Skylife

Photo by karindalziel

The clouds looked like solid ground. Or what Guene imagined the ground looked like. You couldn't stand on them, but Guene leaned on the railing and stuck her foot out under the bar so she could see what walking on the ground might look like. The wind streaked her hair back. She'd never seen the ground, of course, but her grandfather had stood on a mountain top once. He said it was more solid than anything else in the world, with worms in the dirt.

Guene didn't know what a worm was but she wanted one for a pet. She thought she'd like that, anyway.

Mist suddenly obscured her view and Guene pulled her foot back. The airship plunged through a high cloud, cooling her engines and filling the dew collectors. The harvested water trickled through the pipe Guene held onto, falling toward the ship's belly for storage.

It'd be fun to walk on a cloud, Guene decided. They'd be spongy and soft if you didn't just fall right through. Guene turned her face into the oncoming mist just as the airship broke into sunlight. A gap. Fluffy clouds stretched out in front and around the ship. The wind quieted. The sun cast bands of light into the space and Guene ran her quick feet to the front of the ship and found it. Home.

A giant platform suspended with air balloons and rotary props hovered in the cloud cathedral. It was Guene's firm opinion that the floating city was far better than the ground. Even with worms for pets, she would miss being so close to the clouds.