Dustin moans and rolls over in his hammock bed. The bed is swinging with every movement but holding him up quite well with how the ship is even flying. Dustin blinks awake and groans as he hears loud knocking from above from the crates and cargo being placed around. He sighs and sits up to look around the room and sees a few work clothes and tools on a bench across from his bed while a small table dresser stood at the end of the room—all in a tiny room package.
"Another day, another life," Dustin mutters as he gets off the bed and his clothes to put on.
Going over to his workbench, he found what he had been working on last night and started to tinker with it again. 'Let's see what you will do now,' Dustin thinks before pulling out a light crystal and places it inside the sphere.
The transparent sphere on the stand starts to brighten and shine light rays all over the small room. As it did so, see-through shapes appear above it just a foot away. Soon the shapes formed into terras from one of the spare maps he had borrowed from his father. "Seems reasonable enough. The detail is excellent. Though it could do a bit with spacing," he thinks aloud to himself.
'Overall, it's a good attempt. Not bad for a thirteen-year-old,' Dustin thinks.
Dustin hums and taps the sphere, making sure it holds up against regular bumps and taps. "Better get going before I get a door pounding," he mumbles and grabs the rest of his clothes. He then starts to head outside, and he found people setting boxes of stuff down. When he peers into one, he saw most was of dried fish and parts for skimmers.
"You know the rules here. Only on paper can you see…unless it is way heavier than regular or lighter," a man says, walking up to him.
"We paying some sky knights a visit?" Dustin asks.
The man smiles. "Yeah. I'm sure you know of the Rex Guardians?" he asks, walking past him to find some more papers on more of the crates.
"Then we won't be selling the parts then, huh?" Dustin asks.
The man smirks back at him. "Oh, they will need it as soon as I am a little convincing. You never know when you need spare parts," he touts happily.
"Yeah, but these parts are too advanced for the code," Dustin says to his father.
The man gives a wink. "Not if we limit them before giving it. Quite easy by removing a slot for the crystal. Nothing in the code about fixing up the parts."
'Sometimes dad is a bit too optimistic, but I guess that is where I get some of mine from,' Dustin thinks sighing as he follows him up the stairs.
All around the crew were wearing patches of outfits for the job. Mostly rugged to handle the workload they all face and deal with. He can even see the metal pieces of armor some wear and how they all seem patched up with different parts. For everyone, this is normal, and having a spare part of anything means you are in good shape.
"Will we be making a round trip to Terra Blizzaris and Terra Mesa?" Dustin asks as they get up to the bridge.
The man nods while throwing some papers behind him. "Yep. And have to get most of these food deliveries done quickly, or they will spoil soon. And I don't want to smell like fish. Do you?" he asks, leaning down to Dustin.
'Dried fish stays fresh longer though,' Dustin thinks as his father starts the engines.
"Now, how about you get to your duties? Not everyone fits in small holes," the man quips, smiling.
"Yeah, I got you, dad," Dustin says, heading off.
The ship wasn't much to bring to an airship show. It was for cargo and long term living while maximizing cargo space. So it wasn't the most natural thing if you had smaller than what Dustin has or living with another person in a room. At times, they would always have cargo. No matter how small, they would take it if on the way and only a few days' detours. And life on the ship is necessary as his father said. A busy mind is a healthy mind though he does allow breaks for at least a week on a terra at a time. The last time was Terra Neon, and he hopes they can stop by there next time. But considering most of their deliveries are out of that direction and terra, not bloody likely.
As his father had said, though, he does have a great healthy mind. Dustin has been able to help around where others can't reach and work without shutting something down or ripping it out. So they have been able to shave days off their travel. But if others thought Dustin could do it without injury, they are wrong. Parts of his hands and arms all have permanent bruises or burn marks on them from getting too close to the hot pipelines. Which is something he covers up with a pair of work gloves and a long-sleeved jacket that is useful when he steps outside. His short cut hair waves lightly among the steam as it blows out of a pipe joint beside him. He stops walking and proceeds to shut off the line with a reminder to tell the crew to get it patched up. At the end of it all, this ship has more tape than it does new metal.
"We really need to do a refit," Dustin says to himself.
The pipe behind him steams out from the same joint again, and he sighs when he hears it.
'I am glad I don't have to deal with their over-inflated egos,' Dustin thinks, watching his father haggle with the Rex Guardians.
