SHIP'S LOG:

The Eolas Anatolijus

The Golden Wolf 11/1/2026 10:51pm

sniff! sniff!

It was her, again.

"Trackers indicate she's rising, your highness. Into the sky."

In one of their machines, no doubt.

"We can still reach her, your highness."

The Dust Devils. It'll take you days to get them back in the jars, my queen.

"Unseal them, your highness?"

We won't let her slip through our paws a second time.

Julie Cairo, Esq. 7/6/2026 11:17pm

"Honestly, we'd be safer at a higher altitude," I said.

"That thing is heavier than it looks. But don't worry, the Bubo will get her stride. We're heading up."

But slowly. Easy to spot with a paraballistic telescope, even from over the horizon, with the moon lighting us up like this. We needed speed on our side.

"You know, we'd get back quicker if we hung closer to the ground. You see, the distance gets longer when the radius--"

"I know how flying works. I also know how being a target works."

"Uh... target?"

"If you follow my instructions, we won't be one."

The captain of the Bubo looked at me for a long time.

"You know there's a mandatory Danger and Potential Hardship fee built into all ZAT contracts."

"There will be no hardship if you get us up above the clouds," I said.

"POTENTIAL hardship. It's right in the clause. I thought you were a lawyer?"

I had and additional budget for eventualities.

"Fine. But now you're impeding things. Take us up, Mr. Micrathene, so we have the luxury of arguing about this once we've returned to Sh-khem."

Aaaaaaahwoooooooooooooo!!

And farther away from those wolves. Fennecs. Dogs. Whatever.

Aaaaaaahwooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!

Whitney Micrathene 3/9/2026 10:44pm

"Well, it does look heavy," I said. "A statue? A sarcophagus?"

"Honestly, it's a fossil," the lawyer said.

"Nothing the Bubo can't handle. Doesn't really even need a heavy lifter."

"You'll be happy for the extra power," she said. "Get it loaded up."

Julie Cairo, Esq. 11/7/2025 10:33pm

I didn't have faith this floating wreck was going to make it to Kle-hemet, much less be able to return with the BLACKBIRD.

"Don't you worry, your honor, she's tougher than she looks. Might be held together by scars, but she's strong," said @Whitney Micrathene.

"I'm a lawyer, not a judge," I answered.

"Well then quit being so judgmental!"

"What if we do go down? Do you have a jeep in your hold? Any kind of land transport?"

"You don't want to be traveling over the desert by land, either by day or night."

It's true the Bubo's engines ran quiet, and with the full moon over the clear desert skies we felt quite alone.



Aaaaaaahwoooooooooooooo!!

Whitney Micrathene 7/13/2025 11:05pm

The upfront money from the lawyer was just slightly more than it took to get the Bubo into good enough shape to make it to Kle-hemet and back, with something heavy.

"How 'bout some lunch, cap'n? This maintenance is hard work! Especially in the middle of the day, especially with this hot desert sun, and the lack of..."

Ok the upfront money was entirely spent.

"Zephyr Air Transport certified you said?"

It was the lawyer. She was back early.

"Check your watch," she said. "This is the time we agreed to."

Damn watch!

I handed her the Bubo's ZAT papers. But I didn't need her actually reading them.

"Why don't you come inside, up to my ready room. For some mint tea. My men are just putting the finishing touches on now, and we'll be on our way shortly. This way! Watch your step!"

Julie Cairo, Esq. 3/21/2025 10:42pm

The Bubo was a wreck.

"I'm sorry," I said. "The price I'd offered was for a fully certified, bonded, and licensed Heavy Lifter. That can fly."

"She can do the Kessel run less than twelve parsecs..." said the captain.

"What does that even mean?" I asked. "I'm not some tourist."

"Zephyr Air Transport certified!" He brought out a dusty ream of papers.

Admittedly, my options appeared to be limited. For a range fort there seemed to be a dearth of heavy lifters in port.

"Your representative seriously misrepresented your level of service. Do you know what Esq. means? I'm a lawyer." I handed the captain my card. This made the captain sweat even more in the heat of Sh-khem.

