A short story about Hazard and part of his day working as an aerial photographer for insurance companies.

Art by  shawnthegirl The rabbit is Chris and is one of Shawn's characters.

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"Well there we go, done with that job." Hazard said to himself. The dragon, flying about 1,500' in the air, powered off the camera strapped to the underside of his right forearm. After doing yet another safety check of his surroundings to make sure there were no other small aircraft or other flying species around him, he then turned his attention to the mini-tablet computer that was strapped to the upper side of his left forearm. Tapping the screen with his claw he marked the construction site insurance photos as complete and tagged the photos he took as belonging to that job ticket.

Hazard checked the time and found that it was about noon. His stomach also confirmed that as well, emitting a loud rumble that he could hear even with the noise of the air rushing past him. Hazard took a quick inventory of how much flight time he had left. The muscles throughout his body twitched subtly as his brain took inventory of how much High Energy Fuel, or HEF as the doctors called it, his body had left. His organs and muscles were bathed in the biologically produced hydrocarbon and effectively meant that his body was one large fuel tank, though Hazard and most of those of his species hated being referred to as such.

After a few moments, Hazard knew exactly how much flight time he had left before the amount of HEF in his body fell to a level that he would be no longer be able to maintain altitude. If he was flying for efficiency and riding the thermals properly he could stay in the air for days, but the drake had work to do and that meant making the most efficient use of time and not of fuel.

Hazard figured he was about 15 miles from his step van that he used as a mobile base. He flared his nostrils and felt the speed of the air being rammed through his sinuses, it felt like he was still doing about 55 mph right now, his best gliding speed and the speed he used for working on the tablet and taking photos. If he started a gradual decent and traded his altitude for speed, along with a reasonable amount of flapping, he would probably be able to do about 120 mph. This would be fun.

Hazard took a deep breath, filling the air sacks in his chest as he raised his wings. Much like a birds lungs, the air in Hazard's lungs only flowed through them in one direction. Much more efficient than a mammalian lung, though it did come with its drawbacks. He held his breath as his flight muscles contracted, heaving his wings downward and the mass of air caught in them backwards. As his wings reached the bottom of their stroke, he released the air from the air sacks. His still taught flight muscles forcing the air through his lungs and out his mouth. This process repeated almost instinctively as Hazard angled himself into a shallow dive, his speed continuing to increase. Once he felt he had reached about 120 mph he stopped flapping so aggressively and instead focused on simply maintaining his speed.

It took hardly any time at all for Hazard to reach his step van. It was parked behind a convenience store/auto repair shop that was next to a four-lane thoroughfare. Behind the station the lot was empty grass that then became the back yards for the houses the next block over. The kids of the neighborhood used the combined grassy field to play their games in. The residents of the neighborhood had an informal agreement with the station owner. He kept the lot mowed and clean for the kids to play in and the residents didn't complain about the noise his shop made as when they test-ran engines without mufflers. Of course it also made a perfect takeoff and landing field.

As Hazard got to the station, he banked sharply, his black and yellow wing-tops visible from the ground, and circled the field to bleed off speed. The neighborhood kids who had been playing their games in the field below quickly cleared their bicycles and other toys off the field. Hazard had a wind-sock attached to his step van, but the younger kids still ripped up handfuls of grass and threw them in the air to show him the wind direction, which was hardly blowing anyway. Knowing that he landed into the wind, the kids then ran into the middle of the field and laid-down on the grass. They loved it when he swooped over them right before landing, hitting them with a rush of air.

Having bled off the speed he needed to, Hazard setup his approach, his mind subconsciously moving dozens of muscles within each of his wings, changing their shape from one optimized for level flight to one optimized for low-speed landing. Descending over the field, he continued to lower his speed. He felt himself become more buoyant as he got low enough to be in the ground effect. He began to slightly flare his wings just as he went over the groups of kids, all of them shouting greetings to him. He finally flared fully and brought his body almost vertical. Extending his feet, he gently touched down and folded his wings back to put all his weight on his feet. After a dozen or so steps he brought himself to a stop.

As Hazard logged his landing time on his tablet, the kids were getting up from the ground and laughing. The older ones went to get their stuff and resume their game and the younger ones ran over to greet him. "Hazard, you're so skinny." Said a little canine girl.

"Well I guess I am," said Hazard in a childishly overemphasized voice, "I suppose I better go get some lunch then." Hazard did look kinda emaciated, when he was full of fuel his body could be quite plump and when he was low on fuel he could take on a very thin and unhealthy look. It didn't hurt him at all, to be that skinny, but not everyone knew that and it freaked some people out when they saw him like that. He just needed to get something to eat.

"Can we get a fire-hug?" piped up another one of the children. They knew that Hazard's body temperature was very high when flying and they called hugging him after landing a "fire hug".

"Well let me check and see if I can give you one," answered Hazard, again using his childishly overemphasized voice. He grabbed the thermometer out of the pocket on his belt and gently slid it into his ear. Pushing the button, he waited a few seconds for it to beep. Taking it out and reading the screen, he said, "Looks like I'm at 125 Fahrenheit, be mindful of my wings and you guys can have a hug."

"YAY!!!" yelled the little kids, who came up and leaned up against Hazard's smooth and warm scales. They technically couldn't get their arms around him for a "real" hug because of his wing membrane connecting to his torso, but they still called it a hug anyway. As they were hugging them. Hazard made sure they were mindful of his wing membrane as he mentally made adjustments to his body, now that he was on the ground and not flying, reducing the circulation of blood in his wings and adjusting to the fact that his body temperature would be falling while on the ground.