The leader seems to be having a disagreeing expression on his face as they kept talking. And his father is in the same boat, but it's more hidden than anything. So it could be that the price isn't good for their liking. Maybe a little incentive could help, but Dustin doubts his father would want him in the middle with this. So he hung back and watched the show. A very heated and boring presentation. If he has to do this for a living, he needs patience.
'Oh, I see an opening,' Dustin thinks as the representative of the Rex Guardians seemed to be caught off guard by something his father had said. It took a moment, but his father caught it and started driving the point in and got the representative to agree to the price.
Dustin smiles as his father starts to walk back with the signed papers in hand. 'Great. Now, what can we grab from here? Guess the usual if it's going to be a slow ride to the market,' he thinks to himself and walks over to the loading dock. "Had fun?" he asks teasingly to his father, who seems to smirk back.
"The rex guardians always drive a hard negotiation, but now we are going to the market to buy quality lumber," his father informs.
Dustin smiles. "Too cheap on tech, huh?"
"On trading in general," the father informs.
Dustin takes the papers out of his hand to look them over. "Geez. That much? Oh well. I will see where we can place it."
"I will be back with the lumber soon," Dustin's father says, heading out.
Dustin hums and waves at him as he leaves. "Don't get a splinter," he jokes before turning and walks towards the cargo hold.
'Terra Masa, home to the interceptors. One of the most offensive specialized squadrons of the sky knights,' Dustin says, working on his map in the cargo hold with the lumber. He sat atop of one of the piles and kept craving the map into the sphere. A crystal tipped blade in hand as he slowly gets the inner edges of another terra. And it was so painstakingly small; he had to get magnifying glass attached to the sphere base to work on the move.
'I had to push. I couldn't make it just for terras. I wanted all of Atmos. What a visionist I am,' he sighs, thinking before going back to carving. 'I better get a big fat paycheck out of this once it's over. Cause I doubt my hand will return to normal.'
"Terra Mesa is coming up. Everyone has to prepare the wood for moving," his father calls over the pipes.
'I guess I best see to the landing gear to see if any problems are evident,' Dustin thinks getting up, leaving the map and project behind to go work.
The massive ship honks loudly over the terra and starts to land in front of the small town. Dustin hums while watching how the landing gears are working and smiles. The metal is creaking and bending slightly as expected when it hits the ground. Then he sees a group approaching the ship while it settles on the ground. 'That must be the Interceptors,' he thinks while looking over the entire group as the cargo door opens. All of them looking pretty normal and nothing out of the ordinary.
He puts on his best smile as his father comes down the steps, and the group comes up the door. "Hi there. You must be the Interceptors. And the terra representative to handle the paperwork?" his father asks, stepping up behind him.
From there, Dustin mostly tuned it out as he worked on the aircraft. Though, he tends to look up and watch the group grab the cargo and materials. And then he remembers something. "Shoot. I left it on a pile," he realizes and rushes back to where he left the sphere. When he rounds the corner of one of the crates, he stops and ducks back to watch. A purple-haired girl is holding up his project and already using it to the show terras he has been able to crave in it.
"What is this?" the sky knight asks.
Dustin hums and sees she is entranced by what it is doing and smiles. 'Maybe not so bad,' he thinks happily before walking over. "Hi there," he spoke up and made her jump with a knife pointed at him. "Easy!" Dustin calls and holds his hands up.
The girl frowns before slowly putting her knife away. "Sorry. You startled me. You wouldn't happen to know what this is?" she asks, holding up the sphere projector.
"Yeah, it's something I have been working on while the ship flies between terras," Dustin informs.
The girl leans closer to him and notices something. "You're…pretty young."
"So?" Dustin asks.
"And you made this?" she asks, holding up the glowing sphere. "You must be pretty smart. An inventor, maybe."
"I have always tinkered," Dustin says, a bit embarrassed.
The girl smiles at his embarrassment. "Well, it is nice. Maybe it can be used to replace maps. But we need a flat one…think you can make one?" she asks, interested now.
"Ah…not sure. I didn't think about it…also, you are looking at it wrong," Dustin says before pushing the button on it.
The girl became surprised when it glows even more and starts to show the hologram terras above the sphere in a more significant fashion. "Okay…that's surprising. But I think one of your terras is wrong. This one should be here," she points out, pointing to one and then moving her finger to another spot. "This is why flat would work."
