the back wall, hammering away at a large piece of metal.

“Radomir!” Karp called over the loud banging of the hammer.

The man paused mid-stroke, looking over his shoulder. A grimace spread over his face. Radomir placed his tools down gently, standing and turning to face his guests. When Angel realized this man was also tall, he started to wonder if there was pattern going on. He adjusted a pair of green tinted goggles on his eyes, and the movement made the Avian’s eyes widen.

“You’re not wearing gloves!” he exclaimed.

Radomir stopped, looking at his hands curiously. “Yeah?” he said in a rough voice.

“Well I’m a tinkerer too,” he said hesitantly, “and I just don’t see how you can deal with all that hot metal without gloves.” Angel leaned to the side to look around Radomir, wondering if maybe he had just put his gloves down without the boy noticing.

“Uh… I am used to heat,” the tinkerer grumbled, a strange accent in his voice indicating that English was not his native language.

Karp nodded absent-mindedly. “Yes, well, Radomir, this is Angel.”

Radomir looked from Karp to Angel, placing his fists on his hips. “He is just little boy,” he said waving a hand vaguely at Angel. “How will he help?”

Surprised at seeing his first show of unfriendliness, Angel felt himself shrink a little, his wings pulling inwards. Karp attempted to cut in, but Radomir continued.

“Look at this! His wings show his every emotion. Is like a child. He is no good.”

“Radomir!”

“No,” the tinkerer barked back, adjusting his goggles again. “I have work to do. Forget boy. I will build you weapons. I build a cannon- I will build cannon. Haha, yes, you see my English improves. We do not need an Avian. You have Radomir. He build you swords, too. Good swords. Very threatening.” Radomir continued to mutter to himself as he continued forging.

Karp silently put a hand on Angel’s back, turning him around and leading him out of the Engine room. When they were back in the dining room, the captain retracted his hand and spoke. “Don’t let Radomir get to you. He’s a bitter old man.”

Angel frowned. “He looks pretty young to me…”

“Ah, I mean on the inside. Come on, let’s get you up to the navigation deck so I can debrief you on our path. And don’t worry about Radomir, okay? He’s the only one here who has a problem with you. You won’t get any kind of harassment like that form the others.”

In the front deck, Angel could see out a set of three rounded windows that covered the bow of the ship. There were two crew members on the deck. One was steering the wheel; the other seemed to be keeping track of a large set of gauges. But the thing that interested Angel the most was the view.

He had never seen Gear City from so far away. He pressed his face to the class, eyes flicking to and fro across the expanse of buildings. They had risen directly above their airfield, which was just outside the middle class district. Just in front of him was a wide range of medium sized buildings. To the left, they gradually decreased in size until the buildings were gypsy homes and tents. To the right the buildings gradually got big, not making a huge difference until just past the downtown square, where they suddenly shot up in size. He had never seen so many buildings of such enormous proportions. Looking up and past the towering walls of the city, Angel took in a lungful of air.

“Wow,” he breathed.

“What’s that?” Karp asked, standing behind Angel with an honest smile on his face.

“Are those… Are those trees?” Angel pointed at the expanse of green just past the city limits. One tree at a time, the wilderness condensed the farther they were from the city until it was all one continuous sea of emerald green.

Karp laughed. “You act like you’ve never seen a forest before.” When Angel only continued to stare out the windows, the captain continued. “You have been outside the city before, haven’t you?”

Angel shook his head slowly, eyes still glued to the trees.

“Well you’re in luck then. The Avians didn’t destroy forests when they made their cities, so they have tons of them. Really old ones, too. They’re taller than any of the buildings in Gear City.”

Angel turned to look at Karp, wondering if maybe he was making a joke. But the tall man showed no hint of humor, and a broad grin stretched across Angel’s face. “I can’t wait.”

Author's Note

Comment? Yes, comment.

2,344 words

Reviews

[J.A. Marquez]

Very well constructed and written. I will definitely read more if there is more to read. The idea is original, but relevant. There are a few errors where the letters in the names are mixed up and where he presses his face to the glass it says class....unless I misread.

[Megan]

I'm sure I missed things when I proof-read it. I already know what it's going to say, so I have an awful habit of not noticing things like that. And yes, sometimes Google Docs tells me a name I've been frequently using is suddenly wrong. Thank you for the input! I'll look back through and fix the errors.