Take Off!

Teslaimia smacked Emily with a pillow as she laughed, "You're going to drive your people into the ground if you keep up this pace! Why don't you slow things down and worry about building a stronger infrastructure so that your children or their children can see some of these things? You already created tall buildings and flying machines, the rest should be dreams left for the next generations, yes?"

Emily pouted again and said, "Mi~a! I know I am going fast, but I just want to see it done. I don't trust the people who come after me to know what I wanted."

"So the new economy you are asking for... You really want the people of the future to remember your intentions and want to continue your legacy? You really do want all the people to love you?" Teslaimia looked surprised.

Emily frowned at her, "You really make it sound like I am some kind of attention lover. I just want the people of Connaissance to be in love with the idea that it's the City of Tomorrow we are all trying to build. Didn't they come here for that reason in the first place?"

Teslaimia blinked at Emily and then slowly shook her head. "Emmy, most of the people who live in the city are here for opportunities to work and have a better life than their parents. Those lofty ideals are only what a few of the city founders brought with them and most of those people didn't have the discipline or drive to see it through. Didn't you walk around the city talking to people? What kinds of things were they telling you?"

"Mostly people talked about the air and how bad it was. I already managed to clean that up. Some of the others complained about the horse crap, we managed to clean that up as well. I think the only other things they talked about were things like making sure there would be enough food and clean water. Once the dam is finished we'll have plenty of water, and now that the airships are trading between our nations the food quality and selection is the best it has ever been here in the city." Emily proudly spoke.

Teslaimia nodded, "Did you hear them asking for flying machines, tall buildings, and trips off planet Hanston?"

"No, I see what you are saying. People want simpler things. A happy home, food, water, and air." Emily Frowned and then asked, "Then how do I get them interested in the future?"

Teslaimia shrugged, "I can tell you, even though the future you described sounds amazing, it's not on my list of concerns or dreams."

Emily's eyebrows raised, "I have never asked you what you are hoping for in the future..."

"That's right, my dream for the future is to see Phase four of your construction plan. I want to go listen to the Connaissance Philharmonic in a grand theater. I want to see more plays. I want to hopefully adopt a child and then have grandchildren. I want to see incredible places try exciting new foods and meet with King's and Queens." Teslaimia smiled, "I don't need to leave this planet when I haven't even fully explored the one I am on."

Emily nodded and sighed softly, "Do you ever wonder how you will be remembered?"

"I never did until I met you, Emmy, now I am just hoping that the statues of me that appear in your Churches will be the young cute me and not like a really old version of me. Now, shut off the light, I want to go exploring on your body."

*****

Amelia gasped as she saw the unconscious guard crumpled by the doorway. Gorki waved her inside and whispered in broken Langlish, "Nicolas will guard door, I will guard window, if you need help let us know."

Amelia looked at the airship that the Kreussians were building. She realized it was even better than her own ship. She couldn't tell if the boiler and steam engine would work, but she knew that the sails and rigging were proper. She found that the lift bag used on the Kreussian ship was well made and just needed gas to inflate. She quickly looked around the blacksmith's shop and found acid they used for etching and lead dust. She added water to the acid and then started to boil the mixture. After a couple of minutes, she asked Gorki in a whisper, "I need some fire to test the gas."

Gorki went to the opposite side of the blacksmith's shop and found a stick used to stir the hot coals in the furnace. He placed it into the coal until it caught fire and then brought it close to Amelia's bubbling acid bath. A huge ball of flame appeared in the air above the liquid Amelia sighed and nearly collapsed on the ground as she mumbled softly, "Lord Léon Jean Reno be praised, we didn't die."

Gorki took the stick back to the other corner before returning to the window he was guarding. Amelia arranged the opening for the chain of bags over the bubbling liquid collecting the gas as it floated up. Slowly the bags started to expand as the airship's empty skeleton filled up with the inflated bags. Gorki watched the entire process with carefully keeping his attention focussed when she did something different and then turning his back to Amelia so he could write down the entire process from start to finish in Kreussian for the men who would come after them to build new machines.

Amelia cried out, "Oh!" As the airship started to float off the ground.

Nicolas came sneaking over from the door and asked in a soft voice, "Is it ready to fly yet? That made a lot of noise just now, we might not have much time left."

Amelia nodded and said, "We need about thirty minutes. Do we have time?"

Nicolas waved to Gorki summoning him over he whispered in Kreussian, "She said we need thirty minutes, make sure those guards are ready to chase us when the time comes." Gorki started to move so Nicolas grabbed his arm, "And make sure those fucking idiots don't fire on the balloon. This thing could explode and kill us."

Gorki sped off and Nicolas whispered to Amelia, "Gorki is going to distract the guards, buy us the thirty minutes we need."

Amelia sighed as she looked at the structure of the balloon, "We have to over inflate it a bit to compensate for gas loss during the flight. If we climb too fast we'll release some gas, but we can't refill in it the air if we don't start with enough."

Nicolas whispered close to her ear, "I knew you were a real inventor. You shouldn't be so hard on yourself just because you haven't learned as much as your teacher. How about, when Gorki and I come with you to Langland we all study with your teacher together, hmm? It might be easier to learn if you have friends to help you."

