by Martha Wells
“What did you discover?” Lord Engal demanded.
Dr Marlende rubbed his hands together briskly. “I found the catch to the door and was able to open it slightly. No one seemed to be immediately visible. I was also able to determine that the air inside is breathable.”
“Good,” Lord Engal said, somewhat mollified. He slung the pack Emilie handed him across his back. “That will make this much easier. If the crew is merely incapacitated inside somewhere, we can more easily come to their aid. If the crew has had some misadventure and is dead, it will probably take some time to try to determine how to land the ship.”
“Land it?” The Professor raised her brows. “You’re planning to keep it?”
“If we can find no sign of the crew, what else are we to do?” Lord Engal waved upward at the bulk of the aether-sailer. “We can’t leave it up here! Some brute like Ivers could come and steal it.”
“We could leave it up here,” Miss Marlende countered. She looked up again at the bulk of the craft looming over them. Her brows drew together in concern. “But perhaps it wouldn’t be ideal. If it really has stopped moving, it could disrupt the aether current even further.”
“When I finish my calculations, we’ll know,” the Professor said, somewhat darkly.
They watched while Dr Marlende, Lord Engal, Cobbier, and Mikel got their packs on and readied themselves for the climb. Miss Marlende said, “Just be careful.”
Dr Marlende kissed her cheek. “If all goes well, we’ll report within the hour.”
“If all goes well?” Miss Marlende repeated.
“Well, the crew may in fact be alive and aboard and studiously ignoring our attempts to contact them, and may order us – or chase us – off the vessel as soon as they lay eyes on us,” Dr Marlende said. “But somehow, I doubt it.”
Emilie did, too. There was something ominous about the giant aether-sailer’s silence.
Dr Marlende started up the ladder first, followed by Lord Engal, Mikel, and then Cobbier. Emilie and the others watched until they reached the platform and one by one disappeared through the door.
“Are any of them armed?” Professor Abindon asked.
“My father and Lord Engal are, as am I,” Miss Marlende said. “Though it’s more because of the trouble with Lord Ivers than anything we expected to encounter out here.”
“Hmm,” Professor Abindon said, and stepped back into the airship. It was not a very reassuring “hmm”, Emilie thought.
They waited.
At first, Emilie was tense and jittery with excitement, and she knew she wasn’t the only one. They took turns as lookout on the gallery, keeping watch in case the exploring party returned or tried to signal them earlier than the one-hour mark. Emilie took her turn, though she hated standing out there alone. There was just something daunting about that much empty space, with only the thin barrier of the spell between them and it. It helped to keep the door open and listen to the others talking and moving around inside.
After about an hour, Efrain, who was taking a turn at watch, called out excitedly. Emilie, Miss Marlende, and the professor hurried outside. Emilie looked up to see that Cobbier stood on the aether-sailer’s platform. He waved to them and attached something to a line that ran parallel to the rope ladder, then pulled on the line to send it down to them.
As it drew closer, Emilie saw it was a metal tube, meant to hold a written message. She tried not to bounce with impatience. We’re about to get answers to all our questions! Miss Marlende snatched the tube off the line as soon as it dropped within reach, wrenched off the cap, and pulled out a rolled-up square of notepaper. Emilie thought, Uh, that looks a little small to have all the answers on it.
Miss Marlende read aloud, “No sign of any crew aboard. Continuing the search.” She crumpled the paper, staring incredulously up at the aether-sailer. “That’s all? After an hour? You have to be joking.”
Up on the platform, Cobbier waved again and went back through the open door, vanishing into the ship.
Everyone stared up in frustration and disappointment. Professor Abindon swore. “That man.”
Miss Marlende’s glance at her was annoyed and a little defensive. “It’s Lord Engal’s handwriting.”
“If your father had meant him to add more, he would have dictated it in exactly…” She registered Miss Marlende’s expression and shook her head. “I’m sorry.”
Miss Marlende pressed her lips together, smoothed the note, and tucked it into a pocket. “Never mind. At least we know they’re all right.”
