FSE

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News of the Lowtack invasion broke through Cabalton like a virus. It spread long before word from the battle lines brought stories of hellish machines soaring through the air and pummeling the Imperial army. The royal advisers made statements that the Pyrosteam Corporation was working frantically to develop the same weapons for the Imperium, but this didn't hush the gossip of those who had seen that old Professor's flying machine.

Still, Jim was able to ignore the suspicious glances passed through the bars of the fenced off workshop. They were building his flier, and nothing could stop him from reaching the clouds under its wings. Fortunately, Jenny had received a letter from sister saying that she and her husband had pulled far back from the encroaching forces and were going to stay north while he recuperated.

The Professor worked quickly to help bring Jim the parts he needed to build the machine, but he was surprised at the injenuity of his young apprentice. Most of the cogs and structure for Jim's design were common, and the few specialized sizes were more for convenience than anything else. Unlike the Clockwork Falcon, Jim's machine was to be propelled and steered by the pilots arms alone, the wings thrust down by clever supports held in his paws. Everything was tied to the Guilty Gear device, meaning that any resistance and force was accelerated by its core.

The machine was soon ready for preliminary testing, and the Professor was astonished by the power behind the otherwise simple vehicle.

"Careful now, lad. Don't forget that you are tethered," the old hound called from some distance away.

"Yes, sir!" Jim called back, resisting the urge to pull down on the handholds with all of his might. He gave the wings a gentle flap that sent dust billowing around the machine like a protective sphere.

The machine lurched up a couple inches before crashing back down on its springy support legs.

"Okay, my boy," the Professor yelled anxiously, "Bring those lines tight!"

Jim nodded as an ecstatic grin drew across his face. He pulled harder on the wings and tightened his legs around the seat.

The machine jumped up and almost broke free of the chains holding it down, and Jim cackled at the metallic twang of the links straining to hold him back. He gave a second gentle pull to ease his decent, and felt the machine ease back onto its supports.

"I think it's ready, Professor!" He laughed through the swirls of dust.

"Well let's cast off the lines then," the hound barked back as he limped to the embedded pegs around the machine.

"I'm going to call her the Sparrow!" Jim called happily as he rushed to undo the other chains.

"You're just doing that to annoy me," the old hound chuckled grouchily as he started checking the gearwork for any loose parts, "You know I can't stand sparrows."

"Well, I can't have you buggering off with her, can I?" Jim laughed back as he retook his seat.

The old hound's barking chortle echoed in his ears as he prepared for liftoff, "Fly, my boy, fly!"

And Jim did.

The earth fell away as he drove the Sparrow skyward, he felt the rush of the wings in his arms as he shifted the gears up with his hind paw. He was a part of the machine, and he could almost feel it laughing with him as he tore away from gravity with intuitive pulls along the metal supports. He was born for this, the sky was his home.

Jim dipped one of the wings to pull back around towards the shop and he giggled at the tiny people milling about the street. How could this possibly be used as a war machine? He chuckled as they pointed up at him. How could this fantastic thing become anybody's weapon?

He yanked the grips in and swooped over the roof of their workshop, fanning his arms back out and delighting in the strain of the force trying and failing to pull him down. He couldn't be captured, he couldn't be stopped. The world had opened up in a way that no train or motorcar or boat could hope to match.

But, he had promised the Professor that he would make this a brief test flight. And, maybe the old hound would let him go get Jenny so she could fly with him. So with these elated thoughts clambering though his head, the Sparrow landed gently behind the workshop like an enormous metal albatross.

"Did you see that, Professor!" Jim yelled elatedly as he pulled off the straps retraining him.

"No, I was too busy watching all the other mutts flitting over my head," chuckled the Professor as he looked over the gears again. The Sparrow appeared pristine, like the rigors of flight had forged it even stronger.

"Come off it," Jim laughed as he joined the Professor in inspecting the flier. He was so proud of his Sparrow, and he couldn't wait to show Jenny. "Sir, do you think I could possibly--?"

