The Wing That Should've Killed Him

A field note from Höbin Luckyfeller, FieldScribe, on the matter of Betty 4.0 and the pilot they call Ratchet.

Every engineer in Clockworks City will tell you the same thing about wings.

They’ll tell you a jetpack doesn’t stall.

A jetpack doesn’t fold when a javelin clips the strut.

A jetpack burns hot and steady and predictable, and predictable keeps you alive in the Trench.

Then they’ll fold their arms, look at you like you’re a slow child, and say that anyone who trades a jetpack for a set of mechanical wings has decided, on purpose, to die in front of two hundred thousand paying strangers.

I have heard this speech four times now. From four different engineers. Word for word, near enough. And when four clever people agree that precisely, my old scholar’s brain starts itching, because it usually means they’ve all read the same book and none of them has checked whether the book is right.

So I went and checked.