Chapter 4 – A Seemingly Peaceful Day

Deliveries began early, before the top of the Thousand Wonder could see the first morning rays. In a city like Stratos, one would be lucky to see the sun before noon rather than having it blocked out by a taller building.

Arwain let out a puff of condensation, thankful that his uniform came with a self-warming function.

“Alright, team. Let’s hit the skies!”

Jolly’s voice sounded in the ears of the entire team as they all walked up to the edge of the platform. Arwain looked back and watched an unsteady Dingleberry test flap his wings to shake off the nerves.

“Just like practice, kiddo. We’ll start you off with nearby deliveries. You’ll do great!”

And then, Arwain turned to the rest of the team.

“Alright! We’re Silver Stream! Where our service is a…”

Everyone shot him a blank, silent stare. It made Arwain choke in desperation.

“Oh, c’mon! Show some team spirit!”

“Maybe they would if you didn’t namedrop yourself as part of the company slogan,” Jolly bashed him over the intercom.

“Whatever! I’m heading off!”

Arwain put on his goggles and did a backflip off the platform, free falling with his wings held tight. The others followed suit as they created a V-formation before separating to cover each sector of the city.

“Ready Arwain? Here’s the first course of the day.”

“Copy that. Lemme have it, Jolly!”

Arwain turned on his compressed-air thrusters, tilting up to zoom in a vertical line at a breakneck speed. He could see the target overlay with the clouds above. A circle shrank from the outside inwards. Letting off the thrusters just the tiniest bit, he plucked the package right as the indicator reached the center.

Tucking it under his arm, Arwain set off to make his delivery, shooting for personal speed records.

Every Glider had a personal style of delivery. It played to one’s natural talents in the field.

Queen was a seasoned Glider with over a decade of experience under her belt. Unlike Arwain, who liked to focus on one package at a time, her preference was to prioritize efficiency.

“Packages 25 thru 39 incoming, Queen!”

“Copy that, Jolly. Line them up, and I’ll slap them like tight cheeks on a line of scrimmage!”

Jolly shook her head in front of the console before hitting the button to fire the cannon. A stream of packages swirled through the air, protected from the elements by a thin, bubbly film.

Queen caught the first package, a burst of light blowing the film away as it stuck to her leg. She swirled her rainbow wings and reached for the next, snapping it onto her other leg like the other. More packages came towards her, so she swiveled her body left and right to get them to land on her back. Pretty soon, it was like she was wearing an armor of delivery boxes.

A smile of satisfaction crossed Queen’s face. Her uniform was specially designed with a sticky polymer that let packages be adhered across her body. As such, she could handle as many as she had room for, leaving only her wings unencumbered. Jolly made sure to sort packages of a reasonable weight so that Queen wouldn’t find herself sinking into the depths.

For those on the receiving end, it was quite the sight to see a Glider land before them as if a mobile tank of packing material had arrived. Occasionally, she would be stopped for a few pictures for the young ones.

Jolly queued up the next set of packages. This time, Jester was on her radar.

“Tu~~tutu~~~ Jester speaking. Who shall I entertain next?”

“Packages 40 thru 62 en route. Mind the weight. The total is around 200 kilograms.”

“Splendid. A performance that grand should shoulder that much of an audience’s expectation. The show must go on.”

A rapid stream of packages flew from the cannon. But unlike before, the protective film around each package began to puff up and expand, connecting with other packages until it formed a web of them stuck together.

Tiny canisters of compressed air filled the bubble around each package with helium, lightening the entire load that would have been otherwise too heavy for any Glider to carry, even under low gravity.

Jester zoomed in front of the entire mass, reaching over to a rope attached to the end of it. He batted his wings and tugged hard, treating it like a balloon being carried off.

Despite the technical marvel that made heavy transport by air possible, not everyone could handle such an unpredictable load. Air currents and flight traffic made it challenging to keep all the bubbles from popping.

Nonetheless, Jester weaved between buildings and people with a mastery that came from rigorous circus training. To him, he wouldn’t let a single balloon pop even if he were to cross a tunnel of knives, lest he face the sorrow of a crying child who would be left without one.

Matching his jovial personality, he would bring deliveries like passing out treats to the customer, ending his service to them with a bow as he floated down past the platform as if the curtain fell.

Not everyone was as flamboyant or showy as Arwain, Queen, and Jester. Sarge preferred to do things the old-fashioned way, complete with routine mailing routes. Jolly always had the timing of her position in mind, sending groups of packages along fixed drop-off zones as she reached them.

The normalness of Sarge was the one abnormality of Silver Stream, but consistency was the keystone of a thriving company, according to her. However, cordial interactions were another aspect of a service industry. That was something Sarge had yet to master.

“Your package, Sir. No signature needed.”

The man looked forward and instantly shivered. A cold gaze was shot at him like he was expected to take something that he didn’t really want. Reason overriding instinct, the man shakily reached out and grabbed the package, a muted thank-you mumbled in return.

The moment the exchange was complete, Sarge marched backward on the platform and brought her arm up. A thin wire shot from her hand to the nearest beam, which she used to swing away before spreading her wings. Her eyes never left him until buildings separated them.

After the chill wore off, the man finally regained feeling in his legs. But as he went to enter the building, a stray thought crossed his mind.

You know what? She was kind of hot…

Even with her rigid character, Sarge left a certain impression on people. In a society full of peace in one’s daily life, a bit of command wasn’t the worst thing to experience.

“How are you doing, Dingleberry?”

The question was received with a stroke of panic as Dingleberry fumbled with his headset with one hand. The package in his other hand jostled around like he was trying to prevent spilling fresh milk.

“Good, good. Fine! Just have to drop this off, and onto the next!”

He flapped his wings to slow his descent. It was obvious that he was still unsure of his recently acquired appendages as if he was wearing clothes three sizes too large. Often, he would also catch himself staring back at them, the glittering rainbow of organo-metallic tissue that was somehow controlled by his brain like every other part of him. For a grounded farm boy, it was like being gifted a Ferrari that he wasn’t sure how to handle.

Still, he made sure to deliver with a hearty smile. It infected the recipient who grinned back at him as he waved before awkwardly dismounted from the platform. A chuckle came from below as a package clocked Dingleberry in the face before he clumsily nested it against his chest.

Even Dingleberry was on his way to being a proper Glider.

Arwain sped off after delivering his tenth package in under half an hour. Even at full speed for that long, he was hardly winded. In fact, he felt so good that he could keep it up all day. Shooting back into traffic, he called for Jolly to fire the next one.

“Package 142 locked and load- wait, Arwain! Eyes on north-northeast!”

Arwain hit the brakes, hearing the sudden shift in Jolly’s voice. His vision darted up and down the building outlines, trying to read the situation.

A flash of purple light caught his attention, and he immediately took off. The light spread and filled the space between buildings, expanding outwards enough that Arwain did an emergency dive to get under it. He gritted his teeth as he escaped from the unknown glow that didn’t even slow down as it went through solid structures.

Eventually, the eerie glow disappeared without a trace, leaving the surroundings as they were beforehand. Arwain blinked for a while, scanning around to understand what had happened.

But before his eyes could pinpoint anything, a growing clamor rang out from above, louder by the second. When he could finally make it out, Arwain’s blood froze.

The screams of people as they fell echoed across the skies. He spotted the wings of humanity crumbling upon their backs and filling the air with rainbow dust.