"Only if you hurry," the Professor interrupted, "I can't stand around letting you have all the fun, can I? So go fetch her while I get the Falcon ready," He said with gruff cheer and gently pushed Jim back towards the shop. "And you had better not let yourself be delayed by your...hormonal urges."

Jim was already racing away to hurry to Jenny's bakery. He was going to take her with him to his destiny, to his true purpose, and to embrace the early autumn sky with his love at his back.

"Jenny! Close up the shop and put on some pants!" Jim yelled into the bakery. Fortunately, only a few customers were there and appeared to be purchasing pastries to go.

"You had better not make a habit of this," Jenny snorted as she packaged some biscuits for a rather annoyed patron, "Go change over the sign and I'll finish with these good people," she said with an apologetic smile to the next customer.

"You're going to wish you hadn't said I shouldn't make a habit of this!" Jim chirped as he turned over the sign on the door and began pulling down the window lattices.

"That doesn't make any sense, and I hope this surprise of yours warrants scaring everybody off," Jenny quipped as her mouth darted between frowning and grinning. She couldn't resist seeing her love so happy.

"Oh you bet it does, and I was serious about the pants," Jim continued with a wide smile as he jumped around the counter to be next to her, "You're going to come flying with me," he whispered into her ear.

Jenny practically dropped the box of scones she had been handing to another customer. Jim quickly snatched it and handed it himself.

"And you have a particularly spectacular day, my beautiful lady," he said with an exaggerated flourish of his paw. Fortunately, she seemed amused by Jim's unapologetic cheerfulness and tittered softly as she left the shop.

"Jim...I'm a little nervous about flying..." she hesitated as she started packing up the last order.

Jim didn't let this vex him. Of course she was nervous, "I completely understand, we'll do this however you want. But my darling, my shining silver love...It's unlike anything you could ever dream of. It's almost as good as that time when we hadn't seen each other for a couple days and you wouldn't let me pull out my--"

"Yes, thank you! Have a nice day!" Jenny shouted over him as she handed a box to the last customer. She elbowed him hard as her ears flushed.

"You'd just better hope I don't learn how to crash your little metal bird, flyboy," she whispered angrily even as her fingers traced sensuously along his arm.

"Errg," Jim groaned as he remembered that speed was crucial, "No time for crashing, hurry up and put on something appropriate. We've got a date with the clouds and I don't want everybody in Cabalton seeing your nickers."

"Allright, Mr. Jealous. Pack up some things to take with us while I go look for your spare trousers," she giggled and dashed up the stairs to her flat.

The Professor was already warming up the engine of the Falcon as the young couple hurried to the back of the shop with a basket of confections for tea.

"About time!" he growled as he struggled out of the machine, "You'd almost think that you weren't about to embark on the chance of a lifetime!"

"Had a few tossers to shoo out of the bakery," Jim grinned as he strapped the basket into the back seat of the old hound's ornithopter.

"I can only pray that you aren't speaking metaphorically," the Professor grumbled as he looked over at Jenny, "I see that you've taken to sharing clothes now..."

Jenny pulled bashfully at the loose trousers, "Jim claimed that this would be more 'appropriate.'"

The young husky hurried over to her and grabbed her paw, "Okay, sir, everything's all set. Come over here, sweetheart, and I'll show you how to put on the straps."

The Professor watched happily as his apprentice hurried the pretty wolf into her seat and buckled a belt over her waist. It reminded him of his wife when they had gone on adventures together, and it made him a little sad to think that she never got to experience the rush of the wind from those mechanical wings. Still, it was more than enough to see Jim tenderly holding Jenny's face as he kissed her forehead for luck.

"Okay you two, I'm going to take off first and give you some room to maneuver. Don't forget to adjust for the extra weight, lad," he called as he popped a pair of goggles around his head.

"And you don't forget your manners now!" Jim laughed back, "This is a lady we're talking about!"

The old hound grumbled happily as he activated the wings and began bobbing the machine forward slowly. Then he threw it into gear and propelled away from the large yard behind the building.

"Okay, sweetheart, are you ready?" Jim whispered back as he watched the Professor pull into a wide circle over the workshop.

