AEROPHILIA BY TOBIAS S. BUCKELL quotYou know the thing about zeppelins is that they got a bad rapquot Vince says. Hes actuallytwirling a virtual mustache. Nutjob. quotI mean in the famous Oh the humanityaccident only thirty-five passengers died. Out of ninety sevenquot He steps forward and looks at me critically. quotEver heard of a sixty-four percent survival rate in any crash Space or airquot He doesnt waitfor an answer but turns around. quotNoquot I cant answer him anyway. My mouth is gagged with arubber ball and strap and my hands are cuffed. My lips are starting to dry out and stick tothe black rubber ball. The key to the handcuffs has been flushed out of the airship through the toilet. Its probablystill falling and will fall for a few hours more until crushed into liquid metal by the deadly atmo-sphere far below us. It wouldcontinue falling being crushed even smaller until it joined the great diamond core of the gasgiant that was Riley. Or so some physicists I once saw quoted in a touristy introduction to Riley had said. Fourpassengers sitting on the side of the gondola stare at me with wide eyes. Theyre localcolonists. Three guys in tuxedos on their way to a party and a lady in a hoop skirt and purpleplastic corset. Probably lived all of their lives in any one of the aerostat cities on Rileysupper atmospheres. Theyve certainly never seen a down on his luck spacer like me likelybecause there has never been such a thing as a down on his