Fire and Rescue
Chapter One: Dusty's gearbox
Dedicated to the brave and courageous firefighters around the world who risk their lives to save the lives of others.
It only took the win we made in the Wings around the Globe Rally to launch us into a racing career. I'm Ashley Iris Jakins one of Dusty Crophoppers co-pilots. The other one is Crow Mires Patterson my best friend. Unlike Crow and other humans I am cursed so there have been some occasions where I have ticked off a couple of other humans and gotten into big, big trouble. My curse mark is shaped like a propeller surrounded by flames and I know I'm cursed as I did not have it until I was six and got trapped by a dark force. We are now air-racing legends, traveling across the United States and even to a couple different countries around the world to participate in races and make appearances which I would enjoy our arrival in different places more than I do if fans and reporters would stop trying to swarm us the minute we land. It wasn't all about racing for us though. We still made time to be at home in Propwash Junction and be with our friends who live there. Skipper, Sparky, Chug, and Dottie did their best to join us at our races, watching in amazement as we amazed and on some occasions I scared the audience with our teamwork and amazing flying. The best part of racing yet was when I deliberately almost fell off Dusty's wing when I was standing up and got told off by Skipper when we got back. Though proud of our titles as Honorary Jolly Wrenches, Dusty took on his old orange and white paint scheme while I always wore my short dark blond hair tied back in a high pony tail with a headband tied around my head and Crow left her long crow-black hair down with an orange plastic headband in it.
Now it was the middle of summer and with us not racing for a couple of months we had returned home to Propwash for the annual Corn Fest that was coming up soon. Racing never beat the feeling of being home with your friends or in my case I considered them family.
"Awesome picture, guys!" Sparky complemented us, picking up a newspaper outside the Fill N' Fly. "Except, uh, your eyes are closed, Dust."
"Cute" Crow giggled as she peeked at the newspaper.
"Racin' with your eyes closed, huh?" Chug laughed as he refuled Dusty. "So that's your secret!"
"Oh yeah." Dusty nodded. "You figured it out, Chug."
Crow and I snicked before bumping heads behind the boys backs. We almost always wore horse riding helmets racing or not because Crow had a talking horse who could grow wings if need be that we liked to ride. Her name was Cloudy but she did not talk a lot. Our riding helmets were decorated with flames as in some spare time in summer we pretended that we were fire and firefighters to make hosing each other down a lot more fun.
"That was some pretty fancy flying, Dusty." Mayday said coming up. "You and the girls make quite the team. Saw it all on my radio with pictures."
Dusty, Sparky, and Chug blinked. Crow and I snickered
"You mean your TV." Dusty guessed.
"No, no, that's clearing up." Mayday continued. "My bumper was nearly corroded right though. Disgusting looking. Ah, yeah, it was all rusty and blistered."
"Uh ha charming Mayday" I snickered.
"Anyway, what else is going on?" Dusty asked, hoping to change the subject.
"Dottie gave me some of that Rust-eze Medicated Bumper Ointment. Ka-chow!" Mayday spun around, causing the boys, Crow and I to jump a bit when he showed off. Dusty did his best to avert his eyes; Sparky hid behind the newspaper he held; Crow and I slapped our hands over our eyes and Chug, oddly enough, found himself staring. "How's it looking now?"
"Looks great. Fine." Dusty said hurriedly.
"Take a closer look!"
"That's close enough!"
We all jumped when something fell off Mayday's undercarriage.
"What was that?" Mayday asked.
"Nothing!" Crow called. "But you might want to have Dottie check you out later."
"Didn't need to see that." Dusty muttered.
"Oh, hey, hey, guys, guys!" Sparky piped up. "Listen to this, listen to this!' After their Red Bulldozer win, Dusty Crophopper, Crow Patterson and Ashley Jakins ….'"
"That's you." Chug pointed to us.
"'….return to Propwash Junction…'"
"That's here." Mayday said.
"'….where they will be performing at the town's annual Corn Festival.'" Sparky finished excitedly.
"They mentioned the Corn Festival?" Mayday asked, surprised.
"Whoa!" Chug gasped. "It's national news!"
"Seriously?" Dusty asked happily. "That's great!"
"I'll say!" Brodi called from across the way. "The phone's been ringing off the hook here at the motel! Gonna have to get out the inflatable hangars."
"Oh, yeah!" Brodi's wife agreed. "Everybody wants to see you three!"
"It's gonna be the biggest Corn Fest yet!" Dusty agreed.
"Dusty! Crow! Ashley!" Skipper greeted, his propeller spinning. "Ready to do some flying?"
"Absolutely, Skipper." Dusty nodded, dipping his wings and allowing us girls to hop up on him.
"Don't stay out too late!" Mayday called.
"Later, Dust! See ya, Ashley and Crow!" Sparky waved.
"Remember to open your eyes!" Chug chuckled.
Dusty, Crow and I rolled our eyes, but laughed as they made our way to the runway. "Hey, Propwash Tower! This is Crophopper Seven. Flight of two plus two, ready for take-off."
"Crophopper Seven, Propwash Tower." The attendant in the tower said. "Wind's calm. Runway two-seven clear for take-off. Have a great flight, fellas."
Dusty and Skipper took off down the runway, the two planes pulling up into the air. They looped around, flying over Propwash Junction and skimming the corn fields as we headed out to practice.
I let go of Dusty's wing and stood up, spreading my arms and letting the wind blow against me.
"Ashley Iris Jakins!" Skipper barked into the radio.
