Aberrant: Infinite Earth - Cosmos Nova - [CN Sidestory] Sunrise At 80,000 feet (FIN)

[SeaEagle]

Sunday of Atlantic Nights, early morning, well before sunrise.

Kei was ecstatic. The weather balloon was all tethered up and set to fly. She had all the rigging she needed sitting on the aft helicopter deck of Connor's ship. He watched from the exposed deck of the flying bridge of his yacht, waiting patiently with the other members of his party that decided to watch the event.

Kei herself started strapping up, getting everything in place.

She waited for Nate to show up as she watched May fill the balloon further. She'd been at it for a little while, making sure it got to the right fill for their weight. Too much and they'll go up to quick and burst at too low an altitude. Too little and they'll not go anywhere. Then all the in-betweens. She knew the right amount, but she was also worried that Nate was a new skydiver. It was a Tandem flight, and subsequent decent, so the chute chosen was picked to slow them to a safe fall velocity at a high altitude for a long, scenic decent. The cloud cover was perfect, and they should start coming down right after sunrise. She also had a spare all set up too, one for each of them to wear on their backs. One pull and they both would open and they would be under two smaller chutes.

The choice of life preservers were simple airliner vest models. Kei was already wearing hers, over the sailor outfit she'd been wearing since the trip started Friday night. To be honest it was for ease of retrieval than any safety consideration. Then again knowing Kei she would have herself and Nate fly back to the ship after splashdown.

Also knowing Kei she might convince Nate to enjoy some time in the drink for "survival training purposes", and that was what she feared. Not that anything improper might happen, it probably would. Last thing May needed is the paperwork on a sexual harassment complaint from a relatively new DSA agent... that would be Nate, not Kei.

"Are you sure you want to wear that particular outfit, Kei?"

"Oh May, don't be a buzzkill..."

"Okay..." May sighed. "...T-30 minutes to launch."

"Great! Come on, Nate! This'll be slower than my usual, but oh so much more fun for the scenery. We'll be using a Tandem chute rig today. You and me will be strapped and geared up together, I'll handle all the parachute controls and stuff though since this is your first time most likely. Leave the hard stuff to me!" Kei says with a laugh.

"Also, on your back will be a spare chute, it'll have a connection with my chute with a line, and when I pull that lanyard here, they both will open... hopefully... of course that is if the primary chute fails. It's based off of the designs used on space capsules, but more for our size."

She adjusts her life vest around her neck. "Of course if you've been on a commercial plane you recognize the inflatable life vest... more for technicalities since we probably both can swim and can probably breathe water. I'll also have a two person life raft, packed and anchored between us, in case we want to take a breather after the ride. It has our pick-up beacon. To be honest why should we be in a hurry after splash-down, right?"

She stretched out and looked up at the balloon. She was getting giddier by the moment. It won't be a filmed flight, but it will be fun. To her, this was her idea of a date. Strapped to a fragile air bladder filled with helium, at altitudes no normal person could survive without more equipment. The quiet of the upper atmosphere... the beauty of the curvature of the earth creating a sunrise like no other... The sudden realization you're falling from 100,000 feet...

"Now, we are both adaptive? If not there might be a delay as May grabs the oxygen tanks, pressure suit, and the re-breather rig. I have to ask... DSA liability stuff."

[Mr Fox]

Nate was overwhelmed by all of the chatter. The girl was a typhoon, but he supposed he understood, this was her thing and she was excited. To Nate on the other hand, it was a whole lot of experimental things rolled up into one big ball of 'holy crap am I really doing this'.

He knew he could use his telekinesis to fly, he had done it around the prison cell, but that was limited to a six foot by ten foot range. Since he'd been out he'd gone up for a few minutes at the DSA just to prove he could. He figured every skill he had was more money they'd pay him to work for them so he'd showed them most of what he could do. It had been almost as scary as it had been fun, but on the outside he was unflappable to dangers like that.

He could breath under water, he'd done that yesterday.

He could survive a fall from terminal velocity. At least he was fairly sure he could, so the fall might be a little scary, but not as much as it would have been for a baseline.

He'd never been up to the edge of the atmosphere before, but he knew he could survive crazy temperatures.

