Casting Shadows

The first month of my serial setting for Ubiquity draws to a close with the last point of access and egress for the Windlet Islands, and the first location discussed on Lysette Isle, the airstrip. This series of posts is intended to provide a usable setting for busy GMs looking to run Daring Tales of Adventure or Hollow Earth Expedition.

4. The Airstrip, Windlet Cove Settlement, Lysette Isle

The airstrip is problematic to maintain, and as air transport requiring ground-based landing facilities is far less practical in these parts than that requiring seaplanes, that the company does try to maintain an airstrip is something of a mystery. Snuggled against the rugged slopes which are synonymous with the name of the Isle, the Lysette Airfield is a state-of-the-art facility large enough for the biggest military planes to land, and with hangers to shelter, refuel, and repair at least a dozen aircraft. The airfield is usually home to no more than the company’s two Boeing-247s, and its latest acquisition, a DC-2. During the months of April to September, the Administrator’s personal aircraft, a Fairchild Super-71 with which a love-hate relationship seems to form between all the mechanics and pilots to work on it or fly it, is serviced here before being refloated.

Facilities at the airstrip include a small diner, emergency generators, fuel depot, and a small, but serviceable radio station that is typically kept in mothballs unless regular flights are expected.

The population of Windlet Cove are often entertained by flight practice and stunt shows put on by company pilots at the behest of the Administrator. Another of the company’s fenced, gated, and patrolled roads is maintained between the Cove Settlement, and the airstrip to allow easy, safe access for cargo and passenger deliveries. Lysette Isle’s indigenous predators are no less predatory than her big sister’s.

Usual Characters: Jim Berman

Pilot, mechanic, and low-speed world-traveler, Jim `Get there Someday`Berman is currently on his 3rd or 4th year in the Windlet Islands. He can`t quite recall which it is, but he is in no rush to count, or move on. There is little call to fly to places of no interest, he works with good people who like and respect machines, and he can walk around wearing a gun on his hip if he likes. It`s not the Old West of his Father`s and Grandfather`s, and Uncles`tales, but… it`s damn wild.

Berman stands out in no particular way, and gets by more on a lack of failure than an abundance of success. He is not particularly handsome, witty, learned, strong, tough, or well-trained, yet he always seems to come through with just enough. He can be heard to say, `I think I can be second best, or third best anywhere in the world, and one day, I will have seen enough of it, to know.`

Jim is about 6 feet tall, and probably weighs about 180 pounds. He has brown eyes and light brown hair that usually does what it is supposed to without being greased into submission. He keeps the shop neat, the planes clean and ready to go, and he does so because the Administrator pays him to do so. It is fairly unlikely he would stir himself otherwise. He is not lazy. He is, however, almost completely lacking in independent motivation.

Rumours:

Potentially heard at an inter-island softball game, or among the other pilots, or the island`s cargo loaders at the airfield, or possibly the A&R Center. He really doesn`t get out much. He even spends a lot of nights sleeping in a hammock he has strung up next to the hangar office.

• He is an average hitter, and a fair pitcher
• He follows a precise maintenance schedule for all his gear and equipment that he keeps in a little black book in his pocket.
• He likes a good meal, but never seems to care one way or another about going out for a drink
• He once saved a small boy near the airfield by plugging a poisonous spider just inches away from the child with a pistol shot at 70 paces.
• Gets along well with Jorge Dillman, and other quiet, undemanding types. Leaves most other conversations
• He has a harmonica in his shirt pocket at all times
• Believes churches are for those people who have never truly seen a sunrise
• Folks believe he has never been late, but then again… never makes appointments either.

Truths:

More secrets remain!

Statistics:

Don`t turn that dial!