Benjamin felt the rush of air as one of Artemus’s men opened the side door of the aether ship. He fastened the leather cap under his chin and pulled his goggles down over his eyes. Each moment the wisdom of the test became less and less clear. Lord Grey had not been keen of the idea of testing the ICARUS wing rig by jumping from the roof of Howick. Jumping out of an aether ship had seemed like a good alternative at the time.
He even thought it worth the risk of the short walk back through CoB territory to get to Artie’s ship. Over the few days of the summit relations between TRIAC and the CoB had disintegrated and Sea Lord Jennifer Haig was now in custody. It seemed unlikely the Admiralty would choose now to snatch a TRIAC Agent, even one they considered a traitor, although he had still walked the mile and a half apace.
With the door open, Atwood could see clear into Scotland, now a part of the protectorate and right on the Admiralty’s doorstep. Somewhere below Selwyn stood on the front lawn of Howick House with a bucket of smoke pellets and his medical kit. Suddenly he felt a massive slap on the shoulder, causing him to instinctively grab the edge of the door frame. His head turned and through the narrow view through the goggles he saw Artie grinning wildly, a glass of port in one hand.
“I thought you boffins were meant to be smart.” he said, only just audible as he stuck his head out of the side of the craft to peer downwards, pouring the end of his glass out and watching it whip away in the air flow.
“I didn’t think you’d waste good Port.”
Artemus laughed. “My Port no, but this was donated from Lord Grey’s supplies on our way out.”
“Ahh, I see.” Atwood nodded, his mind mostly on the test. “Well, thank you for allowing me to use your craft for this test.”
“Of course, I wouldn’t miss the chance to a smart fellow such as yourself throw yourself to your death.” He took a step back into the craft and a passing staff member refilled his glass.
Atwood turned around to face him. “Well, the technology works, the maths has been done, there is nothing left but for a test.” A shout came from further up the craft, a red smoke signal seen rising from Howick.
“Well then, clearly this is a terribly good idea. All ready for the off?”
He checked the straps and the charge on the decelerators and gave a nod. “I’ll just psyche myself up, then I’ll go.”
“Oh I wouldn’t worry with all that, best to get it over with man!” He grinned, reached forward and pulled the activation cord.
Before Atwood could process any of it the wings had unfurled into the air stream and pulled him out of the craft. The sound of Artie’s laughter was quickly drowned out by the noise of the wind as he tumbled through the air. His heart pounded and for a long moment he wondered if something had gone wrong; if the power wasn’t sufficient or the maths had been in error. It took achingly long seconds before the wings stabilised and he realised he had control over the path of the flight. The controls were vague, but as he was not plummeting to his death, the ICARUS prototype seemed to be functioning. Still, he crossed his gloved fingers and hoped Selwyn was prepared, just in case.