The Art of Failing Mad Science

Chapter 3: Meeting a New Friend While Flying Over Who Knows Where

The boarding passed in a blur. We rode the elevator up to the very top of the tower, turned, and walked over to bridge C13. Mom had been right in guessing that the airship flying overhead would be mine. It was tied securely to the bridge, swaying to and fro gently like a boat while employees refueled it. I looked at the people who would be my fellow passengers. There were a lot of people there, but I noticed that there were a few other high school aged kids present, and a couple even had pet carriers like me. A second look around revealed there to be about six or seven others between my and my sister's age. During my sweep I spotted a man who drew my eye, skulking near the pass check. I must have stared, because after a moment he looked up. Directly at me.

I drew in a sharp breath. He was a smod. His posture was slouched, his hair was unkempt, and his outfit consisted of a stained shirt and pants topped by a heavy looking trench coat. He looked to be middle aged, with a salt and pepper beard to compliment his mane. It was not any of this that truly gave his occupation away, however. It was his eyes, more specifically his right eye. The pupil itself appeared a rotting green from far away, and the iris ringed it with a dark frame. The part that could normally be called the "white" of the eye could be more appropriately labelled the "yellow" in his circumstance. I was sure that, if I got close enough, I would be able to see the rune he had earned when he went mad. I found myself unwilling to hold his gaze for more than a few seconds, but looking away was impossible. It was he who broke the stare when the intercom announced that our ship was ready for boarding.

I looked at mom. She was having trouble keeping the tears back now, but she was smiling broadly. She hugged me to her tight. Pammon squeaked his own farewell from inside his carrier. After the embrace she put her hands on my shoulders and held me out in front of her, and looked directly into my eyes.

"Nona, have courage. You are an amazing, talented, and very intelligent girl. Where you are about to go, you will have questions, you will be confused, you will be overwhelmed. Once the first week is over, you will be able to email or call me at the booths, so don't hesitate! I love you honey, good luck!" and then I was shunted into the line before I could ask any of the ten thousand questions that she had just opened up in my mind. I tried to look back, spot her among the crowd of parents and family waving goodbye, but she was nowhere to be seen. The line pressed me forward still. I had my ticket scanned, and then I was out on the bridge, walking up the plank, passing through the door and entering the cabin.

There was a flight attendant standing just within the entrance. She was stopping each of us as we entered, and appeared to be directing us to our seating locations. She took one look at me, Pammon, and my ticket and directed me to the cabin in the back of the ship with a wink. I turned and walked down a seat-lined isle towards the door. The insides of this cabin were nothing special, not much different than the planes used to be. The entire space had four rows of seats, each row was two seats wide. At least all passengers could get out without crawling over anyone. When I reached the back of the cabin, a second attendant was waiting. She opened the door for me as I approached, and closed it behind me quickly. What I saw on the other side took my breath away.

The cabin looked twice as large, with red velvet carpet, huge windows, tables, and cushioned seats that reminded me of booths. The whole setup made the place look like a classy restaurant. I looked at my fellow cabinees and saw they were all teenagers like me. I recognized a few from the terminal, while others must have been here for a while already. Many were relaxing, chatting, or playing with strange objects. As I walked forward I had to duck quickly as an errant screw flew my direction. I chose a seat in the back right corner of the cabin. Nobody else was there, and already I was beginning to feel the confusion my mother had mentioned.

After half an hour, I felt the airship push off from the bridge. After me, no others had entered our back room. Comfortingly, I noticed that I wasn't the only one who appeared a little lost or out of place. Each corner held freshman, muttering to each other and looking about nervously. Nobody but me had occupied my corner, but I wasn't moving again for fear of being hit by miscellaneous projectiles. After I spotted some others playing with their pets out in the open, I decided to risk letting Pammon out. He was happy to be free, but appeared just as deterred by the rest of the cabin as I was and decided to curl up on my lap instead of exploring. That was fine by me.