Emilie & the Hollow World

by Martha Wells

  Daniel lengthened his stride, and Emilie hurried to keep up. Daniel called back, “What figured out? You mean-”

  “How we're all getting out of here!”

  On the chart table in the wheelhouse, Dr. Marlende spread out several maps, with Lord Engal, Captain Belden, Miss Marlende, Dr. Barshion, and Mr. Abendle looking on. Charter was here too, his arm in a sling and looking much better than the last time Emilie had seen him. He nodded to her as she and Daniel and Seth squeezed in around the table. Emilie smiled back, then looked at the maps. Except they weren't maps, but diagrams of something, covered with arrows and handwritten figures.

  Dr. Marlende said, “Lord Engal has been aboard Lord Ivers' airship, and removed all the aetheric components that were salvageable. It's ready to be destroyed, and Seth and I will set that in motion as soon as we're finished here.”

  Lord Engal stroked his beard. “I also removed the scientific information he collected, photographic film, notes, plant and insect specimens, that sort of thing.” Dr. Marlende eyed him, and Lord Engal cleared his throat. “I expect you to take charge of it, of course. I've collected my own information.”

  But he'd like more, since it would make for an even better presentation to the Philosophical Explorers Society, Emilie thought, managing not to roll her eyes.

  Dr. Marlende said, “Of course.” He turned back to the diagram. “With the array of spare parts and supplies you have generously brought along, I can quickly repair the damage to my own aetheric engine, but the Sovereign's situation is far more difficult. The aether component that supports the protective shield, the “bubble” necessary for travel within the current, is out of balance. It can be raised to enclose the ship, but it simply will not hold its shape for the entire length of the journey. I could try to recalibrate it, but it might take several days. And with the possibility that the Queen's forces are searching for us, our time is severely limited. What I propose to do is finish the repairs to my airship, and calibrate the two vessels' aetheric engines to work together, and then extend the airship's protective bubble to include the Sovereign, so we can travel through the aether current together.”

  Everyone stared at him. Emilie thought she was following his line of thought, and the whole idea seemed dangerous. Not that traveling through the aetheric current was safe to begin with, but this seemed an even more unlikely and dubious method.

  Dr. Barshion leaned over the diagrams, his brow furrowed. “So both crafts will travel through the current as one?”

  Emilie realized the arrows and figures must represent the Aerinterre aether current, though she still couldn't make head or tails of them. She said, “But what happens to the Sovereign once we get there?” She knew that once inside the current, it didn't matter what it passed through, but if the Sovereign went back through the volcano it would surely end up perched on the rocky mountain somewhere. And she couldn't be the only one who was wondering that. Captain Belden was listening with sharp interest.

  Dr. Marlende told her, “This aether current has many outlets, through fissures in the ocean bottom around the island. I only used the volcano itself because it was more convenient for my airship.” He tapped the diagram. “I can release the Sovereign from the joining here; its protective bubble should last long enough for it to be drawn with the current straight out the fissure and to the surface. There will only be a few minutes of current travel left by that point, and my airship will continue up and exit the current through the volcano's cauldron.”

  Lord Engal nodded slowly, his brow furrowed with concern. “I don't see that we have much of a choice, if the Sovereign can't make the complete journey unassisted.”

  Dr. Marlende said, “Very well, then.” He rolled up his diagram with a satisfied air. “Now all we have to do is survive to reach the surface!”

  Everyone winced.

  The Sovereign steamed toward the Aerinterre aether current, reaching it after the end of the next eclipse. The Lathi trailed behind, sailing under its own power, and Dr. Marlende's airship soared overhead.

  Lord Ivers airship had been left behind on the island, a broken, charred ruin. The rigid metal framework of its balloon, exposed as the gas inside had been released and then the fabric covering burned away, had looked like a huge creature's skeleton. It depressed Emilie to see it, and somehow seemed to bode ill for their future prospects.

  As Lord Engal had decided, Lord Ivers and his men were now locked up in one of the Sovereign's secure holds. It made Emilie nervous to have them there, though there were four armed crewmen guarding the door at all times. Lord Ivers had thrown a fit and made angry threats when Lord Engal had given the order, but since he and his men had already given up their weapons, there wasn't much he could do.

