Chapter 6
Amarant's airship touched down in the new grassy clearing beside the Black Mage Village with a little whoosh of air. It was small, but it was state-of-the-art. Cid had given it to him for free – it was a prototype of Cid's current line of airship, the Interceptors. As far as prototypes went, it was quite good. Amarant had found zero issues with it, and, best of all, it was small – barely larger than a rather small ocean-going vessel.
The propellers grumbled to a stop and Amarant leapt over board, which was only about four feet down. He landed on three points, one being his left hand. He glanced at it and remembered that he still had a broken claw.
He stood up slowly and marched towards the village, glancing around at all of the new developments. At least twenty new huts had been built on this side of town, as well as a large building in the center of the village which Amarant assumed was a sort of community center.
A pair of mages ran out to greet him. "Hello! You're…Amarant, right? One of Zidane's friends?"
Amarant nodded. "Yeah, that's me. You two know where Vivi and Wonder Girl might be?" The mages glanced at each other.
"Vivi might be with his family. If this "Wonder Girl" you speak of is Mikoto, I bet she's by the stream," said one.
Amarant nodded. He passed by, glancing at the new huts as he passed. Rather spiffy.
The stream that ran through the center of town was indeed where Mikoto was located, although it took Amarant a minute or two to search both ends. She was, of course, at the opposite end, leaning against a tree, tossing pebbles into the stream.
"Hey," Amarant said, simply.
Mikoto glanced up. "Oh, hey. What do you want?"
Amarant chuckled. "Still great with manners I see. I guess that's what your brother taught you, though."
Mikoto simply stared at him.
"…Never mind. Look, I'm here for a reason." Amarant said.
Mikoto tossed another pebble into the stream. "Of course you are. That's why I asked what you want. So, what do you want?"
"I don't really want anything…other than a few answers," replied Amarant, leaning against a tree and crossing his arms. "Sent any Genomes on missions lately?"
Mikoto smiled slightly. "Do you think that I am their leader? That they all answer to me?"
The big redhead shrugged. "I just figured that they probably did."
Mikoto's face changed to a rather angry gaze. "Well they don't. But my brother would probably instruct me to give you an adequate answer, so I shall."
"And do you do everything that Zidane tells you to do?" Amarant asked.
Mikoto's face softened a little and she stared right at Amarant. "No, I do not."
Amarant smiled. They were kind of similar. "So…gonna tell me what you know?"
The blond girl nodded. "My answer may not be satisfactory."
Amarant shrugged. "Hey, whatever you can tell me…"
"That's the problem, then. I don't have a satisfactory answer to give. I don't keep track of where the Genomes go or what they do."
"Wouldn't Zidane want you to?"
Mikoto tossed another pebble into the stream. "Most likely. I don't feel obligated to look after them as if they were all my responsibility."
"Well don't the mages help out?"
"Not particularly. They cannot do much more than I. It is…difficult…to tell one Genome from another…besides me, of course."
Amarant grunted. "Well, I guess that's true…Well, then you could definitely answer my next question."
Mikoto stood up. "Which is?"
"Do any of the Genomes around here have silver hair? Y'know…like Kuja?" asked Amarant.
Mikoto shook her head. "All Genomes possess the same hair color. Kuja simply used magic to change his appearance. Are you going somewhere with all of these questions?"
"I saw a Genome in Luxor yesterday. He had silver hair. He spoke more like Zidane…y'know, less like you and the other Genomes. I just wanted to know if he came from here."
Mikoto shrugged. "It is very unlikely that any Genome exists other than Zidane and I who possesses a soul. I doubt it was a Genome."
"Oh, it was a Genome. No question about it," Amarant said. "You're not an easy species to mistake something for."
Vivi presently joined the pair. "Hi, Amarant. Are you here to visit?"
"Afraid not. I saw a silver-haired Genome yesterday and thought I should come ask you guys if you know anything."
Vivi shook his head, almost lost his hat, and firmly replanted it on his dark head. "All of the Genomes are blond."
"Yeah, I thought so too…," Amarant replied, running his right hand through his hair. "Well, sorry to cut this short, but I'm off to Alexandria to tell Zidane. Figure he should know. Later, Vivi."
Vivi waved as he walked off. Amarant waved goodbye to Mikoto and started walking away.
She stared down at the stream for a moment and then followed.
She caught up to him as he passed out onto the field. He turned to face her.
"What's up?" he asked.
"I am accompanying you to Alexandria. I'll not stay here any longer. Do not argue, or I won't make this pleasant for you."
