[size16 #Off the Edge#]
Frank, Mina, Duster, and Rhys all stood in front of the shabby tin hangar and watched the buff Jackie Simms fling the gargantuan doors wide open. Since the break of day, the crew that was destined to make its way down to the Blue packed and tied up any loose ends they had to Last and Guten Nocht. Mina, Frank, and Jackie all said their goodbyes to the sheriff, who was both happy and sad to see them all god, and the fanatic Doc Roc. The pilot of the group offered to show the sheriff and the doctor her ship, but they politefully declined. Apparently, Jackie’s airship was something to be in awe about.
Showcasing the goods, Jackie tapped her nose with such excitement and shouted, “Ladies and gents, the Fighter. She’s a charm, just like her mama, and a hefty bounty too. Jackie here hasn’t been up to her regular dietary regimen.”
Frank’s jaw dropped. A functioning aircraft rested before his eyes. He looked through the picture books and none of those ships compared to the might of the Fighter. In fact, the aircraft was completely Nocht in design as far as the exterior. The sleek and silver masterpiece had limited vertical takeoff and landing capabilities. It sacrificed its traditional outdoor deck, the myriad of propellers, and the uncommon blimp portion for a tighter interior and faster sailing.
“How the livin’ fish dick did ya come across this? Yer tellin’ me you ain’t spend a damn dime from all them heists we done on other things?”
At this time, the entire crew had surrounded the airship. Intrigued by the smallest and biggest things attached to the bird, no one really spoke out. Jackie was proud of her work on the ship so far, yet it lacked a couple of desired components. She’d flown a few times for Loopehr at a young age and since then never stopped thinking about flying. It was only recently that she would come across an aircraft to call her own, but it was not until today that she would have the chance to take to the skies once more.
“I’ve been working on her for five years now all on my lonesome. It was originally salvaged between here and Illumina by that old perverted man, ya know Frankie, Mr. Joogoso. Man, that guy had some mad gopher teeth. Anyways, I bought this hangar off the city’s hands after he passed away. They never thought to pry it open and use it for themselves. What a steal, I thought.” Breathing in the walloping dust, Jackie shook her head with excitement. Her baby was going to see some action. She continued, “A certified mechanic will need to check her out once we land in the Blue.”
“Great, now we have to look at expenses once we touch foot in this magical mystery fairytale,” Frank muttered from the opposite side of the ship. Money stayed on his mind, but Frank was often awful at handling money. His personal stash diminished in a few days after he consumed all the alcohol in the county. Jackie joked that the checks disappeared before the ink had a chance to dry. His chickens went unfed for a few days because of these sporadic binges.
The crew gathered up and Mina posed the question, “What are we gonna name the crew?”
“Huh?” Frank scratched his belly.
“Every crew needs to have a name,” Duster interjected. “I don’t have an opinion either way. If we decide on a name now rather than later, we’ll have enough time to pack up your supplies and send ourselves off into exile.”
“Fighter doesn’t work? Usually crews go under the name of their ship,” Jackie suggested.
“Nah, Team Fighter ain’t got that kick. It needs to be rough n' tough.”
“Anchovi, a rough translation of an old Hesperian word that means ‘first in forever.’ I can make a very educated guess and tell you that no one has made a trip down in hundreds, if not thousands, of years.”
“It’s rather fitting considering our fate,” Duster dryly remarked. “Anyways, I will acquaint myself with the aircraft and see if I can do anything to help out Jackie.”
The humans left the rusty hangar in Duster’s protection. Mina’s house was the closest, but it did not take long for her to come back out with a couple of knapsacks in each of her hands. The twill bags carried a few outfits but mostly the essentials such as food, bottled water, and utilities. A couple of pocket knives, blankets, and a few of her favorite handbooks on survival and geography. The places she read about--the rolling knolls of Varsyl hugging its miraculous city, the exuberant Francol, Tsukimoto’s mountain ranges, Kalenos’ duality of the fiery hot volcanoes and stalwart icebergs--all fascinated her.
Next stop, Jackie’s. She dedicated her entire pantry to the majority of her cases and a couple of her personal crates. An irrational yet seemingly charming fear caught her. Though she was the foodie of the group and basically ate anything and everything that she could get her hands on, Jackie ensured that good food would always be a closet away. Of course, she made sure that one of her most prized possessions, her brown leather jacket, was packed away. Jackie was tough on the eyes sometimes, but she wanted to be “tough” in her leather jacket.
