Pilot

  Chapter 34

  Wednesday arrived and Elena decided to put Ian Jensen out of her mind. Smith had not brought up the incident at their Thursday evening meeting and she hoped he considered it a moot issue. She also hoped he would keep himself out of her daily life, but had little hope of seeing that wish fulfilled. Still he hadn't been by the shop since. Elena was willing to take that as a good sign.

  She and Andre headed down to the docks. Today was the day she would see her ship. It would be a good day. The sun was a bright circle in the deep blue bowl of sky. Elena and Andre chatted aimlessly, the conversation ranging from bad horror flicks to politics and art. With a start Elena realized they had become friends. She smiled to herself as she took the exit off of the highway.

  "Something amusing?" Andre asked.

  "I was just thinking how nice it was to talk to someone I don't have to hide Guild business from," she told him. He nodded.

  "Yeah," he said. "Even when you are just talking normally you have to always watch that something doesn't spill out that you can't rationally explain."

  "True, but sometimes that can be fun as well," she told him, thinking of the housewarming she had attended. "Kind of conversational tight rope walking."

  "Yeah but when you slip you really end up going splat." The exit led them to a split in the road and Elena turned left.

  "I don't know, some of those last second saves are quite interesting. Sometimes you don't know how fast you can think until you have to avoid a free fall." The road led them towards the water. Not many ships were docked here and the area seemed to be more warehouses and empty berths.

  "Looks like this dock has seen better days," Andre commented as he shifted his gaze out of the window. A few of the buildings had fallen into disrepair. To Elena it seemed like a place where the bulk of the shipping industry had gone elsewhere, but the warehouse district was too far from the city center to become a popular haven for those seeking trendy lofts and clubs.

  "Well it certainly looks like a place that would be used for smuggling." Towards the end of the docks she spotted three ships unloading goods into two waiting trucks. "Guess this is the place." She parked near the trucks and they got out of the car. She took the leather satchel from the back seat. All of the papers regarding the Storm Chaser were inside as well as the maps from under the floorboards. She would be stashing them on the ship, leaving nothing behind in her apartment to be found in the event of a search. Elena was careful to stay out of the way of the workers. Her grandfather stood off to the side watching the men work. Peter stood next to him. As she and Andre made their way to the two captains, Elena took a good look around.

  Although many of the buildings looked to be in a state of slight disrepair, brand new surveillance cameras had been installed so that no part of the docks was hidden from sight. Elena was certain many other security measures she couldn't see had been taken care of as well. She could also tell that the docks were not fully abandoned. Several warehouses were still in use by those other than the guild and the end of the wall of warehouse buildings let off into a surprisingly pretty marina where little white boats, toys for the rich, were nestled in the water. Surprisingly the channel riders did not look too out of place, riding that middle line between commercial and pleasure craft.

  "Well, you made it in good time I see," Alexandro said as Elena reached him. He pulled her into a hug. She breathed him in and smiled. "It is good to see you," he said as he released her.

  "It's good to see you too," she told him. "How was the trip?"

  "Fine, fine. We got a very good deal on the merchandise and should have enough for the opening. With that and our first run of the year, we should be off to a very good start. Providing you can pull this off." Her grandfather beamed down at her and she could feel the waves of pride as a nearly physical thing. He had no doubt she could pull this crazy stunt off. It was nice to have someone believe in her.

  "Construction is nearly complete. They should be finished in a few days. Andre has pulled some wonderful designs together and we will go over and finalize our choices when we meet tomorrow. The printers are standing by and I believe Mr. Baranov has managed to secure a re-packaging facility where alien goods will be turned into respectable merchandise." Elena turned towards Peter.

  "I stopped by yesterday and met with Nicholas. Everything seems to be in order."

  "So I am told," Peter said with a smile. "Have there been any more issues with Smith?" To her left she could feel her grandfather stiffen. He had not been pleased by Smith's accusations.

  "No things have been fairly quiet. In our last meeting they were still trying to get around the 50 lbs of gear rule, but I think that is merely for form sake at this point. I have a feeling they are going to wait until the trip is done to ask more questions." Elena thought for a second. "And I think they believe I am telling lies about the low tech aspects. I think they really want a magic box that zings them into the channels rather than an actual human pilot doing the work."

