Spring Jack held his hands out, palms facing forward in a gesture of peace. The tension hung thick across the deck as the crew opened a hatch and pulled up a small craft that looked like a huge sleek black egg with attached wings equipped with rotating propulsion engines. A hatch opened and they moved to grab Blackwing. Fuzzball looked to Nate.
Nate nodded and Fuzzball retracted the vines.
“Sorry this is taking so long. Seems all the practice we put in was a waste!” Spring Jack began loudly admonishing his crew, who suddenly rushed into movement. After several moments, he returned to his unthreatening stance as the escape ship powered up and flew off.
“I told Blackwing that painting the escape vessel black was a silly idea, but I think he may have been right. It looks much better this way. It used to be yellow.”
“What is your deal?” Fuzzball said, his voice warbling through the watery barrier of his Verdant Aegis armor. Nate was pacing behind the group, muttering to himself.
“I got a job from Zolis to get your lucky friend there. Thing is, he and I have more in common than I thought, and frankly I changed my mind on finishing the job.”
“Why?” Krypdyr asked, blade still in hand.
“He mentioned something I hadn't heard in a long time. Something I'd been hoping for since I got here.”
Nate faced Spring Jack. “What do you mean?”
The blue furred chimeran smiled widely, “I chose this form because I loved Bugs Bunny, and the color blue, of course.”
Realization grew on Nate’s face, “You’re from Earth?”
Spring Jack nodded.
Nate took a further step forward to separate his friends and Spring Jack. He gently pushed Zeff’s wrench down and motioned for them to relax. He spoke to them all through chat. “The other crew members are in the cells. We could easily take this guy down if needed. I need to hear what he has to say.”
“Blackwing tortured Fuzzball!” Zeff said.
“And he punched me in the face!” Ellie said. “But Spring Jack forced him to leave before I could stab him myself.”
“I have no doubt that he’ll be answering for that soon enough and that we’ll be meeting him again. I hope with this Jack fella on our side, or at least not antagonistic.”
“Your ability to silently communicate is fascinating,” Spring Jack said aloud, watching them all stand around silently, noticing their demeanors shift slightly away from hostile.
“We developed cybernetic means of telepathy a few years after you left Earth.”
“Really?”
“No. That’s ridiculous,” Nate said with a smirk that almost reached his eyes. “Zeff, take Ellie with you and change course for the Floating City.”
“Why there?”
“Captain Luma told me about it and they should be heading there to look into acquiring a new airship. I figured we would meet them there as I did promise to help them get an airship.”
“Can do!” Zeff said, then excitedly ran down below decks. Ellie nodded and ran behind.
“Now, back to the issue at hand. Did you start in a cloud room?”
“No. Went to bed that night after seeing the Winter Soldier midnight showing. Woke up in an upturned fishbowl surrounded by water on all sides. Nothing there but a magical mirror.”
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“After I made my changes, the room disappeared and I fell through the sky. I’m guessing your trial was getting to the surface?”
Spring Jack nodded.
“So you’ve been here for around a decade?”
“I have.”
“Damn. Have you met anyone else from Earth here?”
“No, though I quit searching years back. To my family there I’m dead. They’ve doubtless mourned me and moved on, as much as people can with something like this.”
“Surely they are holding out hope that you’ll return?”
“I don’t want to return. Terra is my home now.”
The airship deck tilted as the ship changed course.
“Do you think it’s weird that they named this world the Latin word for Earth?”
Spring Jack rubbed his chin, “I thought Terra sounded vaguely familiar. Many of the place names here sound familiar as well.”
“Agreed! But enough about that, we need to discuss the crew remaining in the brig.”
----------------------------------------
The Floating City, known as Aezrith by many, drifted gracefully above the constantly shifting sands of the Sand Sea, suspended over the sand by innumerable siphon plates that fed the energy into the city’s core. Engines periodically located across the bottom propelled the city as needed through the sands. It was essentially an enormous airship, but its sheer size made it look more like a floating fortress.
Like a three-tiered cake, Aezrith had a wider base with a middle and upper level. Two days after changing course, the airship drew near enough to see the lights coming from the city a good distance off. Nate stood on the bow of the ship looking out as Ellie and Zeff stepped out onto the deck.
“-the pink sauce went best on the spino sausages,” Ellie said as she was still cleaning her fingers with a napkin.
“You can’t be serious! The spicy blue pepper sauce really give it the extra punch it needed,” Zeff said.
“Not all of us have the Fire Sigil Stone to be resistant to heat.”
“That’s fair.”
“We can just make out the city from here,” Nate called to them, “and I agree with Zeff on the sauce.”
Nate had looked up the spino in the bestiary after hearing the name, and saw the heavy form of a rhino body covered with porcupine spikes. They looked aggressive and angry, though they did have cute enormous porcupine noses, so some of the intimidation was lost.
“Well, you’re both wrong. The pink sauce is sweet and has a hint of flowers.”
“It has a few different flowers in it, so that makes sense, though that sauce is more for fruit and cake than for sausage.”
“Neither of which we had, so I tried something new! Anyway, I love the city lights at night.”
“You both have spent time in Aezrith, right?”
“It’s a stop we used to offload goods and do some trading.”
“What can you tell me about it?”
“That’s more Zeff’s thing than mine.”
Zeff spoke as though reciting information he’d read from memory, “The lower level, known as the Undercroft, house the city’s working class, merchants, travelers, and adventurers. Narrow alleyways twist through tightly packed buildings cobbled together from worn materials scavenged from the Sand Sea below. Each district has its own character: the Market Quarter, bustling with exotic goods and rare artifacts; the Docklands, where airships anchor for trade or repair; and the Warrens, a maze-like residential area. Life there is gritty, fast-paced, and full of intrigue, with rogues, fortune-tellers, and traders plying their skills to survive.”
“We’re most familiar with that district,” Ellie added.
“Specifically the Docklands.”
“Let me guess, the middle section is for the middle class skilled workers like alchemists who provide goods and/or services to both the lower and upper levels, the latter of which is full of a bunch of wealthy people.”
“How would you-”
“-know that?” Nate finished the question. “Before here I had a degree in civil engineering. Something they do is residential and commercial design. That’s the way I would set up a place like that if I had to cater to the rich and poor alike like whoever runs a city does. I imagine entertainment like theaters are also on the middle level. Give us adventurers and merchants a chance to get the better crafted artisan goods and access to entertainment while giving the wealthy the feeling that they are separated from the rest. While not true in reality beyond the literal sense, the practice is useful in maintaining peace.”
Zeff nodded thoughtfully, “The middle section is called the Artisian, and the upper is called the Sunward Heights.”
“Both nice and pretentious names, I bet the wealthy eat that up!”
Suddenly the lights across the city went out, and an alarm echoed faintly from the city, taking several seconds to reach their ears.
“Oh no,” Zeff groaned.
“What?” Nate said, looking back at them, but they were already running to the door leading belowdeck.
“What’s happening?” Nate asked as he followed along.
“Storm’s coming!”