The worst part of all of this was the uncertainty of what might happen between him and Kei. He was totally unflappable facing down an entire gang of criminals, but one not quite five foot Japanese girl on the other hand and he could barely speak. He hoped his lack of talking was ok, he could manage a fairly calm and confident demeanor on the outside at least. It helped that this was going to be fun even if nothing happened between them. It was just that question that rattled him.

"Uh, yeah, adaptive. No need for tanks." Then something else she had said registered. "Umm... did you say we were going to be strapped together?" He didn't wait for her to finish but added, "I had thought we were going to drop separately and see who could drop farthest without opening the chute, but hey this is better. I've never parachuted before so this could be fun, and yeah, no need to rush back."

He had sudden images of James Bond floating with some hot Bond chick floating in a raft in one of those movies, and he was hopeful again that maybe the short Japanese nova might want something after all and it wasn't all just about the flying, or in this case falling.

"Oh, and yeah, I'm ready."

[SeaEagle]

"Yeah, I decided otherwise. I wanted to share the drop really. Parachuting is actually a damn useful thing to learn, particularly when dormed. If you can do that like I can." She smiled as she buckled up to Fox's rigging, facing him. "You know, Nate, this will be the best view of a sunrise you'll ever see. And the trip up is a blast."

Continued with her girlish grin, and roughed up Nate's hair a bit. "Ready?"

"Kei... ready in a minute... get everything situated."

She made sure the lined anchored to the balloon were set right, and the stabilization net was in place over the top. This was different than just tying to a balloon. This was set up to enjoy a view without getting spun about. Like a Hot Air Balloon ride, but with helium and going straight up.

"Okay, all set. See you guys... well... after I send the call out."

She nods and May sets up the final preparations for launch.

"I'm forecasting you'll get up to about 95,000 with this launch before the balloon bursts."

"Roger that."

She looks at Nate, as she stood on her box waiting for the tug she looked forward to. She looked up, and the orange and red balloon was massive for two people. Almost as big as a barrage balloon from World War I or II.

"Any last comments, Nate?"

[Mr Fox]

He had watched the preparations and was very impressed with the professionalism when it came to the balloon and verifying that everything was correct. It really didn't matter for the two of them since they could fly, but the fact that it was such a routine of careful checking was comforting.

When she stepped up to him and asked for last comments he couldn't help but make a play on words, "We who are about to fly, salute you!" In the original it had been 'die' instead of 'fly', but being novas he was about 99 percent sure that no one would die on this flight. Unless embarrassment was fatal...

He still didn't know whether she was interested or not, but the hooking up face to face was a good sign and he smiled down at her as she stepped close to hook them together. He had chosen to wear his black Jedi clothes without the big brown cape over them, it would just flap in the wind and be annoying, and it might get in the way if something did happen between them. His current outfit was still a little restrictive, but then she was wearing a full body suit. He blushed. It felt pretty good now that he was touching the material on her arm, and quickly looked up at the balloon.

"This should be fun."

[SeaEagle]

Kei looked to May, her sailor collar drifting in the very light breeze. May clips a radio to Kei's harness and Kei straightens her neck out.

To Nate it was unsure as to who Kei was. He heard tales of the brave defender of the innocent, the unflappable guardian. Others call her the angel, the watchful protector. What stood before him was a girl, no older than 20, wearing a cosplay outfit and practically and not caring one bit. She was a nerd. Without the glasses.

"Kei, be sure to radio in on splashdown... Oh!"

May makes sure some odd pouches on the sides of Kei's and Nate's harnesses were well attached.

"You... put LPUs on the harnesses too, May?"

"Yeah, thought the added redundancy would help."

Kei sighed. "We're not going to be without rescue for days, May. Now launch us before the sun rises on us!"

May smiled and walked over to the main tie, and cut the rope keeping them down. In a matter of moments they were clear of the yacht and slowly drifting over the ocean. 100 feet... 150 feet...

= 1500 Feet =

Kei smiled and leaned as best she could.

"LPU?" Nate asked.

"Oh, these are some surplus Navy aviation life preserver units. The pouches deploy air bladders under your arms. Pretty useful if these yellow vests don't inflate right or something more disastrous."

She smiled as she could start seeing the moon start to dip below the horizon. With the way everything was situated, She was eye to eye with Nate. "So... tell me about things... it's just you, me, and the balloon who will die in a couple hours."

