They flew beneath an azure sky; dawn’s early light beginning to break above the mountains beyond as they meandered through the maze of canyons. Below, sporadic settlements were still asleep, the land, silent save for the hum of the ornithopter’s drive unit and the thumping swoosh from the down-draught of its beating wings.

Gauge wanted nothing more at that moment than to sleep. Craning his neck from left to right, constantly checking his position relative to the canyon walls on either side which, were he to clip them would mean certain death. He sighed as a tension headache slowly began to present itself; the result of flying too many sorties for too long; running the same routes and instead of sleeping, drinking late into the night. Weeks had gone by with little rest. It was one thing to try to get ahead of the curve but if he wasn’t careful he would never be able to spend the credits he had worked so hard to accumulate.

He glanced over his left shoulder, catching the attention of his nervous passenger, a Petwu called Teris Russek. “Reach into my flight bag will you. I could do with some stim-tabs and water”.

Teris, his piercing amber eyes wide with fear as they brushed with death at every turn, was clearly less than comfortable. The hairs on the back of his neck bristled with alarm as they hit an air pocket and dropped 20 feet before the craft’s engine spun up creating more down-draft to correct their altitude.

Wearing a heavy quilted jacket and earmuffs to keep out the cold, his hands shivered as he handed Gauge a bottle and two tabs.

“Is it usually this choppy?”

Gauge raised his eyebrows as if to say you wanted to come! but stopped short of the pithy retort. He swallowed the tabs with a mouthful of water. “It’s the time of year,” he said instead. “The wind starts to change direction and comes in off the high mountains over the border. The down-drafts can push you right into the ground if you find you’ve picked the wrong canyon.”

This did not fill the Petwu with the reassurance he was looking for and he grunted in mock thanks looking out of the bubble canopy to the jagged rocks below. “But you know the right ones to pick eh?”

Gauge laughed in surprise. “Up to now…”, a pause, as he let the words hang there for a moment.

“It becomes more evident as our working relationship progresses that you are earning your credits.” Teris replied.

Gauge quipped. “A bonus would be nice?”

A defusing smile formed on the Petwu’s feline looking face. “Reilly, my friend, our kind are reliant upon the generosity of our evolved cousins. Without that we would be unable to afford even to pay you the stipend that we do.”

Gauge shrugged off the comment. “It makes no difference to me. You know I’m only in this for a couple more runs and then I’m taking a long vacation.”

The comment appeared to unsettle the Petwu who dropped his head in sorrow. “You know we trust no one else to aide our cause, Reilly.” The craft dropped and rose again suddenly. “Clearly we would be lost without you!”

“You’ll find someone else I’m sure,” Gauge said. “Plenty of us old thopter-jocks hanging around The Narrows. Pay ‘em right and they’ll fly anywhere.”

Silence returned to the cockpit as they moved on, the landscape ahead of them becoming so desolate that they could have been on one of the planet’s three moons.

The snow-covered mountains rose ever higher, the clouds swirling around their towering peaks two thousand feet above them. Gauge handled the craft with ease, his hands dancing nimbly with the controls, anticipating the direction and strength of each down-draft, up-draft and slipstream before it reached them, leading them from one canyon to the next.

Ahead of them lay a ridge-line, running for perhaps fifteen clicks. Gauge positioned them just above it, trimmed the craft and cut the drive unit. They soared, the sound of the engine replaced by the gentle tune of the wind as it whistled over the fuselage. As they settled into smoother air Teris finally began to relax, the craft drifting in and out of the shadows cast by the myriad peaks along the ridge-line.

The ridge began to narrow and with Mount Graston looming ahead, Gauge pushed forward on the yoke, building airspeed before pulling it back to his chest, lifting them into a steep climb. Kicking the foot controls to the right and following with the yoke he flipped them over their right wing and onto the other side of the ridge before they ran out of room.

They swooped down into another valley, over the steppes on the other side, and then as if reborn broke free, rushing towards the sun shining brightly against the wide open expanse of the plains, golden in the low morning light.

Teris held his breath, as the ground rose to meet them and then they levelled off, rising slowly before Gauge re-engaged the drive unit.

“We’re almost there”, Gauge said, motioning with a nod out of the cockpit towards a rocky outcropping some six clicks ahead.

The Petwu, mumbling something imperceptible under his breath wiped a bead of sweat from his brow and reached for his stinger; charged it and placed it in a holster across his chest.

As they made their approach Gauge flicked on the transponder and waited for the return signal. A few hundred yards ahead he could see a stream come into view dropping down the side of an escarpment before disappearing into a giant sink-hole.

Gauge pointed to a mesa off to the left at the far end of the outcropping. “If the return signal comes that’s where we drop in.”

“And what if there is no signal?”

“Assume the worst.” Gauge said glibly.

Gauge circled the mesa twice before Teris tapped him on the shoulder pointing straight ahead. “The signal perhaps?”

A single blue star flare smoked up from the sink-hole. Gauge pursed his lips and nodded.

He arrested his turn, flicked them into a hover above the mesa and then cut the power without warning. They dropped like a rock, swallowed by the maw below. Teris yelped in anguish assuming engine failure before Gauge applied power, cushioning their fall and settling them onto the ground with just the hint of a bump.

He turned to Teris and grinned sardonically. “Now you know why I charge so much per run.”

Teris managed a weak smile. “Noted duly.”