Larox needed a checklist for the al the supplies and had to ask himself if this would be enough. They had seven boxes of bottled water in plastic bottles that were shrink-wrapped together behind the cardboard barrier. Each box contained twenty-four single-liter bottles of water. There were drums for the cab water cooler as well, five total, each containing around nineteen liters of water. Moving them into the storage hold produced quite a sweat but this was all the water in the hangar. Even with an unusually large crew, Larox hoped this could last until they reached the ocean. Once they were near the ocean, the water condensers would be able to provide for their needs.

Next were pallets of canned food. The vegetables grown in the greenhouses were canned in the industrial district. Salt wasn’t excessively rare. It was one of the primary treasures hauled back to the base by the extraction teams. It helped that the asphalt wasn’t fond of salt and tended to coat salt basins extremely thinly if at all. Larox had some not-so fond memories of gathering minerals from the nearby strip mines. The work required to dig, sift, and separate for the good salt rocks nearly broke both his and Tray’s backs. Speaking of salt, they had two boxes, each two kilograms of food preservation salt.

The vegetables in cans had a code system. Cans marked with an X were carrots, cans marked with a Y were potatoes, and cans marked with a Z were pickled cabbage. The greenhouse districts weren’t known for variety. A pallet of glass ball jars contained preserved onions for cooking; Larox counted twenty jars in total each with three onions worth. An entire crate with bags of slurry powder, their main protein source, must have weighed at least fifty kilograms. The red powder inside was something he didn’t even want to think about. Animals were rare on the base, so no part went unused. Even the bones were ground into that powder, and Larox suspected for a long time that it wasn’t just animal material. Too bad they needed all the food they could grab.

The luxury items included several bags of dehydrated meat that didn’t weigh too much. No beef. It was either chicken or pork. If beef even existed on the base, it only went to the highest of the higher ups. Larox heard stories about how delicious steak was but had never eaten any, nor was he certain he could handle the disappointment of only being able to try it once.

A small box of vitamin powder would serve as their main source of vitamin C. The box in front of him was scavenged from a buried supermarket in Minnesota, but the main source of vitamin powder came from dried and processed fruits and vegetables or bacterial cultivation in the labs.

The entire stash of food left plenty of space in the stowage compartment. ten spare uniforms, including Tray’s clothes, were folded, and tied in a parcel. They had a few spare pairs of boots, though probably nothing that would fit anyone properly unless they got lucky. A collection of thin towels sat atop the uniforms and on top of the towels was a bag of shop rags. All the blankets had been stripped and the cots folded to be added to the collection. Every pillow had been collected, no matter how old, how thin, or how stained.

On the left side of the storage were three crates of EMP grenades, the only weapon to be found in the hangar. Extraction teams were not issued projectile weapons and any that were found in the field were always quickly confiscated. For good measure, Larox unsealed a box so some could be accessed easily. One crate contained about twenty grenades, but they went through them fast when the asphalt decided to be lively.

Several toolboxes with wrench sets, hammers, drills, and even a welding kit needed to be pushed neatly to the back and secured. With the storage being so empty, the supplies needed to be tied just enough so that they didn’t slide when the vessel became airborne.

With no further supplies incoming, Larox finished taking inventory and closed the double doors. He went to the cabin where Horst adjusted some dials. The one-eyed scientist gazed out the cabin window toward the sun burnt cloudless sky. A rough clicking sound from above the blimp suddenly echoed through the hangar.

“What seems to the problem?”

“The stabilization rod won’t retract. It’s not a huge issue, except that flying out like this might cause sparking that could compromise the canopy. It’s not ideal, but I can make it work.”

Horst leaned forward and spoke into his phone, “How does it look?”

Larox smiled, as Horst was having someone check it just to be sure. He had seen Lauren checking the batteries before going to storage so that left Jack and his team.

“Strange,” came a soft voice, “How did the stabilization rod get bent into a hook at the end. It’s gonna catch the hoops. What do we do?”

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“Don’t cut it! Too much sparking is not a good idea.”

The canopy was flame resistant but they used a mix of hydrogen and helium in the balloons. One unlucky spark eating through the canopy and compromising a balloon, however unlikely, would end their travels.

“It’s too thick to bend. What in the world did you guys do to it? Did you crash into it upon re-entry?”

“Let’s make one thing clear, I do not crash my blimp. Never have, never will.”

“Well crap, looks like we can guide it through the hoops if we use a pry bar. Extend it about a meter. Then retract it slowly and when we tell you to stop, stop.”

The scientist turned from the window with a scowl, “Whatever you’re doing, could you hurry it along. We’ve been here far too long already!”

