Chapter 13 Full

Chapter 13
To the Sky

After meeting Silvia and her co-worker Nathan, Paul continued across the bridge to East Wenatchee. Even over the river the air was hot. How could Nathan stand it in that suit of his?! Paul was glad when he got into the shade some taller buildings provided in East Wenatchee.
Strangely enough, East Wenatchee was not as built-up as Wenatchee. It looked like several buildings had burned or collapsed. The entire area seemed rather in disrepair. This was on the main street. The side streets Paul took were much worse. He wondered if a fire had burned the buildings.
He soon made it to the building. It looked small and unimportant, but Paul expected as much. It would be impossible to find a job with his skill level. He walked up to it and went in. The air seemed slightly cooler, but not too much so. A few people were standing around. They looked like businessmen, but it was hard to tell as they were in casual attire. Paul guessed it was only because it was impossible to be comfortable in a suit with the high temperature.
There was a person sitting behind a desk, and it looked like he was sweating quite heavily. Paul walked up to him, not attracting the attention of anyone around. He took the flier out of his pocket and showed it to the man. “I’d like to take the job,” Paul said.
“Great. Can you come back at five?”
“Excuse me, what even is the job?”
“Come back at five and there will be people here to tell you.”
“Ok, fine, I’ll come back at five,” said Paul, irritated at the lack of willingness to tell him.
He turned his back and walked out. He would have liked to not come back because of the unhelpful person at the desk. He decided better of it. He didn’t find any other jobs. Maybe there was a reason for it to be a secret. He cooled his anger down and decided to go to the river. At least it would be quiet there.
A few hours later, Paul heard the town clock strike five times. He was late. He decided to go anyway; at least he might be able to be interviewed. He ran as fast as he could, bursting through the door. This time he did get quite a few stares. He ignored them and walked back up.
“Hello, I’ve come back. Now, what is the job?”
A few people in uniforms walked up to him. “We can tell you,” they said.
“Well, than what is the job?”
“I’m sorry, but that can’t be explained here. There are too many already, we can’t let any more know. It would put strain on our company. You’ll have to go to the Yakima headquarters to get training,” one of the people said. They wore a emblem with a picture of clouds and the earth below them.
“What about the interview?”
“There is no interview; the only interview is how well you do on the test. The test is at the Yakima headquarters. The latest you can be there is the day after tomorrow.”
“But it will take days to get there!” protested Paul, “How can I make it in time?”
“We’ll show you. You’ll have to walk for nearly an hour to get there, though.”
“That’s fine with me.”
Paul followed them out through a back way from the building. They talked between themselves and only looked back occasionally to make sure he hadn’t snuck away. It went on for nearly an hour. The people in uniforms seemed to be nearing their destination, which would be his too, or his destination needed to get to his final destination, Yakima. He wasn’t at all surprised it was there too; if Wenatchee could form its own government, there’s no reason Yakima couldn’t.
They went over sort of a ridge, and then Paul saw what they were heading for. It was amazing. His mouth hung open. The people guiding him looked at him, wondering if he didn’t know what he was seeing, if he was born after the war. Paul saw, lying on pavement strips, airships.
“Those… those are real airships, aren’t they?”
“Yes, they are. We’ll take one to the Yakima headquarters.”
Paul walked down the opposite side of the ridge to the mini-airport, still in shock of this technology. Would it be possible to reconnect the entire country with these? If so, why had no one done it yet? Oh well, all he had to do was train for the job in Yakima. He hoped Silvia wouldn’t be confused or worried when he wasn’t there. That would be the biggest problem, along with his problems of not bringing his pack, not wanting to get sidetracked from his goals, and various other irritations
He reached the airstrip. A few people with the same emblems welcomed them and guided Paul and his guides to one of the airships with an open door.
“This airship will take me to Yakima in time to take the test?” Paul asked, surprised that he could actually travel so far so quickly.
“Yes, it will, but you’d better hurry.”
He walked into the airship. The people behind him closed the door shut. Inside there was the cockpit and a staircase leading up above to a higher level. There were several seats bolted to the ground in the cockpit, but the only other person in the room was the pilot. He sat in front of a large metal control panel with a vast array of buttons, switches, and levers.
“Am I the only one going to Yakima? I heard others were coming,” said Paul, confused.
“They wanted to go on ahead and take the test. Don’t worry; this airship can make it in time.”
Paul nodded and sat down in one of the chairs. It probably wouldn’t be too long to get there. The airship began floating upwards, a feeling Paul hadn’t felt since his childhood when he took an airplane trip. He was fascinated at the controls, and the way the pilot could control every engine and propeller on the entire craft with just a button. He was also amazed by just how fast he was going. It had to be nearly 50 miles per hour! No one had gone that fast in Western Washington for years unless they had fallen off a cliff!
The airship continued for a while, Paul staring at everything with amazement, the view out the window, the machines around the room, the pilot using the controls, the speed at which they were travelling… everything was like when he first saw Wenatchee.
They continued going on, and the ride soon felt a bit rough. The floor seemed to be moving.
“Is everything alright?” he asked the pilot.
“Just a bit windy, that’s all.”
It seemed like more than just a bit windy. It didn’t even seem like they were going in the right direction. There was a ridge in front of them, it didn’t look as low as the ground before was. The wind probably knocked the airship down a bit. Paul didn’t think it looked alright as the pilot said, but thought he shouldn’t be lecturing the pilot on how to fly. The pilot’s face was slightly reddish, and he seemed to be sweating.
“We’re fine!” he said, but it seemed more like he was trying to convince himself than Paul.
Paul looked out the window. It seemed fine. The ridge was passing below them. The pilot seemed relieved. And then there was a hideous scraping noise. It was like the sound of chalk scraping a blackboard except much, much worse. The entire airship shook. Things lying on the floor flew across the room. With a banging sound, the pilot’s head hit the dashboard.
The pilot hit the floor, unconscious.