Chapter 9: Flying the Friendly Skies

The trip was scheduled for three days later, but was a lot to do before we could leave, though. The Zeppelin that we’d be taking was larger than of the ships I’d seen so far, and we had to cram in as much cargo as possible to make the trip worthwhile. So for three days straight, my regular classes were cancelled, and my life became a monotony of hauling crates and rearranging them to make them fit, while Vera ordered me around and logged the inventory.

Akari was in charge of preparing the ship’s engines and gas-bag for takeoff. Whenever I had a break from loading cargo, I tried to see what she was doing. She refused to actually teach me anything (“It would be a waste of time explaining anything technical to a zero-flight dockie like you”) but I was able to pick up a few things by observation:

1) The main hull (“gondola”) of the airship was basically like the hull of a sailing ship and an airplane. It was made out of wood and roughly shaped like a teardrop. It had a solid, encased hull for storing cargo, and an upper open-air deck that we could walk around on. The piloting controls were up there, while the engines were down in the hull. All the fuel—hydrogen and blau gas—was in the giant gas bag that floated up above.

2) There were multiple engines for the airship. Six all together, each with it’s own propeller. Inside them was a rat’s nest of gears, belts, and driveshafts that I couldn’t begin to understand. Akari spent much of the three days disassembling the engines, inspecting each piece, replacing oiling and polishing them, and then reassembling them.

3) There was an astonishing quantity of hydrogen that had to be pumped into the gas bag. Even Vera, who didn’t seem to care at all about safety precautions, kept a close guard around the dockyard’s supply of hydrogen as it slowly pumped into the gas bag.

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The time for launch had finally come. Vera, Akari, and I were standing on the deck of the gondola. Sydney was standing on a small tower, coordinating the launch. About a dozen dockies were on the ground, holding cables. Vera and I were also holding cables from above.

“Prepare to release anchors and docking cables!” shouted Sydney. Her voice was amplified through a speaking trumpet. “Three, two, one, GO.”

Vera and I dropped our cables that were attached to anchors on the ground. At the same time, all the dockies on the ground released cables attached to the hull. One dockie was a little slow, and was lifted in the air a few feet before letting go. I heard Sydney berating them, but her voice was muffled now as we rose higher, the cables dangling below us. Akari turned on the engines, and expertly steered the ship out through the hanger entrance out over the bay.

With the frenzy of preparations and takeoff behind us, I took the chance to relax and enjoy the view. I watched the city of San Francisco slowly recede behind us—much slower than the jet planes I was used to. The propellers gently hummed beneath us, making me feel like we were driving in the sky. Below, I had an amazing view of the city, the bay, and the open ocean. Above, I could see nothing except the giant cloth gas cell blotting out the sky.

“What are you doing now?” I asked Akari. I didn’t understand why she was still so focused on piloting the ship when there were no obstacles around us.

“Now you will be quiet and let me concentrate,” said Akari.

I moved away from her and went to stand next to Vera so we could talk without bothering Akari. “What’s she doing?” I asked.

“She has to steer the ship into the trade winds that will blow us to Japan. We have to find both the right latitude, and the right elevation, so it takes a careful balance. She has to measure the wind speed, pressure, and temperature to find where to go.”

“Is it hard?”

“Yes. Very. It takes years of training to become a long-distance pilot like her. As much as I dislike her, I have to admit she’s an expert at this, so I’m sure it’ll be fine. So how about we just relax and play a game?”

“What kind of game?” I asked.

“Poker! You’ve never played before, right?”

“Um, I’m not sure…” I said cautiously. I had played before back in my world, but I I wasn’t sure if the rules here would be the same as the ones I knew from my world.

“Perfect!” She smiled. “You’ll love it!”

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We were sitting around a big, circular table, roughly 1 meter in diameter. Vera, Akari, and myself were sitting roughly in a trouble, with Akari at the top near the bow of the ship. She said that she’d have no problem watching the ship’s gauges and playing the game at the same time, as long as she sat in that position. Vera and I sat closer to the sides of the ship. We each had a pile of clay chips stacked in front of us.

Vera dealt us each two cards, face down.

“Now listen up while I explain the rules.” She said. “This game is called Poker. Texas Hold’em style. It’s a game of luck, wits, and guts, so I’m definitely going to take all your money.”

