Jenny, still flushed at the cheeks replied in a somewhat embarrassed way, " Oh I've seen you doing your stuff at the academy. I'm Jenny and this horrible specimen is my brother Elcesior."
"Hey steady on", protested Elcesior, "I might be tempted to reveal your faults.
Ed came to Jenny's defence with, "I'm sure that wouldn't take long." His confidence seemed to be returning, thank goodness.
Jenny, embarrassed, looked down at the ground. Not daring to look at Ed. She had admired his confident manner and stunning good looks when she'd seen him at the academy, but never had she dreamed she'd ever be permitted to get this close to him, he always seemed to be surrounded by a throng of admiring hangers on. It almost seemed like he was followed everywhere by his "bodyguards". Jenny couldn't believe this moment, she cursed the fact that she was struggling to look at him let alone engage in some sort of meaningful conversation. She desperately wanted to say something that would make this meeting stand out and get her noticed, but her brain seemed to have turned to jelly, a stodgy one at that. She was internally beating herself up something rotten trying to think of something witty or important to say. But try as she might, nothing came forward, she couldn't even look at him for any length of time, especially when she sensed that he was looking at her., What was wrong with her, normally she had no trouble at all talking to boys.
Elcesior breaks the moment by remarking, "Haven't you always wanted to ride one of these things Jenny?"
Jenny still embarrassed said, "Yes, but I'm sure Paul, er sorry, Ed has much better things to do with his time."
Paul remarked, "I'm sure Ed would be only too pleased to demonstrate his new toy, he's a very safe and skilful pilot, I can assure you."
By this time both Ed and Jenny feel somewhat backed into a corner, Ed feeling obligated to offer the ride and Jenny to accept the invitation. Whilst they both felt inwardly awkward about the situation, outwardly the transaction was conducted somewhat smoothly. Ed merely said he'd be delighted to take Jenny for a trip on the new Airsleaker. Jenny accepted with, "If you're sure that's alright, after all you've just got it haven't you, so your Dad told us."
Ed, ever the gentleman said, "Be an honour to take you. Just got a few things to check out regards the maps and I can take you shortly. Perhaps you'd like to come in for a drink?"
Paul lead Elcesior and Jenny in and introduced them to his mother. They were soon chatting about how Jenny and Elcesior were settling into their new dwelling. Maria said that she knew that they didn't live far away and wondered when they would meet up, after all Regenis 4 was only a small planet.
Ed called Paul into his room to assist him analyse the maps and the location they had visited. When they had finished, Paul and Ed rejoined their visitors. Ed told his mum that Jenny had always wanted to ride on an air sleaker so he was just going to take her out for a short trip. Maria, ever the curious person asked if Elcesior ever wanted to try one as well. To which Elcesior surprisingly replied that the sudden movements of anything like an air sleaker made him quite sick, so no he'd never really been interested.
Ed and Jenny bid everyone farewell and Maria, just had to tell Ed to be careful and not go too fast or far. Ed felt a bit stupid being told to be careful by his mum, it didn't suit his carefree cool but daredevil pilot image.
Ed tried to make it look as if he hadn't heard his mum and walked down the hallway and out through the door, Jenny followed. As the door was closing Ed heard his mum ask his Dad, "They will be alright won't they Edward?"
Edward just looked at the ceiling as if to say, "Stop worrying woman."
~~~~~~
Chapter 2 - Regenis 4 Night Lights
Ed lifted the seat of the air sleaker and reached into the dedicated compartment that housed the protective clothes,he fished out two all-in-one suits, handed one to Jenny and nervously said, "Just for your.... er....protection... in-case you fall off the... er..... Airsleaker."
Jenny quietly took the offered package and asked, "Thanks, do I need to take anything off or is it.... er..... worn on top?"
Ed, who was normally a very confident talker, couldn't believe how difficult he was finding this conversation, stumbling over his words and feeling quiet hot, he must be as red as a globe root by now, especially when Jenny mentioned taking things off! What on Regenis 4 was happening to him? Realising that there had been a long embarrassing pause, judging by the appealing look that Jenny was giving him, willing him to answer her question. Ed suddenly took control of himself, mentally he slapped himself round the face, nagging himself to get a grip. He responded with, "Er....No it just slips on top.... of what you are wearing.... it is quite loose fitting....it .....er..... only inflates if we run into trouble. "
Ed couldn't help but just stand and watch as Jenny slipped off her shoes and slipped into her protective gear. He'd seen loads of girls getting into flight gear and hadn't batted an eyelid before, so what was different now? Well Jenny's clothes for starters, those frills on her costume, he'd only seen such stylish clothes on the fashion channel, when his Mum had been watching it once or twice, but this was different with Jenny doing her balancing act before him, the frills emphasising her every movement. Ed was brought back to reality when Jenny stopped her balancing act and asked, "What not putting on your flight suit?"
"Er.... sorry... yes..... I er..... forgot, just seeing if you.... er needed any help." replied Ed.
