The Chromatic Collectors

Every night at midnight, the purple clouds came out to dance with the blushing sky. That meant every night at ten; Meghan’s parents, Jake and Olivia, would go out to the field and prepare their flyer. Even on Meghan’s sweet sixteen, she begged them to stay for the countdown, but the harvest was more important. Now she was eighteen, which meant she would be joining them in the sky.

As a child, Meghan loved to watch the purple clouds appear, almost like a type of magic. Now she knew better, it wasn’t magic, but science. Those purple clouds were called Chromatic Clouds and held the most wanted resource in the world…power. Her family's job was to collect as much as they could, in order to sell for an enormous profit. But Meghan still saw them as a magic world right above her own head. Coating the sky in a blanket of purple, tucking in the twinkling stars that dance so tirelessly.

She still believed the skies held the key to something more, other than power, even after her parent's horror stories. Air collisions and incorrect harvesting have taken the lives of many flyers. Many she had grown up knowing as friends of her parents who all loved to come over and share stories of adventure in the skies with her. That’s why her mother created a hover beacon, which flyers could place next to whichever Chromatic Cloud they were harvesting, alerting others not to fly inside. Olivia was a genius mechanic, working on the side as an engineer to build or fix other flyers. Of course, she never gave up her best work which was all attached to her own family's personal flyer.

It was smaller than most, giving them speed and maneuverability. Its design was from fighter jets that were made in case of a war, but required far more energy than any country had. There was a cockpit for the pilot and their navigator. Olivia repurposed the navigator’s seat to hold the Leyden Barrel; a large case that could hold the raw power from the Chromatic Clouds. The wings were altered with metal rods, allowing a connection from the Leyden to the metal nets flapping behind the flyer. The nets were used to capture the strands of power within the cloud and could be controlled by cranks near the safety harness. Usually, her dad was attached up there, in charge of controlling the length or direction of the nets while her mom piloted.

Their flyer had precedence over most others that could pay better because of Olivia’s secrets. Meghan pulled her skintight rubber suit over her body, tucking stray hairs into her cap. The suit was mandatory and provided safety from the power surging within the clouds. She approached the family flyer to inspect it properly, just the way her mother taught her. Olivia tossed Meghan her harness and pointed to the top of the flyer, where Meghan would be working tonight. Jake would be on his own, in a much smaller flyer Olivia had fixed up. Its Leyden could only handle 10% of what the main one could, but it would mean more money overall.

Technically anyone could buy a Leyden Barrel and rent a flyer to try their luck on harvesting. But only experienced flyers should harvest from the Chromatic Clouds because of the immense danger. Olivia had been trying for years to make it illegal for non-registered harvesters to attempt what they did, but the government stated they don’t want to take away the public’s right to provide for their families.

Once Meghan was strapped in up top, Olivia took off into the air. Soaring through the white clouds made Meghan feel free, even with the harness attached so tightly that her blood flow to her legs was being cut off.

“30 seconds to midnight” Olivia called over their headset, which was the easiest way for them to communicate. Meghan’s view was unobstructed, so she was supposed to give Olivia directions toward the Chromatic Clouds.

A hint of purple began to form in the far-off distance.

“To the west, about 30,000 feet up. A Cirrus.” Meghan informed Olivia.

Without any hesitation, the flyer lurched to the side and arched upward.

“Put your mask on, the air is too thin,” Olivia ordered.

Meghan placed her oxygen mask over her face and worked to release the nets as wide as possible. A Cirrus was thin and easy to harvest, so spreading out the net as wide as possible was the quickest way to capture all its power in one go.

Right as they were entering the correct altitude another flyer barrelled from above them, diving straight through the Cirrus and harvesting almost all of it.

“What the fuck was that!?” Olivia screamed out. “Do you have eyes on them Meghan?”

Meghan looked around wildly, trying to spot them, “No, no sign.”

“We’re going to head out. Crazy assholes are going to get someone killed.”

“I don’t see any hover beacons either.”

“Of course not. Those idiots are all about speed, not safety. We’ll find another Chromatic further out.”

Olivia turned the flyer around and lowered their altitude. It was a few minutes later that Meghan spotted a juicy target.

“There’s a Nimbo at 7,000 feet! South by southeast.”

Meghan was met with silence, and the flyer remained on course.

“Mom did you hear me? A Nimbo towards-”

“Yeah, I heard you honey. I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Why not?” Meghan asked.

