Ever since I first stepped aboard this airship, I had been very curious about how it functions. The power source up front where the Captain piloted, I figured out. Blood pumps into it from within the ship’s insides through tubes run up into the ceiling. This ship was living. Breathing. Alive. How did it work truly? With time to kill, I wanted to take a venture elsewhere outside my room or the halls.

  I walked until coming across a familiar door I had seen before.

  ‘MAINTENANCE’

  The words were engraved on a metal plaque above the door. I grab the handle to slide it open. A tiny room with a single ladder leading up through a hatch. I began to climb up and crank the wheel for the hatch to open up. Up I went above the gondola.

  A maintenance room? Beyond the walls I could hear the creaks of the frame. The pulsating of flesh. The beating of a heart. A low hum. In this room was a large workbench. Tools were scattered about on the workbench and on the tool rack. Some boxes containing spare parts were left behind. On the wall was a blueprint detailing the entirety of the airship. I examine it closely. Only the gondola served to house it’s occupants. The hull contained this very room. Further down towards the front of the ship was one other room: A break room. Each layer, part and function were written down. The airship has lungs, veins pumping blood throughout, even a beating heart contained within a chamber.

  I approach the door leading into the hull and open it up. I was blown away by what I was seeing. A bridge was constructed to safely cross over towards the other room. Beneath the platform was flesh. All around me were pale walls of muscle and tissue bonded to the steel exterior like armor. Various veins were pumping blood all around the interior of the airship. Above me were a pair of massive, pulsating lungs of a pallid shade of red. Across the top of the hull was the airship’s nervous system. A complex network of glimmering flesh strands connecting every single organ together. The backside of the eye had its ocular nerve connected to this system as was the pipeline from the tube which the nosecone was hooked inside of directly transferring oxygen from the lungs.

  To think the steel frame and foundation was constructed inside of what was essentially a titanic worm without the need to consume as it lacked a mouth or intestinal digestive system. A marvel of engineering at its finest. I even notice the glass windows peering into the innards of this airship, providing the slightest of daylight peeking in. It makes me wonder how the engineers were able to work inside without any stairs or elevators. Perhaps they had their own mobile machinery. I turned around to see a large cylindrical engine built within a mass of flesh. Cords and wires strung out into the veins of the ship as well as a series of tubes pumping blood into the engine’s side canisters. The wiring ran throughout, wrapped around the veins connecting to the nervous system above. Below the engine I could just barely notice a single line in the flesh with various stitches. A patchwork job. Perhaps that was how the machinery was transported inside during construction, and upon completion the flesh was sown together before the outer plating was installed. Every little detail and feature of the airship’s construction left much to the imagination on how it was all crafted.

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  I sullied across the steel bridge. Each footstep creaked. According to that map, this over here was a resting room of sorts. A place for the hard workers to take a break from their construction. I open the door to check inside. There were lockers. A couple discarded small boxes with handles on top. A round table with six chairs. On the wall was a detailed guide instructing all maintenance procedures to perform. Of course, with machinery this massive and complex; Regular maintenance was a necessity to ensure the airship performed well with no error or complications. On the table I notice a charcoal-colored device with a screen and a few buttons underneath.

  It was a tablet. I press the black button. It turns the screen on. It had a sickly green hue with yellowed words. Amazing. My finger can navigate this device. I found the home screen. I needed to examine its contents. This must’ve been what the head of the engineering crew used. It contained all manner of instructions pertaining to the airship’s construction. Files on each function of the airship from its organs to the gondola. I scroll back to find the very first section. A simple string of words listed before everything else;

  ‘The Airship. This titanic, flesh-wrought machination will serve to transport residents of Carnis Machina beyond the border walls. The Mastermind conducted this creation’s origin as means of uncovering what lies outside the city. If there are other civilizations such as ours; We want to find them. The Airship will become that bridge to connect to others.’

  But did the airship truly serve its purpose? The Mastermind never mentioned it. Are there truly others like myself out there as I had seen with the individual at the docking station whom traveled on this very airship to places outside Carnis Machina? Are there even other civilizations beyond those walls? Only time will tell with our journey forward.

  I set the tablet back down. While scouring the insides of the airship was a fascinating insight into its inner workings; There was nowhere else here for me to go. I leave the room to venture back towards the opposite end. A low groan echoes throughout the vessel. Hm? I’m sure that’s normal. It doesn’t sound in pain. But the breathing seemed… Irregular. I look to the giant lungs to see the breathing pattern has changed. That didn’t seem like a good sign. I should hurry back into the gondola.

  An unnerving hum rung throughout the gondola halls on my way towards the helm. I walk into the room to see what was going on. The Captain was checking a screen hanging above where they stood. They then flicked a couple switches and pressed some buttons. I approach to glance outside the windows as they were. The winds outside had picked up. We were caught up in a sandstorm. Low visibility. We could barely see ten feet ahead of us. The Captain at least seemed to know precautions to take. I’m lucky to have them as an ally on this journey.

  Through the thick dust clouds, I could just barely notice something in the distance. A silhouette of what seemed to be a construct with a statue erecting from the ground. My fists were clenched on the top of the Captains chair. Were we finally approaching someplace to investigate? Until we drew close enough to make it out, it was unclear what the construct could be. The size and scope of it I could tell faintly was massive but not in the towering sense like the Spire, but more so it covered much ground. What awaited us ahead? I could only wait in anticipation…