To Touch the Sky
We drifted onwards through the clouds, all our motors already at full tilt. I quickly glanced at the speed indicator. Forty-two knots, cruising speed. I was on high alert for this flight, more so that I'd ever been. Captain Walken wasn't here to assist me this time, and I'd only graduated from the Airship Academy a few months ago. Although this wasn't my first time captaining an airship, this was my first time captaining a ship that could be compared with the Aurora. The ship I now sailed had been christened the Avenger only days ago. Now I, with my carefully chosen crew and a few select passengers, carried her on her maiden voyage. We were to fly from Canada, over the whole of Europa, and land in Victoria, a beautiful city between Europa and Asia.
We were well underway now, so I locked the controls in place. I nodded to Tobias, my first officer and best friend. He and I had gone through training to become astralnauts together, and had been among the first humans in space aboard the Starclimber last year. He was an underwater welder, but his experience in the special ether caused him to change his path. I welcomed him as my first officer the moment he presented the idea and completed his training. He set the elevators to proper position before heading out to the passenger deck to give them an update on the ship's current status. I sat back in my seat and watched the clouds soar by.
"Mr. Cruse?" asked a familiar voice. I smiled as I turned to look at Ms. De Vries, a beautiful young lady and my fiancé. She had her magnifying spectacles to her eyes and was scanning the clouds. By trade, she was a zoologist, with a specialty in sky and - most recently - space life. Guided by her grandfather's drawings, she'd first discovered the legendary cloud cats: part bird, part beast. They were like magnificent panthers with proud coats the color of the clouds and wide wings, powerful and strong. Next were the aerozoans, squids that lived in the skies and wielded electricity as their main defense. While in space, she and Sir Hugh made a profound discovery: creatures now known as etherians roam the heavens. They glow in the same fashion as fireflies, and are large enough to be seen from telescopes on the earth.
"Did you find something?" I asked her as I walked over and peered out the window.
"I believe so," she answered as she pressed herself against the glass, trying to get a better look. "It's straight ahead, do you see it?" I concentrated on the clouds, looking for anything that might be one of her strange creatures. After some time, I thought I could spot a strange shadow flitting about. It was quickly getting bigger, as though it were coming straight for us.
"I see it!" I said as I watched it. I couldn't see any details yet, just a mass of shadow.
"It's a person!" Kate suddenly cried out.
"What!" I answered, frightened. I'd had than my fair share of run ins with airship pirates and looters. "Do they have weapons?" I demanded as I sprinted over to my controls. I wouldn't be losing the Avenger so soon!
"No! They don't, none of them do. There's five of them, with something smaller with them. It looks like a dog," Kate reported. A dog? What on earth would a dog be doing in the sky? As a matter of fact, I could now see them easily, these flying people. I looked on their backs, expecting to see parawing packs on their backs, but not a single one had a pack. How were they staying up! As they got closer, I noticed a pair of wings flapping for each of them. They moved with the same motion of an orinthopter, the airship that moved through the sky by flapping its great, flexible wings. It was as if they'd stolen the wings right off of an orinthopter and were now using them to fly.
"Are those wings?" I asked, incredulous. They didn't seem to be made of the same material as orinthopter wings, nor did they seem crudely woven together. They moved up and down perfectly and precisely, staying aloft. The first one suddenly shot forward, moving at a speed impossible for any airship, aside from the Starclimber. It perched against our door and pushed it open.
"Yeah, they're wings," said a feminine voice as the creature entered the bridge. Not a creature, sorry, girl with wings. She had long hair, ruffled by her time in the air. She had nice enough clothing, but they didn't appear washed. What amazed me, though, was the fact that she'd heard me, beyond the thick glass windows and all.
"H-How'd you-" I stammered as I watched her move to the center as more bird children poured into the door. Kate was still gawking at her. I could see her eyes moving to each child, analyzing them.
"How'd I hear you ask?" the girl finished with a smirk. "It's easy: raptor hearing." She shrugged. "You get used to it."
"I-I…" I cleared my throat as I focused, hoping to get a full sentence out this time. "Why are you on my ship?" I asked the girl. All the others in her group, including the strange black dog with wings, looked to her intently. I could only guess that she was their leader.
"No reason, why are you in our air?" I stared at her, dumbfounded. A young girl standing next to her, dark-skinned with wings that complemented her beautifully, suddenly burst out laughing. The leader bird girl gave her a harsh look that immediately silenced her. "You're captain, right?" she asked.
"That'd be correct," I answered with a nod.
"They're amazing…" Kate whispered as she jotted down notes into her log.
"Well then," the leader continued, "my name's Max, Maximum Ride, and to my understanding, your name is Matt Cruse. Is that right?" Bewildered, I nodded. "Good. I've heard legends about you, Mr. Cruse." Something about the way she said 'Mr.' seemed to tell me she didn't say it very often. I didn't know whether to take that to be a good thing or something horrible. I gave a brief look to Kate, but she was too far into her notes to respond. "There are stories that you're lighter than air, and that no element can keep you at bay. How would you like to fly the skies for real? Both you and your fiancé?" I could only guess how she'd obtained so much information. Much of it could be found in the media, but how did she know about Kate and I?
I wasted no time in answering, "It would be a dream come true."