Friday Flash Fiction 46
Filed under Friday Flash Fiction • 17-10-2008 •
Tags: Flash FictionTHE CLOUD PRINCESS
By Gareth L. Powell
He came in fast, aerobraking hard, scrawling a fiery trail across Jupiter’s pristine clouds. And then, when he’d shed enough velocity, he dropped, spreading black carbon fibre wings to catch the pummelling jet stream.
Ahead lay a dark whorl of cloud – a raging storm the size of Earth’s moon. And before it, dwarfed by the fury of the maelstrom, he saw the Cloud Princess.
The old airship was labouring at a depth far deeper than the one she’d been designed for, her vast impellers spinning furiously as the storm dragged her in.
She’d seen better days. As he got closer, he could see where some of her docking spines had been torn off. There were panels and aerials missing. Whole vanes had been ripped from their mounts.
He pulled in his wings, falling in a swooping arc that carried him under her rudder, into the shadow of her gas bag. He was aiming for the promenade deck at the rear of the gondola, and the airlock that accessed the main ballroom.
Once there, if he could get to her bridge, there was a chance he could save her.
A visual treat. I really liked the economic way this scene is put together.
Is this part of something longer?
I like this, it has a pulpish feel thanks to the airship and the setting. I think it could have been longer, though, perhaps to contextualise the significance of the protagonist’s actions?
Oh I want a whole novel around that scene.