Flight

[thefirststark]

The space within the SXF-16 is cramped. Three seats, and room for maybe two suitcases. Ask anyone who flew on the Pan Am clipper ships, and they would say that this is a step backwards. But ask anyone who sat at the controls of the SF-12 Mockingbird or SF-11 Vulture, and he would be thrilled there's room for a co-pilot.

Howard opens the hatch from the outside, leading his passenger aboard.

"Welcome aboard, Helena."

Comments

[timelessinventor]

It takes Helena a moment to figure out the seat belt set up, but a couple years of American car seat belts has served her well, and she straps herself in without incident. "Alright, then. Off we go?"

She leans back, clutching the arms of her seat. The tiny hint of flying anxiety is finally showing its head.

[thefirststark]

"Just sit back and enjoy the ride. It might be a little bumpy on takeoff, but no worse than in a car." If anything, the main runway at Stark HQ is better maintained than the local roads.

The propeller begins to turn, and the plan starts its trip forward.

[timelessinventor]

Helena looks out one of the windows as the runway goes by. In the times she's traveled by plane back home, she generally tries to ignore the world going by outside, but there's something about this trip that just fascinates her.

"Oh, you should see the roads around the Warehouse, Howard. Dirt and nothing else." The Badlands aren't known for nice roads, and Artie is a terrible driver.

[thefirststark]

"It's like that near hear. You should be able to see in a few moments."

Howard pulls back on the stick and the plane's nose lifts. Outside the semi-desert on either side of the runway races by, lit by the summer sun.

[timelessinventor]

"Yes, some of that terrain is quite familiar." She smiles, watching everything go by. "I believe that Claudia calls it the 'badlands' of South Dakota back home. I certainly understand why they're called 'bad'."

[thefirststark]

"Nothing quite that bad here. Just Southern California summer. In the winter, it can be quite green."

Howard maintains an even pull on the stick and holds the speed steady with a pedal not unlike that in a car. And soon, there is a slight feeling as though the ground is pulling away.

Which it is.

[timelessinventor]

As the plane takes flight, Helena clutches the arms of her seat a bit tighter. She's trying to distract herself by an analysis of the terrain. "Winter's generally white in South Dakota. We seem to get quite a lot of snow."

Yes. Helena Wells, great inventor and author, is distracting herself with weather.

[thefirststark]

Howard can see she's nervous. So he keeps the plane as steady as possible, banking rather slowly from the easterly direction of the takeoff.

"Detroit is like that in the winter, too. I don't miss it. I came out here for the sunshine, after all." Brilliant sunshine that slowly goes from behind the plane to behind.

[timelessinventor]

"That is the one thing I do not miss about London. It was so dreary and so foggy and so dark. South Dakota has much more sun and light and sky." Oh, the sky. There is something epic about the sky in South Dakota that Helena is just entranced by.

"Oh, my." Helena grins at the light as it streams around the plane. "The sun really is lovely out here."

[thefirststark]

"That sun is the one thing I really, really missed in London." Well, that and the silence of bomb-free nights. "It's why I could never relocate anywhere else now." And the plane banks further still as it rises past 5,000 feet. The city of Los Angeles, and the vast farmlands and hills around it, come into view, the Pacific looming further west.

[timelessinventor]

"I didn't really know it was there to miss, honestly. I did some travel for the Warehouse, and more than occasionally to Paris, but there is something about the sun and sky in America that I just can't truly describe. I think I might actually almost feel at home."

Her eyes open wide as the plane goes higher, and the city comes into view. "That is one lovely view, Howard. I see why you don't want to relocate."

[thefirststark]

"Nowhere in the world like it. And having been to Europe, I can say that more than could in 1940." Paris - granted a diminished post-war Paris - was nice but didn't impress him. And the sun even on the Riviera came up short.

"So which way do you want to good, Miss Wells?"

[timelessinventor]

"London is fascinating. I have not been back much since I re-emerged into the world, but it is still an amazing city." Helena is British to her core. She will always love her home city.

She looks out the window again, pondering for a moment. "How about over there closer to the ocean?" The last time she was in a plane, it was dark, and she had bad flying anxiety.

[thefirststark]

He decides not to tell her about how London is rebuilding. He's sure, in fact, that when Helena gets there, she will find in much better condition than he left it.

"The ocean it is. And I can try to point out some of the sights below." Though at 10,000, it will be hard to pick out much.

[timelessinventor]

"I have been to Los Angeles. Once with Claudia for a case. I did not have the time to really take in the city. It occurs to me now that I really should change that."

She smiles, and looks out of the plane, down to the ground and the civilization below.

[thefirststark]

"It's really talking off now. A lot of veterans are staying here, the aerospace industry is booming, and there's still Hollywood."

And as if on cue, he points at the famous HOLLYWOOD sign, tiny in the distance.

[timelessinventor]

"Ah, Hollywood. Beyond my time, but Pete seems to quite like its products. I remember hearing of Mr. Edison's moving pictures, but it was nothing like it is now." She smiles at the sign. "Well, that is quite the landmark."

[thefirststark]

"It was built to sell houses, actually. But anything larger than life tends to become famous here. Not far from that sign are all the studios. Interesting places to visit. The techniques they use can be rather clever." Also, the starlets are gorgeous.

There is a momentary jolt as they pass through a patch of rough air. "Just a little turbulence. Nothing to worry about."

[timelessinventor]

"Why is almost everything famous in America an advertisement?" She laughs, but her laugh is cut short by the jolt.

Quickly, she recovers herself, but she's back to sitting stiffly in the chair and clutching the arms. "Anyway, if the things that Pete watches are any indications, many of the movie people are quite clever."

[thefirststark]

"They have some great tricks to simulate almost anything now. The war films they did were a bit too close to the real thing, in fact." If less loud.

"Should I go over just how this thing works?" That might put her at ease.

[timelessinventor]

"Yes, I think that would be a capital idea." Helena smiles, covering her bit of nervousness.

Knowing how this huge machine works is both interesting and distracting.

[thefirststark]

Howard begins a very technical explanation of how a plane works, starting with the theory behind heavier than air flight, moving to the role each part of the machine plays. It's a pleasure to be able to use such detail, knowing Helena is bound to understand all of it.

[timelessinventor]

She is quite glad to have something specific to focus on, actually. Sitting back, and relaxing her iron grip on the chair's arms, Helena listens to him, chiming in every so often with a quite intelligent question or three. Many of the mechanics behind the plane are things that she understands, and while the theories behind flight were around in her original time, her contemporaries were rather stuck on airships and dirigibles.

By the time Howard is only halfway done explaining things, she has calmed herself down and is almost bouncing in her seat with excitement.

[thefirststark]

As the plane flies over Santa Monica, Howard turns her south and begins to parallel the coastline, and drops the altitude to about 7,500 feet. The famous pier passes beneath.

And with basic theory established moves on to how this beauty works, how innovative she is, and how at her heart is a tried and true design for fighter planes.

[timelessinventor]

Helena's breath catches for a moment as she watches the pier go by underneath the plane. She has always loved the beauty of the sea, and there is something so very beautiful and so very different about the Pacific Ocean than the Channel she's familiar with.

Her attention comes back to Howard, though, as he explains the plane. She asks questions, both to get some clarifications about things that she's uncertain about, and to draw more information out about the lovely machine.