Chapter 28: Airship Shopping

“Alright, just remember: no going above 30 km/hr in the city and avoid going over large swathes of water such as oceans, lakes, and large rivers,” Celia’s airship instructor reminds her, “if you do need to travel over any large bodies of water or make an emergency landing, be sure to turn on the emergency lights and use the emergency parachute feature to safely glide onto land.”

Celia nods her head.

“Great!” the instructor said, “I’ll just give you one last question before I certify you: why is it not recommended to go over large bodies of water using an airship?”

“Because the hover technology that airships use rely on detecting the Earth’s electromagnetic field, and large bodies of water act as an irregular medium that messes with the system that airships use to detect the waves,” Celia confidently answered.

Her instructor nods her head in approval.

“It seems you’re good to go,” she said typing something into her tablet, “and… done! Your Global ID should now be officially updated with an airship license, which allows you to purchase and drive an airship in the city.”

Celia smiles and thanks her instructor before they each other bid farewell, and she goes outside to tell Hikaru about her success. It had been a week since they made the plan to search for the space center in the part of the Amazon Rainforest they assumed was fake, and Hikaru was currently off doing various commissions.

“I just got my airship license!” she excitedly texts him.

“I can send the address of my friend’s friend over to you so we can meet up and pick out an airship design.”

She then waits for his response as she makes her way over to the subway station with Tabby, however it didn’t take long before she got a message back.

“I’m actually not that busy right now.” Hikaru messages her.

“I just got done with my current commission and was actually just about to ask for an update lol.”

“We can meet up at the location right now, just send the address over to me.”

“Perfect timing then,” she says to herself out loud as she sends over the address to him.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ah you must be the friend An told me about,” the airship salesperson says upon seeing Celia and Hikaru, “my name is Lucas Castro, and An and I used to do some gigs together before I decided to settle down and open up a dealership for airships.”

Lucas was a dark skinned, large, chubby man, with a thin mustache and short, black, slicked-back hair who seemed to be in his late twenties. He wore a white polo shirt with a long black tie and a pair of cargo pants that gave him a semi-formal look.

Floating next to him was his support drone that took the shape of a flat and wide cylinder — the signature drone shape of Gran Andes. It wore what looked to be a suit and mini tie fitted around its lower half, and had a distinguished expression on its face located on its upper half.

“I heard you helped out An a lot by fixing her grandmother’s prosthetic leg for cheap so that she could go back to do the freelancing she loves doing,” he continued, “she told me that you guys were looking to buy an airship, so I’m willing to hook you guys up with some discounts. Nothing too lucrative though, but I’m willing to sell some mid-end ones for cheap.”

“Ahaha, don’t worry, we’re not looking for anything too expensive,” Celia nervously laughs, slightly overwhelmed by the praise the unfamiliar mannerisms of the man, “we actually don’t know how long we’re staying in Gran Andes for, but we know we won’t need a permanent one. It’s not like we can transport the airships to another country other than the U.C.A.”

Lucas nods his head and says, “that’s indeed true. They’re banned in a lot of other countries because the buildings are too tall and the streets are much more narrow, but anyway, if that’s the case, then you’ll most definitely be looking for a mid-end airship. We have a lot of good ones at this dealership with a lot of different features, but I suppose you’re not looking for anything too fancy, so the real dealmakers are gonna be it’s design and cost.”

Celia and Hikaru both nod their heads in unison and said, “yep.”

“Good. Then if you would follow me this way to our collection…” he says before leading them up a set of stairs to one of the many large platforms that the airships were docked at.

Airships were parked at various landing zones throughout the city, and their sizes can become quite large, which ultimately leads to even the smallest dealerships to be quite grandiose and extravagant in size.

In particular, the one they were at contained multiple disc-shaped platforms that were stacked on top of each other in a seemingly spiral-like manner, with each platform being connected by a set of stairs from its preceding and superseding platforms. This strange feature of the dealership gave it a unique, tree-like structure that made it look like a foliose coral.

After reaching the third platform, Lucas says, “the mid-end airships start here, and the price goes up each platform. Like I mentioned before, they make up most of our collection, so it might take a while to go through them. Is there anything specific you’re looking for?”

The two of them think for a moment before Hikaru asks, “well… we are looking for specifics, but we don’t actually know what’s even possible for an airship to have. Would you mind listing out some of the available features?”

“Ha!” Lucas laughed, “I think it’d be easier for you to tell me what you’re looking for than for me to list out even some of the things an airship could have. Airships nowadays can come with all sorts of modifications and machines; just tell me what you guys have on your mind.”

“Well we need one that can hold a lot of heavy stuff… like really heavy,” Celia explained, “and if it comes with a portable metal synthesizer than that would be amazing too.”

“An airship with a metal synthesizer eh?” Lucas thinks for a moment, “I think we have a few of those… if not then modifying one onto an airship wouldn’t be too hard.”

“Great! How much is your fastest one?” Hikaru asked.

“Ooh a fast one huh? I assume you’re going outside the city with it?” Lucas asked, “given that the city speed limits are capped out at 30 km/hr and all.”

“Yeah, we got commissioned to do some work in Sector Carama and we need to transport a lot of materials over,” Celia casually lied, “boat rides and trains are too expensive, so we figured we’d use an airship. It’s a long way from here to Sector Carama though, so we’d prefer to take the fastest one.”

“Ah, then you’re in luck,” Lucas said, “I think I’ve got just the airship on the 5th platform. Let’s take the elevator up this time though, I don’t think I’m cut out for walking up more stairs.”

The three of them head to the elevator located at the pole-shaped building at the center that held all the platforms together like a tree trunk and its branches. When they reach the fifth floor, Lucas leads them to an airship just a little bigger than the size of a ferry.

The hull of the ship was a deep dark maroon color while the upper half of it was white and it was decorated with yellow and black trimmings on it that made floral, vine-like patterns all over ship. Hanging off from its railings were a set of ivy-green and black patterned drapes that were folded and wrapped along the deck.

“This,” Lucas said, pointing at the ship, “is the Engenheiro RT2210. It’s a type of airship made for engineers like you, and comes with lots of space in its hull to carry things, which is also where the work-grade metal synthesizer is located. The accommodation is where you can find the control board, and the ship can hold up to a maximum of 16 people at a time: 8 seats on the inside, and 4 benches that seat 2 people each on the deck. It can hold up to 100 metric tons worth of weight and its top speed reaches 180 km/hr, but do keep in mind that the heavier the ship gets the slower its top speed is.”

Lucas then climbs up the ladder of the ship with Celia and Hikaru following closely behind.

“Feel free to take a look around,” he says once they get to the deck.

The entire airship was only 2 stories tall and the floor was made out of rough wooden boards, mainly to create friction between the feet and the ground to prevent slipping. The control room was big enough to hold 3 people at a time, and there were seat belts located on every chair so that passengers could safely secure themselves during emergencies.

After looking around for a while and discussing with Hikaru, the two of them decide that this was the airship they wanted.

“We’ll take this one,” Celia declares as she hops off the airship, “how much will it be?”

“Ah, good choice,” Lucas said, “since this model is relatively old by modern standards, and along with the discount I’m giving you, the total price is…”