Airborn Quotes
"There’s no shortage of company... I see a galaxy of adventures and heroes and villains."
"My watch was almost at an end, and I was looking forward to climbing into my bunk."
"The smell of fresh-baked bread wafted up to me."
"I’ve glimpsed all the stars ever discovered by astronomers, and plenty that haven’t been."
"Sailing toward dawn, and I was perched atop the crow’s nest, being the ship’s eyes."
"Spyglass to my face, I slowly swept the heavens."
"There were already a number of sailmakers on the scene."
"I felt terribly thirsty all of a sudden and tired all the way through my bones."
"We ourselves were bound for the other side of the world—Sydney, Australia, a five days’ journey across the Pacificus."
"And then all the Aurora had to do was dump a few hundred pounds of water and she was lighter than air."
"All the world met here, and there was nowhere you couldn’t go once aloft."
"Nothing grander than feeling the strength and grace of the Aurora’s bone and muscle and sinew as she angled up ever so slightly and left the earth below."
"It was not bravery on my part, simply a fact of nature, for I was born in the air."
"I was lucky to have Baz Hilcock as my cabin mate."
"I’ve been forced to take on Otto Lunardi’s son as junior sailmaker."
"We mustn’t get too attached to our worldly possessions, after all, must we? What are they but things, baubles, trifles, bits of stuff? It is here we must find our treasures and store them up."
"I’m not sure if the albatross even saw me beneath the dome, watching it. It hunkered down atop the Aurora. Happy to let someone else do the flying for a while."
"I loved being aloft, but to be completely at the mercy of the winds, with no other means of power or steerage—it was a frightening thought."
"I watched more females make the climb to the birthing altitude and then release their newborns into the air."
"We were free of the pirate ship, but not the elements."
"I could not bear the thought of abandoning her to the waves."
"I wished I were in the control car with the captain. I wished I were there serving fresh coffee and pastries, hearing the captain’s calm voice giving orders, and knowing exactly what was going on."
"I could feel my heart start beating faster. I swallowed, tried to breathe slow and deep. I was aloft. I could fly. I was soaring alongside the ship. I was falling."
"You’re in the wrong line of work, then," I said.
"It looked good, your patching," I told him. "Very tidy."
"We could remove every crate of cargo and stick of furniture, and every passenger for that matter, and we’d still not have enough lifting power to hop across the lagoon."
"Fish, yes, fish is what I am conversing about."
"She’s a fine-looking girl, no question, but you two have about as much future as a fish and a kangaroo."
"We shall have to be exceptionally charming, then."
"I could tell you the favorite foods of everyone in this room!"
"This is no time to be undone by a girl, Matt."
"But if I get pictures of her, I can get into any university I want; I can head an expedition."
"It was a sloppy bit of steering, but I’d done it. I’d turned the Aurora one hundred eighty degrees."
"We wait. Until the sleeping elixir kicks in."
"They’ll need to keep some with the hostages."
"Can’t you switch back to the auxiliary control room?"
"No, his controls override ours. We’ve got to stop him."
"And the wind will keep carrying us away from the island. Good."
"I’m sure Captain Walken will do everything he can."
"I just hope there’s a position on her when I finish here."
"Really, I need you to come along and smarten me up regularly."