"The Student" | [Mag-glide pilot]
About thirty minutes before the evening meal, an upper level student left the university property to make her way through town. Very little of her elegant boots were visible beneath the cape that nearly reached the ground. The whole of her attire this evening contrasted the garments worn earlier in the day.
Throughout the morning she donned the university uniform as she went about her bookwork classes. A relatively simple but professional assembly meant by the professors to encourage students to strive for academic excellence. Although some of those in charge would have preferred to see the students wear it for the whole day, the afternoon labs of work on air ships and mag-gliders required a more practical garment.
Science, math, and other technical aspects of the morning classes fascinated her greatly; but getting to apply the ideas in the afternoon labs was her favorite part. Each of the students worked on their own mag-glider throughout their studies, a group of students was assigned an air ship, and there was a single mag-lift for everyone to work on as part of their studies. The later was of less concern to her than the earlier two, but she was still required to have experience working on it to finish her degree.
Students alternated serving as the captain for the air ships when they were taken out. Since each had his own mag-glider, they normally got daily practice on piloting it. She carefully arranged her schedule to take any chance available for flight and surpassed her peers in time on the glider. That was until her group’s air ship encountered some damage as they were practicing maneuvers in inclement weather. One of the components needed for the repair was not readily found. The initial decision by the on site instructors was for the needed component to be taken from the mag-glider of the student who was serving as captain that day. However the administrative people decided her additional practice hours meant she should be the one to go without a glider for a time and further justified their decision with the fact that she was second in command of the air ship that day. In the weeks since, all of the other students caught up to her time and surpassed it. Now her only flight time was in the air ship every few days. She had been able to continue doing mechanical work on her glider and those of other students, but it did not match being in one for a ride.
Although still disappointed at having to leave the lab without going for a flight today, she had additional time to prepare for the evening. Now she walked along the street wearing a sophisticated dress of a stiff construction. Both it and the boots she now donned were more uncomfortable than what she wore as a student, but the enjoyment of dressing up for a formal dinner offset these with one exception. The single braid she normally wore for school had been replaced with an elegant updo and one of the pins was digging into her skull. While continuing to walk she identified it and readjusted it so that it held the strands of her hair while remaining tangent to her head. Now her position of comfort was acceptable.
A minute later she was at the house of the family who had invited her for the meal. Eleven were present at the gathering of a few hours. The host assigned young men of the house to escort the ladies in attendance as they left at dark.
“I will have the carriage by the front door in a few minutes,” her assigned escort said as she moved to the front of the house.
“There is no need to take the time to prepare a carriage,” she responded in an attempt to change the plans. “The university is not far and I would prefer to enjoy the night sky as we walk.”
“It is already prepared, I just need to pull it around,” and he left through a side door before receiving any more comments.
She would not have given one anyway. As much as she wanted to avoid a carriage ride, to turn down the hospitable act that had already been prepared would have been quite uncivilized. A minute later she was uneasily sitting the carriage as they made the very short trip to the university gates.
“Wait a moment,” he stated after he let her out and moved back to the carriage. He pulled a decent sized box from a storage compartment. So that is why the carriage had been taken this evening. “I would carry it for you, but I understand this is as far as I am allowed. Guests were allowed on the campus for little outside of graduations.
The box was not much heavier than the books she carried daily, but a bit larger. “Thank you for the thought,” she mentioned as she started to move her fingers over the intricate latch.
He saw as her hand started to move, “Wait until you are inside to open it,” he added quickly and she returned her hand to a position of supporting the box.
With a formal goodbye he waited until she was out of sight within the gate before returning to his master.
In her room she moved sketches to the side of her desk to make space for the box. Extra time in the recent weeks from not having a glider to pilot was normally filled with new concepts of modifications to the technology. Some were very reasonable and would likely be implemented in the next year or so. Several would require many more years of development to be used practically. Then there were those that would probably never happen, or if they did it would be centuries after her time. Some in the world were fascinated with the stars and other heavenly bodies seen in the sky. While she enjoyed the beautiful sight, she did not study them like others. However she was interested in a technology that would get them far enough off the ground to better study them. That is still centuries, even millennium away, she reminded herself as the sketches caught her eye when she moved them to the side.
Now securely resting on her desk, she opened the box. Within was the component she needed to have her glider operational again.
Comments