Baja California, Winter, 2050
The skyship cut through the clouds like an arrowhead.
Alin stood out of the way on the bridge.
Nervous, since this was the first time he had left home in two months.
Thanksgiving had come and gone while Christmas rapidly approached.
His dad had to deal with an emergency thing in Japan.
Despite his dad giving him the clear to get back to doing dangerous things, he was still unsure of himself.
Thus, he stuck to others in his family that he thought could deal with him if he lost control and went full evil fog monster.
“This is cool, but it could be so much cooler,” Uncle Eron muttered.
“No way, Dad! This is so cool!” Lera practically vibrated from excitement.
His cousin wasn’t a child anymore. She had sprung up like a weed almost overnight. Six inches in the six months since he had last seen her. She was no longer the chubby-cheeked young lady. She was now the lady of all elbows and knees.
Speaking of ladies.
His other cousins had also tagged along.
Now, they were actual ‘ladies’ from what he understood.
They had gained noble titles on another world.
Tessa had actually been an empress until she could finally give it up.
Veronica, Vee, was some kind of lady of justice, who founded a justice order. Bands of people, human and otherwise, that roamed the land doing justice above all.
Honestly, he wasn’t sure how much to believe.
Their communication over the years had been through spires messages, which necessitated brevity. The stories they told since they had returned to Earth sounded crazy.
“Riding on an airship was one of my final fantasies,” Uncle Eron said. “To stand on the fine hardwood deck surrounded by the wide blue yonder. The wind rushing through my hair. The whirling of the propellers. The hum of the materia. Not this. This is more like a spaceship. All enclosed and view screened.”
“They have windows, Dad.” Lera pointed to the front of the bridge.
“Yeah, but only if the screens go down.”
“We’ve been on an airship,” Vee said. “You only get to stand on an open air deck at low altitude. They put up a magic bubble once you ascend. Most normal people can’t just stand out in the open at thousands of feet.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Uncle Eron waved a hand, “then blood starts to boil, so on and so forth.”
“And a flying ship doesn’t make sense from a design standpoint, unless they double as ocean ships,” Tessa said.
“I was just going to bring that up,” Uncle Eron said. “So, you guys never mentioned anything about airships?”
“We didn’t know you were a nerd about it,” Vee said.
“It was also a terrible experience. People died,” Tessa said.
“Ah… never mind then.”
“It’s alright, Uncle Eron, what do you want to know?”
Vee and his uncle huddled together.
A heavy hand clapped down on Alin’s armored shoulder.
He wouldn’t have physically noticed a normal strength person doing the same.
“Heights?” Tessa said.
“Er… no. Not really, Ate Tessa.”
The honorific sounded weird to his ears.
It was a Filipino thing, but none of his family from Old America, aside from his grandparents, used it.
Filipinos in the Philippines did.
And the vast majority of his relatives there had perished in the fog.
Just like that the guilt bubbled to the surface once again.
“Why do we have to call you that?” Lera’s eyes narrowed.
“It’s just how it’s done,” Tessa said.
“But, you and Ate Vee don’t. And my dad and uncles and aunt don’t. Rynnen doesn’t. Only Magdalena and people in the Philippines do.” Lera pointed out accurately.
Tessa raised a brow. “It’s either that or ‘empress’.”
Alin regarded his older cousin.
She was about a head shorter than him. Her athletic build was evident in simple clothing. Jeans, a t-shirt and an armored jacket with all sorts of dangerous metal bits attached to the leather surface. She had a lighter complexion than him. A bit darker than Lera, but that might’ve been the tan. Her brown hair was tied in a pony tail. She had a few visible scars on her face, but that was a concession to her mother. Apparently, she had a lot more when she had arrived.
She only looked a few years older than him. Like an older sister when she was old enough to be his and Lera’s mother.
He made a mental note not to joke about that until he was sure she’d be cool with it.
Tessa ruffled Lera’s jet black hair.
It had not been that dark the last time Alin had seen his not so little anymore cousin.
“Well, let’s bring back the tradition then. Things get forgotten if people don’t remember,” Tessa said.
Lera’s brow furrowed. “That’s… what happens when you forget?” She looked to him.
“I think what Ate Tessa means is that some things are traditional for a reason. Whether good or bad depends, I guess.” He shrugged.
