Ep. 1.5 - Up There's a Heaven, Down There's a Town - Closed

[Deleted]

“Anyway, you may regret tagging along on any of my particular brand of adventures,” he added with a laugh. “They tend to be a bit, um, hmm. What’s the word. Shadowy? No – shady! Shady works. But it’s good times all around, no worries.”

"What kind of 'shady'?" asked Sarita, narrowing her eyes at the display. "Shady as in 'not traditionally decent, but still good-hearted' folks, or shady as in 'we're meeting criminals' folks? If this somehow involves robot drugs or other such things, Layby's going to be pissed if he finds out."

It wasn't a threat, merely a warning. Sarita wasn't stupid enough to try and threaten a fucking sentient jet about his less...scrupulous activities, but she wasn't going to go back on Layby's authority. If it was something that was going to compromise Haven, Layby would have Deuce's head, and Sarita would be busy pouring saltwater all over the jet's internal electrical systems. The mech had been nice enough to give her a ride, but she knew he was a thief, and he hadn't done for her what Layby had. (Yet.)

“I think what I’ll do is buzz over Oregon a bit and hail Dart over one of our frequencies,” he said. “It that comes up dry I’ll land somewhere and try calling my friends on foot. As an avatar. We can hit up a bigger town or city that way, stretch our legs a bit. Got any cities in mind in the state you’d particularly like to visit?”

"Anywhere but Portland," said Sarita, glancing out the window again. Another flock of birds was near Deuce's left wing; she stared as the jet passed them by like they were traffic. "Don't get me wrong, Voodoo Donuts is the shit, but everyone remembers Portland — and the mountains. Let's go somewhere that isn't listed on every major map."

[Deleted]

"Traditionally decent shady!" said the jet innocently. "I'm a good guy! Just emotionally exhausted and morally bankrupt is all. And you got it."

He waggled his wings in affirmative. "Anywhere but Portland it is. Which is a shame, because I've heard it is a nice city. But I've seen plenty of nice cities, so I'm happy to skip this one if requested. We'll find a quieter spot to touch down in, where I can hide and you can find other donuts that are likewise the shit. Voodoo Donuts, really? Well, doesn't that beat all."

The jet chuckled.

"Anyway, we're currently coming up over the state of Ohio now. Oregon is approximately two thousand miles ahead, and at our current cruising speed of a leisurely seven hundred miles an hour that should give us an ETE of roughly... just a little under three hours, actually! If you'd like to take a bit of a nap, now is the time to do so. We'll be crossing a handful of time zones in that time, and god knows that always makes me tired and cranky. So sit back and enjoy the ride! Cross the United States from coast to coast in style. Your Captain will make an announcement before we begin our descent, at which point... well, I suppose we'll see when we get there. Thank you for flying Air Deuce!"

A layer of cloud streaked past the canopy as the jet blasted through it, flying steadily to the west, until it had shrunken into a tiny glimmer of light on the distant horizon.





to be con't!

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---

"...Huh."

"What?"

"Could've sworn I had five dollars in here," said a Canadian pilot, flicking through a faux-leather wallet. An American flyboy peered over his shoulder, trying to see what was wrong. "They were in Canadian dollars — toonies and loonies."

"Funny you mention that," said the American, "because I'm missing six bucks myself. Could've sworn I had it in my left pocket."

"Well when was the last time you had them?" asked the Canadian, checking his pockets to see if the coins had fallen out. The American shrugged.

"Before that jet flew in. I'm wondering if I dropped it, running to see what'd landed and all."

"Yeah, and did you see the tits on the pilot's girlfriend? Man, she was hot!"