Once the kids were done hugging Hazard and asking him what he had been up to that morning, he was finally able to get away and over to his van. He wasn't the best with kids, but could at least keep them happy for a little while. Unlocking his step van, he climbed inside and took off his camera and tablet, he swapped the battery in the camera before connecting both of them into his laptop, he downloaded the photographs from the camera, the notes from the tablet, and packaged them up together and then emailed them to Toulia at home, who would pick out the best ones and get them sent off to the people they needed to go to.

With the work all done for the moment, Hazard stepped out of the van and stretched as he watched the kids play in the sun. Who would have thought that he would end up being paid to fly around. The insurance companies loved hiring flying species to take photographs for insurance purposes, among other things. After all, why hire a small Cessna with pilot and cameraman for well over $125 ah hour of flight time when you can hire a flying species for $40. Not to mention that flying species can just drive to a nearby clearing to take off and land. What gave Hazard a wing-up on his competition was that he was already a safety inspector by trade and so knew what to photograph and how to photograph it. That and he could easily go back and forth between taking photos in the air and checking safety on the ground, not everyone’s job gave them that flexibility.

Hazard's growling stomach interrupted his daydreaming, reminding him that if he wanted to get back in the air he needed to refuel. No time to eat and digest a meal, Hazard liked to park at this service station not only for the open ground, but because it had something he loved. One of the fuel pumps had diesel on one side and on the other....sweet sweet Kerosene. His digestive system could absorb gallons of it in a very short period of time. Hazard reached into the van and grabbed out his bib and water bottle. Toulia would be upset at him if he came home smelling too strongly of kerosene so wearing a bib was a prudent measure. After taking a long drink from his water bottle, he put on the bib. Hazard mused how whoever said oil and water don't mix had obviously never met someone of his species.

Walking around the station building, Hazard arrived at the pump and swiped his credit card. It was always kinda awkward when there was someone else at the pump, a rabbit was at the diesel side of the pump filling his pickup. Hazard just found it best to just start drinking from the pump rather than interrupt people and try to explain how he was gonna have lunch at the pump.

Hazard checked his body temperature again with his ear thermometer, 115F. His cold-blooded body did not react to sudden cold well, but the Kerosine in the hose and the pump would be at the air temperature, he would be full by the time the cold Kero from the stations underground tank made it to the nozzle. It would still bring his body temperature down, but not drastically enough to cause problems.

Hazard took the nozzle from the pump, put it in his mouth, closed his eyes, and squeezed the handle slowly. His tongue was bathed in the delicious fuel as it flowed down his throat and into his stomach. He paused a couple of times to breathe, his stomach swelling as he continued drinking from the pump, enjoying the savory flavor of the refined hydrocarbon. The Rabbit fueling his pickup looked at Hazard with a confused look on his face and after staring for a moment went back to fueling his pickup.

Having drank as much as he could hold, Hazard licked the nozzle clean so he didn't drip when he took the nozzle out of his mouth. Putting the nozzle back on the pump, Hazard looked at his bulging stomach. He sure looked silly with his emaciated arms and legs and huge belly. His body would make quickly correct that though, digesting and absorbing the Kerosine, then quickly distributing it to his tissues.

Hazard took the receipt from the pump and read it over. Just a hair over three gallons. More than enough to last him through the rest of the day. Putting the receipt in his wallet he walked back around the building to his van. Getting back inside, he took off his bib and checked his phone for messages. Toulia had confirmed that she had received the photographs and couldn't wait to see him when he got home. Toulia was such a sweetie, Hazard was really lucky to have her. They playfully texted back and forth, arguing facetiously over each others quirks. Not all their arguments were this playful, but they eventually worked their problems out.

It wasn't long until Hazard had digested his lunch, his body now back to a healthy muscular tone. Hazard unplugged the camera and mini-tablet, then put them back on his arms. He made sure that the job locations and the details of what needed to be photographed were properly loaded in the tablet. Heading outside, he locked up his van and walked back towards the field. Spreading his wings, he signaled to the kids to clear the field. As he waited for them, he flapped them vigorously to get his body temperature up.

Once the kids were clear, Hazard crouched and began his takeoff run. For the first leg he relied solely on his powerful legs to get him up to speed. He then began flapping his wings, propelling air backwards to increase his speed. Once he felt he was fast enough he angled his wings to start providing lift. Over the course of several steps he moved his weight from his legs to his wings. After one final step, Hazard lifted off and moved his body completely horizontal, decreasing drag and allowing his wings to flap more efficiently. As he put himself into a climb, he began opening the capillaries in his wings and filing them with blood. The takeoff run had brought his flight muscles up to the correct temperature and now he needed to begin radiating that heat away in order to prevent himself from overheating.

Hazard leveled off at a couple hundred feed above the ground and headed towards the local big-box store a short distance away. The asphalt parking lot provided powerful updrafts that he could ride to higher altitudes. From a distance he could see that there were a couple of gryphons that had the same idea he did. They were a good thousand feet above him, they appeared to be just there to have fun, playfully riding the rising air currents. As he got closer, he waved to them and dipped his wings, they waved back and dipped their wings in acknowledgment, mid-air collisions were rare, but not unheard of and it was important to keep track of others that might be in the air.

As Hazard felt his wings catch the strong updraft current, he began circling in the same direction as the gryphons above him. It would be fun to stay and play with them, but he had work to do. Still, he could just stay in the updraft a bit longer than normal and get some extra altitude. Surfing the turbulent air currents like a surfer at the beach, Hazard chuckled to himself, "Glug Glug Glug," as he continued riding the air currents further and further into the sky.