“It’s also practical. What if a monster or bad guy takes your shape and I can’t tell except for when they fail to use the word?”
“But they’d know if they were smart and watched us first.” Lera pointed out reasonably.
“It’s not just that one thing. There’s obviously other signs. More is better.”
The skyship captain cleared her throat.
Ranger Captain Molds, technically.
Techmage Juanita McDonald, even more technically.
“On behalf of myself and the crew of the RS Raynanaut. I welcome you aboard!”
“Thank you, captain.” Tessa inclined her head.
“You have a lovely skyship,” Vee said. “I love her name!”
She was the third and newest skyship. Preceded by the RS Raynagon and the RS Rayna One.
Aunt Rayna wasn’t pleased that they had managed to keep their names secret long enough for it to be too late for her to do anything about it. They had lasered the names into the nameplates, after all.
“I overheard that you’ve ridden on a skyship.”
“Different from this and they called it an ‘airship’,” Tessa said.
“Same difference,” Vee said.
“I’d love to pick your brain about it. Anything you can remember would be helpful. We’re sort of making this up as we go along. You can only learn so much in thousands of hours of simulations.”
“That seems like more than enough, Captain McDonald. But, we’ll share what little we can remember,” Tessa said.
“Thank you. Now, I believe Ranger Goldenspoon will be your tour guide for the day.”
The ranger captain nodded to Alin while his older cousins raised their brows.
Uncle Eron and Lera tried to hide their snickering.
Alin saluted. “Yes, sir.” He swept an arm to encompass the bridge. “As you can see, this is the bridge. Everything can be controlled from here, which is crucial because we can’t crew it to nearly the same level as old ships this size required.”
“How big exactly? And please include all applicable dimensions,” Uncle Eron said.
The joke was on his uncle.
Alin had prepared.
He spouted off the information as it appeared on his faceplate.
“Is that big, Dad?” Lera said.
“About as long as that old destroyer we sank. Wider though and maybe half as tall. Like a spearhead.”
The ranger captain caught Alin’s eye and deliberately looked at the door.
“C’mon, guys, let’s go see the rest of the skyship.”
He made sure to note the escaped pods, which were located just outside each of the three doors leading to and from the sphere-shaped bridge.
“It’s quieter than an airplane,” Uncle Eron said.
“I vaguely remember what that was like,” Tessa said.
“I don’t,” Vee added.
“There was this vibration or hum. Plus the sound of the air running,” Tessa said.
Alan hadn’t had the pleasure, although from the stories his parents told about it, he didn’t feel like he had missed anything.
He supposed he was spoiled with his flight options.
The thought of sitting in cramped seats in a metal tube surrounded by a few hundred people made him shudder. He couldn’t imagine sitting in such conditions for sixteen hours straight.
His dad could get him across the Pacific in minutes.
There was no comparison.
“Where do you guys want to go first?”
“You’re the tour guide,” Uncle Eron said.
“I guess we’re closest to one of the starboard weapons stations.” He led them onward through corridors wide enough for four of them to walk shoulder to shoulder. “Uncle Remy, er… your dad, did most of the body. Er… like the skeleton and the skin. He made it basically in one piece to make it super strong. So the weight is better distributed for the float stones. I mean, it’s super safe anyways, cause the magic of the stones kinda permeates into the metal for a bit.”
“Yeah, Dad made sure to mention that,” Tessa said.
Vee rolled her eyes. “He wouldn’t stop talking about it.”
“He, uh, also makes the armor plating. He won’t say exactly how, but it’s supposed to be like titanium, but lighter, more flexible and stronger.”
“Should’ve just used Threnium.” Vee snorted. “It’s way better.”
“That was the initial idea, but the costs were prohibitive. Now that we know the magic and technology works we’re going to make a small version. More like shuttle size.”
“Make sure you give it five engines. Then you can call it by the right name,” Uncle Eron said. “Or one with X-shaped wings. You don’t need to obey the rules of aerodynamics with my float stones.”
“Yours?” Tessa said.
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
“Hey, I told you. I discovered them first.”
Tessa chuckled. “Maybe on this world. They were using the same stones for their airships on the dominion world for, like, thousands of years.”
“I can only control what I can control,” Uncle Eron said sagely.