  "Speaking of pilots," Peter said as a woman stepped from Gregori's Dream. They watched her descend the gangplank. She walked with the rolling gait of someone more familiar with shipboard than dry land. Her long ash blonde hair was pulled into a long braid that reached nearly to her waist. Elena was reminded that her own hair would soon be more of an annoyance on shipboard than she was accustomed to it being. Her own long braid had been chopped to chin length, too short to tie back, but long enough to get in the way. Elena wondered if it would be better to cut her hair shorter or let it grow out again.

  "I would like you to meet Anna Savinkov, my pilot," Peter concluded. Anna reached the end of the gangplank and held out her hand to Elena and smiled.

  "The infamous Elena Calabrese, I'm told," She said, the whisper of St. Petersburg dancing in her words. "It is a pleasure to meet the pilot shattered Narou's record." Elena laughed.

  "That was quite a while ago," Elena said.

  "And she was grounded for quite a long time afterwards," her grandfather rumbled behind him. She tossed him a grin over her shoulder before turning back to Anna.

  "I have to admit Ms. Savinkov, it was well worth the punishment to see her face when we rounded Luras," she told Anna. Anna laughed.

  "Please, you must call me Anna."

  "Of course."

  "Well if it isn't the missing link," a pleasant voice said. Elena turned towards the voice to see a woman with a dark brown braid and the same rolling walk step towards her.

  "Maria," Elena said, pulling the woman into a hug. "I didn't realize you were piloting the Wind Dancer."

  "I am, and have been since you left. Dad finally retired and I didn't want to bother with my own ship, so I signed on here."

  "It is so good to see you," Elena said. Maria, who was about 8 years older, had always looked out for Elena when their paths crossed or Therese made life difficult. They were family in a complicated way. Maria's father was some sort of third cousin to her grandmother's brother-in- law. It meant there was no blood between them but the world of the Guild was not a large one and family was family.

  "And speaking of owning your own ship," Peter said, drawing Elena's attention back towards him. "I believe they are finished unloading yours. We had enough goods that we needed the extra space to bring them."

  "I see," she said. Her eyes drifted towards the Storm Chaser and she felt a shiver of anticipation run through her.

  "The last person has left the Storm Chaser Captain," a strange man with blond hair said to her. He gave her a half bow. "The Council wishes you fresh winds and a safe harbor." He stepped to the side, nodded to Peter and walked away. By custom only the pilot who tested the Storm Chaser would have been on it before it was delivered.

  "Captain," she repeated. Elena let out a heavy breath. "That is going to take some getting used to. I suppose I'll need to get a cat." Her grandfather chuckled.

  "Boots had kittens a little while back.
They were old enough to leave their mother so I brought one with me if you would care to have her." Elena smiled. Boots was the Wind Dancer's cat and had spent many nights curled up on Elena's bunk.

  "I would like that," she told him. "Very much." Elena thought of the brand new bag of kitty litter and cat accouterments she had picked up on her last shopping trip. 'At least I won't have to stop by the pound to pick up a cat to go with them,' she thought.

  Alexandro signaled to the Wind Dancer and Anthony, one of the sailors trotted down the gangplank cupping a small grey ball of fur in his hands. He passed the ball to Elena with a wink. In her hands the ball of downy soft fur stretched and yawned, its little pink tongue darting out between sharp white teeth. She stretched her paw and little claws extended. No channel rider ever left port without a cat.

  "She hasn't been named yet," Alexandro told her. Both pilots and the men moved away from her as she turned towards the Storm Chaser. Custom dictated that only she and the cat be on board for the first walk through. Elena walked up the gangplank and stepped onto her ship for the first time. In her hands the kitten sat up and looked around, almost as if she realized what a momentous moment this was.