  Emilie thought Lord Engal and Dr. Marlende had taken every precaution, at least every precaution that they could think of, but she was still uneasy. Standing at the railing with Miss Marlende, watching the giant round cloud of the Aerinterre current loom overhead, she said, “I'm just worried, that's all.”

  “I'm worried, too,” Miss Marlende admitted. She was watching the airship move closer to the Sovereign, angling in to get as close to it as possible in anticipation of joining their protective spells. This seemed to be a fairly difficult and potentially disastrous operation, and it was making Emilie edgy just to watch. Miss Marlende continued, “I won't feel easy until we're steaming into port.”

  “We couldn't leave Lord Ivers behind on an island and come back and get him later?” Emilie suggested, only partly joking.

  “It's tempting,” Miss Marlende said. “But somehow I don't think travel down here is going to become all the rage. Especially if the trip through the current tends to damage the aetheric engines. Ivers admitted that after he arrived his sorcerer had to repair the aether navigator in his motile too.”

  Emilie glanced up at her. “That was what you thought was wrong with the Sovereign's motile, wasn't it?”

  “Yes, and it turned out I was right, though there were apparently a few other adjustments that needed to be made that had confused the issue. My father repaired it fairly quickly last night. But it's the protective bubble that's the real problem, of course.” Dr. Marlende had spent part of the night on the Sovereign, getting its protective spells ready to work in concert with his airship. Then he had called the airship on the wireless, had it lower a ladder over the Sovereign's deck in the glare of the spotlights, and dramatically climbed it to finish the repairs and preparations aboard it.

  “Why didn't Dr. Barshion, and Mr. Abendle and Ricard know about that, then?” Emilie asked, somewhat annoyed. “At least we would have known what was wrong.”

  Miss Marlende grimaced. “I don't know. I don't think Barshion's in over his head, but I do think perhaps he was overworked, and overtired.” She sighed. “But I suppose it doesn't matter now.”

  Her eyes were on the Lathi, which had anchored at a safe distance from the current. Emilie followed her gaze. They had already said their goodbyes before leaving the island, and the Cirathi were only waiting to watch them enter the current before they began their own voyage home. Emilie said, “I wish we could say goodbye again.” She wished she didn't have to say goodbye at all, but she knew that was impractical.

  “It wouldn't make us feel any better,” Miss Marlende said, sounding glum, and gave Emilie a hug.

  It took some time, lots of maneuvering, and various people with megaphones shouting warnings from the Sovereign's decks, but they managed to lower the airship down over the water, so its cabin was level with the Sovereign's second deck. Emilie watched this process from the deck above, in the enclosed promenade with Miss Marlende, both of them braced to run inside if the propellers swung their way. The rigid balloon was bigger than the Sovereign, blotting out their view of the sky.

  Mikel stepped out onto the catwalk and tossed a line across to the waiting sailors. “Just attach it to the railing!” he called.

  Lord Engal motioned for the man to go ahead, and he looped the line ar
ound the metal railing. Oswin, who had just come up from below, said worriedly, “If the wind changes and pushes the airship away, it'll take that railing with it.”

  “It's not meant as an anchor. It's a symbolic connection between the two vessels, for the spell.” Engal turned to the nearest hatch and called to a waiting sailor, “Tell Barshion we're ready!”

  A few moments later, a deep vibration shuddered through the deck; the Sovereign's aetheric engine engaging. Emilie gripped the railing nervously, remembering how the deck had heaved last time, but Miss Marlende said, “It's considerably smoother, isn't it? My father must have made some adjustments.”

  There was an answering roar from the airship that made Emilie jump; before this it had been relatively quiet. Then the gold barrier rose up, cutting off their view of the water, streaming upward to enclose the airship and the Sovereign together in a giant bubble. The noise of the two engines rose and fell, and Emilie saw the airship's propellers had stopped spinning.

