City Docks

Tentcher twitched nervously, checking for the umpteenth time the grubby collection of notes he had clenched in his proto-hand under the dim lamplight. Dockworkers and pedestrians ignored him, although he shivered a little with every footstep. The odds that whomever owned this airship would just show up were slim, he realized now, and the odds that they would hire him as a mechanic were even slimmer. This had been a bad idea. He should probably just go home.

But as tempting as it was to abandon the whole enterprise and crawl into his home (Tentcher lived on the underside of the docks, where the housing prices were nonexistent by virtue of downward gravity) something kept him glued to the spot. He was dimly aware that he wanted to serve on an airship again. Life in Central City had not been the quiet respite that he hoped for. Perhaps it was some dim desire for the familiarity of airships - the small space, the hum of engines, feeling every single vibration and shudder that happened. Maybe for that reason he had felt strangely compelled when he had seen the advertisement. A small, civilian ship, all the familiarity without the fighting and the hierarchy... it could be what he needed.

The docks were a bustling place at night. With the cargo ships stopping their journeys and several people so far away form home, the brothels and inns were always booming. Streetlamps illuminated the street as dockworkers left for their nightly socialization. Even the docks themselves were busy with night workers. Mechanics checked and fixed broken ships and cleaning crews scrubbed down the gondolas of ships.

Neat the center of the third dock, the ship known as the Heat rested. It was small ship, though a bit bigger than a family sized class A ship, and appeared to be fairly new from the condition of it's exterior but was extremely plain as far as ships went. No decorations, no guns, just a ship the a frame for it's balloon. It only had two stories to it's "basket" and no one appeared to be waiting outside of it. Along it's side, Juliana was busy washing the haul with vigor. her eyes betraying a need for sleep. She hardly even noticed the Centicrus in the crowd.

Very gently Tentcher approached, almost reaching out to the girl before pausing.

"Excuse me." He asked, his gravelly Centaurus voice conflicting with his wavering nervousness. "Are you Miss Highland...?" His actual gaze was not so much at her as in her general direction, his black eyes impassive while his four hands wrung themselves together. "I Heard you had an opening. For a ship's mechanic."

Juliana paused in her scrubbing and her brush dipped down from her exhaustion. Her head turned to look at the Centaurus in surprise. While Centaurus were far from rare, she didn't expect one to take interest in her vessel. They were usually better trained and could get on much better ships. There was also the creepy bug factor, though she was polite enough not to look a gift mechanic in the mouth.

"We've got an opening for a mechanic, though s'ould warn you the departure's been delayed fer a few days." Setting down the brush, she forced a smile and gestured toward the door. "Y'can see if she's a mo'el you can work with right now though."

"ah, yes... right." Tentcher conceded, momentarily caught off guard by her entirely unprofessional attitude. In his experience applications didn't usually go like this; usually the hiring party had questions like are you a qualified mechanic? or do you have any prior work experience?

He entered the airship on all legs, getting a literal feel for the ship as he sensed its shifting and vibrations. This was why Centicrus made great engineers: they could literally feel the ship's movements. Of course, he couldn't feel much with the engine down, but he could at least inspect it and see if he could manage the job.

The working girl set down her brush to lean against the wall of the gondola, wiping sweat off her forehead with her arm before following Tentcher in the door.

The inside was as spare as the outside, though that was to be expected in the haul of the ship. It was fairly empty for the most part, though on the furthest side from the door was a large wall protecting a set of engines embedded in the ship with their propellers on the outside. Across from them was a staircase leading up to the living quarters.

"What do you think? She's a bit on t'small side, but she should run well 'nough," Said Juliana as she put a tender hand on her ship's wall.

The engines were three-stroke coalfired pistons, fed by a large storage box of coal that could be shoveled into the fires to keep them running. It was rather foreign to Tentcher; Burrowships used oil engines, and he hadn't even worked those. Still, even though he failed to understand the complexities he was good with machines, and he could recognize the various levels and dials, and how they might work.

"May I... start the engine?" He asked hesitantly, immediately rushing to explain. "It's a Centicrus thing. We feel the vibrations." And he needed to know if he could handle the engine. He knew he could repair it, he just didn't know if he could run it.