Frank was naturally the last person to deal with as well as being the most difficult out of them all. Before he even dealt with his personal belongings, he had to take care of his ranch. No one around would want to take care of his majestic flock of heavy hitting chickens. True, they were a pain to take care of and Frank might have seen Doc Roc far too many times for bandages and stitches.
“I can’t just let them stay in their stables forever. They’ll starve without some TLC.” Frank pressed his face to the wooden post and wire fence. He raised the current six dozen chickens in front of him from the start and he named them all too. Leak, Mead, Mallow, but then the lazy and often uncreative Frank named the last twenty-six or so after the alphabet. K was his favorite, or maybe that one was Chloe. “Jackie, Mina, do you think there’s enough room on the ship for a few of these fellows? They’re family to me. Heck, I bet they’ve never seen chickens these big in the Blue. I bet they don’t even have chickens.”
“If it’s any consolation prize, we might be able to become ranchers down there and make a fortune off them if any future plans fall through,” Mina remarked. One of the big beaked fowls approached the fence and Mina caressed the cream plumage. “Chickens have been known to stay in their herds, so maybe it’s best if you let them go out into the wild.”
“They won’t make it,” Frank quietly sobbed, “They need someone to take care of them.”
Jackie laughed and then patted Frank on the back. “That’s coming from the guy who was nearly picked apart by these beasts. C’mon, you have to pick eight of them. We’ll start a new herd in the Blue. We’ll have plenty of room for them in one of the storage areas. Just wait until you step into the Fighter. She’s beautiful.”
The group squandered some time just admiring Frank’s livestock in the surprisingly mild day. The sun was out yet there was a gentle breeze sweeping through the town of Last. Though there was not much to look at in the first place, they already missed it. They briefly relived the past and let nostalgia take them by surprise. Frank would miss his chickens and his sister Elle the most. Jackie remembered all the fond memories of being a hoodlum with Frank. Mina missed more of the potential rather than the past. Eventually bringing herself back to reality and letting the overglorified chicken tend to other matters, she looked around and did not see Rhys in sight.
“Where’s Rhys?”
“I ain’t seen him since we got out the truck. I thought he was behind us the entire time.”
Mina sprinted around the perimeter of the property while Jackie and Frank searched high and low next to the trucks. Frank broke away from the group and strode right into his shanty house. The living room was empty aside from the countless empty beer cans and raggety fabrics lying around. He jumped over the counter that divided the living room and rustic kitchen but alas, no Rhys. He heard a worrisome Mina frantically yelling out the boy’s name, but there was no response.
Next was the bathroom. Empty. It was not until Frank reached the last room, his quarters, that he started to panic and cry out for attention. Wherever he learned it from, he learned it fast and down to perfection. Rhys had kicked over the chair and fashioned himself a snug noose around his tiny neck. The boy was on his last stretch until Frank jumped onto a chair and shaved away the twine. Damn, the knots were securely fastened and finely woven around the wooden support beams. Hearing the screams from the outside, Jackie scurried in for the assist and propped up Rhys with her broad shoulders. Finally, Frank severed the last bond and caught the barely conscious Rhys in his calloused hands.
“Rhys!” Jackie exclaimed. Frank carried the youngster to his makeshift bed in the corner and let Jackie examine him further. “Can you hear me?”
“I don’t know why I was created.” Rhys sobbed. Tears rolled down his eyes and spilled onto Jackie’s forearms. He was not sure what this feeling was but he wanted to stop. It was too wet and hot for him. If he slept for good, he would not have to feel this ever again. “If I die, all this will stop.”
Intentionally avoiding eye contact with the brat at hand, Frank shouted to a corner of the room. “That don’t give you a damn reason to go and off yerself, kid! Stop running away.”
Like a robot designed to shut down instantaneously, Rhys stopped crying and muddled out, “I’m not running away.”
Mina stopped at the doorway to catch her breath. She had ran nonstop around the estate for quite some time until she decided to look through the house. It was only recently that she had been aware of his existence, but Mina valued Rhys’ life unconditionally. She was steadfast to adopt him into her family and to want to protect his innocence. Reclining right next to him, Mina spoke to him while they both enjoyed the emptiness of Frank’s ceiling.
“You have too much potential for the world in its current state. You can change the world with your mind. I’m not asking for that.” Mina then glanced at Rhys and smiled towards him. She wanted him to open up. “I’m asking for more from you, Rhys. I want you to live your life without persecution. You, like Frank and I, are entitled to the freedom to pursue happiness. You dying won’t solve all of Nocht’s problems, if not create more, but if we had the chance, we could change Nocht ourselves. You’re what Nocht needs right now, but the Lucavi don’t value your potential and they see you as a potential threat. If we can’t make amends in this world, we will look towards the sky below. We might be strangers to one another, but there’s an even stranger connection that binds us all.”
