The First Prototype

Rosemary looked at Harlan with wide eyes and a smile. It was enough for the scientist to retreat several steps away.

Harlan coughed in her hand and pointed back to a lit board behind her, the whole purpose of the meeting in the first place, a rough layout of the flying vehakul was projected behind her, and Rosemary patiently sat at a desk that the scientist thought was far enough away—she was remiss to find that she was wrong. The girl’s energy radiated so much that Harlan would have to put her in a lead suit to block it off.

“As I was saying, this vehakul uses the existing hover technology on the so-called W.I.N.G.S. I have developed a custom system that will increase the output tenfold.”

“Oh, Harlan, Harlan,” Rosemary said as she held her aquamarine hand high. “How will it get high? Won’t that hovering stuff only make it… hover?”

“The hovering only applies additional lift; once the vehakul reaches a sufficient speed, the shape of the wings,” Harlan drew what looked like a stretched-out teardrop on the board, “will take over the rest of the job….” As the scientist looked back, she frowned. Despite her best efforts, Rosemary was already lost. “Why don’t we just go see the prototype?”

“Oh, is it built already? Will I be flying today?” the aquamarine girl asked as she jumped up from her desk.

“No, today we are having a small model take flight. It would be costly to build a full-sized one at this stage.”

“Oh, that makes sense!” Rosemary added in a chipper tone. Harlan remained neutral-faced but shook her head as they walked through the underground tunnels of her home. The Zenotote scientist remained silent—though the Aquamarine girl tried her best to keep a conversation going, Harlan didn’t respond.

She cautiously half-waved, lifting her hand slightly above her waist, making the action recognizable as a wave to some fellow Zenototes as they passed through the underground city. The citizens carried on with their assigned tasks throughout the capital without concern. Those that saw Harlan’s greeting frowned a moment, first, likely at the sight of her un-Zenotote-like face, then at her odd greeting. With her uniform showing her rank, they nodded politely and continued moving through the day.

After waving several times, Harlan clenched her hand into a fist and looked at the ground. For a moment, she pondered what came over her. Seeing how her senior reacted, Rosemary waved as well to passersby, though more enthusiastically and with a smile that received even more strange looks.

Once they were on the elevator up to the surface, Harlan could no longer hold back a sigh. She ignored Rosemary’s questions about whether or not she was okay and rode up the elevator without another sound.

On top of the sandy surface, some workers made final adjustments to the prototype. The body resembled a bug—like the pleaf Harlan used in Horizon, but the wings on the side resembled a bird. The bottoms of the wings were lined with hover devices.

“Are preparations ready?” she asked one worker, who simply nodded in reply. Harlan pointed to the device, which sat as high as her waist. “This is the prototype. We have programmed a simple flight pattern into it and can operate it remotely. That is where you come in.” Harlan pointed to a bench on the side with a tablet and a control panel laid out. She said nothing more.

“Oh, I see!” Rosemary exclaimed as she sat at the spot; she moved the levers and joysticks while watching sections on the prototype move in unison. “So, I’ll test the controls from down here?” Harlan nodded. She was glad her father had not picked out an assistant who needed to be told every little thing.

With the preparations finalized, Harlan ran Rosemary through a quick explanation of each control, and they fired the prototype up.

It immediately lifted off the ground and thrust forward with a jolt. Rosemary’s Aquamarine face was lit with excitement as she watched the view on the tablet head into Resh’s blue sky. She prepared to twist the controls when a loud crack suddenly rippled from above. All below had been looking at the screen, but now turned to look at the prototype.

Smoke trailed behind it as it made the sound of popping firewood. Then it exploded.

“It’s a good thing I wasn’t on that!” Rosemary said in shock as they watched the fiery ball crash back down. The workers ran out and dumped fire retardant overtop.

Harlan rubbed her scaly chin. Where had the error been? My calculations were perfect. Did the design have a flaw? Am I missing something? Thoughts ran through her mind as she pondered just what had gone wrong. “Harlan?” Rosemary broke the scientist’s concentration.

“What is it?”

“Don’t get down. This was just the first trial! If we keep working on this, we make something even better for the Absolutism!” the aquamarine girl said with a mix of encouragement and pride. Harlan shook her head.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself; this isn’t the sort of thing that is done overnight.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean to say anything out of turn!” Rosemary gasped. Her brow furrowed as she seemed to ponder what to say next.

“Don’t worry about it,” Harlan said as she held up a hand. “I’m going back to my lab to do some more work.” She walked toward the elevator while Rosemary chased after.

“I’ll come and keep you company!”

“That won’t be necessary.”

“Then I’ll bring you something to eat later! It seems you never do it.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Harlan replied as the elevator doors cut between them. She sighed as she descended.

Despite her refusal, Rosemary turned up to her lab several hours later with a freshly prepared meal. Harlan ate silently while listening to the Aquamarine girl go on and on about many frivolous topics.