  She followed Miss Marlende down the stairs and out onto the open deck. As they arrived, Dr. Marlende and Mikel were dropping a set of metal stairs down from the catwalk over the Sovereign's railing to the deck. It was at a steep slant, but at least the airship was still now, steady as a rock, held in place by the protective bubble.

  “We're ready when you are, My Lord,” Seth called from the catwalk, and stepped back into the airship.

  On the deck below, Lord Engal told Oswin, “Get down to the engine room. Notify me immediately if there are any problems supplying power to the aetheric compartments.” Oswin bolted off and Lord Engal turned and strode inside.

  Miss Marlende pushed away from the railing. “Let's watch from the wheelhouse.”

  They hurried through the corridors, reaching the wheelhouse as Lord Engal was ready to give the command. The big ports around three sides of the room were filled with the golden light of the bubble, except for the one to starboard, where the bullet-nose of the airship's balloon was visible. Emilie could just make out the sea past the barrier, though the glare of the sun made it difficult. Captain Belden and the other two sailors looked suitably stoic, but Emilie thought they were sweating. Lord Engal saw them and said grimly, “Better hold on.”

  Miss Marlende and Emilie braced themselves against the cabin wall. Lord Engal nodded to Captain Belden who took the lever of the engine telegraph and pulled it down, sending a “full ahead” message to the engine room.

  The entire ship shook, metal screeched. Then Emilie felt the deck push up at her feet. Her stomach lurched and she gripped the railing more tightly. The aether current drew both vessels up out of the water; she could see the surface dropping away below. Somehow this sensation hadn't bothered her aboard Dr. Marlende's airship; maybe because Dr. Marlende's airship was actually supposed to fly.

  They went up and up, faster and faster, until the sky darkened and they could see nothing past the protective bubble. Lord Engal let out his breath and said, “That's that. All we have to do now is wait until we reach the surface, and the rift in the ocean floor.”

  Oh, that's all, Emilie thought, but everyone relaxed a little, breathing again.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Emilie found this return journey much more tense than the trip down, which didn't seem to make much sense. Maybe it was the fact that now she knew just how difficult and dangerous traveling in an aether current was. The first time it had just seemed like magic, the easy powerful magic of fairy stories. Now she knew it was really the hard uncertain magic of philosophical sorcery, and that it might fail at any moment and kill them all.

  It didn't help that she felt as if these short days in the Hollow World had aged her at least ten years.

  She spent the time with Miss Marlende, sitting in a couple of hard chairs in the chart-room. It would have been more comfortable to go down to one of the lounges, but neither of them did. It eased Emilie's nerves a little to be here, watching Lord Engal check the aether navigator and his copies of Dr. Marlende's diagrams. Sometimes he sent a sailor down to take a message with hastily scribbled figures to Dr. Marlende on the airship, or below decks to Dr. Barshion with a question.

  But nothing went wrong, and tension started to segue into boredom. Emilie and Miss Marlende got up to stretch their legs, and walked around the ship a little. It was oddly quiet; everyone in the crew who wasn't manning a station had been told to stay in their quarters. It was eerie, and something of a relief to get back to the wheelhouse.

  After a few hours, Mrs. Verian served a brief meal of sandwiches and tea, which Emilie helped her carry up from the galley. Having a full stomach made it harder to stay awake, at least for Emilie, and she dozed off and on for a bit, waking whenever she almost fell out of her chair.

  She straightened up finally, blinking the sleep away, to see Lord Engal pacing back and forth in front of the wheel, rubbing his hands together briskly. He called a sailor in and sent him off with a hurried message for Dr. Marlende. “What's going on?” Emilie asked Miss Marlende.

  “We're almost there.” Miss Marlende stretched and rolled her shoulders. “It's getting close to the time when we'll break off from the airship and make our way out through the fissure in the ocean floor.”

  Emilie hugged herself, breathing out in relief. “We made it.”

  Miss Marlende said, preoccupied, “I'll feel better when we're out of the current.” She glanced at Emilie. “What will you do when we get back, Emilie? Did you want us to drop you off at Silk Harbor?” She hesitated. “Or did you want to go home?”