"As you can see, I don't." replied Jenny, with confidence returning to her voice. She'd obviously had enough of Ed's admiring looks. She wanted to get on with the trip and end this moment of embarrassment.
Ed quickly got into his flight suit, the years of practice showed, as he had his suit fastened and it was adjusting itself, whilst Jenny was still tying to figure out how to fasten hers. Ed was tempted to reach out and help her, but then thought better of it, his motives may have been mis-interpreted. Instead he reached into the air sleaker again and plucked out two helmets, that looked more like a pair of cubes. Ed flicked his left wrist and the helmet immediately took on the more recognisable helmet shape.
Ed found himself staring again, after he'd handed Jenny her helmet and she took it. He watched as she pushed her long blonde, now gleaming hair up into the helmet. Ed noticed that Jenny had not fastened her suit properly, he was worried that it would not inflate properly. He found himself standing before Jenny reaching out to her suit, stopped himself just before his hands actually made contact and felt he should explain his actions, "Your suit is not exactly fastened properly, can I.... er.... re-fasten it for you?" He paused as he waited for permission to proceed.
Jenny was looking at his hands as if hypnotised by them, Ed patiently waited for her to catch up with the situation. When she did, he could see that her face had flushed quite red, it made him quickly withdraw his hands. Jenny muttered, "Er.... yes of course.... I er.... haven't put one of these..... on before."
Ed said, "No quite..... it takes a bit of practice. " Seeing Jenny's somewhat apologetic smile, he felt a strange feeling inside, which bought out a protective streak in him, as if he were dealing with a small helpless child. He gently reached out and carefully pulled the top fastenings of Jenny's suit apart again. There were those frills again. He wanted to pull the suit further apart to see more of them again, but he resisted the temptation. He re-fastened the suit , gently pressing the fasteners home. To have such close contact with Jenny was at the same time heavenly and also highly embarrassing. He quickly stepped back and put on his helmet, then stood astride the Airsleaker, concentrating on mounting it then carrying out his pre-flight checks. Aware that all the time Jenny was watching closely his every move.
Ed finished his checks and gently spoke to Jenny through the headset microphone in his helmet, he said, "OK you can climb aboard now. There was a moment's pause, then he felt the craft drop ever so slightly as Jenny alighted the rear seat. He had to concentrate hard, to clear his imagination of the sight of Jenny. Ed spoke again, ask
ing, "Well we're all ready to go, are you OK?"
"As ready as I'll ever be", replied Jenny.
The take off was as smooth as silk, they could only just discern that they were rising high above the ground.
As Ed engaged forward thrust and the craft gently eased forward, he suddenly felt Jenny lean in towards him and she gently eased her arms around his waist. Ed had a soft gooey feeling in the pit of his stomach, he knew he was going to enjoy this flight. Ed gently swung the air sleaker round the dwelling, to the right not daring to repeat the moves he'd made earlier in the day when his brother Paul was riding with him, when he had made the air sleaker rise straight over the roof of the dwelling. He headed towards the same light orange hills in the distance that he and Paul had visited earlier. The further they travelled, the more Ed eased the throttle forward, but the acceleration was so gentle, that Jenny had no idea of the speed that they were travelling, until she looked towards the ground.
"This is fantastic!" she almost shouted into the microphone.
"OK, OK, no need to deafen me", said Ed, "These microphones are pretty sensitive you know."
Jenny apologised, then concentrated, on the ever changing colours of hills that were rapidly approaching now. The colours were changing as their angle of approach changed and as the sun was slowly sinking, something apparently to do with the gasses in the atmosphere. The rock composition was also changing as they got closer.
As Ed felt Jenny's grip around his waist change from a somewhat fearful grip into a more relaxed clasp, he felt his confidence returning, he took the air sleaker down closer to the ground as a group of rocks came into view, "I'll take us through these rocks, there's some quite spectacular caves amongst them, Paul and I checked them out earlier today." Gone was the stuttering of his earlier exchanges with Jenny.
"OK, not too close though, we don't want to crash." said Jenny with a small element of fear in her voice.
"Trust me I'm an ace pilot remember. I never take chances with my craft or my precious cargo." replied Ed.
Jenny's confidence must have also returned as she gently ribbed Ed with, "Oh I'm cargo now am I?"
"Only of the most precious sort." Ed said, enjoying the banter.
"I see what you mean by the spectacular caves. I wonder if there are any animals sheltering in the caves?" wondered Jenny.
"Why are you snackish?" ribbed Ed.
"Certainly not!" replied Jenny sounding quite disgusted by the suggestion.
"Well I for one am not proposing we crash land to find out whether the caves are occupied or not. Those rocks might seem pretty smooth, but they are treacherous." replied Ed.
