AidanDennis.com

Fly Away to Freedom:

The Escape from Port Tersly

By CB Celwriter

“What is it?” Walter asked Ray, one sunny morning as he and his friend were standing in a warehouse full of scrap metal from ceiling to floor. In a cleared area lay a machine that Ray had just unveiled and would supposedly let them escape from Port Tersly. Ray turned with a look of annoyance on his face.

“A drallin, of course,” he replied, turning back to the magnificent red contraption in front of him. Its wings stretched out like those of a bird and the sun on its surface shone like the moon on water.

“You mean one of those flying contraptions from the legends?” Walter asked his best friend eagerly.

“And what else could it be? I found the instructions in an old history book I ‘borrowed’ from the library,” answered Ray, a mischievous grin on his round face. The strapping youth had a hunger for adventure and when he had become of age, Ray was determined that he would find a way to break the spell over his town. Port Tersly had been encased in a magical, invisible cage for almost a century and Walter had decided that he would aid his friend in his difficult ventures.

“How sure are you that this will work?” Walter asked, “Don’t you remember last time? I do. We tried to dig below the hard outer wall, all we got was a headache when we tried to dive in the hole.”

“Yes, but surely the wizard could not have covered the port completely in the air,” Ray replied confidently.

“That’s what you said with the ground, if I remember correctly: ‘surely the wizard could not have blocked Port Tersly completely under the ground!’ It turned out that the boundary formed a cylinder,” Walter stated. He was not exactly the adventurous type, but Ray was. Walter would have preferred to test the boundary in a set of scientific experiments, but he had spent too much time assisting his friend.

“Yeah, but last time I didn’t check to see if anyone had tried the idea yet. This time, I checked the library and none has tried to fly out yet.”

“That’s probably because they guessed that if the wizard had closed off the ground, he probably closed off the sky as well,” Walter said, “And if we go flying into the boundary, it’s a long way down.”

“Don’t you think that I’ve thought of that? We will not fly into the boundary; we will only stick our hands up and see if they hit anything. No headaches!” replied Ray. Walter studied his friend. Ray smiled with a young, tan-faced boyish grin stretching almost to his ears. His wavy blond hair grew close to his confident green eyes. Those very same eyes made Ray quite appealing to the young ladies of the town. Yes, this self-assured young lad had won the hearts of most of the young ladies in the city. It was in this aspect of his friend that Walter was most jealous. He cared not for adventure nor to be more courageous, all he wanted was the smile of young Celeste.

Celeste was one of the prettiest girls in Port Tersly, but that was not what Walter cared about. He could talk to her, have an actual conversation with her. Celeste was not like some of the other girls who would just sit there and giggle when you tried to explain something. She listened and asked him questions. Celeste would understand what he was saying and comment on it. There was, however, a problem with Walter’s feelings toward Celeste. She was the girl that Ray had singled out and took out for candy every Saturday. Walter did not wish to compete with his friend not only because of loyalty, but because he was too shy to ask Celeste to go with him anywhere. Walter wallowed in self-pity every Saturday and it was almost time for him to return home to complete this weekly ritual.

“Wal-ter? Anyone home in there?” Ray asked tapping on Walter’s head and interrupting his thoughts.

“Huh? What?” Walter said. He guessed that Ray must have asked him a question.

“I asked if you would like to look over the instructions on how to build the inside machinery while I’m out with Celeste,” his friend repeated. This statement was slightly confusing to Walter as the drallin had seemed complete, but in closer inspection he saw that the craft was hollow.

“Sure,” Walter said, looking up at his friend. He had actually thought that Ray had completed something that took mathematical thought, but he guessed he had been wrong. Ray had done detailed work on the covering, though, and the wings seemed sturdy, but would have to be dismantled in order to wire them with the mechanics. Ray had, though, on purpose or on accident, completed the first step. He probably did not know it, but the outside would have had to be placed together anyway to make sure that the pieces fit before the machinery could be inserted.

“Hello Ray, hey Walter.” Walter looked up from his examination of the craft to see a young, blond girl enter the warehouse. She wore a sky blue blouse with a plaid azure skirt. The outfit combination brought out her bright sapphire eyes. Ray wiped the oil off his hands onto a rag he had nearby and motioned the girl forward.

“Come on in, Celeste,” said Ray, he gestured to the frame of the drallin, “This is all I have done so far. I needed to borrow some of Walter’s brains, but he’s here now.”

“I’m sure both of you have worked very hard,” Celeste said. She turned to Walter and smiled hopefully, “Walter, would you like to come get some food with us?”

“No thanks, I think that I should get a better look at the charts Ray found. Go, have some fun,” Walter replied.

“Are you sure? We would really like you join us,” Celeste urged.

“Yeah, come on, Walter, we would love to have you along,” Ray added, “You could work on that later.” Walter only turned towards the brilliant red contraption and shook his head.

“No thanks, this drallin is going to have to take quite a while to finish, so I should get a good start on it,” he replied to their plies.

“All right, but don’t work too hard, save some for me,” Ray said as he guided Celeste out of the warehouse. Celeste smiled and waved as she walked out with Ray. Walter waved back, and then turned towards the mechanism that towered before him. He decided to inspect it further and tilted the lights toward it.