[Mr Fox]

"Well, as long as it's just the balloon dying in a couple hours." He chuckled at his own joke out of nervousness. "Um, not really sure what to tell. Most of my life has been in the news. Half the networks picked over my life with a fine toothed comb trying to find dirt on me to make me out to be a villain, and the other half were trying to make me look like an innocent victim of some Refugee plot. Then the last five years I've spent in prison paying for what I did." He shrugged and it had the unexpected effect of jostling them which pressed up against each other the way they were was very distracting.

To keep from embarrassing himself he started talking about what prison was like. He avoided the typical sob story about how he had fought off gangs of prisoners who thought he was trying to destroy their power structure and instead told the Hogan's Heroes version of his time.

"My life before my eruption was pretty boring. I was a spoiled rich kid and didn't realize it. Once I went to prison I had a lot of time to reflect and learn what other's lives were like. I did a lot of meditating, a lot of reading, and a lot of learning." Brightening he added, "Made a few cool things while I was in there besides my lightsabers. I made this." He pulled a hockey puck sized device off his belt and showed it to Kei. It had several ports of various sorts for input, but no visible connections to anything. "It's a computer equivalent of a small super computer, not anything special, but it is based on actual quantum computing principles. That's how I was able to miniaturize and avoid heat issues. I've got a pair of sunglasses that act as a hi-def 3d HUD display and hi-fi sound system." He was pretty proud of it, but it wasn't something he was going to brag over in front of Karrie or Rob since they had probably made much more impressive gadgets.

"I've got another device that will allow me to connect the computer to the internet even if there is no connection available."

He ran out of steam at that point unsure whether to say more or not.

[SeaEagle]

Kei giggled. "Another inventor huh? Seesh, what is it about us super-humans that just attracts the brainy types?"

She felt herself and Nate sway a little on the wind, and the material of the balloon creaked a little in the process. The atmosphere wasn't that thin at all yet, they've barely gotten started.

"I was going to be a commercial pilot... couldn't get hired by the big companies like Delta and what not because of my size. I guess they wanted people of certain heights due to the design of their cockpit seats. So I was going to go independent and do flight tours on a seaplane my Dad used to own but my Mom got on the divorce. She's anchored on the Mississippi in Downtown Minneapolis. A old, restored PBY Catalina. Fully functional and flight-worthy. Although my Mom was considering converting it to a floating museum or something. Of course after my eruption I told her to keep it like it was because I will wanna use it. I might be a fast flier that could circumnavigate the globe, but a aircraft can help make me less detectible since I'm not using my powers. Us Novas can get picked up on by other ones that have the ability... Maybe when I'm off duty from missions, I might just fly tours of the Twin Cities. I mean we got lakes even within the city limits big enough to land on, and a big river."

She checks the GPS on her tethered, protected computer tablet. "Mind activating that hub? I actually want to compare our location on Google Maps to the GPS coordinates I currently have? I'm recording our path now, but I'm going to upload that as we go along."

She smiled. "Just think, you've just got out of prison a little while ago, and now you're flying strapped to a helium balloon with a girl dressed up in a sailor suit that makes her look more schoolgirl than sailor. Lucky man."

"And there is the nice little break on the raft after we land."

=6500 Feet= The tablet announced.

"Over a mile up now... I already feel like I'm in Denver."

She starts to adapt to the thinner air.

[Mr Fox]

Lucky indeed. Nate couldn't believe after all the talk about special suits and junk that Kei had dressed like a Japanese school girl. It might have been enough to make him stammer if there hadn't been a big rubber raft between them. Granted, it was deflated pretty small and bagged up, but still, it was in the way.

He wasn't sure how to respond to the lucky man comment so he ended up just grinning stupidly. "So, uh, are we going to stand up for the next couple hours for the flight up, or can we sit down and get comfortable?" It wasn't subtle, but at least it had come out coherent, there was something to be said for that.

He reflected that it was actually nice that Kei wasn't so beautiful as the other nova women on the boat. Not that she wasn't pretty, just not nova-league gorgeous. If she had been he would have been drooling and not able to talk at all. For all his work on attaining a state of balance over the last five years, he had done a remarkably good job... it was just a shame he'd had no chance to practice calm when it came to women.

[SeaEagle]

She scratched her head... "Yeah, there is just so much we can set up... not the best way to head up, I have to admit."

