MM: taking Cal on the Baba Yaga

[aimedforthemoon]

Outside, it is raining. Hard. Not impossible to walk through, but the kind of weather where you'd get drenched within a couple of minutes unless you had the right clothes. They are obviously in a city, and a major one at that; although Cormond is built on the salt-flats, overpopulation has meant that people build up, and given one side of the street has no buildings, there is a wide view of the rest of the city. It looks not unlike an Earth city, at least from a distance.

The buildings themselves are built in a style that is both functional and stark at the same time as being organic, and there is a science-fiction feel thanks to the airspeeders and the aliens (some rather obviously alien) mixed in with the humans.

"The port is just at the other end of the street," Esfir explains as they stand under the eaves.

Comments

[isaysimplewords]

Cal looks up.

"Hey! I didn't hear you come in. Yeah, it's neat. He get to sleep all right?"

[aimedforthemoon]

"I left him babbling to himself - hopefully, he'll nod off once we're flying."

[isaysimplewords]

Cal nods.

Then he grins, because: flyyyying. In a spaceship.

[aimedforthemoon]

"So, come with me."

And up the rung she goes, with practiced speed, and settles herself into the cockpit. The window stretches nearly all the way around the circular space, and there are two chairs in front of the large control panel.

(there are bolts in the floor for some more chairs, but the chairs themselves are folded downstairs.)

Using the time it takes Cal to come up and settle into the chair, she flicks some switches and slowly the engine starts to be...not heard, not yet, but felt.

[isaysimplewords]

Cal, unused to the ladderthing, is a bit slower than Esfir, but he's definitely right behind her.

He fits comfortably into the chair, which is not his top priority at the moment, but always nice for a man his size.

He's still grinning.

[aimedforthemoon]

"And seatbelt on....you'll need it," she adds as she increases the engine's revs and sends her hand to another gear. As she does, something changes in her face; sharpens, focuses. For all she's at ease in her chair (and she really is, looking right at home), she is also a pilot and now she looks it.

"Here we go," Esfir murmurs as the Baba Yaga rises up. Straight up, and quickly, until she's cleared the spaceport walls. Then the ship tilts (there is artifical gravity, yes, and you could walk around right now, but there is still a sense of tilting beyond the visual) and zooms into the sky.

[isaysimplewords]

The sound of the engine seems to emerge from the vibration, so that Cal scarcely realizes he's hearing it until a good few seconds after it becomes audible.

His eyes are focused entirely on the view, which seems too big to take in all at once. He's absorbed in the soundsensation and sight, and for a moment forgets everything else altogether.

[aimedforthemoon]

The view of the city and saltflats is thereandgone and then it is cloudfognothing. Of course then the Baba Yaga breaks through them, and there is nothing but sun and the tops of the clouds.

Not that she stops there, of course, but instead guides her ship into the black of space.

Not empty, though - other ships coming in and out, larger ships not even doing that (because they can't). And then there are stars, and stars, and stars.

"Still breathing?"

[isaysimplewords]

. . . he is now. The reminder was helpful.

He blinks over at her. There are absolutely no words, but he doesn't need them because it's written all over his face.

And, no doubt, because Esfir, with her joy in flying, feels it even more strongly.

[aimedforthemoon]

No, no words, and no, there is nothing like flying for her, but she has done this many, many times.

And there is nothing like seeing it for the first time.

So, she smiles at him, and guides them in the direction of the the hyperspace-path (although, really, more of a highway, given the traffic).

[isaysimplewords]

Cal's gaze turns back to the window, and he leans forward to better take it all in - the stars, the black of space, the other vehicles all around them . . . and, for the first time, starts to understand.

[aimedforthemoon]

"I'll go into hyperspace in about thirty seconds, and that is going to last for about fifteen minutes."

Beat.

"So remember to breathe, my friend."

[isaysimplewords]

Cal nods.

. . . it may not look as though that registered, but it did. Mostly.

[aimedforthemoon]

The coordinates from here to Corellia are something the computer has done time and time again, and she has jumped into hyperspace more times than she wants to think about.

But the jump - and it is a jump that presses force against them during it - and the way the stars stretch out just before it never fails to effect her.

Everything stretches, and then a brief hurtlejump later, they are in the swirling blue of the hyperspace-tunnel.

[isaysimplewords]

And, again, the failure of an image on a television screen to do justice to the real thing is laughable, like looking at a faded, yellowed picture of a full-scale feast cut from an old newspaper. Cal blinks only when his eyes start to sting, and breathes - well, it's a good thing breathing is a voluntary action only up to a certain point.

[aimedforthemoon]

She fiddles with a few controls, and then releases her seatbelt to lounge in her chair, one leg over the armrest.

"Welcome to hyperspace."

[isaysimplewords]

Cal sort of sags into his chair after a moment with a long exhale.

After another moment, he finally finds his voice again.

"Wow."

[aimedforthemoon]

Esfir nods, happily.

"Sometimes, I just...sit here and watch it. More times than I'd like to admit, maybe."

[isaysimplewords]

Cal grins, and actually looks over at her, though his gaze will be flicking back and forth for a while.

"I won't tell."

[aimedforthemoon]

"Thank you."

Beat.

"I'll check on Antosha, and come back."

Which she does need to do, but also gives time Cal to watch the show.

[isaysimplewords]

Cal nods.

"Okay."

And he has turned his full attention back to the hyperspace display before she's even on the ladder.

[aimedforthemoon]

She rather thought as much.

Antony is nearly asleep, she leaves him with a kiss on his forehead and goes back up to the cockpit.

[isaysimplewords]

Cal is completely caught up in watching; he doesn't even realize Esfir's back until she sits, and then only because it puts her back at the edge of his vision. He blinks once or twice, then glances over.

"How's he doing?"

Because there are priorities.

[aimedforthemoon]

"Nearly asleep."

You see this smile?

She isn't aware of this smile.

(and oh, does she love her son)

[isaysimplewords]

Cal knows that smile.

He misses wearing that smile. Even the beauty of hyperspace can't stop the sudden tug of loss. He smiles his own smile back at Esfir, though, saying,

"Good. He's a great kid, Fira."

(Someday he'll have that smile again.)