“You know why. They’re very difficult. Your father even has trouble harvesting it sometimes.”

“But it’ll catch us up from losing that Cirrus. I got this mom.”

Silence followed after Meghan’s plea, but a moment later their flyer dove down.

“Hold on.”

She smiled. This was her chance to show her mom how great of a harvester she will become. Her mom was trusting her judgment. Now all she had to do was not fuck it up.

Her parents would always say the Nimbus were the most dangerous of clouds in general, especially Chromatic, and hard to harvest. But very profitable. As they entered the correct altitude, Meghan understood why. Its immense density made it impossible to see around you, and it sparked with more life than Meghan had ever felt before. The raw power had her hair standing on end and her mouth saturated with the taste of metal.

Olivia released the hover beacon to inform other flyers that they were inside the Nimbo right before they entered. Meghan cast the net out as a cylinder rolled up, for better control of its direction.

Each Chromatic Cloud gives off two forms of power, current and static. Current is what they captured and sold off. While static was impossible to harvest and very dangerous if you try. If more than 1,000 amps of static entered the Leyden it would cause an explosion, killing both of them instantly. These currents are known as the most powerful resource in the world. Just one of their Leyden barrels could power their house for a month.

Meghan underwent countless tests growing up to tell the difference between current and static. From the feeling; how her hair stands on end, or the kind of metal taste in her mouth. Even the way it looked traveling through the copper nets they use to harvest. So when sparks on the net started to pop she knew to shut down the conductor, cutting off the net’s connection to the Leyden.

“That’s my girl,” Olivia said.

Her mom’s encouragement echoed through Meghan’s head for the next couple of minutes, pushing her to be perfect.

They worked the Nimbo for about twenty minutes, collecting all that they dared. The Leyden was more than 25% full. A big haul from one Chromatic. Olivia called over the radio to tell Meghan she had made a great choice.

Just as Meghan was stretching out their net for their last harvest a speeding flyer dove downward, straight into their view. By the time either flyer saw the other, it was too late.

Everything began to move in slow motion for Meghan. The speeding flyer lurched to the right, intertwining its propellor with their net. The speed on the other flyer held more force than Meghan and Olivia’s weighted-down flyer, and were yanked off course. They were dragged downward. The impact knocked the wind out of both women.

Then everything sped up.

It became very obvious the speeder had no control and was going to crash, and was going to take them with it. Meghan could hear her mother’s voice in her ear, but she couldn’t make out what was being said. Her life began to flash before her eyes; birthdays, family dinners, her friends, her first kiss, her mom yelling at her. But then that last one came into focus, and she realized it wasn’t a memory, but her actual mother.

Olivia slapped Meghan in the face, jolting her back into reality, then gave her a reassuring smile. She was clinging to Meghan’s harness with her bare hands, the rest of her body flapping upward, threatening to get sent tumbling away. Meghan gripped Olivia’s arm tightly, refusing to let go. Olivia moved Meghan’s hand to hold on to her belt then moved to the side of the flyer. She wrapped her legs around the conductor, securing herself, and released both her hands from their grip to jettison the net, cutting them off from their weighted anchor.

Their flyer stopped plummeting and started gliding gently downward instead. Olivia’s autopilot must have kicked in to right them. Olivia and Meghan smiled at one another, relieved. Olivia got a new grip on the flyer and began making her way back to the pilot's seat.

Their moment of relief didn’t last long though. Meghan saw it before Olivia and tried to scream a warning, but it was too late. Their path down had taken them directly through a Cumulus Cloud. Normally safe enough, but because of its immense volume of water vapor, mixed with the power inside when it becomes a Chromatic, made it a wild ride.

The force of the turbulence sent Olivia twisting wildly in the air, her body bending in horrible ways. Meghan heard a snap, Olivia screaming in pain, and then she was tossed away from her precious flyer and daughter.

Meghan screamed in horror. Holding on to her harness for dear life. Over her headset, she heard Olivia gasping, and screamed at her to land the flyer.

“I love-” and the connection was gone. Her headset was too far away. Meghan’s mother was gone.

But she was still in danger.

As the flyer exited the Cumulus, Meghan gripped the flyer's wings, released her harness from its stand, and made her way to the cockpit. Within seconds she had the plane evened out and flying normally. Meghan plotted a course to land as tears swarmed her eyes.

Looking around at the purple clouds, Meghan no longer saw a blushing sky. She saw a sea of blood and tears.