Marcus shifted to second gear and feathered the clutch as he eased the Firestorm onto the grated platform situated over the terraformer's inlet. The moment both upright’s legs were on the dull blue metal surface, a subtle vibration began to rattle the cockpit.

  "Let's go, we're falling behind schedule." Arminius radioed, his voice booming through the cockpit's overhead intercom.

  The Hastatus turned and marched across the vast platform, to a small ramp attached to the cliffside that descended toward the raging rapids below. Marcus navigated the Firestorm to follow. As the upright crossed into the shadow of the terraformer and between the two concrete guides that funneled the inverted waterfall into the structure, a slow but unyielding force drew the upright toward the terraformer with each step.

  "Warning," Fenicks spoke from the center console in front of Marcus. "Terrain shaping is active. Failure to course-correct could result in catastrophic incident."

  Marcus had to pull hard on the joysticks to prevent the upright from drifting any closer toward the inlet. The moment they passed the second guide, the force vanished entirely, and the Firestorm stumbled away.

  "Careful, it doesn't move but this old-world stuff will bite you if you let it." Arminius cackled over the radio.

  "That would've been good to know before." Marcus called out, righting the path of the Firestorm.

  The two uprights descended the ramp, which turned into a path carved into the umber cliffside. As it leveled out, the narrow thoroughfare could be seen hugging the length of the cliff, beyond a wide bend in the river much farther upstream.

  "Take it easy here. Don't need to end up in the drink if we can help it." Arminius radioed.

  As Marcus eased from the metal grating onto the stone, the flat warning voice blared from his console. "Terrain warning, terrain warning."

  The right-most monitor automatically changed to show a feed of the right leg, the appendage closest to the riverside. One of the Firestorm's toes dangled off the edge. Marcus swallowed a gasp and jammed the clutch. The upright came to a gentle stop.

  "How the hell am I supposed to get this thing across here?" Marcus muttered and hunched forward, squinting at the image of the leg, then craned his neck to trace the narrow path ahead. There was nowhere along the way that opened any ground.

  "Alert," Fenicks called out over the intercom, "Multiple air contacts closing from bearing 103, moving toward bearing 309, fast".

  Layne reached up over head and flipped a few switches on his console, then began pressing buttons on his monitors. "That's behind us." He flicked through diagrams rapidly. "Coming over our right shoulder." He continued to work, sitting on the edge of his seat. "It's those airships we saw, they're coming this way."

  "Recommend immediate switching engines to two-stroke mode." Fenicks said. "Use lower intake to disperse exhaust gasses, minimalize chances of detection incident."

  "C'mon kiddo, let's keep moving." Arminius called out.

  Marcus looked around at the countless hard switches overhead, and to his right and froze. "I—I don't know how to do that. I didn't know you could do that."

  Layne looked over his shoulder, then up at the ceiling. "Those airships are headed this way, take cover."

  The Hastatus stopped mid step, retreated to plant both feet, then backed against the cliffside wall before crouching.

  "Using procedure R-14." Fenicks spoke from the pilot console. "Switch overhead, second from the right on third row, toggle P.B.M.X. to aux—"

  Marcus stood and promptly followed Fenicks's directions. After flipping many switches both overhead and on the side console, the upright shuddered, then sputtered. The plume of exhaust that poured out overhead dissipated. A methodic breathing emanated from the engine room behind, in tune with a rhythmic jolt that caused the cockpit to bounce.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  After sitting back down, Marcus revved the engine to try and ease the machine's shuddering, but it only grew more potent with each step on the accelerator. More so, loud pops and crackles burst from the underside as he eased off the throttle. While there was more black smoke pouring from the machine, it dispersed downwards, filling the canyon with a thin smog, rather than a plume that reached high into the sky.

  "Caution: power band has changed. Recommend a reduced pace." Fenicks said from the console.

  There were three airships that came into view from the right periphery, behind the Firestorm. Flying in a V, they darted across the sky in the direction the cliffside path was leading the two uprights.