Amarant chuckled. "Yeah, you are a lot like me."
The two boarded the airship and Amarant booted it up. "Why are you coming?"
The third Angel of Death glanced out the window at the village as the ship lifted off of the ground.
"Because I don't do everything that my brother tells me to do."
Zidane met Beatrix at the air cab station at the castle at precisely 9:55 A.M. She smiled and bowed as he stepped off of the cab, making him laugh. She was practically the one person in the castle who treated him as an equal, the way he wanted to be treated. She only referred to him as sire or his majesty or anything like that while talking about him or to him with nobles present.
The two descended the stairs from the arrival platform and entered the castle. Zidane was wearing the least regal thing he had worn within Lindblum Grand Castle in the past two years. It made him feel better to be next to Beatrix, who never looked very regal either.
Artania greeted them in the castle foyer and led them to the lift. He flipped the lever and turned to face Zidane.
"The Regent has something very important for you and Lady Beatrix to see, sire," said the minister. "It is his latest project. I believe he has mentioned it briefly to you before?"
"Yeah. He didn't say much, though. Just that it would 'revolutionize air travel as we know it', or something."
Artania chuckled. The bell dinged, and the lift gate lowered into the floor. "And here we are. The Regent is waiting in the conference room. Feel free to enter. If you'll excuse me, I must depart. There's been some trouble in the Industrial District that they're asking me to mediate. Take care!"
Zidane and Beatrix stepped off of the lift, smiled and waved, and Artania descended down below.
"Hopefully we'll have a new ship in our future soon," said Beatrix, grinning.
The pair entered the conference room. Cid was sitting at the end of the table, with Eiko beside him. She lit up when she saw Zidane enter.
"Zidane! Daddy, you didn't tell me that Zidane was coming!"
Cid laughed. "I didn't know. Artania doesn't tell me anything… Well anyway, greetings, you two! Have a seat."
"Hey Cid. How's it going?" asked Zidane as he sat down across from Cid. Eiko hopped out of her chair and pulled the one to his left out. Beatrix sat to his right.
"Great! Just terrific. My new system is absolutely perfect. I'm telling you, Zidane, it will revolutionize air travel," Cid replied. Eiko rolled her eyes.
"That's the only thing he's said for three months now. Mom and I are sick of it."
Zidane grinned. Cid chuckled. "Y'see, Zidane? This is what having kids gets you. But anyway, how are you two? And how's Garnet?"
"She's well, Cid," Beatrix said. "She's been rather busy lately…but she's doing well."
"I'm on vacation," Zidane said. "Gonna stay with Tantalus here for a while. I have some things on my mind, and…"
"I'd say he's earned it," Beatrix said, smiling.
"Well, let's get down to business, shall we?" Cid asked, clearing his throat and laying a sheet of paper out on the table before him. "My technicians down at Zebolt Yards have completed their inspection of the Red Rose. It is still sound, certainly. The power plant, however, is not. We did the best we could engineering a steam engine system for the Red Rose, but, at forty, it's no spring chicken. What sort of symptoms have you noticed lately?"
"Just on the way over, it sputtered and dropped a little four or five times. Once when we were about to dock," Beatrix replied.
Cid laughed. "I'll bet that was a bit of a shock, no doubt. Well, I'm not going to sugarcoat it – we can keep servicing the Red Rose every few months, but sooner or later, it's going to fail, and I for one would hate to be aboard when it does."
"Well, Regent, that's one of the reasons we're here today," Beatrix said. "We're hoping to have a new flagship built. I know that you're very busy with your projects, your new fleet, and expanding the city, but we really need a new-"
"Say no more, Beatrix. I'll begin work on it immediately! I need something to design my new invention around, anyway. So far I've only retrofitted the Hilda Garde VI to accommodate them, but I've yet to design a ship around them yet…yes, it'll be a masterpiece!"
Zidane grinned at Eiko, who rolled her eyes again.
"Come with me, you two. I'll show you just what I'm talking about. Eiko, do you want to come?" Cid asked.
Eiko shook her head. "I've seen it enough. Later, Zidane!"
Zidane and Beatrix stood up and followed Cid out to the lift. He grinned as he hit the lever.
"In my research, I've been searching for a new form of propulsion capable of higher speeds. So, I decided I needed to think outside the box. Steam wasn't going to cut it for this, no…I knew I would need something much more volatile. Capable of a boom, you know. This lead me to consider using oil."
"Oil?" Zidane ventured, knowing Cid was waiting for his response to begin another tirade.