Dustin scrunched up his face and grabbed the map and held it up to check.
The girl smiles softly. "Don't beat yourself up over it. I'm sure someone will pay a lot for it."
"It's also hard to get it right since I have to carve tiny spots at a time," Dustin says to himself.
Now the girl looks at him in pity. "If you want…I can get you another glass. Maybe flat and a little easier to handle?" she suggests smiling.
"No, it is fine. I can still do something with it," Dustin assures.
"Hey Starling, what is taking so long!?" one of the Interceptors calls.
"I'm coming!" Starling calls to them before giving an apologetic smile at him. "Sorry. Got to go. Good luck on your project," she says before running off.
"Thanks," Dustin says, going back to work and preparing a spot for the fire dust his father was going to trade for.
'A little heat and a little fun. Maybe I can use a heat tipped crystal knife,' Dustin thought to himself as he tries to carve corrections after looking over the maps again. 'Could be better and allow a smoother fine-tuning…did it get colder?' he thinks and wonders before looking out the window. He hums when he sees the ice and snow and smiles at who could live here so comfortably.
"Get your jackets, people. Terra Blizzaris is coming up. Try not to trip in the snow," his father jokes, and there was an echoing around the shop of laughter.
Dustin sighs and moves out of his room. This time he is leaving the sphere behind as he doesn't want to lose it again. As he walks, he grabs a coat and slips it on. Where he even sees everyone heading back to their rooms to grab their jackets and clothing. "Also, we are going on transports for the cargo. We got teams coming in for it," his father calls and warns.
"At least the crystals don't take up as much room as the lumber did," Dustin says, heading out.
When the door opens up, he immediately jumps back when a snowmobile rides up the ramp and stops before him where he was standing. "You could call out," Dustin mutters dryly as more vehicles stop near the first. And all of them being ridden by a furred and long-eared creature.
"Where's the fun in that, eh?" the guy asks, shrugging and smiling with his broken teeth showing. His winter clothing is hugging him tightly while letting Dustin see that most of them are like regular humans but also different, with mainly their digitigrade legs being long and thin that lead to three big claws as he knows from reading the books. Dustin considers them the most interesting thing, along with wallops and merps.
"Come on now. We need to get these to the storage so we can get back to snow sports, eh," another says.
Dustin sighs as he wonders how others deal with their speech long-term. "Yeah. Got your cargo front and center," he says, leading them to the fire crystals and some food crates as well. He gives a pat to a few boxes and then points to another set. "That's your spare parts over there."
"Aren't you boys forgetting something?" a female voice says before Dustin hears someone blowing a bubble.
"Right here. Who's the leader and representative?" his father asks as he walks up. His hands are fumbling with the paperwork and finding the right ones.
"That be me." Dustin tunes out the rest while looking over their vehicles. His mind does wonder about how it all works when compared to others with tires. But then his mind also wonders if these guys can work anywhere if they are called to trouble. "Admiring the gear?" he hears behind him and then a bubble pop.
"You forwent tires in favor of complete snow specialization," Dustin observes.
The blizzardian chuckles. "Yeah. It's how we live and how we play," she jokes while stepping up beside him. "I can bet that you have ridden on the regular skimmers, eh?" she guesses, smiling and blows another bubble.
"Nope. Not really. And it was only for smaller deliveries if the ship can't land," Dustin replies while waving a hand in the general direction to his side. The girl looks over and sees a beaten down and busted skimmer that should be sent to the scrap yard. She raises an eyebrow when a mirror falls off it and ship worker nearby groans in frustration towards it. "Gets the job done," Dustin finishes as he still admires their skimmers. "So doesn't that mod make them run slower on anything, but snow?" Dustin inquires.
"Kinda. But gets the job done, eh?" she teases with the same tone. "You have your way, and we have ours."
"Must need so much more maintenance after going off the snow," Dustin observes, thinking it over.
"You have no idea," she mutters to the side quietly. "Since it looks like you haven't ridden that death trap," she points out towards the skimmer losing the other mirror, "How about I take you for a spin? Maybe you can see how well it works," she suggests smiling.
"Um…that depends on how long we will be staying in port," Dustin says, looking to his dad.
His father smirks all the while when he listens in on the two. "Oh, the engine might freeze up. Have to check them out. And that might take a few days," he says cheekily.
