callmemajor | (no subject)

Jack hesitates at the sight of the cockpit. There's an obvious pilot's seat . . . "Where should I sit? Back here, in the passenger seats?" He hopes they're passenger seats.

Lorne slides into the pilot's seat and gestures to the seat next to it. "You can sit up here," he says, and walks quickly through the pre-flight checks.

He may have forgotten Jack's not used to seeing something like the HUD just pop up in mid-air, so he doesn't warn him about it.

Jack sits back in the seat and says softly, "Huh."

Lorne smiles over at him. "Heads Up Display," he says. "Tells you everything you might need to know. Power levels, life-support, inertial dampeners..."

"Wow," Jack says. "When my father learned to fly he had the horizon and a throttle."

As he speaks, the HUD pulls up the artificial horizon, very helpfully telling them that they are level. Lorne laughs. "Come a little ways since then, I guess."

"Yeah, I'd say so," Jack says, watching with wide eyes.

"Ready to take off, then?"

"I'm ready," says Jack, taking a deep breath.

Lorne gives him a sideways smile and taps his radio. "Flight, this is Jumper Four requesting permission for takeoff."

A slightly tinny voice comes back through, Roger that, Jumper Four. You are good to go.

Lorne pushes a button and the ceiling of the bay retracts and Lorne eases the Jumper out of her berth and up towards the opening.

"A straight vertical," Jack says in wonder. "Holy God."

Lorne grins. "You ain't seen nothin' yet."

Jack grins at him, Totally Not Bouncing in his seat like a little boy.

Lorne takes them out of the bay and carefully weaves the jumper through the towers of the city, flying low, so Jack can get a sense of the size of it and the architecture.

"You must spend half your time exploring just the city," Jack said, still watching with wide eyes. "It's huge!"

Lorne nods. "We do have regularly scheduled expeditions within the city herself."

He eases the jumper out towards the water and flies low again, skimming across the surface of the ocean. They're moving fast, but the inertial dampeners mean they don't feel the speed at all.

Jack smiles at him. "The city's a she?"

Lorne blushes a little. "Well...yeah. She's...a ship. Ship's are always female."

Jack looks at him, then back out the window. "The city's a ship," he murmurs.

"Uh huh," Lorne says. "She floats on the ocean, and she...well, she's got a stardrive too." That always sounds crazy, no matter how many times he says it.

"So she can fly in outer space? The entire city?"

"Theoretically, yeah. We've never had to use the stardrive. Not sure we've got enough power."

"What does she run on?" He peers through the front shield. "Obviously not coal."

"No, not coal," Lorne says with a soft laugh. "Zero-point energy. It's...energy from subspace."

It's all so strange . . ."What's subspace?"