She holds on to Nate for a moment. "Right now we're all rigged up with a modified version of a tandem-jump harness. Perhaps at some point I can make a more comfortable ascent/decent rig."

She sighed and stretched a little. Looking up at the balloon, she was starting to feel awkward.

[Mr Fox]

Nate looked a little disappointed. He had hoped they could get a little cozier on the ascent. The descent would be full of adrenaline and wonder at the experience of falling 80,000 or more feet, but the way up, that could have been interesting too.

"It's ok. Maybe we can shift around a little? He gestured to the raft between them, "Can we clip it to the platform and use it to sit on?" He frowned for a second then added, "Hmm... it's not really big enough for both of us, but I could sit on it and you could sit on my lap? Would that be ok?"

He was surprised he could get that out... he had to admit she had some nice legs and he wouldn't mind having her snuggled up next to him, and that was for sure.

He wanted to make the move to make it happen, but he didn't know enough about the harness and was afraid he might accidentally disconnect them from the platform or something and tumble pre-maturely into the ocean. The absolute last thing he wanted was a pre-mature ejection. As that thought played through his mind he grinned and barely kept from laughing, but he was afraid the laugh might have sounded just a bit too nervous.

[SeaEagle]

Kei clapped her hands. "You really are brilliant, you know that... It is big enough for two. A one person one is as big as a NFL regs football folded A two person is this."

She pulls out the raft, and starts working with the support lines, to make sure when the parachute deployed, it wasn't interfered with. The raft was now a gondola. It took about ten minutes to set up, with Kei's deft fingers and speed.

= 25,000 Feet =

She smiled when her makeshift gondola was done. She pulled a cord and inflated it. But then she started to keep watch on it. Of course she could see everything with one of her oddball sensory powers. "Okay, every 5000 feet or so I'm going to have to check the raft and let some air out so it doesn't pop. the raft's air will expand like the helium in the balloon above us. That way we'll have it on the way down."

She giggled, as she moved the primary parachute to the upper part of the rigging and hooked it up in a way where it would open the drogue as soon as they started falling, which would open the primary chute in plenty of time. Keeping the raft from being damaged from the fall. She had then unhooked the harnesses, latching them to the rigging so when the fall began they would be safe in the raft, but with a easy way to disembark in a emergency. She made sure her spare was set up as well as Nate's. They sat comfortably now, as they could sit like two boaters.

"Just pull the yellow break lever on the harness and you'll disconnect from the raft and you'll be able to fly off or parachute down with the spare. You know I should build my next ascent rig like this!"

"I really wish I had attached a pressure regulator to the balloon. We could enjoy staying up longer..."

She took off the yellow life vest she had on, and folded it and put it into a open pouch as she waited for a response. Her long hair moved with the wind and with the movement of her blouse and collar looked like something and someone else. "Won't need that to be honest since the LPUs got more than enough buoyancy. Then again we're parachuting back down with a raft!"

She let a little air out of the raft, to keep it safe on the ascent. "And I'll have plenty of time to blow her back up on the drift down."

She started to dream of dirigibles and blimps, but snapped back to her surroundings.

She watched the balloon, it was already 15% bigger and growing. "So... now that we've gotten ourselves situated... where you live now that you've traded a orange jumpsuit for Jedi robes?"

[Mr Fox]

Nate was pretty pleased with the turn of events. Now this could be more comfortable!

"So... now that we've gotten ourselves situated... where you live now that you've traded a orange jumpsuit for Jedi robes?" Kei asked.

"Well, I haven't bought it yet, but I'm looking at buying an old Airship hanger that is about to be for sale. If you want you are welcome to bring your rig out there to work on it. It's in northern California."

He sat down and did his best to get comfortable. It really was a great way to do the balloon thing. Add a few accessories and it could really be a fun time.

Several options came to mind for how to get Kei to relax and get closer but most of them seemed lame. Finally he decided on the obvious. If she wasn't interested she would see it for what it was and turn him down. If she was, it would give her the perfect opportunity.

"So, do you feel cold?" As soon as he had said it he realized it hadn't come out quite the way he had wanted it to sound. "I mean, I know you 'feel' cold, but what I meant was does it bother you?"

He gestured at himself, "I feel the cold but I can ignore it, especially if it goes on for a while." This was not going well...