At the top of the blimp, a young woman yanked a pry bar between the hoops and the rod to make sure the hook didn’t catch, “If it’s not from a crash do you think it’s sabotage?”

“He crashed it and doesn’t want to admit it,” said a man with a gruff voice and the strong shadow of a beard over his fat chin.

As the rod retracted between the first and second hoop of a set of ten the machinery groaned with a squeak of protest and the crunching of gears.

“Honestly! It’s one thing and then another!”

The casing for the belts above the stabilization rod steamed slightly. Small speckles of carbonized debris crackled and peppered the top of the blimp’s canopy. The young woman lifted the pry bar and gave the belt housing a few taps until it swung open. She signaled a man toward the metal stairs back to the hangar floor to check belt assembly in the wall. Sure enough, the gears were crunching small black stones. The belts looked clear.

“Clean those gears!” she shouted, “Hey down there, can somebody open the compressed air nozzle. Also, we need solvent. These gears are crusty!”

Lauren returned to the hangar to open the valves for the compressed air guns and to bring a solvent springer to Jack’s team. If the bar was now hooked and not retracting, leaving the base would be a chore and somebody would most likely be left behind.

“It’s one fricking thing after another,” Lauren muttered to herself.

The air intake completed. The vessel remained held by a few safety lines and the rod stuck along the hoops. The woman used the pry bar to clean some of the belts, but the overhead mechanism wasn’t what she needed. It was a release mechanism for the stabilization rod and it wasn’t advisable to release it on top of the now fully flight ready vessel. As it extended the entire length of the blimp, the retractable piece had to be heavy enough to damage the canopy if it fell.

“Hey Lauren!” Larox called from the entrance, “Can you bring the portable stove top. I don’t feel in the mood for two weeks of cold slurry.”

“Get it yourself!”

Jack supervised a soldier as he turned a crank to pull the rod back manually while the young woman in body armor used a pry bar to keep the bent end from catching the hooks. Chunky debris scattered across the floor as the air hose sprayed the gears. Lauren then used the solvent before having them sprayed again. The mechanism began to move more smoothly. Chunks of stone and hardened carbon clattered against the top of the blimp as the manual rod mechanism was cleaned.

Lauren frowned at the mess on the floor, “How’d all this get in the mechanism. It wasn’t nearly this bad last time I checked.”

The muscular man in the worn shirt walked to the edge of the open hangar. Wirey muscles bulged on his thin body as he crossed his arms around his chest. A city sky line extended before him. The residential towers weren’t even half as tall as the steel pinnacles that housed the blimps. The winds from the flats blasted hot as usual. The hum of windmills rotating picked up. He put his hand over his eyes to shade them as he stepped to the edge of the platform which only had a low rail to guard against falling. It wasn’t possible to see the narrow alleys. One of the greenhouses smoked and one of the residential complexes had collapsed on itself. He couldn’t observe any other obvious damage.

Larox stepped next with a portable stove between his left arm and side. He offered him a cigarette that was refused, “We’re moving out soon. You’re coming with us, right?”

The man nodded.

“What’s your name?”

A foot shuffled across the floor. Enough dirt existed to push aside with this tip of his boot that he could spell out some letters” L-A-R-R-Y.

“Oh, we have similar names, great. You don’t get confused when you hear Lar-oh though, so I doubt it’ll be a problem. Come to think of it, they’re not that similar.”

The man frowned. Larox shrugged in response, “Okay, so I’m captain now. That means your going to be crew. So, none of this attitude. I expect happy people, only happy people, the happiest. I’m also the navigator, but I’m sure one of you guys can help in that department. Horst is the pilot, I’m the third back-up, second now actually. Lauren can fix just about anything. Lavinia and your crew are in charge of defense. Let’s see, my crew, the scientist, the other girl, you, Jack, and six others whose names I don’t even know. That makes fourteen in a cab designed for five. Got it. This is going to be a fun trip.”

Larry laughed out loud.

“You won’t be laughing when we’re sleeping above the battery casing. I’ll be sleeping in the flight deck though; I got Captain’s privileges now. The four women will be getting the bunk room. This is gonna be a stinky ride with everyone packed together like sardines. Oh boy.”

Horst’s voice came through the intercom, “Okay! We got the stabilization rod retracted. This bird is free to go. All aboard. We’re about to head out!”

Larox looked to Lavinia who stood across from her sister at the steps to the blimp. They exchange a nod. A hand went on Larry’s shoulder.

“Come on Larry, let’s get out here. I like you already, now I don’t have to worry about anyone calling me Larry.”