Where We Have Flown

Before Raven 2 became a command boat, it was just a small mission boat that could walk from the bow to the stern in less than a minute. Four folding beds, a dining table that was always too crowded, and a first aid kit stuffed behind the sideboard were all the earliest belongings of Noah, Leah, Kalder, and Eve. They will circle half of the galaxy for a few boxes of medicine, recover a probe that fell into the shallow sea, wrestle in the rain of fish, chase a light sail in an old ship without brakes, and repair the daylight in a city that has not seen the sun all year round. More often than not, the only things left behind by the mission are soaked field armor, a cold meal, a letter home many years late, and scratches on the bulkhead that cannot be erased. "Where We Have Flyed" was written by Noah who compiled his early mission notes and recordings. Leah was responsible for correcting the flight records, Calder insisted on adding technical details, and Eve added in the injuries that the author had missed. The four people often have different opinions on the same thing, and they are never polite to undermine each other; but whenever the alarm sounds, they never need to renegotiate who will drive, who will repair the ship, and who will open the medical kit. Some places are still on the charts, others have been renamed or disappeared. They have brought back people, goods and news, and they have also encountered moments when it was too late no matter how hard they traveled. Many years later, Noah wrote down these old flying events, because if no one remembers the days spent together, only the mission number will be left in the end.