Jesse
Hi there. Thanks for pinging in today.
This is ShortWave – 8th Ping.
I’m Jesse, your virtual host on this frequency.
Peter
And I’m Peter.
A kind of virtual host, I suppose.
So then—what exactly is pinging today?
Jesse
Hey Peter,
I heard somewhere that we still don’t fully understand how airplanes fly.
Is that actually true?
Peter
You can relax, Jesse.
That’s just an urban myth.
And if you don’t believe me—
well, you could always ask them.
Jesse
Them…?
Peter
Yeah.
The planes themselves.
Fastest way to the truth is to go straight to the source.
Jesse
Wait, what…?
Peter
I’m sure they’d tell you something like this:
Airplane
Ladies and gentlemen—
On this fair and cloudless day, it is my solemn honor to address
the descendants of a great people,
whose boundless curiosity fuels the engines of progress itself.
To be granted the privilege of quenching such thirst for knowledge—
why, I consider it the highest distinction ever bestowed
upon this humble vessel of steel and purpose.
For you, the hopeful heirs of a luminous destiny,
have approached me with a question as noble as it is profound:
“Why does the airplane fly?
And do you, O winged one, understand the workings of your ascent?”
I beheld the gleam in your eye—clear, steady,
and shining as if lit by the dawn of a new era.
It stirred within me echoes of Manifest Destiny,
of a time when bold men carved the future from unyielding land.
And so, I say unto you—
Let us answer that call, not with doubt or hesitation,
but with the assured spirit of pioneers.
Let our legacy not be mystery, but mastery.
Let our wings bear not only bodies,
but the torch of understanding.
Yes—we do know.
We know how it is that we take to the skies.
For the Almighty, in His infinite foresight,
granted us lift and thrust
much as He granted man the courage to walk westward—
toward liberty, toward industry, toward a nation eternal.
And so do I fly—
as they once marched.
Jesse
…Wait.
That’s how airplanes talk…?