It's incredible, and Raafi is delighted to get to watch.

They're up to speed in a few minutes. He aims the engine up, a bit, ascending above the city and turning west to look for a place to shoot at, but complains about how flying works strangely. Vehicles and islands have gravity, and one consistent with each other (mostly), and vehicles can fly around instead of falling but it becomes harder to go up after a while. In places, there's something 'below' the part of the sky you can fly through, and in other places there's not, and space and distance are not always entirely consistent. As far as he knows, the scholars are no closer to an actual theory now than a decade ago. Is there anything like that where he's from?

In some places! None he knows of anywhere this large, or with effects so extensive, but you'll get the occasional hill or stand of trees where space or gravity don't work the way you'd expect. And of course the other planes are their own story; he'd be surprised to find a place like this in the elemental plane of air because it's so normal, not because it's so strange.

How do they get to other planes anyway? There's this place called the Avid Horizon, that's where they crossed from the Neath to Albion, and apparently it could only happen there and with some really esoteric methods.

A few ways - there's a spell he can get for it, though that needs a tuning fork attuned to the plane he wants to go to - that's why he can't get back, he doesn't have the right kind of fork - but also there are naturally-occurring and wizard-made portals, and the occasional creature that can send you across.

Well, he would know better than Captain Abernathy does.

"You know, I think that outcropping over there could do with some remodeling, what would you say to a demonstration of our main gun?"

"Absolutely."

Preparing the gun for firing is a disciplined production, a bit like the use of a siege weapon. He points out where the gun sits to the left of the bridge - there's a cupola that two can fit in if they squeeze. He speaks through an electrical intercom, with a voice-tube as a backup. Inspect gun, unlock safety, load shell, load charge, close breach and-

"Gunner, fire when ready."

"Aye, firing when ready."

BANG. The whole locomotive shudders and is noticeably pushed backwards a bit, as a large metal object trailing smoke and glowing with sparks lashes out in a perfectly straight line. It hits the outcropping and explodes, kicking dust everywhere, and a moment later a distant krak echoes into the engine, distorted by the thick glass bridge-windows.

"Direct hit. Cease fire."

"Aye, ceasing fire!"

"Safe the gun."

"Aye... Gun safed."

"Good shot, Michaels. Thank you."

The dust on the outcrop is clearing, revealing that a sizable chunk of rock is no longer there. Captain Abernathy smiles at Raafi.

Raafi's beaming delightedly. "That was incredible! How does it work, what was that noise?"

"Good steel and explosives. Essentially, cannons and guns are long tubes - a projectile is loaded in, in front of a quantity of explosives. When the explosives are ignited, the heat and pressure in the tube forces the projectile forward. There's a lot more sophistication to it than just that, of course. For most larger guns, like my C-and-H industries 'Vala' here, the projectile is called a 'shell' and is filled with more explosives. That's not practical for handheld guns, though."

He's thoughtful for a few seconds, imagining how that all works. "Huh. Clever. I imagine you need some very careful explosions."

"Quite. Every cartridge or charge has a measured amount of propellant in a carefully designed arrangement - manufacturing your own ammunition is a risky prospect, if you don't want to leave it to the professionals. Modern science can measure out the exact temperature and pressure potential of the gaseous chemical products, and there are modern explosives that are more stable and safer than the old standby of black powder, that come in a solid or putty form. Modern fuses and well-designed weapons' firing actions are safe and reliable."

"I won't worry, then."

They proceed to land the locomotive near the bit of rock they just blew up. Captain Abernathy has several crewmembers set up wooden targets and asks the cook to start on a late lunch, as he starts showing off his collection of guns to Raafi. Pistols, rifles, shotguns, all in immaculate shape and most of them with a history or a clever design decision he can explain, like the rotating lever-action on this repeater rifle...

Raafi makes an attentive student, and quickly grasps enough of the basics to comment sensibly on the various interesting gun features.

They can spend time shooting! After everyone has ear protection and going over the rules of gun safety, that is. Captain Abernathy is paying for all the ammo, and the crew take turns too. Though they seem uncertain what to think of Raafi.

He's a surprisingly good shot, once he's had a turn or two to get used to things. ("It's not so different from a crossbow, aside from the recoil," he explains, when he sees them looking.)

"Imagine it's lighter than a medieval weapon. And less drop." A soot-stained stoker says in reply.

"Oh, definitely a much better weapon all around, I just meant that the practice at aiming carries over."

"Not sure what to make of your stories, you know? Sounds more like the Surface in some ways, like maybe a safer place to live, but you don't have as many inventions."

"I really am pretty sure that this is a different world altogether than the one I'm from. The technology isn't the only difference - you're missing entire species of people that I'd expect to still be around, if this was my world's future. Not to mention the magic, and the gods."

"Three's a weird number of world for there to be," the gunner comments. "Surface, Neath, the High Wilderness. Why not more?"

"Isn't the Surface and the Neath just a big sphere of rock that's really close to a Judgement, and under it? So there's... More consistent laws on the Surface, because the sun wants it that way, but not in the Neath because the light didn't reach there?"

"Where the hell did you hear that?"

The young woman shrugs, embarrassed. "Childhood friend o' mine was basically a genius, read a lot, and he said something like that."

"Our material plane is like that - the planet's a sphere, and the sun is a star that's closer than the rest. It's not a Judgement - we have a god of the sun, but they don't seem to be the same thing, really. And then we have other planes, where the physics are a little different, but magic still works the same way there, more or less. I think this is farther away than that."

"You would know more than us I suppose. Physics is... Mutable. The sky is vast and there's lots of crazy stuff out there. Sometimes it feels like all we see is the inside of the engine, though."

"Don't be like that - Abernathy's a good one, as captains go."

"No, no, not complaining - well I am, but it's just griping, you know?"

"Yeah." The gunner shrugs. "Is travelling very dangerous where you're from? I kind of give myself - one in a hundred odds every time we fly. Not sure if that's accurate."

"Not like here, no. It's not perfectly safe, we've got bandits and wolves and orcs to worry about, but you're not risking your sanity just leaving the city walls behind - I almost decided to fly to New Winchester, before I knew; that would have been perfectly safe at home."