The first sheet filled up rapidly, and I took another from the rack. A glance through the forward windows — they were more than scuttles — showed me the empty sky and the high clouds all suffused with the glory of Zim and Genodras shining refulgently. The second sheet filled. At the fourth sheet I sat back, in despair, knowing the task was impossible.The voller the Hamalese Air Service had assigned me flew well and confidence could be reposed in her that she would not arbitrarily break down as the airboats the Hamalese used to sell abroad would invariably do. She was called Mathdi. I was alone. The reason for the flight I had given was firstly to test out Mathdi and get the feel of her, and secondly to recruit a crew of volmen and the fighting component of voswods. Having said that, I could say nothing about the age and state of the craft, for Mathdi was old and if not decrepit then weak at the knees.In the current fraught state of voller production in Hamal everything that could fly had been pressed into service.