  Elena walked the deck; the feel of the boards beneath her feet welcomed her like an old friend. She found her steps naturally shifting to meet the sway of the ship. The Storm Chaser still gleamed with newness reminding her of a toy on Christmas morning. The galley gleamed brightly and smelled only of wood and resin instead of lingering meals. The table was smooth and unscarred. The crew's berths were completely empty. There were no items tucked into corners or decorations tacked to the walls. The standard bedding was folded neatly at the end of the bed. Elena found it a little eerie. The crew berths on the Wind Dancer had always looked lived in and more like home than any of the ports the crew visited.

  Elena crossed the corridor and found herself standing in the pilot's room. The pilot was always given a separate room from the rest of the crew. It was small, but private. It had been explained as a privilege for the pilot, but Elena always figured it was more for practical reasons. After all, the pilot was always female and usually the daughter, sister, wife or niece of the captain. The crew was usually male. It didn't take a genius to do the math. With a start Elena realized this wasn't her space. She left the pilot's room and went to the captain's quarters. The door swung open silently. The kitten mewed and Elena set her on the floor. The gray cat stalked silently into the room as if she knew where she belonged. Elena followed her, somewhat less sure of herself.

  The space was larger than that set apart for the pilot, but it was not cavernous. The bed was larger and a chest of drawers was built into the wall. A small bookcase with a rail was also built into the wall. It already held several volumes a captain would find useful. All of their spines were crisp and uncracked.

  "Factory fresh," Elena said. Her bed contained only a mattress and she made a mental note to buy sheets, pillows and a comforter. The closet, when she slid open the pocket door was also empty. She would need to bring all of her own gear. Off to the side of the room was a table. The surface was inclined and placed in the center was a logbook. Elena ran her fingers over the cover. She opened it and paged through the empty sheets.

  "I wonder where we will go," she said closing the book and thinking of the dreams where she opened new channels. The dreams had become clearer since she had been paying attention and the headaches had completely faded. A few weeks before her dreams had shown her opening the new channels and Elena was almost sure she understood how she did it.

  "In theory, of course," she said closing the logbook. She hadn't had a chance to test that theory and had promised Mateo she would not do so until he had completed his safety devices. He was making progress though. The excitement in his voice when she spoke with him fairly bubbled through the phone line. Mechanics had always been his gift and he felt about it the same way she felt about piloting.

  To the side of the table was a stand of rolled up maps placed in a gridded box to keep them organized. Elena pulled one out and stretched it across the table. It was a weatherproofed nautical map. There were no markings on it; no dots, lines or notes, just an untouched map. Elena re rolled the map and tucked it back in its little square. She swung her leather satchel on to the table.

  Next to the newness, her scuffed and salt stained satchel looked quite disreputable. Elena smiled. It made her feel somehow better about the space. She glanced over to the kitten. She had her head inside the padded alcove always installed in the captain's quarters for the ships cat. Boots never slept in hers and Elena wondered if the kitten would be any different.

  "Does it suit you?" she asked. The kitten backed out of the alcove and looked at Elena. Somehow Elena got the impression that the kitten considered the quarters inferior, but would tolerate them if she had to.

  "There is nothing as regal as a channel rider's cat," she quoted an oft-heard guild saying. The kitten mewed. "I suppose you'll need a name," she told the kitten. Elena walked towards the door to continue her tour of the ship. The kitten followed. Elena turned kitten names over in her head as she walked. She would need to announce the kitten's name when they stepped off the Storm Chaser for the first time, after all tradition must be served.

  Elena finished her tour, noting the top of the line equipment in the pilothouse. She ran her fingers over it like a greedy child. The Wind Dancer's systems had been compiled over time and placed wherever there was room. Here everything was installed at the same time.

  "That will change eventually," she told the kitten thinking of the steady advancement of technology. "Actually it might change pretty soon," she corrected herself thinking of Mateo's current projects. "I might as well enjoy this as long as I can." Elena finished her tour and picked up the kitten before starting down the gangplank. She walked towards the group clustered on the dock.

  "I'd like you to meet Spin," she said, announcing the kitten's name. Peter seemed amused by the name. Her grandfather merely reached out and gave Spin's head a rub.

  "Pleased to meet you Spin of the Storm Chaser."