She didn’t even ask if I knew how to play. I decided not to tell her that had actually played this game quite a bit back in my world. It seemed only fair to give Vera a bit of payback for always making fun of me. Akari also said nothing—I couldn’t tell if she knew how to play or not. But she had a natural poker face.

“These chips represent your money.” She said. “Guard them with your life. I’ll go easy on you this time though… just one penny for the small ones, and 5 cents for the larger ones. You should have $5 worth all together.”

This was hardly “going easy” since $5 was an entire days wages for me. Two, if you took into account how I was still paying half my wages for training. But I agreed to go along with it, since I still thought I’d have the advantage if Vera didn’t realize I knew how to play.

“Start by putting in chips. You-” she pointed at me “-put in one and you-” she pointed at Akari “-two.”

“This is most unfair.” said Akari.

“Yeah, life isn’t fair, cry about it. But don’t worry. We’ll rotate around, so it’ll even out. The point is to get people involved right away, to make things more interesting. And to make up for it, you guys get to go last in the first round, which is an advantage.”

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I checked my cards. A king of hearts and a Nine of diamonds. Not bad, but not very good either.

“I bet first, since I’m the dealer.” said Vera, and she pushed a five chip into the center. “Now you, Eddie.”

“What do I do?” I asked as innocently as I could.

“You have to decide how good your cards are, and how lucky you feel. If you’re a weak little manlet, like I think you are, you’ll fold, and give up the ante you put in at the start. But it’s just one, so you don’t lose much. If you like your cards a little better, you can match my bet with a ‘call’. If you really like your cards, or if you just finally grew a pair, you can put in more—as much as you want. But then I’ll get to bet again, too.”

“How do you know which cards are good?” I asked, still maintaining my innocent act.

“Ace is the best, then king, then all the way down to deuce—that’s a two. But two twos beats one ace, and three twos beats two aces. Then a straight, that’s five cards in a row. Then a flush, that’s five of the same suit. Then a full house with three of one and two of another., then four of a kind, and finally the very best is a straight flush: five in a row that are also all the same suit. That one is incredibly rare—unless you’ve got my magnificent luck.”

“That is illogical.” said Akari. “The odds are the same for anyone—luck is a superstition.”

“She’s right.” I backed her up.

“Well, we’ll just see. That’s why you two are gonna lose.”

I decided to match her. I put in four. “Call,” I said.

“Now is my turn, I assume?” asked Akari.

“Yeah, same choice. Fold, call, or raise. Except it’s a little cheaper for you since you already put in two.”

“My cards are weak. I fold.”

“Wow that’s… very honest.” I said.

“Yeah, uh, you don’t really have to tell us that but… you do you.” said Vera.

“I do not fear this silly card game. I feel no need to lie.”

“Right. Well… anyway, let’s move on.” said Vera. She flipped one card face down, and then three face up in the center. “The face down one is “burned”. That’s just there so you know I’m not cheating by trick dealing. The three face up ones you can use in your hand, but I can too.

The three face up cards were a five of clubs, a seven of clubs, and an Ace of diamonds. Nothing that helped my hand.

“This time you bet first.” said Vera.

I thought about bluffing, but it didn’t seem worth it. The ace was especially dangerous, since she had bet strongly at the beginning so it was quite likely she had an ace in her hand. I decided to keep up my impression of not knowing the game.

“Hmm… I don’t think I want to bet,” I said.

“You have to say “check,” or tap the table.” Vera said.

“OK then… check.”

“Yeah I can see this is gonna be easy…” Vera smiled. “I bet ten.”

She was most likely bluffing, but it wasn’t worth it to take the chance when I also had nothing. “I fold.” I said.

“Whoop!” She said. “Easy seven cents!” She scooped the chips off the table and added them to her pile. “Now you deal.”

“Ok…” I picked up the cards. I was actually pretty good at shuffling, but I presented to be awkward at it to keep up my naive act.

“Any day now, slowpoke,” Vera said, as I clumsily spread the cards around on the table.

Ignoring her, I laboriously forced the cards back together and dealt two to everyone. Vera and Akari put in their ante, and we all checked our cards. This time it was a three and an eight—just about the worst cards possible.