  Emilie frowned at the polished wooden floor, which was marred by sandy footprints and sandwich crumbs; it had been a few days since anyone had had time to think about things like sweeping the floors. Realistically, she knew her future at Silk Harbor was uncertain. Karthea would be hard-pressed to be able to provide her with any other wage than a place to sleep. You don't even know if she'll let you work for her. But if she won't... I'll think of something else. She said, “Silk Harbor. I still want to see if my cousin will let me help with her school.” She added tentatively, “Perhaps I can see you and Dr. Marlende again, when you're in town?”

  Miss Marlende watched her, her brow furrowed in concern. “Are you certain? I'm sure whatever difficulty you had with your family- Perhaps I could help-”

  “I can't go home.” Telling Kenar had been much easier, probably because he hadn't really grasped the full implication of what she had said. When she had first arrived on the boat, telling anyone else, especially Miss Marlende, had seemed impossible. But Miss Marlende knew her better now. Emilie glanced around, making sure the men in the wheelhouse were too busy to overhear, then reluctantly wrestled the words out. “Even if you and your father and Lord Engal gave me letters explaining what happened, even if you came with me and lied and swore that I'd been chaperoned the entire time, it wouldn't do any good. That's why I left.”

  “Chaperoned? Oh.” Miss Marlende's frown deepened. “I think I see. There were accusations without basis?” She read Emilie's expression accurately. “And perhaps some threats of punishment for things you hadn't done, or didn't contemplate doing?”

  “Yes.” Emilie felt a tightness in her chest ease. “My mother ran off to become an actress, and although she got married...”

  “You would think, in this day and age...” Miss Marlende's mouth set in a grim line. “You don't believe there is any chance of reconciliation?”

  “Not now. Especially not after I ran away,” Emilie admitted. “Maybe later. Years later.” The situation between the Sealands Queen and the Nomads had given her some perspective. She thought too much had been said on both her part and on her uncle's part for anyone to back down.

  Miss Marlende said slowly, “Well then, perhaps, if the situation with your cousin doesn't work out, you'd be interested in a position as my personal assistant?”

  “What? Yes.” Emilie blinked. “Doing what?”

  Miss Marlende smiled. “I do a great deal of work for my father, writing letters, monographs a
bout his work, plus traveling and meeting with members of learned societies, that sort of thing. I could use some secretarial help. And perhaps, if I have a younger woman in tow, I'd look a bit more matronly to some of the men I have to meet with, and they would be less inclined to treat me like a frivolous debutante.” She shrugged wryly. “Probably not, but it's worth a try.”

  Emilie nodded rapidly. “Oh, yes. Thank you.” It sounded less like adventuring and more like a junior social secretary, but still... Social secretary to adventurers would be far more interesting than schoolteacher. It was a fabulous opportunity.

  Lord Engal interrupted then, stepping out of the wheelhouse, frowning distractedly. “Evers? Where's Evers?”

  “You sent Evers with a message to my father,” Miss Marlende reminded him.

  Emilie thought she might as well start being useful immediately. “Do you need someone to take a message, My Lord?” She had remembered to call him “My Lord” that time; she hoped he had noticed.

  He said, “Yes, to Dr. Barshion, if you don't mind. I asked him to send me the adjustments for the aether navigator we'll need to make for the Aerinterre surface current. It's not urgent at the moment, but I don't want to waste time once we break through to the surface.”

  “I'll be right back.” Emilie went down the stairs, glad for a chance to work off the excitement. Her heart was pounding a little. She found herself looking forward to getting back a great deal more now.

  She went all the way down to the lower deck, just above the engine room, and down the aetheric compartment corridor. The air was hot and damp. She passed the room with the device that kept the air clean inside the bubble. It had the same mist, earthy smell, and bemused operator as the first time she had seen it.

  She reached the doorway of the aetheric engine room, where a sailor stood on guard. He nodded to her, smiling, and she recognized him as one of the men who had helped search the island where they had found the Lathi. “Hello. I've got a message for Dr. Barshion.”