Then it is time for breakfast, and the sheer decadence involved makes it sound like all of their passengers must be Hobbits.Matt gets to work assisting the one hundred and twenty passengers in getting settled in their quarters, which all sound pretty darn fancy.With everything on board-including passengers, cargo, gear and provisions-the Aurora weighs more than two million pounds, but once filled with hydrium gas the huge ship (we're talking nine-hundred-feet-long-by-fourteen-stories-tall huge) weighs almost nothing.The crew is exhausted from loading the airship for its voyage, but Matt is most impressed with the twelve thousand pounds of food they are carrying as cargo.The Aurora is bound for a five-day journey across the Pacificus to Sydney, Australia.Matt can see a variety of other airships creating traffic around the port, and he is filled with relief and a sense of adventure.The longer he is on earth the more claustrophobic he gets, and to make things worse he doesn't dream of his father, so he misses him horribly. He is relieved to be back on the ship because, although it's nice to see his family, he never sleeps well on the ground.They liked their presents (a didgeridoo for Isabel because she's musically inclined, a tortoiseshell hairband for Sylvia, and for his mother her favorite perfume from Iberia that his father used to bring home for her).

Matt has just finished up a week of shore leave with his mother and two little sisters.One year later, the Aurora is once again taking off from Lionsgate City-all of the passengers are on board, the cargo is loaded and tied down, and the ship dumps water ballast to rise into the air.

Airborn book 2