Juliana looked unsure of herself, stroking her ship like she would a horse. "I don't think it'd 'urt. Go a'ead and give it a try."

Tentcher did not, as she Juliana might have expected, immediately start the engine. Instead, he spent the next twenty minutes carefully reading any markers on the engine and inspecting the various pipes, chambers, and dials. The manual, which he found carefully tucked between two pipes, was especially useful at this stage.

Finally, he went about starting the engine, operating the various levers with three hands while holding the manual in a fourth. Pull the valve, light the pilot, shovel in enough coal to keep the fire going, operate the pressure chambers as necessary... He ran off the instructions in a mental litany as he operated the engine.

The machines hissed and cranked, the dials rattled. Tentcher realized that this particular engine had a rather lopsided pattern in the turbine - it would make a solid thump, wind up, and then abruptly thump again - like a man with four inches of limp. Now to turn it off, cut the air to the fire chamber, blow the hot steam out the valve... He could do this. It was all elementary really.

Juliana watched in fascination as Tentcher poked around the engine, still trying to get used to his alien hands and biology. She knew in her heart she shouldn't dwell on it, but her mind just couldn't stop thinking about it.

When the machine turned on, the entire vessel rattled from the floor to the balloon frame from it's power, then sunk into a steady hum. Juliana couldn't help but feel her confidence in her mission grow along side the engine.

"You think you can handle the job? I can take care of the coaling, but I need a mechanic for the rest," Juliana asked, glancing down at Tentcher.

". . . I think so." Tentcher replied after a moment's hesitance. He was confident he could handle the engine, but he still felt an enormous amount of unease with the situation, which manifested itself as a return to his nervous twitching. He really felt he should mention that he wasn't actually a certified mechanic, but for some reason he just couldn't bring it up. It wouldn't make any difference as long as he could handle the engine, right?

The girl offered a tender smile, feeling sympathy for him. She wasn't entirely sure why he was shaking, but assumed he was nervous about leaving Central City for the first time. She knew she was.

"Well then, we should 'ave a look into gettin; your cabin nice and cozy for ya. Right now it's set up for 'umans," She said as she began to turn around and head for the stairs. They were a bit steep, but it didn't bother Juliana and she was sure ti wasn't going to bother a centicrus.

The top side of the gondola was a fair bit nicer, with windows and drapes. The first thing they walked into was a common room leading into a long hallway with several doors on it. The common room was furnished with couches and a dining table as well as a few cabinets on the far wall. Juliana ignored this room and moved on toward the hallways, leading to the back cabins. She opened the door to a quite spare room with two low quality beds in it, hooks on the wall providing spaces for hammocks to hand a few more beds on.

"well, what do you think?" She asked, too absent minded to even notice of Tentcher was following her or not.

As if pulled along by some invisible leash, Tentcher followed the girl up the ladder, along one wall, and over her head into the crew room.

Obviously the room had been designed for humans, it was much too square and full of hard angles for a Centicrus room. But Tentcher wasn't exactly picky and he didn't own much. There would be room aplenty for his tools and devices, and a good pile of old cloth which passed as a Centicrus bed.

"It's good." He said.

"'en we can 'ead down to your 'ouse 'n' get your-" Her mouth dropped open at the sight of the Centicrus on her roof. She choked on her words, trying not to gape at the sight. Of course she knew they could do that. Of course. She wasn't stupid or ignorant. Lies.

"Y... there's nothin' wrong with you being up there. On... on t'roof." She sputtered meekly, hunching over and trying to make herself smaller. "W... why're you on t'roof?"

Tentcher twitched and silently cursed himself. He knew that crawling all over things upset humans. Like most Centicrus he'd learned to walk on the ground in order to accommodate them. Now he'd let his tunnel instincts scare his prospective employer.

What should he do? Nonchalantly ignore her objections? Climb down and apologize? Explain Centicrus climbing instincts?

"I... ah..." He twitched a little as he climbed down the wall so that he was again on the floor. "You won't be able to get to my house without the ship." He finished lamely.

