Safe

Aerrow held back a sigh as he reached his parked skimmer. He stroked the controls lightly, wondering how something so wonderful could have caused so much trouble. But it wasn't your fault, he thought to the bike, you weren't the one in control.

He knew it was silly to think of the skimmer as anything other than a mechanical object, but he felt a connection with her, and would be sorry when he had to say goodbye.

Grabbing a wrench off the worktop, Aerrow went through the regular maintenance checks before deeming his ride in top condition. He topped up the crystal converter and opened the hanger door. A cloudy night filled the sky, no stars visible tonight.

A day had passed, and the euphoria of passing quartiers had already worn off in light of the disastrous night.

Night patrol lasted four hours and Aerrow had the first shift. They would all be exhausted after this week's extra patrols, but Aerrow couldn't help but feel as though they deserved the punishment for letting Cole get the best of them so easily. Sky Knights should have more discipline.

Still, letting Cole and Batesson get away without even a verbal reprimand seemed unjust. Especially since Kato had the harshest punishment of all, and his dreams were over now. Aerrow swallowed.

There was nothing more to be done. They had petitioned Commander Marcus to reduce the sentence, but he had been as firm as Major Tom. Kato was expelled from the Academy, never to become a Sky Knight.

It was a shocking thought. To have come so far to get into the Academy, passing the entry examinations, passing the first quartiers, only to be turned out after one mistake. There was no nonsense here. At times it seemed easy to forget there was a war on, but this strict punishment brought it all back into sharp contrast. They were soldiers, training to be Sky Knights to win the war.

Aerrow pushed the dark thoughts away and mounted his skimmer. Within minutes he was in the air, setting a course for the terra's perimeter. The last scout passed him mid-air on his return to the hanger and waved in acknowledgment. Aerrow raised a hand in response and continued on to his path.

The cloudy night became a windy one, with regular gusts shaking the skimmer under Aerrow and forcing him to pull sharply on the controls to stay on course. But even with the regular winds, after an hour of circling the small terra over and over the monotony had long since set in and Aerrow longed to do some aerial tricks. He didn't think he should press his luck though, since this was a punishment and the Major had impressed upon them the importance of following the rules while on patrol.

Aerrow also didn't want to think what would happen if he missed something and the Academy was attacked because of him, slim though the odds of attack were.

As the latest gust of wind settled and Aerrow found a calm patch of air, he heard something he hadn't noticed before. There was a faint rattling coming from his ride.

Worried, Aerrow stood on his seat and examined his engine as best he could. The sound didn't seem to be coming from there, nor from the crystal converter or wings. Nothing was loose to be rattling, and he had checked everything thoroughly before taking off.

Aerrow sat back in his seat and looked at the controls in front of him. He heard the faintest of squeaks and realised it came from underneath the panel.

Pulling his legs back slowly, Aerrow cautiously lowered his head until he could see into the cockpit under the controls. Two wide eyes stared back at him.

Aerrow recognised the little blue creature immediately and laughed over his shock. "You! You're alive!"

The creature did not look very happy to be alive. It was sprawled on its stomach with all four limbs splayed to the sides, shaking violently and clinging on for dear life. Its eyes were so wide the white looked luminous and the brown irises were barely visible.

"Are you scared?" The creature gave a tiny squeak again and gripped the floor of the skimmer even harder. "Sorry, dumb question. But it's okay, really, it's totally safe. Come out and look."

Aerrow tried to coax the creature out, but it remained firmly attached to the floor. He reached a hand down towards it and was rewarded with a bloody finger and a panicked growl.

"Ouch! Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to startle you!" Aerrow shook his hand and wiped the blood away. Four deep indents showed the animal had sharp canines and wasn't afraid to use them.

Aerrow settled back into his seat, careful not to kick the creature by his feet, and resumed flying. He kept up a continuous stream of calm conversation, hoping the animal would respond well to being left alone.

