F-601: Mundo Zargo Downport, Air Travel Hub

“That will be fine.”

The attendant seems relieved he doesn’t have to interpret the rules.

He hands over three printed tickets and directs them down to Gate 5.

Assuming they head there straight away, people are already boarding the flat-topped bus-sized vehicle through a boarding tube.  The aerostat itself is two-decked with many windows, a huge air intake on the front and four vectored-thrust pylons.  It sits on its pad on six spindly legs like a giant insect, its lower deck a rounded transparent bubble jutting out from the larger upper deck and almost touching the ground.

Internally, the upper deck seats are arranged in four rows longways, two rows each facing the windows along one side.  In the lower-deck blister are the pilot’s controls and the swivelling armchair-like premium seats in a long single row trailing behind. 

The last arrivals, Oliver, Lia and Prrri are directed to seats in one of the back rows on the top deck.

Anything before the aerostat departs or on the way there?