"Sit down now!" Crow finished the sentence.
I laughed and sat down again.
"I know, I'm not allowed to stand up when flying as I may fall off" I repeated what Skipper told me the first time I did that during a race.
"Snap into those turns!" Skipper called into the radio. We approached the grain silos, threading through them as we practiced our radial-G turns. "Tighten it up! There you go!" Skipper kept close behind us as we shot over the landscape, knife-edging trees and making smooth rolls and turns.
"Now let's work that vertical!" Skipper ordered.
We shot under a bridge over the river, pulling up and shooting up into the clouds. Thank goodness Dusty's fear of heights was long since conquered; otherwise we'd have a repeat of what happened in our first training session with Skipper.
As we cleared the first level of clouds, Dusty's engine began sputtering. An alarm beeped at us and a small warning light flashed on the plane's panel, indicating something was going wrong.
"Dusty?" Crow called worriedly.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"I don't know!" Dusty answered, sounding confused.
Then, Dusty's propeller stopped spinning altogether, and he did a flip as he spiralled down towards the ground.
"Dusty!" Crow yelped. Pull up!"
"I…I can't!" Dusty gasped, desperately trying to get his gearbox to respond.
"Dusty? Girls! Are you okay?" Skipper dived down after us.
Dusty's propeller started spinning again, allowing us to stay in the air.
"My…..my engine!" Dusty gasped.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! "Steady there." Propwash Tower, this is Jolly Wrench Seven." Skipper radioed the tower. "We're a flight of two plus two five miles north of the airport inbound for a precautionary landing."
Crow and I exchanged looks. What had just happened?
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Dottie did some preliminary work on Dusty to find out what had happened.
"I don't know what it was." Dusty said as Sparky and Dottie continued working on him. "We weren't doing anything different. Pylon turns, a vertical, like we do every day. I mean, I feel great…..now, but—"
"I've got a love-hate relationship with you, Dusty." Dottie sighed. "Love that you're my best customer, hate what you're doing to yourself."
"Come on, Dot." Dusty scoffed. "You saw me, Crow and Ashley at the Red Bulldozer race. We kicked Aston Martin out there!"
"You're not even listening to what I'm saying." Dottie muttered.
"And hey, Speed City Airfest is just a few weeks away!" Dusty noted. "And girls, I think if we get a little more speed coming out of our turns, really work that radial-G, we can definitely improve our time. Yeah! I'm feeling it! What about you two?"
We laughed from our spot under Skipper's wing.
"Well, no damage to the casing or compressor blades." Dottie reported, coming around to be face to face with Dusty.
"See? I told you." Dusty said confidently. "Just a hiccup."
Dottie's face didn't seem convincing. "But there is—"
"Dusty! Ashley! Crow!" Chug honked his horn as he came tearing into the garage. "What happened? Are you guys okay?"
"It's okay." Dusty assured.
"Was it your fuel?" Chug asked worriedly. "I tested it this morning! I always take a little sip. Gets me going."
"It's okay." Dusty repeated. "The girls and I got quite a little scared there…"
"Him more than us." I teased.
Dusty smirked. "But it's all good news. Dottie gave me the all-clear."
"Dusty!" Dottie suddenly spoke up. "Your reduction gearbox is failing."
Dusty paused. "My gearbox?"
"Your chip detector had a cluster of steel shavings on it." Dottie explained. "Flakes from the gears. That's what caused the trouble. The resulting 'hiccup' is what caused you to fall.
"Don't worry. A gearbox can be replaced." Dusty assured. "We'll order a new one from A-G Parts. It'll be here by the end of the week." He looked to Dottie. "Right?" Dottie's face fell, and her eyes looked everywhere except towards Dusty. The former crop duster didn't smile anymore, staring worriedly. "What?"
We all stared at Dottie, concern etched into their features. Dottie finally sighed. "Your gearbox…..it's…it's out of production. Long since discontinued. Can't even remember the last time I saw one."
"Why would they discontinue it?" Crow asked curiously.
"It's a complex piece of machinery." Dottie explained. "Must've cost too much to manufacture it."
"But Dottie…come on." Chug pleaded. "Can't you just build Dust a new one?"
"No." Dottie said. "It's too complex. It has to be factory."
Dusty could see this wasn't going in a good direction. "Well, I mean, there has…"
"From now on, you have to back off the torque." Dottie told the orange and white plane. "Keep it under eighty precent."
Dusty jolted. "What?! Eighty precent? Dottie, you've got me cranked up to 140. The girls and I need that to race!"
"If you push yourself into the red, your gearbox will fail." Dottie said.
"No, no, Dottie!" Dusty shook his nose, not wanting to hear or believe what the forklift told him.
"And then your engine will seize."
"Maybe the test that you did was wrong!"
"Dusty, listen!"
"But I've got a race coming up!"
"YOU'LL CRASH!"
Dusty went silent, staring at Dottie in shock like most everyone else did.
"You push yourself into the red, you'll crash." Dottie repeated.
Crow and I glanced at each other.
"Look, I'm gonna install a warning light on your panel." Dottie told Dusty.
"A warning light?" Dusty repeated, the shock making his voice weak.
"If it comes on, you'll need to pull power." Dottie instructed. "Slow down."
Dusty stared at the forklift, crushed beyond belief. "But….Dottie, you're…..you're saying…I…..I can't…" He looked to Crow and me. "….that we can't…race anymore."
Dottie stared at them sadly. "I'm so sorry."
Everyone went silent.