Lake Kimmiar
Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 5:04 am
Priothi picked up the steel bars. It wasn't like moving a train, but it wasn't really hard, either - just pick up the bars, try to be gentle so the dangling compartments didn't wobble too much, and then push forward, over the terrain and the plants and everything else between them and the Lake North. The bars were each suitable weights for lifting, and four of them (parallel, but not welded together: they had to be separate objects) could stably suspend the passenger and cargo boxes. It was more reliant on perturbation than a train, and not as smooth, and Priothi would hate to be dependent on it himself, but he could always fly home. They'd build train tracks up there sooner or later.
"We really need to think of something else to call it," he commented to the supervisor. He hated having a supervisor. He didn't plan to drop everyone. But that was another disadvantage of trains. Apfen was there to elbow him if she thought he was nodding off or getting distracted, because if he did, crash. Airships didn't tolerate this much weight or they'd be in a fleet of those...
"New Delo?" she asked.
"Well," said Priothi. "That too. It's an awful name. But it's not as bad as Lake North."
"It's a lake," said Apfen. "It's north."
"We're going to colonize all sides of the lake," Priothi said. "I'm thinking I'll settle down north of it with my stake in the colony. I'll feel like a fool calling it Lake North. It needs a different name. And for that matter, are we seriously calling the provinces "Corridor" and "South Lakeshore" and "East Lakeshore" and -
"So what's your idea? Mind the bars -!"
"They weren't going anywhere! Smooth as the Reone Circuit!" he protested. "Smoother! I'm not going to drop us."
"Easy for you to say, Mr. I-Can-Barely-Walk-Because-I-Just-Fly-Everywhere. Maybe we should tie you to this compartment..."
Priothi rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to drop us. Anyway, the names are all ridiculous. I just hope Delo-Kyan pays attention when the colonists come up with better names."
"Maybe we'll meet natives," Apfen said. "Maybe they'll have named everything already."
"What," Priothi said, "Inlander barbarians? If those ever did exist, they didn't survive the apocalypse. We're not going to find any. Maybe we'll find artifacts and decipher them and those will have names that are more creative than -"
"Down! cried Apfen.
"I didn't -"
"I know you didn't! You should! Put us down!"
"This terrain isn't -"
"Priothi, look," Apfen snapped, pointing.
In the distance, trails of smoke spiraled up to the sky.
As Priothi watched, the entire colonization contraption suspended in the air on his say-so, the smoke changed shape. Symbols. Smoke signals.
Inlanders.
"We really need to think of something else to call it," he commented to the supervisor. He hated having a supervisor. He didn't plan to drop everyone. But that was another disadvantage of trains. Apfen was there to elbow him if she thought he was nodding off or getting distracted, because if he did, crash. Airships didn't tolerate this much weight or they'd be in a fleet of those...
"New Delo?" she asked.
"Well," said Priothi. "That too. It's an awful name. But it's not as bad as Lake North."
"It's a lake," said Apfen. "It's north."
"We're going to colonize all sides of the lake," Priothi said. "I'm thinking I'll settle down north of it with my stake in the colony. I'll feel like a fool calling it Lake North. It needs a different name. And for that matter, are we seriously calling the provinces "Corridor" and "South Lakeshore" and "East Lakeshore" and -
"So what's your idea? Mind the bars -!"
"They weren't going anywhere! Smooth as the Reone Circuit!" he protested. "Smoother! I'm not going to drop us."
"Easy for you to say, Mr. I-Can-Barely-Walk-Because-I-Just-Fly-Everywhere. Maybe we should tie you to this compartment..."
Priothi rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to drop us. Anyway, the names are all ridiculous. I just hope Delo-Kyan pays attention when the colonists come up with better names."
"Maybe we'll meet natives," Apfen said. "Maybe they'll have named everything already."
"What," Priothi said, "Inlander barbarians? If those ever did exist, they didn't survive the apocalypse. We're not going to find any. Maybe we'll find artifacts and decipher them and those will have names that are more creative than -"
"Down! cried Apfen.
"I didn't -"
"I know you didn't! You should! Put us down!"
"This terrain isn't -"
"Priothi, look," Apfen snapped, pointing.
In the distance, trails of smoke spiraled up to the sky.
As Priothi watched, the entire colonization contraption suspended in the air on his say-so, the smoke changed shape. Symbols. Smoke signals.
Inlanders.