"I mean, if you are cold, we could sit together."

Holy crap that was lame! I'll be lucky if she doesn't jump out of the raft to get away...

[SeaEagle]

Kei smiled. "Oh... I'm a Minnesotan. We're made of sterner stuff... Wait who am I kidding... I'm 100% Japanese... not a ounce of Norwegian blood in me."

She sighed and actually slid next to Nate. "Finally... someone who actually understands... I can fly in space... no space suit or nothing but I still feel the cold. It's not painful yeah, but... I still feel it."

There was actually a sign of vulnerability. The brash, young super-heroine was still just a girl... a human.

She leaned on Nate. "This would actually be a good idea, seeing your hangar. I love airships as much as aircraft. Unfortunately I doubt you'll have a Zeppelin inside that place."

"I'd like to have one... would be fun to just have for friends aboard... have a party on her. Like what Connor did. But... I'm going to save up my money as best I can... I already got some heading Karrie's way for a project."

She smiled. "You think I could make up a better rig for this sort of thing?"

=32,500 Feet=

[Mr Fox]

"Absolutely. Now that you've got the idea for the gondola, you can add a few light weight accessories to make it a bit more comfortable and you're good to go." He thought for a second, his engineering knowledge coming in handy.

"If I were doing it I think I'd make the boat itself the only thing hanging below the balloons. Have a harness with straps at six or eight points around the boat for stability all leading up to a single easy release catch to detach it when the balloons pop, or you reach the desired altitude. Also, add a CO2 cartridge for rapid inflating of the raft once it drops back down to a low enough altitude, that way you don't have to do the release thing you are doing now."

After the distraction of the engineering puzzle was over he realized that Kei was cuddled up against him. "Uh, yeah. I know, it takes getting used to, the feeling but not being harmed thing." He put his arm around her for comfort and smiled down in understanding. He thought he liked her better as the real girl. He was definitely seeing a different more vulnerable side of her and that was something he hadn't expected, and it made him a lot less nervous about his lack of experience.

[SeaEagle]

"Hmm... Or perhaps make a rigid structure, with air bladders surrounding the gondola that are triggered only if it is falling at a altitude of 300 above sea level or so. Or manually calibrated on the ground before launch... That way on a splashdown, it's all ready."

She lets a little more air out, seeing the raft was getting firm again. "Then again at the rate we'll fall we'll have plenty of pump time."

She smiled and actually hugged Nate. "I'm not a genius like Karrie... I just know some mechanics stuff since I work on the F-35N I have requisition from the DSA or my PBY Catalina back home. I'm smart, yeah, just not a genius."

Once they get to 40,000 feet, they see the first hints of light coming up over the horizon. From the ground it would signal another hour of time before the sun would peek out from the horizon.

"Ooh! In about a hour the sun should be fully up for view! We'll be at about 80,000 feet by then!"

"See? This view is definitely worth it."

She peeks down below and sees the Atlantic, still dark from the night. She could barely make out the lighting of Connor's ship with her Nova senses.

"Hehe... that's a lot of water down there."

She sits back up and pulls out a thermal blanket and covers herself up to take the chill off... any normal person would have developed hypothermia, but Kei's adaptations continue to change. Her skin's become a ghostly grey, and her eyes seem to glow a slight blue color. She looks at her skin. "Looks like my skin's becoming adaptive now. In a little bit I'll stop feeling the cold all together. That's the part I don't like."

She offers to share the large, foil-like blanket with Nate. "I got room."

[Mr Fox]

Nate moved under the blanket getting close. He was still nervous, but the engineering talk, the sky full of stars above them and the lightening sky all were working to put him at ease.

"Thanks. I'm the same way, it still kinda freaks me out that I feel the cold but it doesn't actually bother me. I know in my mind that it's too cold for a normal human to survive without special gear, but it doesn't hurt me at all, it's just uncomfortable for a while before it goes away."

Great job captain redundancy, she just said that.

He wanted to say more. He wanted to do anything but just sit here wondering if she was interested.

Under the blanket he found her hand with his and held it. It was warm and small and seemed to fit in his bigger hand nicely. "So you don't have a boyfriend or anything right?"

He thought of May as he said it, always hovering near Kei and wondered for a second if there was something between them. Surely not, Kei wouldn't be here with him if she had something going with her handler...

