An odd occurrence began above the plateaus of Heruin, a crackle there...a spark here. Lightning began to grow from different points that seemed to coincide with the shape of a circle. How odd indeed. Quickly the hiss and pops of electricity could be heard all over the small camp of Sarheed. Soon the sky almost seemed to be swallowed by this display, which did not seem to worry the villagers much. Something is always welcome to break up the monotony of desert life, you see. It wasn't until something appeared between the bolts of electric light; a small man, wooden it would seem, pointing towards the horizon materialized at the center of the somewhat circle followed closely by the rest of the airship known as the Phoenix.
"Where are we, Jules? I need answers!" Captain Hart tossed the map into the bin at the navigator's desk. "Useless! Does this look like Vernoth, the last ice planet of the Deruin star system?" His face was changing color to a sharp red. "I ask again, -where -are -we?"
"It would appear we are in the desert, Captain!" Splunker, the chef, stated proudly as the remaining crew members on deck chuckled harmoniously.
"Do you think me daft, Splunk? I know it is the desert! I have eyes! I find myself wondering which desert, what planet is this? I would settle for a star location at this point." The Captain's eyes shot invisible daggers at Jules as he collapsed into the comfortably worn velveteen commander's chair that sat center stage.
As the crew bickered over minute details, like which dimension they had ended up in, the villagers of Sarheed were getting quite the show. The airship had finally cleared the electric blackhole from which it had sprung, drifting over the terribly small desert town, as the lightning oval began shrinking...and shrinking, until it disappeared completely from existence. Sadly, the crew had no idea what a commotion they had caused in the dull streets of Sarheed, and continued on their path until they cleared the horizon and fell out of view on the curious villagers. This unexplained event would become quite the talk of Sarheed one day, but that is for another story.
The Navigator flipped through the papers piled upon the station furiously, until she finally found the star chart she had needed. "It appears we have somehow crossed over into the Jahlitan quadrant of the spiral, Captain. For that," Jules lifted a slender gloved hand up to point at the sun, still high in the sky, "is Numina, the Guiding Star. I would remember it anywhere, in fact, I would wager my life upon it."
"Numina?! That is nearly fourteen leaps further than Vernoth. Do we know which dimension this is?"
"I plotted accurately for the Deruin system. Six notches over, see," Jules demonstrated where she had last positioned the large dual brass knobs on either side of the control board that had been gifted to the Phoenix long ago, one of the last 'Portal Generators' known to their home planet. If it weren't for that piece of borrowed technology, the Phoenix would simply be an everyday steam powered airship."It was set accurately, the only thing that could have affected the plotted course I set in the navigation controls would be..." Jules set a finger against her bottom lip, the soft cotton fabric of her glove catching on one of many dry cracks in her pouted lips, the dry desert air wasn't agreeing with her. She had to think.
"Well, it does seems a bit warm for an ice planet!" Cecily, or Synge, as she was known to the crew, had flipped open the hidden wooden floor hatch that lead down to the steam engines almost on cue. With her arrival a flood of steam and soot barreled into the prim, clean control deck. The youngest member of the crew, she was still an adult by most civilizations standards. Her bright auburn hair, a wild shade of orange, along with her love of engine rooms and steam powered machines had earned her the name 'Synge' when she was just a child. It seemed only the Captain called her by Cecily, a name which made her cringe upon hearing it.
Synge toppled out of the trap door, somersaulting onto her heavy booted feet. "I just knew your navigation adjustments weren't enough for that new steam propeller I just finished attaching, Jules! I tried to tell you, but you were buried nose deep into that boring ol' blue book."
"It's not just some scrounger's book, Synge! That journal contains all the detailed charts of -every- dimension and -every- star system we have -ever- visited. I would venture to say 'tis the most important thing aboard this ship." Jules huffed up, straightening her back and spinning her upturned nose in the opposite direction of Synge.
"Enough bickering, Ladies!" The Captain rose once more from his haughty chair and walked to the glass wall of windows that stood to the front of the control deck. He let out an exasperated sigh, "I say we stop the fighting and work towards avoiding that sandstorm."
"What standstorm?" The rest of the crew said in unison.
"That one," Captain Hart pointed directly at the swiftly incoming wall of dust clouds. Like an ocean of sand breaching the shores, the storm traveled over the endless dunes of the Heruin desert as if it were meant just for them.
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 2:21 pm