Editing City Series:Volume1 Prologue (section)

===Part 1===

'''12/25/1920



It was 4:05 PM.

The ultra-high altitude control center of Berlin’s air force base was a giant stepped space located thirty meters below the base. Due to being a control center and due to being underground, it was only lit by the tiny lights of gauges and electric devices.

Hopeless words filled that darkness.

“The ascent trajectory is veering off!”

A giant electric display covered one wall and the symbol it displayed verified those words.

It was a danger signal.

This was entirely unexpected.

They had all just finished breathing a sigh of relief after successfully launching history’s first manned spacecraft.

The multistage spirit engine rocket carried Huber Talstrasse, Germany’s most famous adventurer, and the rocket had risen while leaving only scorch marks on the giant launch pad.

The footage of the rocket slicing through the night sky had excited the technicians and they had even grown intoxicated on the joy, so they did not immediately understand what the displayed symbol meant.

The next words they heard brought them to their senses.

“It’s going to soar out into space!”

The manned spacecraft named the Wilhelm 2 was only built to travel in satellite orbit. If it left the gravitational field, the pilot would die.

The technicians looked worriedly at the electric display and rushed back to their posts. A heavy atmosphere hung over them as work resumed.

Among their strained muttering, a single man remained silent. He was a short middle-aged man with a protruding gut and he wore an air force work jacket.

His bearded face looked up at the display covering an entire wall.

The danger signal had already vanished. Instead, several ballistic curves illuminated the control room with blue light. None of the long curves showed any sign of returning to the original course.

They indicated the spaceship would never again return.

“How are we supposed to explain this?”

Hearing someone mutter that, the man looked over toward a large communication device in the center of the room. It resembled a giant desk and was installed with several gauges and displays.

A young man in a lab coat held his head in front of the communication mic sticking out from the desk. He was likely the communications technician.

He would eventually have to inform the spaceship of the situation.

However, he did not have the courage to tell the pilot the truth, so he was simply holding his head.

The middle-aged man shouted at the technician’s cowardice.

“Hey, you!”

Those words rang sharply through the noisy control room.

A surprised silence soon filled the room.

Ignoring all of the technicians focused on him, the man moved his short legs to reach the communicator.

The young technician took a step back to give the older man control.

That was the right decision.

In response, the older man grabbed the neck of the mic and looked up at the young man.

“Connect me to the ship.”

“Y-yes, sir.”

The young man frantically manipulated the communicator.

The needles on all of the device’s gauges moved back and forth and light filled a few of the display boards.

“Is it still not ready?”

“You can communicate once the gauge in front of the mic reaches the far right side.”

The needle was slow.

“Can’t you speed it up?”

The older man must have realized his irritated question was immature because he glanced over and gave a quiet apology.

“Sorry.”

He did not know if the younger man replied or not because he immediately turned back to the communicator.

The gauge’s needle was approaching the right side.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the technicians looking at him.

Someone spoke quietly.

“Who is he?”

Without looking up from the gauge, he shouted an answer to the somehow spiteful voice.

“I am Paul Wagner, a design officer for the air force! I’m the ''meister'' that designed the Wilhelm 2!”

After that, he inhaled as if gathering strength.

And he exhaled.

The breath took the form of a screaming shout.

“The pilot Huber Talstrasse is a close friend of mine!”