This time it was my turn to go first. Since my cards were so bad, I folded immediately. Akari called for one, but folded when Vera raised her by five.

“Thanks for the free money!” Vera laughed as she collected the chips, for a hand that hadn’t even gone past the first round.

Next was Akari’s turn to deal, with me as the big blind. This time I finally got some good cards—a pair of tens.

Akari called for two, Vera raised to five. This time I called. “Oh, finally showing some backbone?” she taunted me as Akari folded. I shrugged.

Akari turned over the next cards. An ace, a king, and a ten, all different suits. Almost the perfect cards for me to see, in this situation. It was quite likely that Vera had either an ace or a king in her hand, since she had opened the betting, so she would be counting on that to make a strong hand, not realizing that my three tens would beat it with the weak-looking ten on the board. But since she was so aggressive, and she still thought of me as a pushover, I decided to let her take the lead. I passed.

“20,” she said, with her usual boldness.

I paused a bit, then said “Call” while putting some chips in and trying not to smile. She seemed surprised but didn’t say anything.

Akira turned over another card. It was a two of another suit—a weak card that wouldn’t change anything for either of us.

I passed again, and she once again raised.

“50,” she said. The pile of chips in the center was now rather significant, but it didn’t seem to faze Vera at all. Again I took my time and tried to act nervous, but the truth was that I was almost certain I had the best hand. I called, still trying to reel her in.

The final card was a seven, another weak card that didn’t change much. My hand of three tens was still one of the strongest possible—the only way for her to beat it would be to have very specific cards to give her three aces, three kings, or a straight. Not impossible, but unlikely. But I passed again, still thinking it was better to bait her than to bet myself.

“All in” she said, and pushed her entire pile of chips in the center. “What’s it gonna be, little boy?”

This time I wasn’t faking being nervous—the huge pile of chips in the center represented more than two days worth of normal wages for me! But I stuck to my guns.

“Call!” I said, and pushed my own chips in to match hers.

“Well well! The boy has some stones after all. That’s… surprising.” She muttered.

“What was that?” I asked.

“Eh, nothing. I just didn’t expect you to call. You must have gotten some lucky cards huh? But probably not lucky enough to beat my aces and kings!”

She turned over her cards to reveal an ace and a king, giving her the top two pairs. That was indeed a very strong hand, and would normally win. But not this time.

I flipped over mine. “Sorry Vera, but you lose this one.”

“You gotta be kidding me… this asshole kid lucks his way into a set on his third hand. Yeah OK, sure, take my money. I’ll win it it back.”

With great satisfaction, I began to rake in the chips. It felt good, not just to win the money, but specifically to win it from this woman who annoyed me so much. But Akira stopped me.

“…Excuse me, but I believe you have made a math error. Vera started with ten more chips than you, so she should still have ten remaining.”

“Oh, right! Sorry about that, Vera. Please, take your ten chips, I wouldn’t want to leave you destitute.” I smugly pushed a tiny stack of chips in her direction, while taking the vast majority for myself.

“Oh shut up! What am I supposed to do with a measly ten chips!”

“Where I come from there’s a saying—as long as you’ve got a chip and a chair, there’s still hope.”

Now Vera looked genuinely shocked. “You’ve played this before?”

“Yeah, It’s a common game back in my world. I used to play it with my friends sometimes.” I had also played it on internet gambling sites, but I didn’t feel like explaining that to her.

“You damn hustler…”

“It’s all part of the game, right?” I smirked.

Vera took out some more cash, to “buy back in” and take some chips back from me. We continued playing that way, throughout the long cruise, taking breaks only for sleeping and eating, or to occasionally adjust the heading and altitude. But Akari handled the ship so skillfully that I hardly noticed, and the time blurred together as one lone session of cards, gambling, wind, and the endless blue water far below us. Thanks to my prior experience with poker, I steadily gained money—Vera was far too aggressive, and Akari far too passive, so it was easy for me to beat them. I felt a little guilty about this, but not enough to want to stop taking their money. We finally arrived in Japan roughly a week later—I was delirious from lack of sleep and the endless ocean, and I hadn’t learned a thing about handling an airship, but I had more money in my wallet than ever before.