Frank and Jackie slowly excused themselves from the room and began packing all the unnecessary trinkets in the living room. Magical Bazmina Hazrah needed no help from her companions when she managed to make Rhys crack a liliputan guffaw. They had stayed on the bed and slowly talked about their fears.
“No one knows what the future will hold, but we live to see tomorrow.”
“Aren’t you terrified of what’s out there?”
“To be honest, yes, but I don’t let that feeling get to me. I don’t act out of fear.”
She grabbed his hand and squeezed tightly and for the longest time, did not let go.
The rest of the afternoon was spent at Frank’s house collecting more food and whatever ammo he had lying around. He made sure to carry all the magic shells he had found in the Tower of Nocht City in his jacket. Thirteen in total, many the same number. Out of seventy-two chickens, he picked his eight favorite and strung them up on a rickety homemade chariot. The remaining sixty four chickens were allowed to stay behind the enclosed space, but Frank left the gate open. The women drove their trucks with the rest of the goods in the back. Rhys who felt safe now rode with Mina.
After reaching the hangar and meeting up with the stoic Duster, the crew was finally able to enter the aircraft. Even Jackie was astonished with the interior. The Lucavi had spruced the insides, more than what anyone imagined. Entering from the back hatch of the ship, crates were safely secured to the sides with the livestock stalls neatly prepared for its guests. Of course, Duster believed that these stalls were meant for the humans. They made their way up the flanking flight of stairs to the hearth of the ship. It housed the kitchen and pantry with a fairly large wooden rectangular table resting in the middle of it all.
“Is that a chandelier?” Jackie queried. The light fixture gleamed most elegantly. The rhomboid fractals swayed coolly and chimed above the table.
“I left the hangar temporarily to see what humans found most appealing. A pack of crones incessantly mentioned chandeliers and how they never married because there was never a man could craft such a piece of art. I suppose I am marriage material.”
“Hmph,” was all Frank said to it. Frank was impressed.
Between settling everything from furniture to livestock and extending the bathroom breaks for sandwiches, Team Anchovi of the Fighter was a day ahead of the Lucavi’s departure deadline. By the end of it, everyone retreated to their personal quarters for the night. Despite the thick walls, everyone including Frank who had selective hearing suffered through Jackie’s obnoxiously bombastic snoring. Frank was unable to sleep in his room and instead favored the stalls. Duster sat in the cockpit and focused on the vast abyss before him. Mina waited for Rhys to doze before she tiptoed out of his room and made her way to the cargo bay. The boy mellowed throughout the entire night after his suicide attempt and slowly spoke a few words here and there.
“What are you doin’ up?” Frank stirred in the darkness. He knew that it was Mina. She always stepped with confidence yet she failed to keep it quiet. Plus, her robust scent of freshly crushed up garlic always allured him. “Git some sleep, Mina.”
“Have you heard the beast up there? I don’t think I’ll be getting sleep anytime soon. Plus, it’s not my bedtime. I work well into the night.”
Mina sat down on the ramp leading outside. For whatever reason, the backside of the airship was open to the world. Luckily for them the beasts stayed away from these parts of town. Frank shortly joined here and rested his head on her shoulders. He was anxious to start a new chapter in his life, yet at the same time he was going to miss this life. Mina accepted his affections and leaned her head against his and hugged him closer.
“Ya know, I have to thank Dusty and Rhys for all of this. Eh, maybe I’ll go a tad easy on them for a while, but I ain’t gonna get mushy with ‘em.”
“How ironic.”
Mina pulled him closer by the chin and kissed him on the lips. Tangerines. The tangy taste of tangerines lingered on her lips. The electric feeling surged across her skin. The embrace kept them up and awake throughout the brisk night and black night. Of course, none of this night would be complete without neon lights floating in the distance. In fact, Frank was taken back by them. Since when did fireflies glow red? Frank was the first one to get to his feet and realize that the fixed pattern of the lights were awfully threatening. Without saying anything, he fired aimlessly into the crowd of glowing red eyes and struck metal.
Mina retreated into the cargo bay and scampered around for the back floodlights. After a few seconds of fondling the steel walls, she flipped the switch and revealed a squadron of automatons marching toward them. Mere moments after the surprise reveal, Mina looked beyond them and towards Last. The town was set ablaze. The horror was settling in. Nocht was in peril.
It wasn’t long until the gunshots alerted and brought Duster and Jackie towards the back of the airship. Floating above Duster were three of his lovely surgeon tools.
