You may wonder what a typical day of a zepplineer consists of.

First of all, Ames awoke, already on her feet, at a microscopic hour of the morning, on her way to the training grounds, a wire from the ceiling having connected to her CHEK and taking control of her body. On the grounds, the privates, like drones, played around with laserpistols and swept floors. Every day, nothing changed.

At this point, she’d call herself a war-ified maid with physical skills rising at the speed of light.

One morning something did change -- she awoke awfully well rested. Looking close enough, you could see the beginnings of a smile on her face. She sat upright, looked left, right, then her eyes widened: why are you all gone?

Ames was the only one in her bed. The only one in the living quarters.

Dead silence crushed her, even more than the usual atmosphere of the zeppelin, which slowly siphoned your soul away from you.

A terrible idea crept into Ames’ head.

No, no, no… Fucking bandits! The wire that enslaved her every morning had been cut in half. Ames jumped out of bed. She was in her uniform in moments, [The Zeppelin] screen open a few seconds later.

[Current quest: “Clean the quarters’ floors” | Time left: 99s]

Sabotage. Ames overlooked the sprawling living quarters and palmed her forehead. No way could she mop it all in a minute in a half. But she grabbed the broom and she began. I can try -- maybe I’ll get a life-changing mopping perk.

Half a minute later, zepplineers started returning from their training and their breakfast. Ames’ legioneers were some of the first to appear in the chamber. They walked by, but Holt caught a glance at Ames and stopped. They had done this. What else could a look like that mean?

Holt walked up, the makeup atop his bald head flickering from the lights, the mustache on his face bouncing around.

“This is all you’ve done?” he asked with a hard voice.

Ames nodded, furiously mopping. “A minute’s left. Someone cut my wire. I didn’t wake up on time.”

A whistle pierced her ears. Ames finished sweeping a row along the wall and raised her head: all her legioneers, apart from the mysterious girl, mopped. Holt was running along the walls, Iperu squeezed himself under the beds, while Gomo and Flier got the middle and the finishing touches.

Ames’ mouth was wide open. Maybe… Maybe they hadn’t pulled this painful prank on her?

Ames slumbered over to the mops on the wall and checked the quest screen. Five seconds. And the entire floor was clean. She put the mop back. A tiny scanner popped out of the ceiling and a wall of light scanned the room twice.

[MANDATORY quest… succeeded!]

[Reward: 150 LVL EXP; Another fine day to spend between the steel of the zeppelin!]

Relief, like a bounty disappearing from her head, filled her. Her legioneers appeared beside her, putting all the mops back in place. They went their separate ways. Holt stayed in place.

“Despite all the vain pranks and games we legioneers pull, when there is real trouble, we are nothing but real help,” he said. “Remember that. Fate put us here, in the same zeppelin, in the same legion and we must trust one another more than we trust ourselves.”

And Holt, too, disappeared.

Ames turned to the exit and quietly snuck over to the dining hall, asking herself: who cut the wire?

Trying to avoid Mister Parris, Ames bumped into the girl from her legion. On the uniform, she saw the name tag which was usually hidden.

Evelyn. Who hadn’t yet spoken a word to Ames. She wore sprawling, hazel hair, eyeliner from engine oil and carried heavy tools in hand: a hammer, tin snips, rolls of wire and a grappling hook.

Evelyn grabbed Ames’ shoulder and stopped her behind a corner.

“Thank you for saving me, girl.”

“No problem -- we gotta stick together in a moonhole like this,” Ames said, blushing. “I hope you repay me one day.”

“No. Not one day.” Evelyn winked and turned the corner, pulling Ames along, straight into the face of Mister Parris. Ames froze. Evelyn saluted and Ames followed a second later.

“The wire knows all!” they chanted

“And there is nothing but the service!” Mister Parris responded. “Proceeding to the repair operation, Evelyn?”

“Yes, mister!” she said and gulped. “Mister, I have a request. May I?”

The sergeant nodded.

“Mister, I’m inclined to bring an apprentice along. The private, Mister.”

The gazes turned to Ames. Now, she was the one gulping. What are you thinking?! I’m not a mechanic, I’m a damn mastermind!

Taking deep breaths, Mister Parris paced a few steps around Ames and Evelyn. Slowly, he scratched his chin and let an expression onto his face.

“Request approved.”