Looking back up at the stars, "That's a heck of a view."

When she looked up he thought, If she would just turn her head this way maybe I could try and kiss her.

[SeaEagle]

=43,000 Feet=

Kei turns her head to Nate.

No May, nobody around except the spy satellites above in low earth orbit... She thinks. She saw Nate and a look of anticipation on him... but she closed her eyes. Somehow she new he wanted to kiss her. Because she was feeling the same way. She wanted to kiss him too. The nerd who became a superhuman, forged in tragedy. Who accepted incarceration over his own freedom.

It was time to free him fully. She waited for him to make the first move. For as much as she wanted him she was still so very new to this, and so very much a virgin. She was as geeky as they came... perhaps... they were the match.

"I am still, very much, single."

She embraced him, wrapping each other in the blanket. "We seem to do well with each other though. I'd... I'd like to do this again sometime... no not this exact thing... maybe something more terrestrial and normal, like dinner."

She was indeed nervous, but... it was the truth.

[Mr Fox]

And those were the words he was waiting to hear. She said it and her head was tilted up as if she were wanting a kiss and as inexperienced as he might be he could recognize signs that obvious.

Thank goodness for nova grace!, he thought as he leaned in to press his lips to hers gently. The kiss began soft and gentle and sweet, in truth because he was afraid that with his strength and in the excitement of the moment he might hurt her. To his great relief she didn't immediately pull away and the kiss grew more passionate.

Thought fled for a long moment as his world narrowed to the sensations of his lips. After a what seemed like a long time but he was sure was just a minute or so, they broke apart, not so much to catch a breath but to evaluate the situation.

"Wow." It seemed like the appropriate thing to say to his very distracted brain.

[SeaEagle]

Kei reached over and released a little more air from the raft, still looking at Nate for a moment. In fact she gave the raft some slack. When she was done, she slid back over, and in leaning, she kissed him one last time on the cheek. "Sunrise is coming."

She smiled as they crossed the 55,000 feet mark. The sun began to rise, and Kei and Nate sat against the side of the raft, looking at the rising sun.

"55,000 feet, and here is what we went through to see."

She hugs him, keeping each other covered with the blanket. "This is why I love doing this. The view."

"We're about 35 minutes left before we start the ride back down, more or less. Depends on how well the balloon was made." She says, pointing up at the balloon which was 80% bigger now. "Once we cross the 80,000 feet mark, we should start getting ready, but until then... we got about 30 minutes of not having anything to do."

She looked to Nate as she unlatched a case attached to her leg and pulled out two sandwiches. "I didn't have a chance to make a proper breakfast, so I made some sandwiches."

She smiles. "I wish we could enjoy this longer... wait a sec, we can..."

She stands up and unhooks from her kit-bashed gondola, and hovers up to the valve on the balloon and starts releasing some helium until their rate of rising slowed. She hovers back down and takes her seat, re-latching herself. Seeing they were still gaining altitude but half as fast she giggles. "Okay... a hour now. I always seem to do that these days on my flights."

[Mr Fox]

Nate started to make a smart-ass comment about boys on all her flights, but things were too new between them and he wasn't sure if she would take it as a joke or not so he kept quiet and accepted the sandwich she offered.

"Thanks. I didn't even think about food for the trip. I don't actually have to eat even though I feel hunger the same way we feel cold and heat. After a while it just fades away and I don't think about it any more. I guess my body is sustained by quantum alone."

He took a bite of the sandwich and smiled appreciatively. "Mmm..." He tried not to rush through the meal, it wouldn't do to seem too eager.

When he was done he asked, "That was good, thanks. Do you happen to have anything to wash that down?" He wasn't thirsty so much as wanting to make sure his next kiss didn't taste like ham and cheese.

Note to self... put some gum in your jedi utility belt.

After a good swig of water to rinse his mouth from a bottle she handed him, he passed the bottle back.

"So, are you up for round two of that kiss?" He knew it wasn't the smoothest approach, but he didn't know what else to do but say what he wanted, and after the response from the earlier kiss he didn't think it would be a problem.

[SeaEagle]

Kei couldn't resist the offer.

She leaned over. "You know... we could be going to 100,000 feet... maybe higher now that I let some helium out." She kissed him. There was a warmth to it unlike the last one which was almost a childish peck. "We got all the time in the world."

