Jacques stood on the second floor platform of the sky port overseeing the lobby. Though the port was large, only about ten dozen of so people moved through it, half of whom were workers and employees, leaving the place echoing the footsteps of those who were there. She raised to her toes when she saw Josh walked through the silver door of aeronium, a gas that turned into a solid when electrically charged.

The man had a long brown coat on over his previous dressing, and a belt filled with pouches and packs. A, arm length multi-purpose hammer, with a crowbar grip and an axe attachment, hung from his waist.

Waving from her perch, she unabashedly shouted, “Josh! Over here!” Drawing the attention of not just the Guide, but everyone on the ground floor. Even after the man had seen her, she continued to call and wave enthusiastically. “Hey! Josh! Come on up, it's–!” She felt a burning stare at the back of her head.

Nervously, she turned back to catch Luce glaring at her from the counter, a rifle bag slung over her shoulder, their backpacks on the ground next to her.

With a playful grin to her partner, Jacques turned back silently to watch Josh head up the escalator and caught him eyeing her own polearm bag. She went to the end of the moving staircase to greet him.

“Hey you!” She jumped excitedly like a child going to their grandparents' place for the weekend.

Josh simply gave a meek wave of a greeting. “Where's Luce?”

“She's buying the tickets.” She pointed back towards the sleek black marble counter where Luce fumed angrily at the man working there.

Josh added, “I thought I told you to wait for me?” He proceeded to walk towards the counter, Jacques following at his side.

With her best impression, Jacques said, “Luce was all, 'Oh, how hard could it be to get a glider?'”

He sighed as they approached the counter. The man working there looked up, recognized Josh, and immediately greeted, “Ah, Mister Stalewaver, good to see you again.”

“Julian,” Josh greeted. “We need to cross the border.”

Politely, Julian replied, “Of course, Mister Stalewaver.”

“Hey!” Luce exclaimed, stomping her foot. “What gives? You said you don't have gliders for crossing the border!”

“No, young lady, I said there are no commercial flights for crossing the border. Mister Stalewaver here is a V.I.P.”

“V.I.P? I've never heard of such bullshit!”

“And that's why you're not on it.”

She reached for her weapon bag and threatened, “Why you, I ought to shove this rifle up your–!”

Jacques cleared her throat loudly. “Language.”

Luce turned to her and snapped, “What are you? My wi–!” She paused, her mouth hanging. Luce forced them closed and spun away from them with a huff, grabbed her bag off the ground, and walked towards the departure gate.

Jacques smiled at the man, “Sorry about that, Jule. My partner's a little hot headed.”

“That's quite alright sir.”

“It's ma'am, by the way.”

“Oh! My apologies. Now, what can I get for you, ma'am?”

Luce had left her card on the table. Jacques picked it up and held it to the cash register's scanner, showing the value. “We have twenty eight thousand and sixteen kilq, and fifty five kuilt. What kind of glider can we get?”

Josh added, “Make it a custom. And don't skim any off the top.” From his coat pocket, he pulled out a bundle of notes and threw it to Julian, who caught it with a smile. “I've got a thousand for you, right there.”

Julian looked to the bundle and the screen. “This is a lot of money.”

Josh replied, “We've got a lot of grounds to cover.”

The man looked to Josh, then to Jacques. “Okay then.” He turned his attention to the computer and began typing into it. “Aluminium frame, aeronium glass, full plastic controls, polyacrylonitrile wings, no landing gear, one-way trip.” He pulled the tickets from the printer and handed it to her. “Three seater.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

She took the tickets and did a quick check of the details.

Josh asked, “Landing chutes?”

“Of course,” Julian replied with a smile.

Josh raised his hand in cheers and farewell, and Julian returned the parting with a bow. They left the employee to his work, Jacques picking up her pack from the ground, and the pair headed for Luce who waited at the gate.

As they crossed the room, she caught Josh staring at her weapon bag again. Without a question, she answered, “It's a spear-cannon.”

“And Luce?”

“Station-rifle.”

“So you two really are Titan Hunters?”

“That's what I said.”

Luce must have heard them despite their distance, for she shouted, “Jacques. That's enough.”

Jacques smiled back and ran up to her with a hug. “Aww, sorry little Lucy, don't get mad.”