Emilie let her breath out, controlling her own dissatisfaction at the lack of information in the note. Maybe all the answers was a little bit much to expect, she thought. She stepped back inside to go to the control cabin and tell Daniel what the note had said. He also stared incredulously and said, “That’s it?”
Emilie nodded. “If you had been able to go with them, would you have written more?”
Irritated at the implied accusation, Daniel said, “Of course!” As she continued to regard him, he added, “Well, probably I would have. Maybe they haven’t discovered anything else.”
Emilie grudgingly admitted that was possibly true and went back to the main cabin to start waiting again.
The wait continued for the next hourly report. Emilie had spent the time looking over the wireless manual and memorizing some of the basic codes. It was very dry reading, though, and after a time, she drifted off. She woke abruptly when the bench seat shook violently and the book slid off her lap. She sat up, suddenly wide awake.
Seth, out in the gallery on watch, was now braced in the open doorway. Efrain stared at her from the opposite bench seat. “Was that normal?” he asked her.
“No. At least, I don’t think so.” Emilie pushed to her feet, keeping hold of a support post, but the deck had stopped shivering.
“It wasn’t normal,” Seth confirmed. Still holding onto the door frame, he stepped cautiously out to look up at the aether-sailer. “Can’t see anything out here that might have caused it.”
Professor Abindon clattered hurriedly down the stairs from the upper cabin. “Did something hit us?” she demanded.
“We don’t know; we can’t see anything,” Emilie told her. She had rather been hoping the professor knew.
She followed the professor into the control cabin, Efrain trailing behind them. Miss Marlende had taken over for Daniel at the controls, and he was standing now looking over her shoulder as she checked various dials and adjusted levers. She glanced up, frowning. “Before you ask, I don’t know. It must have been a fluctuation in the current. If something had hit the balloon, we would have heard the impact.”
Daniel was nodding. “It felt like something just grabbed the whole ship and shook us. That had to be the current.”
The professor checked the aether-navigator, then compared it to a long list of figures in her notebook. “The current has shifted three degrees.”
“It can’t have.” Miss Marlende glanced over her shoulder. “Are you certain?”
“Yes.” The Professor’s face was grim. “I’ve been checking our position frequently. Something is disrupting the current.”
Miss Marlende turned back to the controls, and said, “They must have felt that aboard the aether-sailer. Hopefully, Father will make a more complete report this time.”
When the time came, Emilie and Daniel went out onto the gallery to wait with Seth. The professor followed them, and Efrain came to stand in the doorway. They waited expectantly, staring up at the aether-sailer.
After a time, Professor Abindon checked her pocket watch and snorted with exasperation. “Of course he’s late.”
But Seth was frowning. He said, “He wouldn’t miss a report.”
Daniel looked concerned, too. The Professor conceded, “Well, the craft is large, and they may be at some distance from the door by this point.”
Daniel bit his lip. “They may not want to split up, either.”
Emilie felt a sinking sensation. No one i
s coming, she thought. She didn’t know how she knew. There was just a sense of emptiness and silence and… It’s like how you’re expecting the post to come, but it doesn’t, and you just know there was a problem with the wagon, and even if they fix it, they won’t send it out this late.
They waited, but no one opened the door.
CHAPTER SIX
After three hours had passed, Miss Marlende said, “We’ll have to go after them.”
Daniel nodded. “I’ll go, with Seth. I can do the protective spell. Dr Marlende showed me how he constructed it. We’ll need–”
“Daniel, you can’t climb that ladder, not with your shoulder,” Miss Marlende interrupted impatiently. “If you tear that wound open, you could lose control of the spell, and you and whoever was with you would die in a very unpleasant fashion.” Daniel drew breath to argue, and she added, “Do not attempt to cross words with me.”
Daniel hesitated for a long moment, then let the breath out, words unspoken. His expression was torn between frustration and grim anger. He knows she’s right, Emilie thought. At least he was sensible enough to acknowledge it. He said, “But who will go?”
