Wandering Agent
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Machinist of Mana Chapter 80 Grounded
🕑 Added 2024-11-26 21:30:59 +0000 UTCFaster and faster I moved, the wind reaching a peak until I felt it. The sensation of the wheels leaving the ground was magnificent, the bumps changing into small changes in the wind as I began to climb, away from the dirt and into the sky. It wasn't fast, not like the insane speed jets from Earth could have done it, but just a few dozen feet.
“PERCIVAL GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!” The sky roared as my grandfather stopped yelling and began to cast spells.
The field before me was massive, some kind of fallow farmland, hundreds of acres of it. Presumably this was so that we could do slow and steady testing, a smart thing, and build up to real flights. For me it meant that I had plenty of room to keep going as long as I wanted, the open strip giving ample room and wonderful views.
For a moment I considered taking off for real, climbing into the clouds, soaring with the birds for an hour or two. Then I came to my senses, that wasn't why I had done this. What I'd wanted was the first flight, the first time up, the proof of it, and I'd gotten that. If I kept pushing my luck I might never again be allowed to fly, well, I might not be allowed to anyway for a good while, but I'd accepted that.
With a sigh I brought the plane down, slowly, with exceeding care. The wheels bounced a bit as I slowed, jostling me in the small pilot's seat. As quick as it had happened it was over, moments of full flight time, but enough. I easily beat the twelve seconds the Wright brothers had managed, and that was good enough for me.
Once I was back down I turned around began to coast my way back. Grandpa was going to be furious, but there was no reason to delay. Best to just take my lumps and be done with it. It of course took far longer to return than it had to flee, but I was aided by the fact that they'd chased me a bit. As I pulled up I could see my grandfather fuming, teeth tight together but no longer yelling.
“Of all the foolish, irresponsible, insane stunts to pull Percival, I cannot believe your gall,” he began as I got out of the seat and hopped down.
“I hope you understand why though,” I returned calmly. “After so many years I had to be the first, even if it was only for a few seconds.”
“You could have been hurt, you could have died,” he continued.
“That seemed improbable, we've tested this as much as we could have without actually testing it. It's also the reason I didn't go any higher than I went.”
He looked particularly peeved when I didn't while, complain, or try to weasel out of anything. “That isn't an excuse for your actions.”
“No, it isn't, I'm merely explaining my thinking. I fully expected you to be furious, and am willing to accept punishment,” I told him with a shrug.
“You will not be flying again for the foreseeable future,” he began, and I nodded, that was obvious. “I may tell your mother,” another nod from me. “Bah! Do you know how hard it is to punish you when you're like this!?”
“I do,” I chuckled, unable to contain that.
“Not even sorry are you lad?” asked Lionel, beginning to look over the plane.
“No.”
“Perhaps we should tell people that Mr. Rightroad here was the first up, how would you feel about that?” grandpa threatened.
“I will be telling nobody any such lie, and if they believe you I will still no the truth.”
“Your mother is going to tan your hide,” he went on, seeming fit to curse.
“Perhaps, but she won't be around for some time; she's skipping the season remember?”
Grandpa twitched, knowing I was right.
“I'm going to look over this, because so help me if you've damaged it... You are to find a somewhere by the barn to observe and remain there until I can figure out what to do with you.”
It took awhile, but in time he joined me as Mr. Rightroad got in and took off. This particular flight was much more by the book than mine had been, with the pilot having ample time to slowly go through the procedures we'd set up before beginning. Much like my first go Lionel only went a few feet up first, before returning to the ground. Each successive trip up he took though climbed higher, and within three he was circling the large field we were in at a few hundred feet.
I looked on with a smile. Even if I wasn't going back up today I could still appreciate seeing my work, well work, and just the was it was supposed to. Nobody was doing anything fancy in the plane yet, but that didn't matter, just the huge step we were taking was enough.
“Magnificent,” grandpa muttered.
“It is,” I agreed.
“You could have been up there by this point, still certain your acting out was worth it?”
“Every bit.”
“You know we might forbid you from going up ever again after that nonsense.”
I just laughed at that threat. “How long have you known me grandpa? If you try to keep me grounded for too long I'll just make my own.”
Only a couple years off from legal adulthood that threat wasn't any kind of a bluff. I had the earning potential, the know-how, the expertise from our work already to make a plane myself. It would take longer, and it would probably not be as good as what the two of us could do together, but it would fly, of that I had no doubt.
My answer earned me a slap on the back of my head, but that was fine. Grandpa knew that I cared for him, for the rest of our family. He also knew that I was stubborn as a mule and smart enough to get myself into trouble. We'd spent far too long around each other for him not to get that.
“You could at least try to apologize,” he gruffed.
“I'm not sorry for what I did grandpa, to lie about that seems wrong to me. The lie would be worse to me than taking the plane up like I did. I am sorry for making you angry though, and don't intend to repeat myself.”
“Well, even if you never learned obedience at least you learned morals,” he groused.
To that I just answered with a small smile. He hadn't realized yet that he would probably be the one blamed for not driving obedience into my head. He wasn't, as someone who'd already lived a good part of a life it was impossible for me to abide the kind of restrictions people wanted to put on me, but mother and especially grandmother would place the blame soundly at his feet.
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