The base was triangular, with a sleek but small cabin, just big enough for a weapons officer, pilot, and two or three additional crew members. This particular airship had been fitted out in luxury, with a mirrored bar, comfortable sitting area, and several bedrooms at the back. The exhibit described how the airship was fitted with a flexible solar array that could create super-heated air to the give the airship lift. The original designer had gone bankrupt, unable to find backers for his new design. The military had stepped in, buying the patent and designing a series of weapons that could be mounted on the underside of the cabin, devastating discharges of energy that could destroy whole villages in a single blast.
She thought of the airship that had destroyed the Black Canyon Badlander camp, and of the one who had fired on them on the east coast when they’d been out retrieving the first piece of the blast deflection craft. The weapon was certainly effective.
She passed through to the next room, meeting Raven as he emerged from a connecting chamber. Here the room had been painted black, with constellations of stars dotting the walls, and a large depiction of the moon painted on the far side. Before the moon stood the lunar lander she’d seen in the flooded facility. A mannequin in a space suit stood in mid-descent on the ladder, one foot stepping onto a simulated grey lunar surface.
In a neighboring display stood a capsule-shaped craft called the Mercury.
She stopped at a third display, staring in awe. The shuttle Atlantis stood behind long velvet ropes. It was so much bigger than she’d imagined after seeing photographs of it.
“We’re getting closer,” Raven said. “It’s got to be here in this wing.”
In a section just after the shuttle towered a gigantic metal machine. It stood on treads, like the photos she’d seen of tanks in books. It was absolutely monstrous, bigger than some of the single-story houses she’d sheltered in during her trek from New Atlantic. The exhibit sign said it was a “Shuttle Crawler Transporter.” As huge as it was, she was staggered to see photos of even bigger ones that had transported gigantic rockets to lift-off areas.
Gordon joined them from an adjoining room as Raven moved off in a different direction. “This place is out of sight!” the pilot said, his eyes sparkling.
She and Gordon walked into the next exhibit hall and stopped abruptly. In the center of the room, roped off and still gleaming and silver, stood the A14. Its sleek body was not entirely unlike the shuttle, but it was narrower, and the wings were slightly sharper in shape.
Gordon gave a long, low whistle. “There she is.” Together they walked around the ship, making a complete circuit. It was in remarkably good shape, and H124 closed her eyes briefly, basking in relief.
She could hear Dirk and Raven talking in the next room. “In here!” she called out.
They hurried toward her, standing in wonder. “We found it,” Raven breathed. “And look at it! Looks like they just built it yesterday. It’s in fantastic shape.”
H124 leaned in to read the A14’s placard:
“While never launched, the A14 was the first and only craft in a planned series of spacecraft that would replace the shuttle program. Designed to take off directly from the ground on its own power, it did not require the use of rocket bodies. As space junk orbiting the earth became more and more of a hazard, designs like this became more valuable, as ejected rocket bodies became the biggest orbiting debris risks to communication satellites and other craft. The A14 was designed to make the trip quickly and efficiently, and could be used to repair orbiting telescopes and make delivery runs to the International Space Station.”
H124 paused at that part of the description. An international space station? Though a ceiling blocked her view of the sky, she found herself involuntarily looking up. There was a space station up there? Was it still there? How had all of this been lost? She returned her attention to the placard.
“Though this project was heralded as the next vital step in space exploration, due to numerous budget restrictions and funding cuts, ultimately the A14 project was abandoned. This is the only model that was ever built.”
“It was never even launched,” H124 said. She found a large stepladder on wheels in a back room, and Gordon climbed to the top to examine the A14’s engine. He gave a sigh, relieved to find the engine was still in there. Some of the planes had had theirs removed to make them lighter and easier to display. Dirk and Raven stood beside her, staring up anxiously.
“We’d have to do some tinkering before this thing will be able to fly,” Gordon told them. “Not the least of which, we’d have to convert it to a different fuel source. Not a lot of refined jet fuel lying around these days.”
“Do you think you could do it?” Raven asked.
Gordon turned, his eyes sweeping over the fuselage. “Needless to say, it’s pretty different from other craft I’ve worked with. But I think with Rivet’s help, we might be able to repair it.” Rivet was the Rover’s top engineer, and she was currently in Sanctuary City, piecing together the blast deflection craft. H124 gripped Raven’s arm happily. As Gordon climbed down, she hugged him fiercely, and he chuckled and hugged her back. “At least we can try.” He took in the size of the thing. “Getting it out is going to be a challenge.”
Already H124’s mind pored over possibilities. They’d brought along a number of maglev sleds, figuring they might have to maneuver the A14 out of a tight spot. But they wouldn’t be able to move it very far. The sheer weight of the craft meant that the sleds would only be able to labor for a few minutes before their power cells depleted. They could recharge in the sun, but it would take so many repeated cycles that it was completely impractical. And getting it to a place where there were no Death Riders, PPC, or hostile Badlander groups was essential if they were going to get it ready to go. They had to move it somewhere safe enough that Rivet and Gordon could get to work converting the fuel system. It would take teams of people coming and going, bringing supplies, and it wouldn’t be long before others noticed their presence and showed up in droves to pick them clean of whatever tech they had.
Dirk turned to Gordon. “We can’t just work on it here. It’s too exposed with that blasted crater now. It won’t be long before Death Riders notice we’re here.”
H124’s mind flashed to the bloodthirsty marauders and a chill swept through her. If they’re not already outside now. She brushed the thought aside.
Raven nodded. “I agree. We’d be a target for every band of scavengers once they saw activity in this area.” He paced, thinking. “We do have a satellite location near the west coast. It’s still across the country, but it’s a lot farther south than Sanctuary City, and would get us a little closer. It’s a protected location, and there’s an engineering lab, some living quarters, an armory.”
“We still have to get the A14 out of this museum,” Dirk pointed out.
H124 thought back to the previous room. “What if we use the synced maglevs to lift it onto the Shuttle Crawler Transporter?” She glanced around at their faces. Dirk seemed to like the idea. “It’s electric. The plaque said it had an enormous amount of torque. We can charge up the Crawler with the UV recharger. Then we just drive it, A14 and all, right out of the loading doors.”
Dirk brought this hand to his chin, then pointed at her. “I like it.”
“And then?” Gordon asked. “Once it’s outside?”
“Could we lift it somehow?” H124 asked. “Fly it under a helicopter?”
“It’s too heavy for what we’ve got,” Gordon put in. “I’ve been mentally going through all the aircraft I know of, stashed around the country and up in Sanctuary City. We don’t have anything that could carry something like this.”
H124 thought of the train tracks she’d seen from the plane. They weren’t far away from here, and they stretched all the way to the horizon, joining with a network of tracks that all converged in the ancient metropolis in the distance. Hadn’t