“I will,” Miss Marlende said.
“But the spell–”
“The professor can do it.” Miss Marlende’s gaze met the professor’s.
Professor Abindon lifted her brows, then said, “I can. I will.”
“But can you climb the ladder, Professor?” Daniel asked. “It’s such a long way–”
She gave him a withering look. “Please. I’m not decrepit. I’ve climbed the lighthouse at Silk Harbor every week for the past two years, to adjust their aether weather-scope. And the current’s buoyance means we won’t weigh as much while we’re climbing.”
Miss Marlende nodded firmly, though Emilie read the relief in the set of her shoulders. She hadn’t been entirely certain the professor would agree to go. She said, “Very well. Seth, you’ll remain here also.”
Seth stared in astonishment. He had clearly been counting himself as a member of the party. “But Miss Marlende, you can’t go alone, just you and the Professor…”
Miss Marlende fixed him with a steely gaze. “Neither Efrain nor Emilie can pilot the airship, and Daniel will need a relief pilot. We may be gone for some time, and we can’t risk the airship changing position and breaking the lines to the aether-sailer.” He started to speak and she interrupted. “Are you going to present a relevant argument or are you going to make an emotional appeal?”
“But…” Seth deflated. “Just the two of you… It’s not…”
“Safe?” Professor Abindon’s mouth twisted in ironic comment.
Emilie took a deep breath. She felt a flood of fear and was surprised to note that it didn’t seem to be any easier to get used to, having felt it so much in the Hollow World. But it subsided and she said, “I’ll go with you.”
“Emilie.” Miss Marlende rubbed her eyes, for a moment betraying just how tired she was. “There is no reason for you to risk yourself–”
Emilie said, “Are you making a relevant argument or an emotional appeal?”
Miss Marlende froze and stared at her. Emilie figured either this would work, or she would be fired on the spot.
The professor gave Emilie an appraising look. “I like this girl.”
Miss Marlende glared at her mother, then at Emilie again. Daniel’s expression was hard to read; possibly he wanted to object, possibly he felt that adding more members to the party was only sensible. Miss Marlende appeared to wrestle with similar thoughts, then finally said, “Very well. You may come along.”
Emilie breathed out, mostly in relief that Miss Marlende wasn’t going to dismiss her from her assistant position. “Thank you. You won’t regret it, I promise.”
Then Efrain said, “I’m going, too.”
Miss Marlende said, “Oh, please.”
Efrain lifted his chin. “You can’t stop me.”
Miss Marlende regarded him. Her eyes narrowed.
Seth told him, grimly, “She could stop you.”
Daniel seconded, “Oh yes, yes, she could.”
Efrain looked from one to the other, then at Miss Marlende. His eyes widened a bit as he saw they were serious. He quite obviously decided to take a different tack. He said, “Please. I can’t let my sister go without me. And there’s nothing useful I can do here. I’d be a waste of… of air. With you, I can carry things, and guard your back. I know how to shoot a pistol.”
“You know how to shoot a duck-hunting gun,” Emilie interposed. “It’s not the same thing at all.”
Before Efrain could retort, Professor Abindon said, “A little brute strength might come in handy, depending on what we find.”
She meant come in handy if they had to help injured men back to the airship. Emilie bit her lip and decided to stop talking. Miss Marlende met the professor’s gaze again and seemed to draw the same conclusion as Emilie. She said to Efrain, “You must obey my and Professor Abindon’s orders exactly. And if I ask Emilie to tell you to do something, you must do it at once, with no argument. Can you swear to me that you will do that?”
Efrain’s expression was serious. “I swear it. On my mother’s grave.”
Emilie felt her jaw tighten. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to object to. Having become an ally of Uncle Yeric, Efrain hadn’t actually given up any right to their mother’s memory. But she felt like he had.
Miss Marlende nodded. “Very well. Let’s get ready.”
