ASHER RIVET

Ava and I nearly fell from the observation deck as the crawler slammed to a stop. I caught her just before she would have bashed her head on the ground, but that ended up with us in a pile on the ground. At least we weren’t hurt, though that fact might change now that the crawler had stopped.

“What the hell is going on!?” Ava shouted as she got off me.

A crackle came up and the boss’s voice resounded around us. “Is this thing working? Asher! Ava! Get down here quick.”

We looked at each other before rushing down through the crawler. The airplanes launched from the surface, and the hanger was directly under it. When we arrived, mother’s airplane was being pulled in by an automated rig. It must be another system that started working with the rush of Aserite.

“We’re here boss!”

“Good. Get over here and help!” He shouted as he and the other mechanics rushed forward to assess the damage to mom’s plane. It had taken several hits and it was likely a miracle that it had made it back to the crawler. I ran over to the cabin and moved the rolling stairs up so mom could get out.

There was a hiss as the canopy opened and mom reached out. She leaned over the side but couldn’t get up. I ran up the stairs and saw the seat stained in blood. “Mom!” Quickly turning back at the others. “We need a Mender! Mom’s been injured!”

Ava rushed up the stairs and helped with getting mom down to the ground level of the hangar. It looked like a bullet had gotten her in the side. I couldn’t tell if anything important had been hit. A pair of men rushed in with a stretcher, the crossed line marking them as menders. I got out of the way but refused to let go of mom’s hand.

“Asher!” I heard boss call. I ground my teeth and placed mom’s hand gently to the side. I rushed over to where boss was under the engine. “Get up here boy! Every second counts!” Just as I started to climb the ladder, the engine shuddered. “Everyone duck!”

There was a bang, and pieces of the engine ricocheted around the room. There was more than one yell or scream of pain. Carefully looking up, I saw that at least ten people had been injured in the small explosion. The worst of it was that our only two spare Divas that were on standby had both been injured.

“Cursed sandworms! This bird is toast!” boss shouted before I felt something wet hit my face. I looked up and saw a shard of metal extending from his arm.

“Boss! You’re hurt!” I shouted at him.

“Just a flesh wound,” he replied but I noticed that he was quickly turning pale. I rushed back down the ladder and moved up his side to help him down. When we reached the ground, he was breathing heavily, and I saw that there was another gash across his chest. He grabbed my neck and pulled me close. “We need… to get… in the… air!” With that, he lost consciousness, and I yelled for a mender to help.

Ava ran over, nervousness written all over her face. “One of the deck men said they spotted what they thought might be another crawler. If we don’t get a spotter in the air, we’re dead.”

“I know! Doesn’t change the fact that all our airplanes are scarp now!”

Ava grabbed my hand and held it to her chest. “I don’t want to die sitting her like scarecrows in the wind.” I’d never thought I’d see the confident and energetic Ava so scared.

I returned her grip on my hand. “Don’t worry. We’ll find a way out of this!” I looked around trying to find an answer, but the mayhem caused by the engine exploding coupled with the fact that the crawler had stopped for some unknown reason was causing a ripple effect of everyone in the hangar. The rest of the decks were likely just as bad.

An alarm started blaring just as another wave of Aserite rippled through the crawler. The purple smoke-like appearance of the energy easily trackable by eye. There was a sudden whirring sound like one of the walls that had spare parts… junk, piled in front of it started to move. The people nearest quickly got out of the way as a bay was revealed to the world. There were several of the bays opening.

I wasn’t completely sure due to the pile of rubbish in front of it, but I swore I saw what looked like an airplane inside. I tightened my grip on Ava’s hand. “There might still be hope. Come on!” I pulled her along and rushed to the bay. Helping each other, we climbed over the pile. When I got full sight of the bay, I wanted to cheer.

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An airplane, that while dusty, was in much better shape than any this crawler had seen in probably over a decade. I turned back to the rest of the Hangar. “We need to clear this pile out of the way! There’s an airplane back here!” I turned to Ava. “Come on. We need to do a systems check to see if the thing can actually fly.”

She nodded having regained some of the confidence that I knew her for. Carefully climbing down the other side of the pile, we went into the hangar that even had some tools that looked like they had barely been used. I quickly moved the ladder next to the engine and popped the hatch, thankful that boss had taught me about the engine.

I only looked at it for about ten seconds before I could help it. “Holy shit this thing is awesome.”

“Is it in good shape?”

