Cloudland: A Brief History

One long chain of random events that lead to a magnificent discovery 🛩

A Wright Model G aircraft soaring over the frozen north ridge of Cloudland (1925)

Few official records detail the events of the day when a Wright Model G aircraft crashed into the north shoulder of Cloudland, which likely has to do with the fact no one was there to witness the impact, except for the plane’s pilot Marta Fitz Maurice, a 26-year-old Uruguayan who never reported back to base.

Seven years passed, and then debris of the aircraft washed up on the shores of Port Nolloth, the insignia on a slab of wing identical to that of the plane gone missing in 1925. A privately financed scout patrol left St. Helene in June of ‘33. The crew got as far as Salum’s Basin before having to turn back due to harsh weather conditions. Soon after, the mission was shut down for another seventeen years.

Gilbert makes a discovery that is sort of obvious

In 1950, a young aerospace engineer at Cordeaux University came upon the dusty airspace logs from 1925, most of the data consisting of meteorological observations, technical specifications and mechanical diagnostics from a recovered wing, part of the tail and some fuselage fragments – as well as footage of the wreckage, which is what caught Gilbert’s attention. The initial report attributed the plane’s malfunction to spontaneous combustion in one or both engines, but the salvaged rubble showed no traces of charring or other fire-related indicators. It did, however, exhibit lesions akin to metal being shredded against rock, which didn’t coincide with the plane’s final radioed coordinates.  

Gilbert published his findings in the 1952 issue of Illustrated Aeronautics Magazine, sparking a rekindled interest among readers across five universities and two undergraduate colleges. Unfortunately, the buzz per se wasn’t enough to get Aeronautics and Sky Exploration to cough up the funds for a new scouting expedition. Once again, the mission was returned to hibernation.

A haphazard incident that will change everything

In January of 1959, a cargo ship reached the desert island of Penumbra with a damaged keel and was radioing for help when the captain noticed something massive and brilliant floating weightlessly in the sky. At first, he dismissed it as a particularly dense clot of cloud but five days of waiting on a rescue tug makes for plenty of skygazing and, on closer examination with a maritime telescope, he noticed craggy outcrops and what looked like mounds of frozen shrubbery.

Nine months later, the first Cloudland exploration mission touched down on the northern side of the fossilized cloud, a frozen stratospheric expanse where the air takes on a multitude of shapes and forms, all out to kill anything that breathes. The crew held out for three weeks inside a polar pod before a second expedition flew up with supplies, ECW gear and insulation suits. Two years later, the first Cloudstead colony was raised. It was named Fitz Maurice.