Krauss laughed as Constance made a fuss about her picture. She took some getting used to, but at the very least, this was going to be an amusing trip for the pilot. He began going through the practical ritual it was to just tilt the rotating blades the VTOL forward carefully. With the lack precicion that a machine might give, this new prototype had a habit of slamming eager and impatient pilots into the ground for being to rough on the transition controls. Krauss however, as always, knew how to treat his baby. 

Gradually, he pushed forward on a lever over his head, the engine pods and wings tilting very smoothly forward, just as he'd been doing this, the Captain radioed his plane. He decided to let Ed take the call, as he was, admittedly, a bit busy keeping the plane in the air as they began to dive slightly to pick up speed. The aircraft pulled up and he began to orbit the ship. He heard through the radio and nodded, understanding that they were really into it now. 

"Well Ed, I guess it doesn't need to be said that things will get only more crazy here on out. Who knows what we might find. Maybe even land or ancient technology? Who knows!" he said, smiling. The aircraft raced ahead of the Garrloch, Krauss maintaining a decent altitude for now, but it took considerable willpower not to just dive and skim across the surface of the ocean. 

Now, Krauss had always had his own theories of why things were in their world, influenced by both his mother's and father's version of history. From what he figured, something came before the islands. Whether it be ancient humans or something else, those islands had to be artificial to an extent, as well as the Ring of Thunder that surrounded it. Now, the more important question, or more truthfully, what actually kept Krauss awake at night, would be why or how such things were built. 

He was ripped from his pondering when Ed, to but it simply, freaked the fuck out.  

"Krauss!" he shouted, lurching forward in his seat. "That way!" he pointed briefly at where he had seen the blur. Then he dove into his bag and pulled out the telescope that everyone at the Winged Gazette had called him crazy for bringing. "Am I crazy now?" he laughed, pulling open the little tube with a clatter of excitement. "Land Ho!" he said, spawning a suppressed chuckle from Krauss. The pilot seemed to be oddly not terribly excited by the discovery, or at least, didn't show it as much as Edward. 

"Krauss, tell the Garrloch! This is it, this is why we left the Isles!" Ed said, the excitement as clear on his face as the new sky they flew through. With a sigh and a chuckle, Krauss radioed in to the ship. 

"Garrloch, this is Atlas One, over." 

"Garrloch, send your traffic Atlas." 

"We got land, bearing about...." Krauss fumbled a bit with his instruments. "20 degrees from your position. Lot's of sandy beaches and green tree tops as far as I can tell right now, just over the water near the coast is our location, haven't turned inward yet...." Krauss was briefly interrupted when Ed jumped in. 

"Can we land down there, Krauss? Imagine what we might find." he said. Krauss held up his hand, and prepared to deliver a devastating blow. "Ed, if you were a little school boy, I'd feel horrible, but here we go..." he thought. "Ahem, sorry Garrloch, as I was saying, we will be [u][i][b]returning to the ship for now to give a briefing, out.[/b][/i][/u]" With that, he turned, expectantly, to his passengers. 

"Now listen, I understand why you might be so excited, but I want to remind the both of you what is at stake here." He punctuated each of those last few words. "We are in uncharted, unexplored lands. The possibilities could be endless, yes, but think for a moment. That statement cuts both ways. There is just as likely an artifact that could explain the Ring of Thunder as there is a beast that could tear your faces of in an instant. I'd rather us regroup and go about this smartly. Alright?" With that, Krauss banked the aircraft and headed back to the ship.