After a short while he paused mid-sentence as he felt a small hand grip tight onto his leg. Looking down, he saw the creature crawling forwards towards the seat. It was sniffing him and looking around with wide eyes, but appeared less frozen in terror than it had been before.

"Hey buddy, come to take a look?"

The creature continued its careful inspection of Aerrow's legs and gradually came to stand on its back two paws, holding onto one of his legs with the front two. It was so small it barely reached halfway up his shin.

"You can't see anything from down there. Come on up. It's not the best night for stargazing but it's still a good view."

The pup regarded Aerrow suspiciously, but when he didn't force the matter and continued to talk reassuringly to it, it slowly crept up to his lap. It took one look over the edge of the skimmer and squawked in fright, curling up into a tiny ball and holding onto his thigh for dear life.

Aerrow laughed gently. "I know it looks scary, but you're safe with me. You won't fall. We're flying, and it's the best feeling in the Atmos." He sighed with contentment, his previous boredom washed away as he focused instead on the wind in his hair and the open expanse of sky ahead of him.

He spoke to the creature on his lap for what felt like hours. He tried to put his feelings into words, about how flying made him feel alive, as though he had been born to be in the sky, and he had no fear when he was up there. The creature appeared to follow what he was saying, even if it didn't fully understand him, and it gave little chirps in response to him.

It took some time, but the creature eventually looked out of the skimmer again. Instead of cringing back with fright it sniffed the air and looked around curiously. It then looked back at Aerrow, who was smiling down at it, and returned the smile with a chirp of delight. Aerrow laughed.

"Look who's getting bold now." The animal made another noise excitedly and started roaming around the skimmer, inspecting all the buttons and levers. Aerrow warned it firmly off the transmuter, explaining the difference between bikes and skimmers.

It was just as the animal was looking at the skimmer's handles that it happened. A gust of wind, larger than the previous ones, rocked the skimmer violently. Aerrow, having been half crouched in his seat to show the animal the controls, was thrown into the solid metal side of the cockpit.

All the breath was knocked out of him and his grip on the side of the skimmer went lax. Another blast of wind tipped the skimmer further over and suddenly Aerrow was airborne. For the first time since he got on a skimmer, he felt a flash of fear as the wind rushed past his face and he saw the dark ground far below him.

There was a roar of a skimmer engine and suddenly Aerrow's ride appeared beneath him again. He landed solidly on the wing and held on tight before sliding back into his seat. He looked down at the little creature in amazement.

The animal was standing on the very front edge of the seat, stretching up high to reach the controls. His ears were flat against his head and his eyes were wide again, but this time it looked to be in surprised excitement rather than terror.

"You flew the skimmer!" Aerrow smiled widely. "You caught me, thank you." He tentatively held out a hand to the animal, half expecting to be bitten again. The creature chirped at him, but this time leant forwards and allowed Aerrow's hand to rub through the fur on his head. It was soft but wiry, as though the animal was starting to grow out of his puppy fluff. Aerrow scratched behind one ear and the creature made a little sound of contentment and curled up on his lap.

"Thank you." He said again, amazed he had seemingly won the trust of this wild little creature. Who can fly a skimmer. Aerrow reminded himself. This animal, however wild, was not stupid. It understood what he said, and had controlled a complex machine to catch him when he fell. Who knew what else it could do?

Aerrow felt a surge of protectiveness towards the pup. The cadets had killed its mother, and now it was all alone in the world. But it didn't need to be.

"I'll take care of you." Aerrow said softly. "I'll protect you, I promise." Resolve hardened, Aerrow flew on into the night, the creature safe with him.

And that's all folks!

As I said, I had a brief plan for this story but can't see me finishing it to a high enough quality to post.

I hope you've enjoyed the journey anyway. It was fun reading through something I wrote nearly 10 years ago, even if it's not the amazing high quality writing I imagined it to be!

Take care and stay safe