Chapter 4.1: Fuga, continued

A Chapter by aaaa

Chapter 4 continued

“Oh no, the bulb broke.” Said Abe, indeed the bulb had broken when they had hit the ground, crushed in between them. Abe was apparently unperturbed about exactly where his hand holding the bulb had landed.

“Get up.” Said Laura. “I can’t until you do, your on top of me.” Said Abe, and as they both picked themselves off the floor Laura tried to avoid his gaze. She was blushing.

“I’m sorry I broke the bulb. I hope you still have enough.” Said Abe looking at the ground. Seemingly unaffected by what had just happened.

“Don’t worry about it. We had a big harvest this year, so we got a lot to spare. Just toss it into the fire.” She said hurriedly going back to her cooking. Abe picked up the deflated bulb, slightly saddened about it’s demise. He walked over and grabbed the handle to the wood stoves great iron belly. He tossed the flattened bulb into the fire; it momentarily made the flame around it turn bright blue. He thought it was rather beautiful and wondered if any of the other fungi burned funny colors. He stared at it until the last flecks of blue flame disappeared.

“Ok, everything here is just going to be sitting for a while. I don’t need to be standing here anymore.” She said this while untying her apron and hanging it on a small peg by the door. “If Master asks tell him I’m in the hangar saying goodbye to the Fuga.” She began to push open a door to a small spiral staircase.

“Wait. That’s the flying machine right? I would like to see it.” Abe sat with a child like grin on his face. He had never seen a machine and certainly wouldn’t pass up the opportunity. His eyes had a childlike wonder that you would have to be heartless to say no to.

“Well… I don’t thin- it wouldn’t be-- alright. But don’t touch unless I say you can.” She began to walk down the stairs. Abe quickly followed her into the small staircase. It was narrow, so narrow that they were not able to walk side by side. Every few feet on the wall there would be a small lantern giving off a soft unnatural glow. They passed several landing and several door before Laura reached for a knob. She opened the door into an enormous cavern.

He could see light coming from high above. There was a hole in the ceiling letting in nice natural light, unlike the strange glow of the lanterns. It seemed to have been a natural cave, but it had been widened somehow, and someone had kept digging until they had reached the face of the cliff. The hangar doors were huge and brass, with large motors attached to them. It’s engines had large steam boilers flanking them. Inside the hangar there were several strange aircrafts. Each of them looked as if they shouldn’t be able to fly, that they should have been far to heavy. From what Laura had said they wouldn’t able to fly without the flight runes etched onto their wings and bodies. The Runes would every so often pulse slightly, their patterns were intricate curling and pulling back in on themselves.

They walked amongst the great machines, there were probably ten in total, ranging from a small single man glider, to a huge monstrosity of a blimp, which look as if it could carry dozens in its hollow belly. They eventually reached a single plain. It was in a different style than the rest. The others had sharp exact lines, built for function not comfort. This one had a different style; it was more elegant the lines were smooth and rounded. Instead of plain wings it had been segmented into the metallic feathers. Each had a separate rune, and instead of the curling small runes these were single symbols. They seemed to be simple, but they pulsed with the same power. Laura walked over and ran her hand over its hull. It looked to be a two seater with one great boiler near the rear of the plane.

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