The main weapon’s station was a copy of the one on the bridge.
“Reminds me of my old joystick,” Uncle Eron said.
Alin directed them to look over the railing and the small pit which contained several smaller weapon’s stations.
“Like an old arcade,” Uncle Eron said.
Old?
They had several arcades across Southern California, which were technically old, Alin supposed, but functionally new in terms of operation.
“Um… we tried to account for multiple possibilities. So, in case something went wrong with the master control system, we could operate each weapon individually.”
“What if that goes down?” Tessa said.
Alin pointed at ladders going up and down on the sides of the chamber. “It’s not all weapons, but the more important ones can be operated manually.”
Tessa and Vee exchanged a look.
Uncle Eron’s grin widened.
Lera looked at all of them in confusion.
“You can look, but it won’t work without authorization.”
The three oldest adults, ostensibly, dashed for a separate ladder.
Uncle Eron flew to one of the ladders on the left and went up.
Tessa took the same ladder but jumped down while Vee climb another one.
Alin sighed.
“There are weapons on both the top and bottom of the skyship. Placement covers all firing arcs even if we lose some. It’s the same on the starboard side.”
“What’s that?” Lera said.
Loyal Lera somehow had resisted the urge to bolt for the fun.
“Er… it’s the right side of a ship.”
“That’s a weird name… so what’s this side called?”
“Port.”
“Why not just say ‘left’ and ‘right’?”
As always Alan was prepared. He didn’t even need to consult the notes in his faceplate.
“Well, right now my right is the ships right, but,” he turned around, “now, it’s the opposite.”
“So, just say ‘ship’s left’ or it’s just understood that when you’re on a ship, when someone says ‘monsters on the left’, they mean the ship’s left.”
“That is reasonable. But, port and starboard are traditional from ancient days.”
“Okay… weird though.”
Silence reined for a beat.
“Why did they call it that?”
“Well, the left side of the ship was where the docking stuff was located. Hence ‘port’. The right side is called that because the steering rudder was on the right and ‘starboard’ comes from the ancient word that refers to that.”
“Wait, so do they have dumb names for the front and back too? What about the top and bottom?”
They certainly did.
Alin explained while the pew pew sounds from the ostensible adults drifted from above and below.
“Got ‘im! I got ‘im!” Tessa said.
“Great, kid! Don’t get cocky,” Uncle Eron said.
They had too much fun with that, for much too long.
Alin finally got them to keep moving on his tour.
“Those were Threnosh weapons,” Vee said. “I recognized the look.”
“Some are. All three skyships are equipped with a mix of everything we can do. For long range, we’ve got missiles and cannons. Machine guns for mid and short. They’re all based off the Threnosh recoilless tech. Saves on a huge amount of weight compared to human rounds, since we just need the projectile. No casing or powder. That’s it for the science side. We’ve got the same from the magic side. Spell guns from small to large to cover multiple ranges. Although, they can’t reach nearly as far as their equivalent on the science side. On account of the spells losing cohesion at a fixed point. The best weapon is the rail gun set in the middle of the skyship. The Rayna One blew a thunderbird apart on her first flight.”
He led them through the living area quickly.
It was empty since the skyship was working with the minimum required crew.
They didn’t have any of the support and additional combat crew a fully-equipped skyship would have.
They reached a cavernous space near the bottom.
“Those look like stables,” Tessa said.
Alin pointed at the large open space on floor bordered by painted warning signs.
The yellow and black lines made it clear to stay on the right side or risk peril.
“For wyverns and drakes. The floor opens up for them to drop down. We can fit five of the latter or two of the former. Though, the usual deployment would be one wyvern and three drakes. Maybe four if two of them are on the smaller side.”
“The smell, though,” Uncle Eron said.
“Airflow vents out from here. Plus this chamber can be completely separated from the rest of the ship’s oxygen system.”
Alin took them to the heart of the ship next.
The room was perhaps smaller than one would expect.
It was the size of a single bedroom.
A large float stone sat in the middle entrenched in a lattice of thin metal strands that turned into wrist-thick metal tubes, which disappeared into the walls.
They had to duck under or fly over the tubes, depending on capability to reach the control panel.
“Now this is definitely Threnosh,” Vee said.
The flat surface was a lifeless gray.
