Reluctant Tour Guide - Part 1/2

Paris, France
Date: May 8, 1889
Location: “The Flying Fish”, Wuppertal Co. Zeppelin (Docked)

Private Tour

The Wuppertal Company Zeppelin, anthropomorphically named the Fliegender Fisch, was securely docked inside the temporary hangar for the exposition to avoid the forecasted sporadic wind patterns. The hangar was different, in that it didn’t have a roof. The airship would lower itself down into a base designed specifically for receiving it. Once inside, the flight crew would go through its quality control checklist on the interior whilst the ground crew would check the exterior and provide any necessary top offs of helium and other hydraulic systems. Records and reports would be meticulously kept and sent up the chain of command for proofreading. In addition, a hospitality crew was also busy at work restocking, cleaning and organizing all the necessities for hosting the plethora of tourists. All in all, it was like dry docking a ship where repairs and refinements could be made easily.

Lorem, as one of the three master engineers present, was proofreading the latest report on the arithmetic and double checking the gauges in the engine room to make sure everything was in tip top shape. She was interrupted by a gentlemen in his late forties, another lead engineer, to relieve her of her shift. Unfortunately, he also informed her that the Captain had promised a private tour for a bunch of important foreign dignitaries and needed Lorem to run the tour before she took the rest of the day off.

Lorem, an introvert in temperament, was not thrilled with the prospect of public speaking; however, at least it was on a subject she enjoyed talking about and being a tour it would require more fact giving and less small talk. She informed one of her assistants to tell her father the situation and that she would be a little late to their afternoon together sampling the Exposition.

The young gnome stopped by her quarters before heading to the entry deck. The rooms were designed to be compact for the sake of space and weight; however, for a little person they felt quite spacious. In the looking glass, she made sure she didn’t have any grease smudges from when she was dealing with oiling gears earlier that morning. Then she styled her long blonde hair in a very practical but feminine teased updo using the twist and pin method to fake professional updo skills; Twisting one-inch strands of hair back away from her face and pinning them into place followed by crossing two bobby pins into an ‘X’ shape to lock them into place.

Her outfit was likewise untarnished so far today so she didn’t need to change clothes. Due to the emergence of industrialization, the general trend for working women were clothes that were cheap and hardwearing. Her practical attire was a common dress; however, it had modifications of her own design. While working, she had sewn special cuffs, buttons and straps in strategic places so that she could transform the lady like fashion into a more form fitting style, especially around the legs. The last thing you wanted when working on clockwork-like parts in motion was to have flowing fabrics that could get caught. It was never an issue of modesty because she would be working away from the public eyes. However, with a few unclasped and unbuttoned pieces of material her outfit went from more masculine to socially acceptable feminine in a matter of a few minutes.

Approving of her final appearance, the young gnome headed towards where the tour would be meeting to beginning.