7-305: Flying to Settlement
Amelia nods and ensures they are safely buckled in and their luggage is secured – the seats give a sense of luxury, but they do have 5-point harnesses. There are fold out tables for working en route and squeeze bottles of water in the seat pockets.
The pilot closes the door and goes around to the front cabin, shortly after that there’s a whirring noise as the vehicle’s six propellers spin up.
Amelia’s voice, over comms, into the cabin: “Stand by for zero gravity.”
The Grav Plates are activated and in-cabin gravity disappears. Shortly after that, the AeroStat lifts off the pad and over the buildings of MaPaCoA, gaining altitude.
The window view is quite pretty, the vehicle is flying into the the setting star and golden shadows are visible on the ground and in the cabin. Ahead, the star is dropping toward the horizon below dark clouds, and it is not long before it is dark.
Just before half-way into the trip Amelia says, “We’re just going to make a diversion to avoid the worst of the bad weather ahead, might be a few bumps Mers, stay buckled.”
AeroStats usually fly level and steady, but there are some g-forces to be felt as the vehicle is flown around storm cells. On a couple of occasions, rain streaks down the windows and can be heard hammering on the hull.
What will Oliver do during the trip?
If Fromm is sitting across from him he will write up a report on his LDA. Else he will see if he missed something in the Abbas files the vizier gave him at MaPaCoA. Or both if time permits.
I’ll write the full report myself when I have time. For now I’ll say it’s probably 1-3 Paragraphs and Oliver won’t need to spend much time pondering what to type.
Oliver will also actually spend some time putting invention notes in his LDA to form an alibi for why he has two PDAs. One’s for hobbies and the other for work.