The wings were hinged as to be able to flap and were each about ten feet long and three feet wide. They were covered with a light material that was layered like roof shingles. The small section for seating was approximately two feet by five feet and inside was the back wheel, pedals, and steering wheel of a bicycle. Walter closely examined the blueprint for the aircraft and began searching the warehouse for any useful tools or supplies. The room was packed with scrap metal and had been used by the people of Port Tersly as a place to dump their scraps from any projects that they had completed or any project that they had just given up on.

As Port Tersly was a fairly large city, which included a mine rich in minerals such as iron ore, the pile of scraps, was mainly steel. There was even part of a roof in the stack and Walter guessed that Ray had used a piece like it to complete the wings. Wires were strewn about as well as steel beams. It was these that Walter began to collect and pile by the metal bird.

* * *

It was two weeks since Ray and Walter had begun to construct the drallin and now they were almost finished. Ray was applying the last coat of paint when Celeste stopped by carrying with her a picnic basket. She was wearing a light green blouse with emerald and turquoise shorts. Her hair was pinned in two short braids and a single wispy curl laid on her forehead, but all that Walter noticed were her eyes, deep as the ocean waves and as joyful as a child rewarded with candy.

“Good afternoon, how’s the work coming?” Celeste asked them as she had every afternoon since they started the project.

“Almost done,” Ray replied, “I have to finish painting, but Walter can go with you on the picnic.”

“I…uh…” Walter began. He looked at Celeste. She did not seem to mind that she was going with Walter instead of Ray. In fact, she appeared to be pleased. “I don’t think…”

“Walt, can I have a word with you?” Ray said, pulling Walter aside. “Listen, I know how much you like Cel, so I think that it may be a good idea for you two to spend some time together.”

“But Ray,” Walter whispered back, “I thought you liked her and I couldn’t do that”

“No, Walt, Cel and I are just friends and I think that she might like you, too.”

“Really?” Walter asked. He glanced at Celeste to see her waiting for her and Walter to go on a picnic.

“Yes, really, now you two should go, I can clean up here,” Ray said and he hurried Walter and Celeste out of the warehouse. He turned to the drallin and switched two of the cords that Walter had carefully put in place and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen.

* * *

Walter breathed deeply the salt air as he passed the docks. Even the sight of the old cargo ships, docked with only the slightest hope of ever being launched again could not damper his spirits. He and Celeste had a wonderful picnic and a long conversation. Walter thought back to all of the things that he and Celeste had spoken about: the drallin, Ray, and other things. Suddenly a part of the conversation turned Walter’s smile upside-down. Celeste had asked him what he thought about the barrier and what could pass through and what couldn’t. Walter answered that he did not know what to think and even now Walter did not know. When Walter reached his house, he kept on walking, past the houses on the outside of the town and through the small prairie until he reached the boundary.

Walter brushed his hand across the hard, invisible wall that separated his home from the rest of the world. It was as smooth as polished granite, but stronger than steel tested in fire. It was not cold, but cool with a slight warmth pulsing from within. It was less than a centimeter in depth and one could talk through it. Walter turned to see the last spring blossom from a tree fall and get caught in the early summer breeze. It was at once blown through the boundary and was swept off across the plains.

Although Walter knew most of what could pass through the boundary, he could not guess what it was that those able to pass through had in common. No grass grew or could grow where the boundary met the earth, but if one picked grass, the wind might blow it through. After the fall fishing and harvesting, the farmers who lived in the land surrounding Port Tersly would come and pass some crop through. As the barrier had come up during mating season and almost all of the freshwater fish had ended up in the city, barrels of fish would be thrown back to the farmers. In many places, the people of Port Tersly heard, the fish that grew up and lived within the boundary were considered a delicacy. The fish and harvest could pass through the boundary, but no fish could swim through, nor would any grain grow around the barrier.

At first this trade did not exist; the inhabitants of Port Tersly had always been wary of strangers. After the wizard placed his curse, this suspicion began to turn into hate. The mayor had to beg the people to try to make friends with the nearby farmers and they only gave in because their food was running out. The thought of only eating fish for the rest of their lives was not very appealing. So, the people of Port Tersly had slowly become more open to the idea of interacting with their neighbors, but still they were only civil when time for the trade came. As soon as the fish and grain were exchanged, they went right back to ignoring the farmers.

Walter continued to ponder this problem that had faced Port Tersly for almost a century. If he could determine what was alike between the objects that could pass through the boundary, maybe he could uncover what would make a person from Port Tersly be able to pass through the boundary, therefore releasing all of its captives. He could not think of what the similarity was, but knew that he was overlooking something obvious. It might be easier, thought Walter, if I knew what had happened that made the wizard so angry.

With this though on his mind, Walter started towards his house. To his left he saw a funeral procession. Six men carried the casket, which was surrounded by mourners, none of which could speak. Walter was familiar with the procedure of funeral processions, all in Port Tersly were. Great honor was given to the dead and always had been, even before the rock hard barrier had appeared. The deceased was anointed with innumerable oils and flower extracts and placed first in a casket of fine silver, then into a tomb of solid rock. Twice a year days were set aside to remember and mourn for all who had died on Port Tersly.