She smiled, leaning on Nate again. "This place... this moment... makes everything worthwhile. She says, putting her hand on his leg."

"What do you think?"

The light of the rising sun played off of her youthful face. Although it had greyed from her adaptation, it still shone of life. In fact some color had started to return.

= 61,000 Feet =

[Mr Fox]

The sun coming over the horizon was golden and incredible. They were bathed in the light, but the ocean below was still in shadow. It was he and Kei, and their balloon were the only things in existence that were real at that moment. It was all heightened by the fact that her hand was on his leg and he was feeling warm right down to his toes from that last kiss.

"It does."

It was all he said for long moments and all that needed to be said. He sat with an arm around Kei sharing her blanket and thinking about how incredible this moment was.

Eventually the awe of the sunrise passed. It was the first one he had seen as a free man in over five years and he had never really been much for waking up early before that.

When he felt that Kei was ready he pulled her over onto his lap and cuddled her up close letting his own hand run over the bare skin of her leg, and beginning another long kiss. He let his hand rub her leg but didn't move it too far. As strong and forward as she might be he just wasn't sure of how she would react if he tried for second base so soon.

[SeaEagle]

Kei caressed his cheek as she kissed him. His skin was a little rough, but still seemed that it was a exterior tinged a bit from his time locked away. Or his adaptations working... she never could separate the two. When she felt him rub her leg, she at first was surprised, but then... she welcomed it. She took Nate, and laid down with him in the "gondola" and looked up. The balloon was 300% bigger than it was at launch.

"You know... we're at 80,000 thousand feet..." She said, some actual dread in her voice. Seeing what she had seen... killed her mood.

As she said that, there was a ominous creaking sound. She saw that the balloon was quite transparent now, with some lines formed in it's skin. That was usually a sign it was going to pop, and shortly. She got up and after taking up the thermal blanket and rolled it up tying it around her waist, then connected herself to the gondola again.

"Use the red clips to latch on to the guide lines, Nate... the short fall we'll have before the parachute opens will be... a bit rough."

She actually didn't look forward to this part suddenly. It was an interruption. A buzzkill.

"Think we could save that for... after we land?" She said with a smile.

[Mr Fox]

Time flew and he really thought Kei was into things but then she noticed the balloon and the mood vanished like... well, like a burst balloon.

It was a bummer, but the trip wasn't ruined by any means. It had been great and he definitely thought she'd be interested in a second date, but for now it was back to business.

He unclipped himself from the gondola. If they were going to fall he wanted to be able to get out of the raft if it became necessary, even so he gripped one of the hand-holds and waited for the pop.

Grinning at Kei, "A little rough on the ride down sounds good."

He was impressed with the view from this high. With the sun shining down across the horizon he could see the east coast from their vantage, but the yacht was so small it wasn't even a dot far below them. Note to self, work on learning to do that eye trick that some folks can that allows them to see like they had binoculars.

[SeaEagle]

Kei grinned. "Oh don't bail... once we're back down we can continue..."

Kei didn't want him to leave. "We'll keep level as we fall, the drogue will take care of that, then the parachute... Just the initial fall will be a..."

As that was said, the balloon burst. "Shhhh...."

The look on her face was one of annoyance than anything. The whole rig started to fall as the two held on, then the sudden jerking of the straps followed by the more welcome sound of the drogue opening, and the straps moving into position was... better... then the later opening of the parachute a minute into the fall slowed things down further. It's red and orange canope unfurled and rotated into position.

She breathed a sigh of relief and looked down below, the ground slowly coming up. She felt the raft sag a bit as the pressure started to rise.

"Ok... much better. Should be... not too long before we hit the water."

She pulls out a pump from the bag attached to the raft, and starts putting air into the raft once in a while. "Nate... it was a fun ride with you, by the way. Perhaps the second go-around we can pick something more... normal? Your call."

"We're in no hurry, perhaps on splashdown we could... wait on heading back?"

[Mr Fox]

He wanted to respond but the ride got bumpy for a while and it was pretty thrilling to hold on as the raft plummeted, and only their weight and the balance of the ballast kept them from flipping and being tossed out. The 'fun' lasted a couple minutes until the chute deployed bringing them very abruptly to a more sedate pace back toward the ground. He was a little worried that their weight in the bottom of the raft might make the material rip when the chute deployed but it held.