Mina, with the intent of stopping the shock troops, ordered, “Jackie, under no circumstances are you going to let anyone embark the Fighter. You get her running while Frank, Duster, and I will take care of business.”
“It’s begun,” Duster stated. “Ximena is taking it upon herself to enslave Guten Nocht.”
“Did you anticipate all of this?”
Mina shot out streams of lightning into the distance. The crew had enough space between the malignant robots and the ship, but she feared that the pilot did not have enough time to pull the ship outside the hangar. Frank had an easier time dismantling the robots but at a cost. He reloaded his six shooter every time he took one down, and that was if he was lucky enough to strike the same spot on the robot every time.
“On this scale of professionalism, lethality, and urgency: about seventy-eight percent of it. These are rather well forged robots and they’ve been assembled rather recently.” Rhys fired into the crowd a shower of Lucavi spikes. They proved to be ineffective at permanently stopping the herd yet delayed them. “The only factor that caught me by surprise is how fast they were shipped out to the satellite states, but after I was granted exile, I decided to ‘fuck it all’ as you humans put it.”
“Heh, I’m rubbin’ off on ya,” Frank glinted.
[b ~Kzzrt!] It was Jackie’s voice over the intercom.
[b “Give me a few minutes and we should be able to leave soon. VTOL capabilities are currently a no-go. Do what you need to, but be back on the ship in ten minutes.”]
Mina pressed the intercom and responded, “That’s an affirmative.”
The airship’s tailgate rose from the ground a couple of feet as the Fighter gradually backed out of the thundering tin hangar. Frank and Mina hopped off to the side and continuously blasted the robots while Duster threw his discs into the darkness. The rotating blades carved into earth and metal alike and the lightning, furious as ever, made the ground quake with fear. It was simply not enough for the advancing robots. They steadily gained ground yet oddly did not retaliate with lasers or ammunitions.
The Fighter successfully backed out of the hangar and revved up its thrustors. Slowly pulling forward, the airship’s sound lull signaled the couple to make it back on board. Frank hopped up onto the ramp and pulled up Mina who was still intent on fighting the murderous machines off by hand. Her urge to dismantle them up close grew but she held back. The lull of the ship transformed into a roar and the wheels rolled forward with gusto. It was not until this point the robots began to dash for the ship.
Frank ran for the intercom and screamed into the speaker, “Jackie, yer gonna need to move. These psycho bastards are gaining speed on us!”
[b ~Kzzrt!]
[b “She getting to speed, Frankie. You’ll need to close the back door and get yourself situated.”]
Frank turned around to Mina hanging from the hydraulic parts of the ramp.
“Wait, wait are you doing?”
The Fighter was chugging along, but a few of the robots were easily a few feet behind and nicking the ship with their sharp talons. Mina shot a few of them down, but three more took the place of one robot.
“They’re playing with us, Frank.”
“I can pick ‘em all off! Jackie can get this bird into the sky, just give her a few.”
“No, there’s not going to be enough shells to take them out, and they’ll just latch on if we don’t do anything about it. Their intent is to catch Rhys.”
“Ms. Hazrah, then what do you purpose?” Duster looked to Mina and then to Frank. Not even into his exile, the white robed monster man knew he was not going to be a match for the robots. His extensions either bounced off the robots or lodged themselves in the automaton’s advanced alloy.
Mina scraped a few robots from the stern of the speeding ship and as she suspected, they were running faster than the Fighter. The robots went down, but hoards of them popped out of nowhere. One mistake could compromise the entire ship. There was no stopping for a breather. Bazmina charged up and unleashed bolt after bolt of relentless electricity. Frank tried his best to weed out the numbers, but his accuracy fizzled out with the night.
“Frank,” she huffed. Restless Mina glowed with tremendous zeal. A white aura emanated from her pores and her sweat evaporated. Her lover had never seen her this way, for she had always kept her powers on the backburner. She glanced back at Frank and smirked. “We’ll find each other again like we did years ago.”
Speechless and feeble, Frank fell to his knees and watched the angelically burning Bazmina leap out of the flying airship and into a mad frenzy of bloodthirsty constructs. The Fighter lifted off the rumbling earth and flew into the vast blue dawn. Before the back hatch sealed itself, Frank caught his final glimpse of Mina’s glowing figure erupt into an equally devastating and immaculate explosion. The heat from the white explosion brushed across Frank’s ruddy face as if it was one last kiss from the sweet yet oddly cruel Bazmina Hazrah. In that moment, a little piece of Frank Dietz, the outlaw and former chicken rancher of Last, died.