Walter watched the procession until it passed out of sight, and then turned to his house. He entered the familiar wood building, one of the only of its kind left. As there were few trees left, the inhabitants had agreed to stop building wood houses. Wood was not used for fuel either; the climate was warm and one could walk from one end of the city to the other easily. Upon entering his home, Walter drudged up the stairs and prepared for the flight the next day. He set out his clothes and brushed his teeth. As Walter drifted off to sleep, he wondered about the boundary and the flight set for the next day.

* * *

“Are you sure that it’s safe?” Walter’s mother asked for the third time that morning. She and the rest of the city had gathered to see Ray, Walter, and the flying contraption. None were sure about whether the boys would make it or not, but each had his or her own opinion. None guessed right.

“Yes, I’m positive, Mother, Ray and I tried it out before we painted it,” Walter assured her.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure Walt stays safe,” Ray added.

“Bye Walter, bye Ray,” Celeste told them as she waved. She was nervous about the flight and for Walter. She believed that Ray could watch over both of them, but was still worried. She waited anxiously as Ray and Walter entered the drallin.

Ray pulled a lever as Walter began to pedal. Slowly the drallin’s wings began to beat and the craft lifted off of the ground. All through the ascent, Walter thought only of what could and could not get through the barrier. He doubted that Ray and he would get through the top of the barrier, but he decided that he should appreciate this opportunity. Indeed, it was probably once-in-a-lifetime. Walter paused his train of thought: lifetime. None of the objects that passed through the boundary were alive.

“Ray, turn around, “ Walter shouted, “We aren’t going to get through, but I know what will! Turn around!”

“It’s stuck,” Ray yelled back, motioning to the steering wheel, “I can’t turn it! Promise me you‘ll read the letter in the front right flap of my seat when you land!”

“What?” asked Walter as he tried to switch the controls from Ray, so that he could steer away from the boundary. It did not work. “What are you talking about? Just switch the controls to me!”

“Goodbye, Walt, you were a good friend.”

“Ray, you are not going anywhere, just switch the controls to me!”

“Take good care of Celeste, tell her I hope that your life together is long.” Walter felt the control come to him, but it was too late. At that moment, the drallin hit the boundary at an angle. The craft continued through the boundary, but nothing alive would.

“Raaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!” shouted Walter. He could feel the drallin press him against the boundary, its hard surface nearly suffocating him as large tears fell down his face. Suddenly, the pressure disappeared and Walter guided the craft down to where the inhabitants of the city were gathered, happy at their release from their prison.

Upon landing, Celeste rushed to Walter and saw the tears flowing freely down his face as he looked at his friend. She turned to see Ray’s crushed body lying limp in the front seat. Walter reached and extracted a letter from the right flap of Ray’s seat. He opened it and began to read.

Dear Walt,

When trying to form my next plan of how to free our people from their cage, I happened upon my great-grandfather’s diary. In it, he had detailed the visit of the wizard. Apparently, strangers weren’t accepted with very much hospitality. The wizard was appalled by many of the people’s cold hearts and was trying to think of a punishment when he passed by a cemetery where a funeral was being held. Such honor is given to our deceased and he became full of rage. He cursed the city and shouted “How sad is it that you, the people of Port Tersly, give more respect to a dead person than to someone who walks among you! Therefore, as your hearts are hardened against outsiders, so will your precious port! Port Tersly will become hard and only when one is able to leave will the rest of you be able to leave!”

Only someone or something that is deceased could pass through the boundary. I’m sure, Walt, that you could have thought of this, many have. Who would believe you? No one of Port Tersly could believe that someone would force such disrespect for the dead, would you?

When I discovered this, I knew that I had to find a way to destroy the barrier without you knowing what I really planned to do. The reason that you could not take over command when my steering wheel was “stuck” is that I switched the chords so that you could not. I lied, others have tried to fly out of the top, but found that the boundary continued over the top of our city. I’m sorry that I lied and I am sorry that I cannot be with you in freedom.

Goodbye my friend and the people of Port Tersly. Do not hold a grudge against me; I did this through love. Love for my people and the wish for them to be free.

Sincerely your friend,

Ray

Walter wiped the tears from his eyes and turned to see the look of confusion on the faces of the people when they saw Ray’s body. Walter told them of the letter and Ray was buried on a grassy hill, far from the place where the boundary had been. He received special funeral honors and at last, he was free.

Walter and Celeste were married several years later and had many children. At night Walter would tell them stories of his childhood friend and all the ideas they had concocted in order to destroy the barrier. He spoke of how he and Ray tried to dig under the barrier and ended up with terrible headaches for weeks and how once they tried to launch a living fish through to the other side and how it bounced of and landed on the mayor’s wife’s hat, which she did not notice for the whole day. His eyes would fill with happiness as he thought of his youth and each special time he had had with Ray, but one story would always fill his eyes with tears. It was the story of how Ray made Port Tersly free.