Alin’s armor could sync with the skyship’s system so he activated the panel with a cybernetic thought.
The holographic projection sprang to life.
“Everything normal, I hope,” Uncle Eron said.
“Yup.”
“So, Mr. Tour guide… how does this all work?” Tessa said.
“Well, basically, it’s just sound waves. It was all thanks to Frequency. They discovered the, uh, frequency to unlock the stones. From that point it was a team effort and they mapped out the frequencies needed to get the stone to change altitude. From my understanding each micrometer of elevation requires a different frequency. It’s something ridiculous, like to a hundred decimal places each.”
“If you didn’t have all measurements covered then you wouldn’t be able to move to a specific height?” Vee said.
“Yeah, exactly. Like, if say, we didn’t know the frequency to the 100 meter elevation then we couldn’t go to that height. We’d be limited to the next closest. Like, if we had the 90 meter frequency, but nothing until 200 meters, we couldn’t stop in the space between.”
“That wasn’t how the airship worked,” Vee said.
Tessa shrugged. “We didn’t really have the time to notice, let alone ask. It wasn’t a funsies trip.” She briefly explained.
“That doesn’t sound like funsies,” Uncle Eron agreed.
“The whole system’s super complicated and we had to blend the magic of the stones with the tech of the speakers to make it power efficient. The skyship would be a lot smaller without Frequency’s contributions.”
“Well, I’m glad their doing good in their retirement,” Tessa said.
“Yeah, we should probably go see them soon before…” Vee sighed.
Alin felt the looming sadness and forged ahead.
He led them to the aforementioned power source.
Once again the main energy source was of Threnosh design and make.
Super science made a device the size of a car engine with the power output of a medium-sized pre-spires modern era warship engine.
The skyship didn’t need to use her engines and thrusters continuously.
The float stones rendered the need for lift like an airplane irrelevant.
They only needed the engines to fire until they hit their desired speed. From that point they’d slow down depending on wind resistance. A tailwind would help them keep speed longer. A headwind would slow them quicker.
All the while thrusters located above and below would maintain a level flight.
“How fast?” Tessa said.
“In theory? Ludicrous speed!” Alin grinned.
His uncle and his older cousins got it as they laughed.
Lera blinked. Then nudged her dad, whispering a question.
“In practice, below Mach 1. The frame can handle a lot more. It’s the people inside that can’t.”
“No inertial dampeners? Threnosh flight armors and vehicles have them standard,” Tessa said.
“Cost and size are the issues. The escape pods are fitted with them and we’re working on winged flight suits to copy the Threnosh’s interceptor armors. We haven’t scaled them up for something this size, but we’re working on it.”
The starboard side of the skyship was essentially mirrored on the port side.
Redundancies all around.
“Aren’t you going to show us the sails?” Uncle Eron said as they were headed back to the bridge.
“Sails?” Tessa frowned.
“They’re sort of a last ditch emergency measure in case the engines die. Not much to see right now really since they’re folded up. Plus they’re huge. It’d be like looking at a small part of a folded up curtain.”
“The airship we rode on had sails,” Vee said.
“I don’t— that just sounds like it’d be slow and indirect. Like, you have to tack with the wind and stuff if you wanted to go against it.”
“They used wind spells. There was this arm-like thing with gems embedded in it that would extend behind the sail. Three sets of sails. On top and on each side.”
“That sounds way more elegant than this sterile monstrosity,” Uncle Eron said.
“C’mon, Uncle Eron!” Alin had enough of the skyship slander. The Raynanaut deserved better. “She is a sleek dagger cutting through the sky like a deadly… dagger… what’s cooler than that?”
“Maybe something that isn’t shaped like some kind of empire’s excessive super ship.”
“That is a little slanderous, Uncle,” Vee leapt to Alin’s defense. “The airship was designed like that because it doubled as an ocean ship. Even the people that crewed it said that it’s lack of aerodynamics made it a poor flier.”
“Literally everything that was trying to catch us, caught up with us,” Vee said.
“Then why even build it in the first place?” Uncle Eron said.
“It was faster than walking and some of their oceans were too dangerous to sail on,” Vee said.
“Fair points. I withdraw my, apparently, slanderous comments,” Uncle Eron said.
“Dad?” Lera poked him in the side. “When can I walk outside?”