Amelia felt tears in her eyes. She choked out, "Thank you both so much if it wasn't for the both of you... "

Nicolas gave her a hug, "Shh, it's alright. This is almost over now, just a few more minutes and we can escape from here forever."

Gorki came running back in stooped over and crouched down near the two of them and whispered in Kreussian, "The guards are ready. They will chase us out to the field where we will ascend up causing them to curse at us and shake their fists in frustration."

Nicolas patted Gorki on the shoulder and said in Langlish, "Gorki says the guards won't be here for another twenty minutes. We are safe for now."

Amelia nodded seriously as she continued to fill the bags. Twenty minutes later they could hear shouts in the distance in Kreussian. Nicolas came running over, "Amelia, we have to go they are on their way here. I think I hear the dogs."

She looked at the bag and said, "It's ready. You'll have to open those doors all the way and we'll push it out. I just hope we have enough clearance for this to fit."

The three of them guided the airship to the doorway and Gorki said in broken Langlish, "It needs to be as close to ground as possible to fit."

The top of the airship made a horrible scraping noise as they pushed it out. Amelia called out to them, "Grab the guide ropes! It's going to take off without us if you don't hold them." Amelia used one of the ropes to swing on board.

Gorki and Nicolas watched how she jumped aboard and followed her lead. Amelia busily made adjustments to the rigging and unfurled the sail. With a loud crack of the ropes, the airship took off up into the sky. Below the ship, the Kreussian guards began to shout at them shaking their fists in anger. One soldier even took off his hat and slammed it on the ground. Nicolas said to Gorki in Kreussian, "Holy shit, did you see the hat guy? I love him! Make sure you promote that guy. He's exactly what we need!"

Gorki looked at Amelia who was settling into her role as the pilot, "Lady Earnhardt we are free! Free!" He called out and then threw his fist into the air excitedly."

Nicolas took out a flask and raised it in a toast, "To Freedom!"

He took a sip and then handed it to Amelia who started to cry with a huge smile on her face. She lifted it and said, "Freedom!" Taking a drink before passing it to Gorki.

Gorki looked at her and nodded, saying in a more subdued voice, "To Freedom." He also took a drink before handing it back to Nicolas. "Lady Earnhardt, can you teach, please? I think we should each take turns sleeping."

*****

Nate Butler was standing on the bridge of the Zealous when the new second mate walked up to stand beside him, "Anything unusual to report sir?"

Nate pulled out his spyglass, "No, the north has been quiet, I can see why Captain Queeg enjoys this patrol route... Wait... Observation what am I seeing out the Northwest."

One of the crewmen on the bridge spoke through a Far Speak, "Captain Observation says that should be miss Amelia Earnhardt's ship."

Nate frowned, "Alright keep it under watch until she heads past our airspace. The last thing we need is to have her follow us into port. I heard Queeg got his ass chewed out for a week over that."

The new second mate slapped Nate on the back and said, "Go get some shuteye, sir, I'll keep eyes on it and make sure she goes back to Langland."

Nate nodded and said, "Alright, thanks, Frank. You know the routine. Wake the captain if anything serious happens or anything you feel might be serious."

The second mate smiled and nodded, "Goodnight sir."

*****

"You know that we're both going to be excommunicated for this, Albert." Cardinal Gibson shook out his writing hand.

Cardinal Pujols chuckled, "By who? I'm the Cheif Cardinal and you are next in line. Relax Bob, just imagine how many years into the future your work will be in the hearts and minds of the people. Did Lord Léon Jean Reno let Northern hordes stop him? Did our Lady of Connaissance allow our foolish Church to stop her? Of course not! Great figures in history don't bow to the pressure, they push through it and make their own history!"

"Well I am the only one writing and my hand hurts, why don't you pick up that quill, and help me." Cardinal Gibson grumbled.

Cardinal Pujols laughed, "I would write myself, but you called my penmanship, ghastly."

"Fine, but tomorrow we are going to hire some scribes. We need to start making copies anyway." Cardinal Gibson rubbed his sore wrist.

Cardinal Pujols grinned, "No, we have something much better here in Connaissance. They call it a printing press. That's how they make our flyers and print the newspaper. I already asked if they could print our book for us and they said they can make a dozen copies a week. A dozen! Can you imagine?"

"The abbey makes twenty a week, what's so amazing about a dozen?" Cardinal Gibson snorted.

Cardinal Pujols laughed and said, "There are three people in the shop. If we buy our own press, we can make a dozen copies per week per machine. If the abbey had a few of these presses they could make hundreds per week and not need hundreds of brothers to waste their time hand-copying pages. Remember the scandal when it was found that one of the brothers was drawing penises on every third page of the books he copied? We'd have no more of that nonsense."

Cardinal Gibson shook his head in awe, "Every time my faith starts to sway Lord Léon Jean Reno and Lady Connaissance show me a new sign I was wrong to doubt. You're right Albert. We can only push forward until the others read this new text and discover what we have discovered."