The air sleaker changed direction and descended a few more feet and they caught sight of even bigger and more spectacular caves, now well lit by the ever sinking sun. There were a myriad of colours emerging from the cave mouths as the sunlight caught the different rock types. The air sleaker changed direction again and started to ascend, quite steeply. As Jenny looked the other side of the craft she saw why Ed was taking this course of action, there was a steep cliff rising before them. Her grip on Ed's waist tightened again, but he didn't mind, in fact it made him feel needed and brought them closer together in the shared thrill of the air sleaker ride as they rose into the air at such a rate.
Jenny, not knowing the capabilities of the Airsleaker, had the fear that it would give out before the summit of the cliff was reached. However, the air sleaker rode effortlessly over the top edge of the cliff and its flight path evened out quite quickly. To the right the large sun could be seen touching the horizon and to the left, the first of the two moons could be seen edging its way above the horizon.
Ed headed the air sleaker to the main area of the hills, it took a few minutes to reach the first edge of the rocks, but as soon as they were below the craft, Jenny could see that they were making fair speed as the rocks sped below them. Her confidence returned again and she eased up her grip on Ed.
A large gorge appeared before them and Ed headed straight for it. He eased the craft between the rocks and as the gorge turned to the right, Ed followed its path skilfully keeping the craft exactly in the middle of the gully, maintaining an even height. There were steep turns to right and left, with further gully's leading off on both sides. As Jenny looked down these, she could see that most did not lead far, others seemed to snake deeper into the rocks.
Jenny asked Ed a question, which took him by surprise at first, as he was concentrating on piloting the craft and had not expected to hear Jenny's voice. He had to ask her to repeat the question. She asked how he was managing to navigate his way so skilfully through the gully.
Ed replied, that he had uploaded a detailed map to the air sleaker that morning and was flying using a combination of the map and the surround-a-readings that the Airsleaker's own navigational system was giving him, that combined with his own observations, made the navigation relatively easy.
Jenny thought, rather you than me, it may seem easy to Ed with all his experience of flying, but she would hate to try herself, although she knew there were some ace female trainee pilots at the academy, who would probably be equal to, or even surpass Ed's skills. Jenny's specialism lay in her artistic ability. She had the ability to observe a scene in nature and translate that into a design for clothing or dwelling panels. Back on her home planet she had won several awards for her designs, in fact one of her designs could be periodically seen on the master wall of the entrance lobby to the main administration construct, quite a feat considering she was only 13 when she submitted the design.
The air sleaker ascended at a tremendous rate, far above the gorge that they had been travelling through. Jenny looked back and could see how windy the gully had been and also how far they had travelled. The air sleaker descended rapidly again back into the gorge. As they went down Jenny could see that the next sections of the gorge were even more treacherous.
Jenny nervously asked, "Shouldn't we be heading back now?"
Ed replied, "Yes in a few minutes, I just wanted to show you something that Paul and I saw earlier today, it is quite spectacular."
They had descended back into the gorge and had followed the gorge's path from right to left and back right again, then suddenly without warning the air sleaker turned down a side path.
"Did you mean to do that?" asked Jenny nervously.
"Of course." replied Ed
Again the air sleaker followed closely the path of this new gorge. As they progressed down it, the walls were retreating and the gorge becoming ever wider until suddenly the side walls completely dropped away, as did the floor of the gorge. They were in the same massive canyon, that Ed and Paul had visited earlier. The air sleaker came to an easy halt.
"See what I mean?" asked Ed.
"That is fantastic." said Jenny absolutely astounded at the size of the canyon. She was wishing he'd bought her e-pad, then she would have been able to take some photos and done some sketches. She asked, "How come we did not see this canyon when we were far above the gorge?"
"Good question!" exclaimed Ed, "I wondered the same myself when Paul and I saw it this afternoon. I did a bit of research when I got home and found it hasn't been mapped and even the Airsleaker's measurement system failed to detect it, there must be some form of cloaking effect at play."
Just then both Ed and Jenny saw lights off to the right of the canyon, quite far off, but distinctly visible.
They both exclaimed,"Hey what's that over there!"
Ed suggested that they take a closer look.
It took a quite a few minutes to get nearer to the area where the lights had appeared, they could now make out a series of temporary structures, the lights were quite clearly visible. Ed took some photos and readings using the on-board equipment of the Airsleaker. But when he checked the results, there was nothing recorded. He thought this very strange, so reached into the arm of his jacket and pulled out his e-reader, switched modes to writing and recorded the colours and shap
es he had observed. When he played back his notes, all was OK.
Ed reassured Jenny, with, "I think we've spent enough time here, lets get back home."
Jenny was rather concerned that it would be too dark to be able to get safely home, but Ed assured her that the air sleaker had excellent night navicon and lighting systems. There would be nothing to worry about.
Ed turned the air sleaker around and headed back the way they had come. Soon they were back into the main gorge and Ed eased the air sleaker upwards to escape the gorge, then headed the craft back in a homeward direction.
By this time the last rays of the sun were about to disappear below the horizon and the two silvery moons were quite high in the early night sky. The light was quite eerie as the orange and silvery rays melted together, fighting with each other to light up the rocks. On some their orange features were clearly picked out, whilst others were little more than in semi shadow.