***

Reluctantly, frustration tearing through every orifice in her body, Ames followed Evelyn down the zeppelin, thinking, You don’t do mechanics or crafting as a mastermind! That was one of the only bits of knowledge she’d kept from her parents, who would call in henches for everything physical -- even sharpening knives and charging laserpistols. And like them, whatever Ames would have to do, she’d do terribly and without a drop of skill in her blood.

You may ask why she even followed the quiet Evelyn. Ames didn’t know. The look on the girl’s face, the weight of the air around her, the sense of almost connection that broke whenever Ames went a step away...

It must be a strange perk, Ames deducted quickly, but the questions didn’t leave her. They were nearing the engines and she had to ask.

“Why are you dragging me along?”

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“You’ll find out.” Evelyn shook her head nonchalantly. “Are you afraid of Mister Parris?”

“Who isn’t? Now answer my question without trying to distract me!”

“Rightfully, everyone fears the big douchebag. That’s a good start, girl! You’ve got something more to be afraid of than heights and wires.”

“How is that gonna help?”

“Parris is a dick who pushes everyone around until you push him. So you have to find a place, a gritty corner, an engine valve -- wherever you belong, so you can see your skills rise and ranks follow along too. I’ve found your corner for you and now you’re my apprentice.”

“You inspected me, a mastermind with the physical skills of a grape, and thought cable management is where I excel at?”

“I try not to inspect other women. It’s rude.” Evelyn turned on her heel and stepped towards Ames. Then she snatched her hand. Ames face turned sour, she tried backing away, she tried wiggling out, but Evelyn held tightly. She eased Ames’ fist, she went over each of her fingers and ran her hand along Ames’. “But I can tell from skin and the struggle it has survived who is made out for the art of the wire.”

“Alright.” Ames stuttered, still trying to get out. “I’ll try it.”

“Good. And, girl, I’m teaching you this art so you can be the taker of Parris’ throne.” Now, with both hands, Ames held Evelyn. “Not only does the skin whisper secrets. I’ve seen you eyeing the top floor. Here’s the thing: you won’t get to it by sweeping floors. No, girl. First, you become the embodiment of skill and respect. Then comes the power.”

Ames stilled and a wall of shivers covered her back, and her skin became ice cold. They stared into each other, having a wordless conversation before Evelyn let go.

They continued the rest of the way in silence.

Along the walls of the engine room, there were exits onto the web of wires. Along those exits, there were white, puffy suits that looked like clouds with helmets.

“Cablejump suits.” Evelyn opened one and led Ames inside and got into another herself. Then, holographic overlays appeared over both the suits’ visors.

Air pumped, mechanisms rumbled and electricity buzzed -- Ames never thought it could be this loud inside. You’d go deaf after spending an hour or two, she was sure.

The door to the sky slid open. Evelyn connected herself to the guide wire and started zipping into the horizon as Ames carefully followed. Her eyes glimmered from the sight. The visor made every wire glow blue and every dead cable -- black. Thousands of barely visible glowing strings floated into the horizon.

Without seeing each of the wires as neon light, you couldn’t ever imagine how much the zeppelin has actually connected, Ames thought. Over Wirehaven’s center, it looks like a sky of light. Then the wires thin out… They become like frequencies. The zeppelin has easily reached Realms in the low 500s!

Ames understood, perfectly, Mister Parris’ cause. The zeppelin had to be one of the grandest efforts in human history, on par with the giant, leaning Realm 676 on the horizon. Still, didn’t change the fact Mister Parris absolutely was an asshole.

Evelyn stopped and, balancing on a wire, spoke,

“We get off here and hop eighty meters eastward.” She disconnected her back from the guide wire and hopped on the regular ones. “The suit is a CHEK Extension. Let it connect to you and it’ll let you walk on air. Basically. It’s a little more complicated.”

Ames pressed a red button on her sleeve and bit her lips. An unbearable pain stung her feet as if a creature bit down with all its strength and viciousness. She started shaking. Grunting.

[Warning! CHEK body Extension added]

[Cablejump suit operational! Removed body weight pressure on wires; +10 to Dexterity; +3 to Eyesight]

Heart thumping, Ames let go of the guide wire and hung onto a normal one. It held her. She pulled herself up to the top, gestured to Evelyn and started walking, careful not to trip or fall into an endless pit.

It removes your weight from wires. The ground can still mess you up. Well, the very quick meeting of human and ground is what will be messing you up.

“What are we going to be doing?”

“Fixing a fried connection. Actually, you’re going to be fixing it,” Evelyn answered Ames’ question. “I’ll be holding your tools.”