Jenny leaned forward and wrapped her paws across his chest, "As ready as I'll ever be..." she muttered nervously, "Just take it easy on a first-timer, yeah?"

"Nice and slow it is then," Jim grinned as he pulled the handholds down and drove the Sparrow up. Jenny shut her eyes and buried her face into his back as the earth shot away below them, and she felt a little queasy as the rolling incline bounced her against the belt over her waist.

"You can't hide forever," Jim yelled back encouragingly as the rooftops shrank underneath them, "You have to see this!"

Jenny kept a tight grip on him as she gingerly opened an eye. The wind flapped against her ears as she turned more quickly and saw Cabalton streaking away behind them. The fear almost paralyzed her as she looked down, but when she looked up into the clouds she began to smile.

It was magical, there was no other word. The sun shone beaming rays through gaps in the billowy whiteness as the Sparrow rushed to meet them. They danced in the twisting thermals of the atmosphere with the wind of the heavens rushing underneath. Jenny looked around and saw the Falcon soaring some distance in front, leading them forward over the rolling countryside.

"My love...it's so..." Jenny whispered over the roaring wind.

"I know," Jim smiled back as he gently glided in the Professor's wake.

Jenny snuggled into his back again, but no longer from fear. She was elated at the sights of the horizon as it undulated with the terrain. Even looking at the ground didn't cause her to panic anymore, and she laughed as she saw the trees rotating away underneath them like waving friends.

She yelped in delight as Jim pulled the craft into a quick dive, the wind pushing her pointed ears back flat against her head. Jenny even allowed her tongue to flap alongside her open mouth in a rather unladylike expression of bliss.

Jim twisted to see her and laughed at how beautiful she looked, her lips pressed back in happiness and her hind paws shuffling in excitement. His curled tail wagged gently against her as her paws drew tight on his chest. Nothing could ever take this experience away from them, and his heart soared with the beating wings around him...

"The Professor wants to land," Jim called back as he saw the Falcon dipping it's wings alternately.

They brought their machines down on a grassy plateau, but Jenny was reluctant to release her grasp on Jim's chest. She rubbed her cheek against his back and halfheartedly undid the restraints.

"Well my dear, what did you think?" The old Professor called as he approached the Sparrow.

"It was incredible," Jenny sighed as she stepped off of the machine, "I can't even think of the words to describe it. Thank you, my love," she whispered as she entwined her fingers with Jim's, "Thank you."

The Professor cleared his throat and held up the basket of pastries, "Well I thought it was far enough past teatime, and I'd wager Jim's arms are getting a little tired since he insisted on making that machine purely analogue."

Jim rubbed his admittedly tightening arm slightly, "Don't make have to race you back to Cabalton, sir. I have a reputation to uphold as principal 'flyboy.'"

Jenny bumped her shoulder against his affectionately and walked over to help set up their picnic.

The three ate happily as Jim and the Professor discussed the differences in handling between their machines, arguing good naturedly as they used pastries to indicate their points.

Jenny wound a paw over Jim's as they laughed together at one of the Professor's dry jokes, and she reclined happily as she watched him. The day couldn't have been any better, and they still had the promise of the return flight home. She looked cheerily at a large black crow that had caught wind of their picnic, but she was surprised when it didn't try to eat the pie crust she tossed it.

The crow flew away, uttering a melancholy screech as it went back towards Cabalton. But Jenny didn't think more on it as they began packing up to return to the air. Crows didn't command the sky anymore, now they shared that domain with machines.

Jim and the Professor quickly agreed on the boundaries for a race, and the ornithopters broke away into the air and the giddy rush of flight...

Dark had long since fallen by the time the two flying machines returned to the workshop, making the landing a little more difficult because of the iron fence around the back yard. However, the three leaped out of their fliers laughing and hurried into the shop after they prepared the machines for the night. The Professor recommended a very late supper at his favorite establishment, and they sauntered off without a care for the world, not even noticing the dark figure who rushed to the door workshop with a set of lockpicks in hand...