His uncle looked to Alin.
He consulted the information on his faceplate.
They did have helmets and oxygen, but he hesitated to mention it because it would lead to him having to ask Captain Molds if his annoying cousin could go walk on top of the Raynanaut.
“What’s Lera’s altitude limit?”
“I can hold my breath in space!” She beamed.
Shit!
“You still can’t fly though.” He pointed out reasonably.
“I’ll be with her,” Uncle Eron said.
He sighed. “We’re at 1500 meters.”
“Is that too high for us?” Vee whispered.
“What is that in feet?” Tessa whispered.
He sighed again. “Close to 5000.”
“Yeah, we can do that,” Vee smiled.
“I can fix myself to the metal,” Tessa said.
Vee shrugged. “I’ll just piggyback.”
Resigned, Alin contacted the skyship’s captain.
“Excuse me, Captain Molds, our guests have a small request…”
Captain Molds insisted on sealed altitude suits complete with oxygen systems for three out of the four. The same kind that the drake and wyvern riders and pilots wore.
She was not going to responsible for any unforeseen complications.
“Dad,” Lera whispered. “But how can I feel the wind in my hair if I have to wear a helmet.”
“You can take it off outside.”
Flying monsters attacked 10 minutes later.
10 minutes and 30 seconds later the monsters had all fallen to the earth.
Even the tentacled manta ray-like kaiju.
They had been burned, torn apart with metal or had their brains fried.
“Goldenspoon,” Captain Molds said.
“Sir?”
“Can you tell them I would like the opportunity to test the Raynanaut’s weapons and my crew’s readiness the next time monsters attack?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Give them my thanks as well for the quick and efficient display.”
“Captain!” the communications officer barked. “Satellites picked up another monster cluster.”
“On screen,” Captain Molds said with a smile. “I’ve been waiting months to say that,” she muttered. “Better get them back inside. I want to show them what we’re capable of.”
“Right away, sir,” Alin said.
His heart rate was elevated. Had been since the first attack.
He reminded himself that he was in no real danger with his uncle present and that was before adding his cousins and the Raynanaut and her crew.
There would be no need for him to fight in this one.
He could stand back and observe the crew and the skyship work.
----------------------------------------
Tokyo, Japan, Winter, 2050
Japan had weathered the spires apocalypse better than most old nations.
They were one of the very few that essentially maintained a continuity of government control. Granted, said control, was confined to in and around their most populated cities prior to the change. Much like in every land, the wild spaces between were dominated by encounter challenges, spawn zones and the terrors they brought.
In the earliest days, an aging population and a lack of civilian gun ownership extracted a calamitous toll. Their saving grace was, unlike in many other places, the vast majority of people banded together to fight the monsters and survive. Human on human violence was rare. Almost unheard of. Only the insane or the worst evil fell to those depths. Survival meant levels and levels meant greater survival.
Recent years saw the addition of outworld invaders different from the monsters and entities. These sapients sought many things. Some sought conquest, others sought new homes as they fled their old.
The rise in conflict caused more suffering and death, but brought a rise in levels.
Much like in other parts of the world classes pulled from the cultural zeitgeist.
Hence Cal was surrounded by a veritable kitchen sink of anime.
Colorful, dark and everything in between.
There was even a giant robot piloted by a teenage boy. He had visited a year ago in hopes of comparing notes. Purely from a desire to broaden both their knowledge bases, of course. Perhaps, the boy could’ve learned from the Threnosh and the golem maker back in Southern California or add magitech gear to his giant robot. Perhaps, they could’ve learned from the boy and made their own giant robots. Such was the secret dream in the hearts of man. Sadly, it had been dashed cruelly on the rocks of reality. The giant robot only worked for the boy. His class was the only thing that made it work. The Japanese government had already failed in their attempts to copy it in whole and in part.
In any case, it wasn’t nearly as powerful as the ones in the anime. The boy needed to level.
These brave men and women of all ages weren’t all under the control of the government. About half were independents. They generally did what they wanted. Whether that meant protecting their neighborhoods or murderhobo-ing monsters, evil people and outworld invaders across Tokyo and the rest of the country if they were strong enough.
They were faced with a new problem.
One that they needed outside help to face.
Thus, Cal arrived an hour before the dawn.