"W... we can fly it down there," She said with a forced, terrified smile. She was trying her darnest to keep from showing her discomfort, though her darnest wasn't good enough. Her teeth were clenched together and the hairs on the back of her neck were rising.

"Come on," Said as she began to head back for the nose of the gondola, all the way to the front. Past the common room she came to a door leading to the cockpit. Several gauges, dials and levels littered the front.

Silently, Ethan watched The Heat, as it's engines came on. All day long he'd been working close to the little Chaden and he'd had trouble keeping his mind off it. His own ship, The Borealis, had been a Chaden as well. The sight of the small, simple but ingenious ship sitting there, band new and polished, was bringing back memories of much better days.

While moving crates into a warehouse, Ethan had over heard parts of Tentcher's and Juliana's conversation. He'd been surprised to find out that the common looking girl was the ship's captain, but more interesting her were interview methods. That Centicrus gained her trust within two minutes and he didn't ask for papers or references or anything.

If this was her usual method for hiring on airmen then Ethan count hope to find any better opportunity.

Puffing embarrassment pheramoans, Tentcher glanced around Anna's back at the control room.

"I'll... go start the engine then." He volunteered, looking for an opening to end the awkward mess. He crawled away while she worked the flaps and returned to the underside of the ship. Starting the engine a second time didn't take so long; there were still hot embers in the boiler. It wouldn't take much steam to go to reach the underside anyway.

Juliana's face twisted into a smile, feeling the controls under her fingertips. She had given it a test drive, though the thrill of having her very own ship was still alive in her heart. She could feel the power of the entire Chadan under her hands, rumbling.

Once she was prepared, she pushed the thrust on and the ship lurched into a slow float, though only barely. Airships were the smoothest form of travel topped only by walking, much less rough than a carriage or a train.

She flew the ship around in a circle, turning it into the wind when she reached the lower lower city to start a hover.

"Down below the cliffs." Tentcher told her, reappearing behind Juliana after he had successfully started the boiler.

The cliffs were well known as the poorest area in Central City, a dredge of catwalks and caverns built precariously along the edge of the island. But that was as far as humans and other bipedals could go. Centicrus, with their unique abilities, had better housing.

Juliana paused when hearing where he wanted to go, wondering just how she was going to get there. After a while of considering she worked her way under the island, biting her lip and praying she didn't hit the top of it and puncture her dirigible's balloon. "Think y'can get in from here? I really don't think I can..."

Underneath the city was the small, hidden Centicrus district, where the insects who needed cheap housing or sanctuary from humans lived. It was relatively small compared to the upper side, but the collection of cavelike houses was of good quality, and there were even a few huge mansions perched upside-down like hanging chandeliers.

Tentcher would have liked to point out that his house was the next block over, but he thought better of it. Best to not put excessive piloting demands on his new employer. Instead he opened the door, crawled up the side of the envelope, and pulled himself up onto the street. From there it was a short walk to his own little apartment, where he began packing as swiftly as he could.

Juliana watched him go out of the cockpit window, still rather creeped out at the wall climbing. It made her wonder if he was going to creep around the ship like that and spy on people. While she had a very open door policy, she was less thrilled with the idea of someone watching her bathe or relax. The fact there was an entire face of the island she had never seen was also rather jarring, though it wasn't the only place. She still had never gone into richer districts.

Now she couldn't help but stare and wonder. Did they do everything upside down? Wouldn't that get in the way of changing clothes or using the restroom? Was this just a taste of the strange things she was going to see on her journey for Terrance?

Tentcher's belongings could fit into a large trunk and three carpetbags, but his ability to walk upside down on ceilings did not extend to carrying heavy luggage. He took three trips, going rather slowly the last time, to stow his luggage. He himself was rather embarrassed about the whole thing and felt like he could constantly feel his new employer's mounting agitation (it was his imagination) but there was simply no way he could go faster.

Juliana was more than willing to help him carry his luggage from the door, up the stairs and to his room. She was uneasy, but hardly agitated or bored. More so nervous form being in a strange and new situation.

When the ship was finally packed, she gave him a friendly smile, starting to get more used to his face. And those things on his mouth. The bug things she didn't know the name of.

"Is 'at everything?" She asked after the third load.