“So, what was that chuckle about earlier?” Sophia asked me when we were clearing up after the party. When a couple of reasonably sober people had decided to deal with the bit of a mess the party had left during the evening, the two of us had joined in to help. Neither of us was big into drinking, I had not, and saw no reason to, acquire the taste while Sophia was prone to hangovers and as such kept away from alcohol altogether.

“Oh, just a joke in my inner monologue.” I answered, not giving away anything secret, like Galatea’s existence, while answering her question. I had used the moniker ‘inner monologue’ for Galatea a few times and it fit. Calling her ‘my better half’ would also fit but there were connotations there that I wanted to avoid.

“Do tell.” she grinned, knowing that I normally had a good poker face, especially regarding things Galatea told me. Else, people would think I was insane, well, more insane than some people thought anyway.

“You know that project we have been working on for the last two months. It is practically finished and she suggested to paint it like a sled and play Santa Claus.” I grinned when she snorted at the idea.

“You are a nut.” she grinned, knowing that such an idea could easily come from either me or Galatea. “But you are my nut.” she continued, pulling me in for a kiss.

“Want to go flying on a no-horse closed sleigh?” I whispered in her ear, knowing that nobody could hear us at that volume.

“Tonight?” she asked, now slightly wide-eyed.

“Sure, we need a silent night, a holy night for test-flights anyway.” I assured her, the joke causing her to groan.

“We will not cause anymore conspiracy theories!” she insisted, causing me to chuckle.

“I will do my utmost to avoid them. I will even schedule it with local air-control.” I agreed.

“Less making out, more working!” someone called over, breaking our cuddle up. There was still work to do.

Half an hour later, the space we had used was tidy and we all split. Sophia and I went out, ostensibly for a walk, but headed towards the tram, taking an almost empty train to Technica’s lair. The hangar I had used to built the aircraft was accessible from there and I wanted to get into my armour and get Sophia into her suit. While I was certain enough of my work to get inside it to fly the craft, mainly because it was designed with a direct connection between Galatea and the craft in mind, I was not completely oblivious to the fact that it was an untested, experimental craft that was having its maiden voyage. Accidents could happen and they called it Murphy’s law for a reason.

Sophia looked a little worried when I handed her a parachute after we had changed, but I assured her that it was merely a safety feature, not because it would be needed. The chute was designed by Technica, equipped to allow even untrained people to safely jump from aircrafts, well, safely for the activity.

“This it is.” I gestured, after activating the hangar-lights. Judging by Sophia’s surprised gasp, she had never looked into the hangar since I had taken it over, only visiting me in the workshop, so she saw the craft for the first time in all its glory. And glory it had.

I was not quite sure what to call it, plane made it seem so mundane, as if it was one of the large airliners cruising through the sky, aircraft was not specific enough, so I was mentally playing with the term Flying Fortress, even if that had historically been used.

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The craft was relatively large, not so much in length, even though forty meters was rather impressive, but in width, its eight meters more than twice what some similar long crafts would have. The wings, in turn, were almost comically short and certainly not up to the task of providing adequate lift, for that, it had multiple, massive engines mounted in such a way to provide thrust in any direction, even pushing the craft down, into the ground, if I so chose. It also meant that it would be able to land much like a helicopter, without needing a runway.

Its outside hull was plated with the same substance I had used to make my armour, giving it a menacing, black look, while also hiding it from radar and sight, as long as it was dark out. The lack of combustion-engines did quite a bit to hide it from heat-based detection, so I should be able to get into places I was not supposed to be in, without being spotted. And if I was spotted, the craft had six plasma-cannons, upsized from what I had been using in the beginning, installed along the spine, in addition to four railguns and even two domes that housed air-tasers next to each of the doors, if I needed non-lethal ground defenses.

“What is she called?” Sophia asked, sounding a little breathless.

“Technica dubbed it the Valkyrie, I think she had Wagner’s Opera in mind.” I paused for a second, considering. “But I am not quite sure, maybe Erinyes, it would fit into the theme with Galatea and Metis.”

“Mhm, it would fit. But it’s not only a combat craft, is it? You mentioned it possibly being used in support and even rescue-operations. That would make Erinyes a little unfitting.” she paused for a moment. “Just the looks are menacing enough, you don’t need a menacing name for that.”

“Iron Chariot.” she suggested after a moment and I was confused.

“Why that name?” I asked, not understanding what she was alluding to.

“You have until after the test-flight. If you don’t come up with the reason I chose the name, this is the Iron Chariot.” she challenged and I could imagine the grin under her mask.

“Galatea, no helping!” she added, now outright laughing.

I was trying to backtrack from the name Iron Chariot, trying to come up with a reasoning for it, when Galatea gave me a mental push towards the craft.

“We have a test-flight to go on. I notified Technica and the local air-control, you would not want to make them wait, would you?” Galatea asked, out loud, using the speakers of the armour.

I grumbled a little under my breath, now the two of them were ganging up on me, but I had to smile, even as I was trying to crack the nut Sophia had handed me.

The stairs came down without a hitch, a good sign in my book, and we boarded. Inside, the craft was not quite as different from other flying crafts, there was a small passenger compartment, divided off from the cockpit and the engineering-space in the back, only that the compartment was tiny compared to the craft’s size.

“Only eight seats?” Sophia asked, looking at the relatively large seats for an aircraft.

“It is not a transport-craft. There are three seats in the cockpit and eight back here, more cannot ride at the same time. If you want, I can show you the rest later. For now, I want to take you into the sky.” I gestured to the cockpit, before following after her and taking the pilot-seat. It was large enough to comfortably sit in my armour but I needed to take off my left gauntlet to make the needed connection.

“Initiate.” I told Galatea and the nanites of my left hand directly connected to the craft’s system and I felt my senses widen, as a gestalt between Galatea and me took control over the craft. I was still aware of my body and would easily be able to talk but I was also aware of the craft and its sensors.

After ascertaining that everything was as it should be, I called the tower, giving them notice of our take-off. We would check-in with them once we were in the air, but for now, it was merely a courtesy.

“Take-off in three...” I said, not noticing that I was saying it out loud. Around me, I felt the engines roar to life, quickly coming up to speed.

“Two…” I continued, feeling the barely restrained power.

“One…” I shed the restraints, feeling the wheels leave the ground below and directed the craft towards the open doors.

Flying felt exhilarating, especially now that I was not merely cargo but linked into the craft’s operation. I could almost feel the air around me and I knew exactly how I had to act to move where I wanted to go. We quickly left the hangar behind, and after a careful round around the facility, I told the aircontrol where I would go, mostly that I was heading out to sea and outside their airspace. Once that was taken care of, I opened up the throttle, feeling the power thrum through the craft as it accelerated upwards, into the faintly moonlit sky.