Kenzo closed his eye back and leaned onto Eiden, who shifted uncomfortably, but didn't comment.
"Wake me up when we land."
Alteea made a sound of theatrical offence and disappeared into the cockpit. The engines shifted pitch - the thrusters adjusting from hover to forward motion, the vibration beneath their feet changing from a vertical hum to a horizontal pull. The aircraft moved. Smoothly, without the lurching acceleration Raizen expected, the platform falling away behind them as the vehicle angled south and began to descend.
Through the window, Ukai shrank rapidly. The platforms and bridges and trunks compressed into a cluster of wood and remaining amber light of the hanging lanterns, the hole in the sky visible above it - a circle of blue in a ceiling of white, permanent, open, pouring sunlight onto a city that would never see grey overhead again.
Alteea's voice came from the cockpit. "Oh – and Raizen? The scanner?"