“Let me guess: it’s the only way for me to learn?”

“You’re on the right path.” Evelyn shook her head. “It’s the fastest way.”

“Ah, so we’ve decided I’m a mechanic.”

“I’d just love to have you here.”

“Whatever, it’s not like I’m sticking around for long,” Ames said, “I’ve got a massive army to take control of, then command, to do my revenge for me.”

“You’ve got a revenge story!”

“Don’t we all?”

“Not me, girl, I don’t keep the hatred. This is a seriously, seriously bad trait for a zepplineer, but… No matter how bad someone hurts me, I can forgive them. Mister Parris, our legioneers, the boy who told my biggest secret to my mother and made her disappear… All forgiven...” Evelyn trailed off -- the fried connection came into view. Looking from Wirehaven, it would be impossible to see, but the copper part was releasing a string of smoke from a hole in its side, and its hull was dripping molten metal. Ames guessed they’d need to break in the connector, fix the part which unleashed the heat and put it back together. She had no clue how they’d fix the hull that was dripping metal, like her nose dripping sweat on a hot desolation day.

Ames told Evelyn her observation.

“Almost. We fill that hole up. Then, we wait and see from what other corner of this bad boy smoke starts pluming out. After a few pluggings, we’ll know where to go,” Evelyn explained, cramming in a ball of gum.

“And the hull… we just leave it?”

“Yeah,” she said with a straight face. “Actually, we put a weight on it so it doesn’t unbalance the whole system. Basically the same thing as leaving it be.”

Once they quickly found where the broken parts were rebelling in flames, Ames grabbed the tools and started taking the connection appart. With her every move, she followed Ames' finger and instructions.

Ames' gaze went past the web of wires and caught an oddly familiar figure. Black and still, and serious, she thought, replacing a fried chip. She felt a fear chill deep inside her bones. Then the figure mixed in with the crowds of Iron Lungs. The chill remained in the back of her head.

From the left and from above a second later, Evelyn screamed.

The ground neared awfully quickly. By the looks of it, Ames had unlocked the connector and was swinging down to her death. Her breath caught. The world except for the ground below disappeared. With all her strength and the willpower that fought the unbearable pain of abused muscles straining, she held on. As the cable neared Wirehaven’s roofs, she swung towards the zeppelin and then flew back towards Evelyn.

Ames’ body injected pure adrenaline into her bloodstream. Thump and a blast of energy. Thump and a blast of energy... Holding the wire with her feet, she jumped. Evelyn reached. Ames let go. The wires connected again. She crashed into Evelyn.

For a moment, dead silence. Honestly, Ames doubted if she had even survived the moment. Then, Evelyn said, “Girl, you’re a natural -- it’s fixed! You did everything right, except for the almost dying part.”

Ames and Evelyn broke into laughter as heart rates returned to normal. They connected to the guiding wire and returned to the zeppelin. Feet touching the cold metal, Ames felt relief on level with the killing of the robotdragon.

They got out of the Cablejumps and saw… Onlookers. The den of the engine henches and the entirety of the living quarters had watched and cackled. Ames’ cheeks burned red. But Evelyn held her head up high. And dragged Ames back to the quarters.

The walk of shame came to an end by their beds. There, a rapture of laughter and whispers erupted. And they had to face Mister Parris too. Surprisingly, his face didn’t wear a disappointed expression.

“The wire knows all!” Ames stood straight, saluting the sergeant.

“Evelyn, I recommend you to change apprentices. This decision of yours,” he said, “has a lethality rate you could call suicidal.”

Evelyn stopped. No salutes or perfectly straight backs.

“Mister,” she said, perfectly monotone. “I appreciate the suggestion, but I refuse it.”

Evelyn sat on her bed, starting to take off her dirty clothes and her tools. She was frustrated and finally let out a sigh.

“What you did was a common floor-stepper mistake. Everyone’s bored of it by now. But they still laugh, when you and I fall.”

“It’s a village.” Ames sat beside Evelyn. “A place you gotta fight to get respect. Like most gangs.”

Evelyn paused for a beat. “You wanna know the real reason why I chose you to be a mechanic?” She looked Ames in the eyes, her lips parted and her tongue started forming a word. She bit it and stuttered, and… Tin snips fell from her pile of tools, right into Ames’ hands.

It all connected. Furious, Ames raised the shears.

“So you could sabotage me for your own good?!”

Evelyn's jaw dropped, Ames shook her head and ran away, throwing the tin snips at a wall.