"That's right, OIL, my boy! But not just any oil! Not olive oil. Not vegetable oil. Crude oil. Petroleum. It'll light your fire, if you'll pardon the pun."
"Petro…leum?" Beatrix asked.
"Yes! It's astounding stuff. Comes out of the earth. Decayed, compressed, bio-matter. About as flammable as it gets. But it can be refined. You can make it cleaner, lighter. You can make it burn hotter. And that made me wonder…what potential airship uses can it pose? That's when I came up with my new engine! Well, two new engines, actually! But enough said now. Wait until you see it in the shipyards."
The bell dinged and they departed. Cid lead the pair out across the walkway to the shipyards and onto another lift.
"I've been keeping my big projects down at the base level. Need a lot of floor space, y'know?"
The bell dinged and they departed. Standing on two fifteen-foot pylons was a long, cylindrical steel tube. A many-bladed fan, sort of like a propeller, was hooked into the front of the tube. The rear was empty.
"This, my friends, is the JET ENGINE!" He threw his arms out as if expecting something like swaying premier lights and confetti, but nothing happened.
At last, Zidane spoke. "That's…great, Cid. What does it do?"
"What does it do? Simple, my boy! It sucks in air through this end and forces it out of the smaller hole in the rear, creating propulsion! Petroleum is what drives the turbine. I don't expect it to catch on immediately, but I'm going to equip every ship in my fleet with a pair posthaste. And, most importantly, I'm putting a set on your new ship."
"So what was that second thing?" Zidane asked.
"Oh, right." He gestured down to his left, where a clunky hunk of steel with tubes jutting out of the side sat. "This is the internal combustion engine. It's nothing special."
"And it runs on petroleum?" Beatrix asked.
"Refined petroleum. Gasoline. I haven't managed to get it to work well, yet. I don't expect this will be in use any time soon. Nor do I expect to see the jet engine commercially available within the next twenty years. Very expensive to build, you see. But for Alexandria, I can spare a set."
Cid grinned triumphantly.
At last, Zidane raised his hand in the air.
"Yes?"
"Can we…see it work?"
"Oh…of course! How silly of me. Come, we'll take a spin on the Hilda Garde VI," Cid said, leading the pair out onto a dock where Cid's latest masterpiece, the sleek and form-fitting HG MK-VI sat. Two silver cylinders were mounted on the sides. However, it still had its propellers.
"I'm not forsaking the steam engine, of course. It's simply two new to disregard, and the jet is too unreliable to rely on completely. But when you need speed…woo boy, do you get speed."
They stepped on board and Cid quickly headed to the bridge. Zidane lingered on the deck for a moment to inspect the jets, and then ran into the ship.
"Okay, Zidane…I'll let you turn it on so you can get a feel for it. For starters, start the ship as you would any steam-powered airship," Cid said. Zidane performed the necessary steps and the propellers began whirring to life.
"Alright. Now take 'er out."
Zidane did as instructed and the ship lifted off of the scaffolding. He began gaining altitude.
"As you can see, the jets haven't been activated yet. That's the beauty of it. They don't need to be until you want them to be. The helium is still providing lift. The propellers are functioning normally, providing thrust. But say you want to go faster. Much, much faster. Flip that red switch up."
Zidane flipped the switch, and he heard the sound of something else whirring to life – air getting siphoned into some great mouth.
"The jet engines are active, but they are idle. Now, see that throttle beside the main one for the propellers? Push it forward to the first mark. Twenty percent engine power. But, throttle the propellers back twenty percent."
Zidane did as instructed. After a second or two, the speed of the ship began increasing, and it was soon moving roughly twenty percent faster than previously.
"Mind you that this is only at twenty percent engine power. Propellers are still running at eighty percent capacity. And we have seen a dramatic speed increase. But, say this isn't fast enough. Simultaneously throttle the propellers back to zero and the jets to one-hundred."
Zidane did. About five seconds later, the speed began increasing. Quickly. They were soon flying north across the Mist Continent faster than Zidane had ever thought possible. They were going at least five times faster than a standard steam-driven flight.
"Wow, Cid! This is sure something," Zidane said, glancing at the Regent, who had a smile akin to one either very naughty or very triumphant. Beatrix, on the other hand, looked terrified.
"And y-you're g-going to p-put one of these on our sh-ship?" she asked, clutching the railing tightly.
"Oh, not just one. They work best in pairs. Obviously it would be unbalanced to have just one on one side, and to have just one in the middle doesn't provide optimal thrust. So, there you have it," Cid replied. "Quite a beast, if I do say so myself."
Beatrix nodded. "Got that right."