After her official launch, Captain Wyndham took
The Corseted Domme
on a few more test flights so the crew of riggers and engineers gained experience of handling her before embarking on Lady Sally's more ambitious travels. She was easy to fly. The captain expected such a vast airship to be unwieldy, but she was a dream; her sleek, bullet-like, frame slid through the sky like it was lubricated, penetrating the puffy folds of cloud with ease.
The airship was loaded with all the necessary supplies for Lady Sally's travels. The kitchens were crammed with fresh vegetables, fruit and herbs from Rudston Hall's kitchen garden, fresh meat from the farm, exotic spices from the east and such jars, packets and tins as required. Cook supervised this though not without grumbling about how she was expected to maintain her high culinary standards whilst floating in the sky.
Lady Sally's vast wardrobe was unpacked though the two mysterious crates with her dastardly devices were secreted in her private quarters for when she decided to produce them. Her 'play area' was ready, and fitted out with all manner of strange equipment.
The day for Lady Sally to set off on her adventure soon arrived. She, along with her maid and her invited guests, and Captain Wyndham and his crew, boarded the airship.
The living quarters were situated in the gondola attached to the bottom of the fuselage. The quarters for the crew and Lady Sally's gentlemen friends were modest but perfectly commodious. However, her own suite of rooms and the 'public' areas, consisting of a dining room, sitting room, study and, most importantly, the dungeon and playroom, were appointed in a manner as luxurious as a
White Star Line
ocean liner. The doors and wood panelling were in teak with brass fittings, and there were cut glass chandeliers powered with electricity generated by the engines. Lady Sally boasted that
The Corseted Domme
was the largest airship ever to take to the skies, and that was unquestionably true, not that anybody dare dispute it with her.
The captain took up his place in the cockpit at the front of the gondola, alongside Clarissa, the automaton co-pilot. Victoria had dressed her in an auburn wig (which complemented the golden hues of the brass well), a peaked cap, a military style jacket with epaulettes, a short, pleated skirt (which would never be seemly in decent society) and laced ankle-boots. It was a task she got far too much pleasure from, having been reprimanded constantly by Lady Sally for fondling the brass automaton with such relish she got a hard-on. The panel in the automaton's abdomen was open, and numerous copper wires were connected from there to the control desk. Captain Wyndham felt strange at having such an unusual co-pilot, but during the test flights Clarissa proved herself to be a highly effective assistant.
There was a steering wheel in front of them, similar to one on a ship which controlled the rudders, and a tiller to adjust the elevators. The presence of the captain was essential for complex manoeuvres such as taking off and landing. Although an amazing feat of engineering, the automaton wasn't capable of flying the airship solo. But, once they were in flight, Clarissa could be loaded with the co-ordinates of latitude and longitude for their destination and plot the airship's course.
The captain considered it a marvel that a device could plot a route merely by entering a few numbers! The pace of technology in this new age never ceased to amaze him.
The control cabin was full of shelves stuffed with charts and maps containing detail that Clarissa was unable to interpret. Thus, finding mooring masts and safe landing places was the captain's role, and he still needed to rely on charts and visual inspection.
Lady Sally had a list of relatives she wanted to 'drop in on' in various empires across the continent and told him to get charts for most of Europe... and Russia. Captain Wyndham pointed out that they needed to plan stops at decent airship stations to re-inflate the hydrogen bags. She dismissed the problem with a wave of her hand.
"Oh, don't be such a fuss-pot, captain. I'm sure I can rely on you to find a bit of hydrogen along the way. Besides, I might pop over to India to inspect one of my tea plantations and, whilst over that way, I could drop in on my Malaysian rubber plantation," she teased.
Whilst Captain Wyndham remained in the control room to prepare for take-off, Lady Sally set off for her private quarters with her maid to grapple with the important matter of what to wear.