  "Do you think they saw us?" Layne looked over his shoulder at Marcus.

  A small box appeared in the forward viewport, the sight of the three airships magnified. It showed men running along the wooden decks, each shaped like a sea-worthy vessel tethered to a massive balloon and driven forward by a great propeller at its rear. Triple smokestacks spewed plumes out the back. On the airship closest to the cliffside, two men stood facing the uprights and pointed in their direction.

  "I don't know, but even if they did, we can't turn back now." Marcus clenched his teeth.

  "Looks like they're gone, let's keep moving." Arminius radioed. His upright turned and continued to march along the path.

  Marcus let out the clutch and depressed the throttle a moderate amount, enough to get the engine RPM higher and lurch the machine into motion. Or so he thought. Instead, the engine bucked and raced toward the redline.

  The Firestorm burst into motion, accelerating toward a sprint. As it hurled itself toward the first curve, with its one right foot slipping with each step, Marcus jammed the clutch in.

  Layne leaned forward and hard against his controls. The Firestorm reached its left arm out and dug its fingers into the cliffside, the scream of metal-against-stone echoing throughout the canyon.

  Just as the Firestorm lifted its right leg to take another step, which would have thrown it over and into the river rapids, it stopped from both the grip on the stone, and Marcus having pulled it into neutral.

  "What was that all about?" Layne said in tandem with Arminius speaking over the radio.

  Marcus exhaled hard. "Swapped the engine over to try and keep a low profile, took me by surprise."

  The Firestorm planted its feet.

  "Caution: power band has changed. Recommend a reduced pace." Fenicks spoke from the overhead intercom.

  Marcus scratched his head and tightened his grip on the joysticks. With delicate movements of both the clutch and the throttle, he slowly pivoted the upright to face the correct direction around the bend.

  Layne stared at the path coming into view, keeping a firm hand on his controls, maintaining the Firestorm's grip on the cliffside. Once the upright's torso was in alignment with the thoroughfare, he released the stone and lowered the arm back into a resting position.

  The Hastatus continued on, navigating the path with relative ease, as its frame was narrow enough to fit snuggly.

  With the same foot movements, Marcus eased the Firestorm forward. A feather's touch threatened to send the machine into a dash. Every other step was uneasy as he tried to balance the weight to not slip into the rapids.

  Despite the over-sensitive throttle, Marcus started getting used to it, and the Firestorm slowly caught up to the Hastatus.

  It was afternoon when the two uprights finally closed in on the wide bend spotted from the ramp from which they departed near the terraformer.

  "We're making good pace, but it will still be close." Arminius radioed.

  "I wonder how the caravan is doing." Marcus replied.

  "I haven't seen any flares, so hopefully they're on schedule too." Arminius radioed.

  As the two rounded the bend, the cliffs on the opposite side of the river flattened gradually. In the very far distance, a steep slope of grass met with the river rapids.

  "There's our exit." Arminius radioed as the Hastatus pushed onwards.

  The river began to widen as the two continued on. Near the terraformer ramp, if there were room to get a solid running start, the Firestorm might have been able to jump across if the cliffside weren't sheer, the river was far more vast near the grassland slope.

  As the sun raced toward the horizon, the two uprights closed on the crossing point.

  "We got here early." Arminius radioed. "I'd rather wait than rush. Let's find a good place to lay low, don't need stray eyes finding problems. Keep radio silence until we're ready to move."

  Near the crossing was an alcove that had just enough room for both uprights to sit in a crouching park and stay largely out of sight. They waited for nightfall.

  Both Layne and Marcus sat in silence, staring out at the slit revealed in the forward viewport by what portion of the Firestorm was exposed, at the grassland slope awaiting them.

  Just as the shadow of the cliffs reached the canyon, the river reversed and began to retreat.

  After a while longer, with the twin moons rising full and bright, the river finally receded far below its original level.

  "That's as good as it gets." Arminius broke radio silence.

  Marcus jolted in his seat from the sudden communication.

  "Now comes the hard part." Arminius followed up.