The opening to Haydn's symphony No. 94 is still as tranquil and unthreatening as when he wrote it 200 something years ago. Which is why, when I heard the first notes playing softly over the Sophistical Elenchi's sound system, instead of waking up I just snuggled deeper into my bunk.
Some part of my mind recognized the music, and it tried frantically to warn me. But it was a small part, and I'd been up late last night, or what past for it anyway. It became a moot point shortly as the symphony moved into the second movement and Ari' cranked the sound system's volume.
"I'm up, I'm up" I screamed as I shot upright, coming fully awake as the music slammed into my poor, unoffensive ears.
Ari' obligingly turned the volume down to managible levels and I lay back and tried to get my heart to calm. As I lay there I contempled my many mistakes, not the least of which was connecting my DVD player to the ship's computer system while I waited for the Handwavium to finish its job.
"I'm not going to be allowed to go back to sleep am I Ari'," I asked?
"No boss, you've had 10 hours of sleep already and you've still got a big list of things to get through today." Ari' replied in her best worst Radar O'Reilly immitation. "You did tell me to get you up and keep you from getting lazy."
I groaned and hauled myself out of the bunk. A shower would be just the thing to make me feel good about waking up and then, breakfast.
It was about an hour later when I climbed down into the Elenchi's cockpit and settled into the pilot's seat. "Alright Ari' did we get the latest download from the Island yet?"
She huffed and I heard the sound of papers being shuffled. "Yes, it came in about three hours ago. Usual junk, a couple of letters from Kale and Dru about the Exo-Armour Project. Apparently there's some legal trouble brewing for all those Gundam builders, and Kas wants to talk to you about the avionics code."
"Oh, and it looks like someone's called a Con. Or at least I think they have. Someone really needs to improve the pratical portion of the Japanese school system's English curiculum."
I laughed and pulled up the email on my PDA. By the time I'd finished reading it she had a course plotted and the Elenchi's two converted engines were spinning up.
Ari' could handle the piloting, so I climbed back up into the main compartment. Even after all this time the Elenchi was still barely half finished and I had work to do.
I'd sunk essentially every penny I could scrape up into buying a prototype airship from an ambitious but bankrupt aviation startup, which hadn't left me with a lot of resources to make it livable.
I'd managed to scrounge bits and pieces from various junk yards and my father's old friend's from the yacht club to make a livable interior inside the Handwavium reinforced envelope. But most of her 30 meter length was still empty space. I was still drawing up the plans for a hydroponic garden and waste water reclaimation, and the massive capacitor bank was only halfway done.
Of course that wouldn't matter that much until the solar panels finished growing. It might not have been the best idea to mix Handwavium with the photocells from an old calculator and the ivy cutting Jo' had given me, but do you have any idea what photovoltaics cost?
Anyway, I had lots of work to keep me busy while we travelled so I went hunting for my soldering iron.
--
Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the
grassy fields towards each other like two freight trains, one having
left York at 6.36pm travelling at 55mph, the other from Peterborough
at 4.19pm at a speed of 35mph.
Some part of my mind recognized the music, and it tried frantically to warn me. But it was a small part, and I'd been up late last night, or what past for it anyway. It became a moot point shortly as the symphony moved into the second movement and Ari' cranked the sound system's volume.
"I'm up, I'm up" I screamed as I shot upright, coming fully awake as the music slammed into my poor, unoffensive ears.
Ari' obligingly turned the volume down to managible levels and I lay back and tried to get my heart to calm. As I lay there I contempled my many mistakes, not the least of which was connecting my DVD player to the ship's computer system while I waited for the Handwavium to finish its job.
"I'm not going to be allowed to go back to sleep am I Ari'," I asked?
"No boss, you've had 10 hours of sleep already and you've still got a big list of things to get through today." Ari' replied in her best worst Radar O'Reilly immitation. "You did tell me to get you up and keep you from getting lazy."
I groaned and hauled myself out of the bunk. A shower would be just the thing to make me feel good about waking up and then, breakfast.
It was about an hour later when I climbed down into the Elenchi's cockpit and settled into the pilot's seat. "Alright Ari' did we get the latest download from the Island yet?"
She huffed and I heard the sound of papers being shuffled. "Yes, it came in about three hours ago. Usual junk, a couple of letters from Kale and Dru about the Exo-Armour Project. Apparently there's some legal trouble brewing for all those Gundam builders, and Kas wants to talk to you about the avionics code."
"Oh, and it looks like someone's called a Con. Or at least I think they have. Someone really needs to improve the pratical portion of the Japanese school system's English curiculum."
I laughed and pulled up the email on my PDA. By the time I'd finished reading it she had a course plotted and the Elenchi's two converted engines were spinning up.
Ari' could handle the piloting, so I climbed back up into the main compartment. Even after all this time the Elenchi was still barely half finished and I had work to do.
I'd sunk essentially every penny I could scrape up into buying a prototype airship from an ambitious but bankrupt aviation startup, which hadn't left me with a lot of resources to make it livable.
I'd managed to scrounge bits and pieces from various junk yards and my father's old friend's from the yacht club to make a livable interior inside the Handwavium reinforced envelope. But most of her 30 meter length was still empty space. I was still drawing up the plans for a hydroponic garden and waste water reclaimation, and the massive capacitor bank was only halfway done.
Of course that wouldn't matter that much until the solar panels finished growing. It might not have been the best idea to mix Handwavium with the photocells from an old calculator and the ivy cutting Jo' had given me, but do you have any idea what photovoltaics cost?
Anyway, I had lots of work to keep me busy while we travelled so I went hunting for my soldering iron.
--
Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the
grassy fields towards each other like two freight trains, one having
left York at 6.36pm travelling at 55mph, the other from Peterborough
at 4.19pm at a speed of 35mph.