<strong>Abejundo Webb, arriving at the Front Lobby<br/></strong><br/><br/>(http://rocketry.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/steampunk-orb-spaceship.jpg?w=241&h=300)<br/><br/>Gallivanti's Amazing Floating Orb was not the most elegant of ways to travel, the florid name notwithstanding; the coppery vehicle tended to sigh great clouds of sulfurous and black smoke, despite a distinct lack of sulfur in its inner workings, and some found the it's swinging, rather loopy path of travel to be a bit nauseating.  It suited Abejundo, though; gears and flywheels didn't get ill, and his own stomach had always been cast iron.  More to the point, it had been part of his inheritance and thus free, and was more than big enough to transport the contents of his shop.<br/><br/>The Orb made a low swoop past the clean whiteness of the tower and lifted again, hanging like a toy on a string, as if it had to decide whether it wished to descend again.  Something deep in the complicated guts of the thing groaned, a sub-basso sound so deep it was more of a sensation.  With the foresight of weary acquaintance (the trip over had proven most educational), Abejundo pulled the 'hover' lever, extending the long pause. The groan climbed in pitch, until it rang the craft's copper-alloy skin like a particularly cheap bell, and black smoke gouted out of the lifting funnels below the Orb.  The only mercy was that he was downwind of the tower, and so hadn't fouled the air for his prospective customers.<br/><br/>Ye gods, but he'd be glad when he was back in his shop with no more traveling to do.<br/><br/>Landing the Orb was a delicate maneuver, assuming you didn't want to wallow like a drowning hippopotamus and then drop like a rock.  One needed experience, which Abejundo had little of.  He set down with a painful bounce, swore under his breath, and skittered into the garage area like a poorly skipped stone.  The landing legs moved frantically, trying to simultaneously keep up with and slow the motion of the ponderous vehicle.  When he finally stopped, it was with an ominous screech from something in the engine.<br/><br/>By the time Abejundo entered the Lobby, his annoyance had evaporated into a jubilant optimism.  He was here!  His new home, his new place of business!  It would be months before he had to pilot the Orb again!  Life was beautiful!<br/><br/>Smiling, the young man looked around, then bounded for the front desk with the endless energy of youth.<br/>