Annoyed, Luce lectured, “Don't you ever take anything seriously?” But even then, she looked more irritated by the hug than the personality.

The trio walked through the departure gate and was directed to launch pad 13. They proceeded through the spotless, crowdless corridor until they exited into a circular lobby. Decorated with bushes and drakfruit trees, it was one of the few places in Dogon to have healthy plants. A glass dome ceiling above let the light in while keeping the Taint out. 15 gates that led to launch platforms were numbered clockwise from them, with number 13 just two down from their right.

Luce continued to chastise Jacques, “You shouldn't keep telling people who we are. As long as we're in Dogon, anyone can be eyes or ears for the army.”

“Relax will ya? No one is going to care. We're in a city of over a million. Do you really think that they'll be out looking for two Titan Hunters when they have an entire battalion at their disposal?”

Luce cringed when she mentioned their position again, scanning around them to make sure no one heard her. As they approached the entrance to the platform, the guard at the gate greeted them with a tilt of his cap, before scanning a keycard and his retinal into a security pad. The black aeronium gate lost its charge, turning slightly translucent to show the process. The trio stepped through the gas and out the other side.

The glider had already been mechanically assembled. It was a pill shaped transport with a raindrop tail, cross-linen stabilizing wings protruding from the end. The bottom and rear half was made of plain white aluminium, while the top half was from oxygenated aeronium, which was transparent and required only a single small battery to stay in its solid state. The wings were folded into a oval tube at the sides.

An engineer, wearing a hard hat and blue suspender, with a stubble that looked like it had grown from nights at bars, approached the party. “Who's the V.I.P?”

“I am,” Josh announced.

The engineer passed him a videopad and scrolled through the contents. “Alright, here's the weather pattern for the next twelve hours and your glider specs. Try not to pull the ventillation too early, or you might just pass out. We've got one guy who did that last season. Just plunked down right out there without even reaching The Walking Path.”

Jacques asked Josh, “Why do they keep calling you the V.I.P?”

Josh signed the document with his fingerprint and replied, “It's code for Guides. What we do isn't exactly legal.” He handed back the videopad. “That's also why the gliders costs so much. They're losing materials on a one way trip.”

They headed for the glider, an engineer opening up the pod for them to climb in. After they had stored their backpacks in a compartment at the tail, the two women settled their weapons parallel to the cabin. It was not the most luxurious sitting arrangement, as there were no chairs for them. Just a cushioned floor and the rear compartment wall doubling with seatbelts. The front of the cabin had a single steel backrest for the pilot, with a single joystick and two pedals that controlled the craft. Two pull buttons, one red and one blue, were embedded in the plain console alongside a simple altimeter, compass, and horizontal situation indicator.

Luce strapped into the left rear seat and complained, “We couldn't spring for a few chairs? Aren't there usually a couple on a glider?”

Josh strapped himself to the pilot seat, quickly and expertly adjusting the equipments. “Chairs are dead weight for what we're doing. The lighter the glider, the further we fly.” He took a deep breath, stretched, and cracked his fingers. With a thumbs up to the engineer, the latter closed the pod from the outside.

Jacques asked, “What if we need to pee?” The two turned to her with brows raised. “I-I already went, but, you know, what if?”

He shook his head, “It's just a three hours flight. Hold it in.”

Jacques turned to Luce, “Lucy, if–”

“I will not—” she replied, without looking her way. “—do whatever it is you are suggesting. It's probably gross.”

Sirens went off outside, and with a loud rumble, the platform began to rise and turn. The ceiling started to open up, the rusty Tainted sky unveiling above them. The launcher angled and turned further, their bodies pulled back by gravity while the compass on the dashboard slowly turned towards north.

Josh said, “Ladies, hold onto your seatbelts. And seatbelts, hold onto your ladies.” The platform raised above the ceiling, and the launcher stopped turning.

A loud announcement bellowed from below, counting down, “Three!”

They faced the afternoon Twins, the smaller Rykka barely a blip through the Taint clouds while Cirus a bright glow.

“Two!”

Jacques reached over and found Luce's hand, which held her's firmly.

“One!”

The height of the Reveries Mountain cut off just above the panel. “We're in for a ride.”