They hastily assembled supplies. Emilie had a pack that contained, among other things, a hand-cranked battery lamp, a coil of very strong line, matches, a water bottle, packages of lifeboat rations, a notebook and pencils, and a first-aid kit. She put on her jacket in case it was cold aboard the aether-sailer, shouldered the pack, and was ready to go.
Miss Marlende finished with her own pack and asked the professor, “Do you have everything you need?”
Professor Abindon said, rather grimly, “We’ll find out, won’t we?”
The professor went first so she could do the protection bubble spell, then Miss Marlende, then Emilie and lastly Efrain. Efrain had a pack too, and had exchanged his good town shoes for an extra pair of Seth’s work boots, which had been left in a supply locker aboard the airship from some earlier trip. Efrain was lucky he had big feet for his age.
Emilie had climbed a very long ladder down into a very dark hole, but this was worse. At least in the dark hole, she had suspected that the fall would be enough to kill her painfully but she hadn’t known it for certain. Here, she knew it for certain.
As she started up the rope ladder, she thought suddenly of climbing the ladder up to the other airship, with the angry sea people shooting at them, and what had happened to poor Beinar. It made her stomach lurch, and she had to take a deep breath and force her hand to reach for the next rung. Once she got past that moment, it wasn’t so bad. She concentrated on the movements of Miss Marlende’s boots and trousers above her, and tried not to think about anything else.
Emilie wasn’t aware of the protective spell until she realized the balloon was no longer in the peripheral vision of her right eye, and the shimmer of the barrier was suddenly within arm’s reach. It had formed around her as she had climbed out of the range of the airship’s spell, without her noticing. And oddly, she did feel lighter, as if she didn’t weigh as much. That must be the aether current’s buoyance. She still didn’t succumb to the temptation to look down.
Finally, Miss Marlende stopped, then moved forward again, and Emilie heard her say, “Emilie, do you need a hand?” Her voice sounded hollow and distant, an effect of the separate spells.
Emilie made herself lift her head and her neck bones creaked. She had been staring so fixedly at one spot that her shoulders had gone stiff. “I’m all right.”
But it was still a relief when Miss Marlende’s firm hand grabbed her pack strap and guided her as she scrambled up onto the platform. Emilie couldn’t really feel it through the protective spell;
she knew there was hard metal under her hands, but it felt curiously neutral, neither hot nor cold. She pushed to her feet and moved over a few steps to give Efrain room. She was breathing hard and the back of her head hurt, probably from tensing her muscles so much.
As Efrain scrambled up onto the platform, she heard a muted thunk behind her. She turned and saw Professor Abindon had already opened the door of the ship. Emilie stepped to her side to peer in.
It was dim but not completely dark. The walls were a bronze color, and the golden, diffuse light seemed to come from chased metal strands embedded in the curved ceiling. They looked like a container of molten metal had fallen and splashed, then hardened into strings of rivulets. Emilie found herself exchanging a look with the professor.
Miss Marlende stepped past them and into the aether-sailer. The professor moved after her, and Emilie followed.
The corridor was a good ten feet wide, at least, and the ceiling was well above their heads. It made sense for a ship this big to have room to spare. Efrain hesitated in the doorway, then stepped through.
The floor had little ridges in it, possibly meant for traction in rough weather. The walls were textured too, with raised ridges that formed abstract patterns. Emilie looked up and down the corridor. It curved away behind them, following the shape of the hull; ahead of them, it went some distance and then dead-ended into a little circular chamber. “I guess they didn’t go that way,” she said. Her voice came out as a whisper, and she cleared her throat.
“But they did.” Miss Marlende moved to the wall, pointing to an arrow hastily drawn with light-colored chalk. “This is Father’s mark.”
“Well, I certainly hope it’s not anyone else’s mark,” Professor Abindon said. “One party of explorers lost in this ship is enough.”
Miss Marlende’s jaw clenched, and for a moment, Emilie could see the tendons in her neck. She thought the professor was just being sarcastic out of nerves, and not meaning to aim it at anyone in particular. But it was always easier to see that sort of thing when you were standing outside looking on, than when you were one of the people involved.