Nate smiled over at Kei and relaxed as they floated down. "Sure, something normal might be fun. I think I'm going to be busy for the next few weeks with the DSA testing me. After that I wouldn't mind getting together with you. Hopefully by then I'll have closed the deal on that airship hanger I was telling you about. Maybe you could come out and we could work on the Gondola Mark II? I will definitely have good facilities for it."

He blushed just slightly as he finished, "Yeah, I'm not in any hurry to get back to the boat."

[SeaEagle]

"That's great then... we'll splash down and... enjoy the morning. I can't wait to make an actual gondola rig for this stuff."

The color returned to her skin and the two could feel more and more air enter their lungs with every breath as they fell further and closer to the Atlantic.

= 45 Minutes later =

Their raft-gondola safely lands some 40 kilometers from Connor's ship. Kei radioed back.

"Hey May, we've landed and are in the raft already."

"Ok, I'll arrange a pickup..."

"...there's no need, we'll head back to the ship or shore at our leisure."

"Oh? Really?"

"Yeah! I'll radio if anything is required."

She turns off her radio and slides over to Nate, unrapping her thermal blanket again. It was cold since it was still late march. Her body looked slightly chunkier as her body adapted to the cold.

"Well... at least it's not that cold here as it was up there." She puts the blanket over Nate's shoulders again and she kisses him. She takes off her harness, opening the spare parachute and standing up with some sticks stored in the survival bag of the raft to make a frame and uses the spare chute for a roof. "There we go..."

She sits down again snuggling with Nate. "Thanks... Thanks for coming along."

[Mr Fox]

Nate was surprised at how well things had gone. He had half expected that he would make some colossal blunder and fall overboard or something, but it had been pretty smooth if a bit awkward at times. The snuggling up in the raft was nice he had to admit. It wasn't the big passionate kiss they had had up in the sky but, it was definitely good.

The biggest thing though, was that he thought he could really talk with Kei. She was attractive and he wanted to get into her pants and all, what guy wouldn't, but for the first time in his life he didn't feel totally awkward with a girl... Just mostly awkward. He smiled to himself at the thought. He would definitely have to do something about that before their next meeting. He was tired of feeling like a looser around women.

To reassure himself as much as for the enjoyment of it he tilted Kei's face up and kissed her long and deep before sitting back against the soft raft. "Thank you for the sunrise. That was probably the best thing since, well ever."

[SeaEagle]

Kei giggles. Floating there in the Atlantic and treating it casual. She would have been having kittens as a baseline. But as a Nova this... was just a fun morning. She continues her snuggle.

"In about a hour we'll head back. I'll tow. And don't worry, I know how to go slow. I gotta practice towing one of these things anyways." She said, smiling. "We really should set up a date at tour place to start work on that Gondola concept. Perhaps even setting it up to stop at a certain altitude instead of continuing to rise and bursting."

Kei sitting there in her sailor suit, looking as the sun was up. She didn't seem so threatening... this wasn't the combat master that was touted after Somalia, or the heroine who through the tragedy of the earthquake last year soldiered on in her duties. This was a girl. Not yet fully a woman. Looking to see her purpose in the world.

"And, perhaps dinner. And trust me this'll be a drier trip."

She unlatches the life preserver on her parachute harness and inflates it. Then jumps into the water. For a moment Nate looked at her like she was crazy as she bobbed in the water. "Don't worry, I'm Minnesotan, this water's nothing."

She grinned as she leaned on the raft, the cold water on her face glistened. "Should see me at polar bear plunges in January."

Goofing off and joking about was the order of the rest of their time, before Kei towed themselves back to Connor's ship. There were a few cheers and other puzzled faces. Some of the more perverse minded thought of other things.

May smiled as Kei landed on the deck, pulling Nate in the raft over next to the ship's ladder. "Well, I got everything in the raft. Even the Jedi!" Kei said, grinning.

"That is a excellent set up of creativity and ingenuity with the raft there, Kei."

"Thanks... you said I should get some survival training in. Who knows if a normal person would rely on me to survive, right?"

May ruffle's Kei's black hair. "You're coming along... finally."

"What's that supposed to mean?!?"

= FIN =