“Good shape? This thing looks like it hasn’t been used a single time yet. There are parts in this thing that I’m not sure of their function. At the very least, it's much more advanced than what we’re flying,” I said and I was sure I was drooling.

“That means it is going to require more fuel to run,” Ava said bringing me back to reality.

“How about your end?” I asked looking over to her. She was checking the weapons pod.

“Yeah. I know it’s a weapon, that’s about it,” she replied shaking her head.

I laughed and closed the hatch. Quickly moving the ladder to the cabin, we got in. Thankfully, while there were certainly more controls than mom’s, everything that I needed to control it was labeled. The basic controls were the same as well.

“I’ll take Principle. You be Diva,” I said moving to the back of the plane. Ava grabbed my shirt before I could make it a step.

“I… I can’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t be the Diva. There are too many controls for me while under pressure.” She looked to the side then hid her face. “I was going to tell you that I failed the Diva test but I was too embarrassed.”

I stared at her. I felt like I was seeing more sides of her today than I had seen in years of knowing her. Finally, I just nodded and held out my hand. “I understand. I’ll be the Diva. You were always a better shot than me anyways.”

Ava took my hand with a blushing smile that she quickly hid by looking away. As she passed me on the fuselage, she whispered thank you into my ear that may or may not have gotten my blood pumping even more. I moved back to the cockpit and strapped in. I began the start-up sequences carefully flipping each switch while making sure I was going in the right order.

I saw a gauge that was the second miracle of the day. “Hey, Ava! This thing has a full bar of Aserite!”

“Damn really!? That would go for more food than this crawler has ever seen.”

“I know. Let’s keep it our secret if we make it out of this. I know some of the adults will think that exact thing and try to scarp this beautiful piece of steel to get to it.”

There was a moment of silence before she replied. “You’re right. Food is nice, but without this plane to protect us, we’d likely lose it in days.”

A minute later, a man tapped on the hatch surprising me. “Asher. You’re the only Diva and Principle we have right now. We’ve cleared the way so get in the skies. Strictly guard! I don’t want your mother to kill me.”

“Got it. Anything about the Vortex we should know about?”

“I don’t know much, but the stories say its rather quiet after just forming.”

“Good. I’d hate for a monster to come at us while dealing with pirates.”

“Exactly.” The man started stepping down then paused. “Check for ripples in the sand. I know Ava’s eyes will catch them. With the crawler stopped, we’re like a piece of juice meat dangling in the wind.”

I nodded then slid the hatch close. Looking ahead, I found that the pile had been shifted as much as they could. I hit the exit button, and there was a green light around us. With a jerk, we started moving out into the main hangar. Checking the port under my feet, I saw another of the mechanical mechanisms was dragging us to the elevator to the surface launch field.

I looked to where my mother was laying. When she gave me a thumbs-up, I knew she was going to make it. We were soon on the main deck. I hit the last switch and the Aserite engine turned on completely. The thrum sending energy through the plane. Switching the brakes off, we shot forward as the air ripped through the engine and propelled us forward. The force throwing us back in our seats.

We cleared the deck in seconds, much faster than I was anticipating given what I was used to. I yanked the stick back and pulled up before we became a pile of scrap on in the sand. I relaxed on the throttle and we started doing some slow circles around the crawler.

“I see the enemy. They are on the other side of the Vortex,” Ava called up.

I looked but the storm was only raging stronger. The wind was picking up sand and making it hard to see anything inside the area of its influence. Lightning and thunder could be seen and heard even through the cabin of the plane. “Sometimes your eyes scare me,” I sent back.

We continued to circle for several minutes watching for both enemy airplanes, and creatures that dwelled in the sand. There were things that could take a crawler down in a few bites. That’s why it was dangerous for them to stop moving. There was a sudden buffeting as the winds grew stronger. I looked back to the Vortex and found there was a whirlwind descending from the center.

Sand was sucked up and seemed to vanish once it reached the vortex. The clouds grew to a size I’d never seen a storm get. It would soon overtake the crawler if it kept growing. I knew I could fly the plane, but I’d never flown in such winds before. “Hang on Ava! It's about to get bumpy!”

There was a loud boom as lightning rippled through the air near us then something I had never seen before. Streaks of water were hitting the canopy of the cabin. “What is that?” Ava asked.

“I think… I think its rain.”

“Rain?! Like in the storybooks?”

“Yeah. I really think that’s what it is.”