Revelation of Worlds

1-The Fall

Wind whistled through the air, pulling at grass, leaves, and anything else in its path. In the distance, a rotor rumbled, a sound that had become ambient to anyone on the ship. Sitting up slightly from the machine he was crouched by, he was immediately assaulted by the forces of nature.

"Roy! Are you almost done?" He glanced over his shoulder as the area boss called to him.

He held up a hand. A long established signal for a few more minutes. The captain raised a hand in reply. Turning back, Roy studied the machine again. Gears creaked slightly as he turned a lever on the side, testing the mechanics. There was a sharp sound, and he immediately released the pressure he had been applying to the lever.

He crouched down again, shimmying into a small hole that gave access to the mechanisms. The wind abated, though it whistled past the machine in a hollow drone now. Shining his light, he was finally able to see what had caused it to stop functioning. A gear had slid out of place down the rod it sat on, getting stuck in another system and impeding its function.

Reaching in a pouch held around his waist, he pulled out a bolt and a strange tool. He threaded the tool onto the rod holding the gear, then gripped it with both hands. Twisting violently, he used as much force as possible in the small space. It slammed into the gear, knocking it slightly out of the system. He repeated the action. The gear eventually came loose. He slid it down the rod and rotated it until it fit snugly into its place. He placed the bolt on to hold it in place, and fastened a clamp after the bolt for good measure.

Sliding out of the space, he pushed lightly on the lever once more. It slid smoothly down to the bottom of its track, the gears turning smoothly and everything functioning as normal. He returned the lever to the top position before pulling down quickly and forcefully. The sudden force started a small motor, and the gears began to spin quickly. Roy looked up as the propellor span to life, creating a small downward current to combat the raging winds.

He looked out over the rail, seeing clouds rush past and the occasional break of blue above him. There was no point in looking down, he already knew, as only a white expanse stretched below them. Shaking himself from the monotonous view, he turned to go back inside. With a tight grip on a rope, he fastened himself to it with a clasp before turning and undoing a hook that had been attached to a loop on the propeller.

Then he turned and walked up to where his captain had disappeared into the doorway, the clasp snagging every so often on knots in the rope. Roy hefted the door open, fighting against the wind as he did so. Taking shelter behind the door, he leaned his weight on it and unfastened his hook from the rope. When he entered the room, the door slammed shut with force strong enough to break bones, as most well knew from either experience or stories.

"Ah, Roy," The captain came up to him at the slam, "Good job out there."

Nodding he undid the buckles and clamps on the harness he wore, hanging it on a hook by the door for later use. Now that he was out of the wind, it was a little easier to breath, and he heaved a sigh of relief.

Walking over to stand near the captain, he saw there was a blueprint spread over the surface of the table. "So can you tell me what was wrong with this one?" Nodding, Roy looked the paper over quickly before placing his finger over a gear. He then slid the finger down. "The gear had fallen loose? How odd..." Roy pointed at the same gear before pointing to a different set. "You're telling me that it was jammed in the other system?" Once more, Roy nodded.

The captain had a worried look on his face as he considered this. Turning to lean on the table, Roy squeezed the bridge of his nose as he waited for his captain to speak again. He had been up since before the time piece said three, shaken awake by his panicked captain. Three of the propellers had gone dark earlier, and he had fixed those. Since then, it seemed one was breaking down almost every hour. This was the eighth repair he had done today.