one day, at Fort Bluewater...

May 2083 (mini-update) - Tyler Jackson (19), Jeremiah Day (26), Joel Harris (41).

One day, at Fort Bluewater, Tyler finds a helicopter. He's never seen one this close, the large metal monstrosity poised there on top of the roof, as if ready to spring into the sky.

"Hey," Jeremiah says. "What are you looking at?"

"It's a helicopter," Tyler says.

Jeremiah glances behind him, nodding once surely. "That's definitely a helicopter. You've never been in a helicopter?"

"Nope, you?"

"Sure," Jeremiah says. "I was in the military before. Well, you know, I rode in one a couple times. But tomorrow morning, you're riding in a space shuttle. So I think a helicopter is no big deal."

"No," Tyler says, his face as bright as a little boy on Christmas. "I'm pretty sure it's a big deal. Could you fly it?"

"What? No way," Jeremiah says. "Dude, I'm on probation! But no, I couldn't fly it anyway."

The doors open again, and Joel comes out. "Hey, what you guys looking at?"

"Helicopter," they both say.

Tyler asks, "You ever been in one?"

Joel only raises an eyebrow at him, like it was the stupidest question anyone ever asked.

"Been in one?" Joel shakes his finger at the boys. "I'm a trained jet pilot, I've been flying choppers since my first year of flight school. You wanna take it for a spin?"

They don't answer him, fixing their eyes on General Deppiesse in the distance. He isn't known to be an intimidating man, but they don't want to get in trouble. "I'm totally on probation," Jeremiah says.

"Don't worry about it," Joel says. "Cabe and I went to college together! My niece is dating his nephew, we're like family!"

Joel climbs in first, easing into the cockpit, taking the control of the machine with familiarity.

"Pick a seat," he says. "Here we go."

"Pretty up here, isn't it?" Joel shouts back to them over the noise.

They're calmed by the deep and rhythmic rumble of the rotor, gazing out the window in a trance. They both mutter a stunned "Uh-huh" without looking away from the passing shades of ground, leaf, sea, and sky, repeated indefinitely.

"Last night on planet Earth," Joel says. "I hope you guys are enjoying the view."

*******

notes: this whole mini-update was inspired simply because I'd never used the helicopter before, and wanted to try it out :)

They still have an actual send-off update before they go. Coming up next. This one just popped up as an extra.

And I've decided to use some of that way-out-there AL clothing for their flight suits, which actually look like flight suits more than clothing someone might actually wear. They almost look like Trekkies, lol!