"Twenty-five percent of my original offer. And a twenty-five percent bonus if we're successful."

It's true I'm not a tourist.

Whitney Micrathene 11/26/2024 4:27pm

"She says she wants to go to Kle-hemet. And bring back something heavy."

Why Kle-hemet for gods' sakes, I wondered. Every local scrapper had been over that place twice. And it wasn't an easy trip, necessarily. If you ran into trouble it was a long way back, and the desert out there could be a bit unforgiving.

"Did she offer a price?" I asked.

There were only two other lifters in our class at Sh-khem these days, since the Hedgehog disappeared. In that very area. And the other two had steady contracts, on the payroll of a franchise out of the district capital. They didn't mind getting paid for being idle.

"Double what we would have quoted her."

Well, that settled it. The Bubo was definitely in the need of some repairs, and this job sounded like just the thing. Her balloons were just a little leaky, the frame was overdue for a bit of shoring up, and we'd really need to sew up a rip or two in the fabric. But we could definitely get some serious weight from Kle-hemet to here. If there really was anything there to pick up.

"When would she like to leave?" I asked.

Julie Cairo, Esq. 8/2/2024 10:54pm

The eggs were just right.

The clean little cafe at Range Fort Sh-khem was a welcome relief. I shook the sand out of my desert garb and blended in with the usual assortment of travelers and adventurers found in such crossroad towns. Sharply dressed young soldiers and the occasional veteran. But what was to be my next move?

After being marooned the in the proto-industrial ruins of Kle-hemet by the cheap clockwork replica of @Dr. Jonas Opal, things had gone quite poorly. And the general location of the BLACKBIRD was now known by the mysterious automatons who had intercepted my communications with the renowned doctor and betrayed me. My henchmen had been lost to the desert, and while I had only a small amount of capital at my disposal, I still had my ample wit and fortitude. This close to the BLACKBIRD, there was no way I could return to civilization without it. But for this I would need a ship, or substantial land transport of some kind...

Julie Cairo, Esq. 4/10/2024 11:36pm

"Yes, no, I'm sorry. A bit of an accident, but, um, yes..." I fumbled. The more I tried to push against the Grub Person the more stuck I got.

"Ewwwwwww! No touch!!! No touch!!!!" The Grub Person began to cry.

With no seatbelts in the tuber cart, I was flung around quite violently during the trip. Frankly, if I hadn't become adhered to the Grub Person I might not have made it at all.

"No touchee...." the Grub Peson sobbed.

A pair of Grub People in hazmat suits and hard hats arrived on the scene, and began to spray us down with white foam. It tasted like mint, but soon I was able to extract myself from the Grub Person.

The two Grub People in the hazmat suits glared at me furiously, then went to comfort their fallen brethren.

"Right then," I stood up, brushing off the foam. "Now where exactly...."

In the somewhat sticky emergency I'd been in, I hadn't been able to take in my surroundings. We were in a wide shallow cave, a sort of subway station, but not only for the Grub People. There were humans here too, Desert people, and military, all bustling around on the platform. The sign on the cave wall read:

RANGE FORT SH-KHEM

Julie Cairo, Esq. 12/21/2023 11:48pm

"No touch! You no touch!"

The Grub People did not like to be touched. They could handle touching sand, rock, and each other. But they were sticky to human flesh.

"No touch! It's ok!" I held up all my fingers. Then I slid over the big tuber to the far side of the tuber cart. It was nice enough for them to let me ride their tuber cart caravan in what they assured me was the direction of a range fort. They were happy to get me out of their tunnels and out of their way as simply as possible.

The cart started to pick up speed. It was part of a small chain of carts, each carrying three or four of the giant tubers and two or three Grub People. Soon we were racing out of the grand cavern and its iridescent fungi walls and into a smaller, darker tunnel.

I glanced over at the nearest Grub Person on the way in. The one who had spoken to me. It moved it antennas and clicked its mandbles in a way that felt succinctly like it was laughing at me.

It was then the lights went out and the carts plunged into the darkness at breakneck speed.