Return to Karur

Machine City Karur's first heavy snowfall of the winter came a few days later than usual. Though it arrived late, after falling without pause for two days and two nights, the entire city of Karur was blanketed beneath more than three feet of snow.

The blizzard even disrupted the normal operation of the railway leading to Karur. Many factories in the bustling Machine City were affected as well; goods could not be shipped out, and raw materials could not be brought in. Great numbers of people thus took to the streets and rail lines to clear the snow.

Throughout Karur, only the large airship landing base that served as an aerial transport hub remained unaffected. Even on nights when snow swirled through the sky, the ground crews drove snowplows across the airship field, clearing it every few hours. Thus, when winter severely disrupted Karur's road and rail traffic, the city's airship landing base became even busier.

On December 25, a medium-sized transport airship from the Carlo Federation landed on Pad B06 at the Karur Airship Landing Base. It was a combined passenger-and-cargo airship with terrible comfort. Its lower hold carried quite a bit of freight, while its upper cabin was crammed full of ordinary passengers looking to save money.

Travelers of status usually chose dedicated passenger airships when journeying between the Carlo Federation and Karur City. The comfort of those airships, along with the excellent service of the beautiful flight attendants aboard them, made the long journey through the skies a pleasurable experience. Those who rode such airships were all very well-off, and plenty of romantic escapades occurred on board as well. Therefore, when wealthy people traveled, hardly any of them chose those mixed passenger-and-cargo airships; they all chose dedicated passenger vessels instead.

Most of the taxi drivers clustered outside