"I guess that answers that," Dustin says, smiling over to the girl.
The girl laughs and moves to her skimmer. "Get on and don't pull my ears," she playfully teases.
"Can't reach," Dustin says, taking a seat behind her and wrapping his arms around her stomach.
The girl now turns to him and blows another bubble. "Name's Suzy-Lu," she greets while turning the skimmer on again.
"Let's see what you can do," Dustin says, challenging a bit.
Suzy gives a toothy grin and revs off the ramp, creating sparks along with the metal sheets. Dustin grips his arms around her tighter as they were flying around in their seat. "Not so great on metal!" he calls as they drive off.
"Well, now we are in the snow!" Suzy calls.
Dustin lays himself against her back while he hears her laugh. "Are you always this happy and exciTED?!" he yells over the engine noise when they jump over a snowbank.
"Hold on! We will be doing some tricks on the next one!" Suzy yells.
"This is crazy!" Dustin yells while they drive off a cliff edge, and Suzy spins the skimmer backward. With Dustin yelping when he felt himself almost fall off the seat before landing back down. Dustin pants heavily before picking his head up to look at her. "You are crazy."
"Oh, just enjoy the ride," Suzy informs.
Dustin sigh and lays himself against her back again. "…I can try," he mumbles before moving his arms and wrapping tighter around her. "How about uphill and downhill? Maybe see how fast we can get?"
Suzy chuckles. "A speed demon, eh? Alright," she says excitedly and revs the skimmer up a hill. Dustin feels his whole body pulled back and leans against her back again. "What do you think so far?"
"Needs more torque, less power," Dustin replies and smiles at how the skimmer is handling the snowy hill.
Suzy smirks and revs the engine, sending them faster up the hill before driving over it. Dustin yells out behind her as they fly in the air and land back down on the tall cliff. A massive metallic smash sounds out from the skimmer, which reverberates through them. "That doesn't sound good," Dustin says in worry.
Suzy waves him off. "It will be fine," she says, smiling and revs the engine to the max. The engine is drowning out the noise of the snow before hearing creaking. "Uh oh…" she could only say when a crack and snap sound out and sends them tumbling over to the side. Both cry out as they fall into the snow and start to roll down it.
Suzy pants and looks to see Dustin trying to grip at the snow to stop himself, but it wasn't helping and making things worse. She then notices that a piece of the skimmer slides by her, one of the skies. Suzy reaches out and grabs it before grabbing Dustin by his arm and stabs the ski piece into the loose snow. Dustin grunting when he felt the full stop and watches the skimmer tumble down the hill to a crash at the bottom.
"Knew I should have had those things looked at," Suzy mumbles while they gain their footing.
"So much for it being fine…think it is salvageable?" Dustin asks.
Suzy smiles and pulls him to his feet. Dustin even looking to how she is standing and sees her claws digging into the snow. "Yeah. We run these things into the snow all the time. It will…" she says, patting his back.
"Please don't say that. I feel like it's always a jinx in this world," Dustin interrupts, and Suzy looks at him with a weird expression before they hear an explosion. "Case…in…point…" he groans, and they both look to see the skimmer now in pieces and on fire.
Not long after, four more skimmers came up. "Pulled a bit of a hoser maneuver, Suzy?" one of the squaddies teases, seeing the wreck.
"Oh, quiet. At least we had fun. Don't cha think?" Suzy says, grinning towards Dustin.
Dustin gives her a look. "I am tempted to give our junker. But I won't. Dad will be mad. But yeah. It was fun," he chuckles and looks towards the wreckage. "For the most part."
Suzy keeps patting his back before grabbing his shoulder. "Don't worry. I will have a new skimmer ready for us to ride and have fun again. I needed to repair that thing anyway," she shrugs while another explosion comes from the wreckage.
"Well, no need to let this go to waste. Hotdog or marshmallows?" another squaddie asks.
Dustin smiles towards Suzy, and she shrugs. "Let them have their fun. Why not join in? Bet you won't have food over skimmer wreckage again."
"Fourth this month," another squaddie chimes in.
Dustin groans before sighing. "Why not? Might taste great with fuel crystals instead of fire-based."
"See? He gets it," the first squaddie says.
Dustin smiles towards Suzy now. "You guys are more fun than anyone else," he notes before following the others with Suzy right behind him after grabbing some food out of the skimmers.