‘The beastmen Drafenberg created, and those produced by that fool the Woosters brought an end to, were little more than animals. Bestial at best. You are clearly more human than any of them.’
‘Thank you. You still saw fit to have me dressed as a savage.’
‘And you will die as one.’ He moved, his sword rising to bring its edge down on the joint of shoulder and neck. Kate drove her blade forward, punching through his tunic into his chest. The shock registered on his face as his blade slipped past her back. He backed away, stumbling. She could hear the wound sucking and the smell of blood was strong now.
‘I think, perhaps, not.’
He turned and started down the room. He was slowed now, his wound telling on him, but he was still moving. Kate walked after him and, after a few seconds, he stopped and turned again. ‘I cannot outrun you now. I will have the satisfaction of knowing that I do not die alone. I was unsure of my chances of taking you all alone and I always plan to win. There is a bomb in the engine room. Had you turned around I could have disabled it in time, but…’ Kate narrowed her eyes at him. ‘Perhaps if you run you could reach it before it goes off, but that would mean letting me live.’
‘I do not think so.’ She moved, seeing his eyes widen at the speed of the attack. His sabre caught her blade, dashing it aside, and she whirled around, striking again almost immediately. Blood sprayed out across the nearby wall as the hardened edge sliced through his throat.
She did not bother to wait for him to fall, instead running for the rear of the ship where she assumed the engine room was. That had to be how the Count had got aboard: in through the engine room somehow and then through the ship to the cockpit. He had left something there when he entered. Now she just had to find it.
~~~
‘Kate is taking too long,’ Antonia stated flatly. ‘I am going to look for her whether you like it or not.’
‘I would prefer that you remained in your seat,’ Charles replied, ‘but since I cannot stop you, take my Webley.’ He pulled the heavy revolver from his pocket and held it out to her. ‘I know you dislike Lugers.’
Antonia took the gun. ‘I do, too prone to jamming and I prefer a heavier round. Now if he had used a Mauser I might be in more discomfort.’
Charles managed a laugh. ‘Be aware, the bombs will detonate in around five minutes, and there may be a shockwave.’
‘Understood.’ She set off at a walking pace, because she thought it likely that Charles would shout at her if she ran. In truth, the wound felt nothing. She knew it should hurt. There should have been shock. There was nothing. That more than anything told her that something had changed. She did not seem to need to breathe, and she was not hungry even after almost a day without food. She was thirsty and would have to do something about that soon. The thought crossed her mind that it would be good if water was all that was required. With her dislike of bright lights, she was a little worried that she might start craving blood.
If that were the case, she had plenty to drink. She found the Count lying in a pool of it amidst what appeared to be crew dormitories. There was a stab wound in his chest and his throat had been sliced open, but she checked for a pulse anyway.
There was no sign of Kate, however, so Antonia continued walking towards the rear of the airship. If von Auttenberg was dead, why had Kate continued onward? Had the Count brought additional men with him? If he had, surely he would have brought them to the cockpit. No, it seemed more likely that he and his sniper lieutenant had gone out hunting for them while his troops dealt with the ‘fire’ in the mine. He had seemed the overconfident type. So where was Kate?
Kate was in a broad room on two decks at the rear of the ship, staggering towards a hatch with a large, cylindrical device which had fins attached to it.
‘Kate?’
‘Uh… You don’t know how to disarm a bomb, do you? In twenty seconds?’
‘I do not, and Charles could not get here in time.’
‘Then do you think you could get the hatch? Von Auttenberg left us a present in case he was unable to stop us taking his ship.’
Antonia rushed to the hatch. ‘I noted that he did, indeed, fail.’
‘Well, not if this thing goes off before I can get it out.’ She was almost there. The Count had lied about the location. She had found the bomb, presumably part of the armoury for the airship, propped against a wall just outside the engine room. It had taken her several minutes to carry it to the hatch, which was at the very back.
Antonia pulled open the hatch, and Kate took two more steps and then let go. The bomb slipped through the hole and Antonia slammed the hatch shut again. There was a second or two of pause and then a shudder ran through the ship. Almost immediately, one of the engines started making an odd whining sound.
‘Oh,’ Antonia said, ‘that does not sound good.’
~~~
‘Did the bombs go early?’ Moorbridge asked as both men felt the ship shake under them.
‘I do not believe so, but–’
‘Damn! We’re losing pressure in the starboard engine.’
‘Is it bad?’
‘I’m going to have to shut it down. These engines are basically compact Unobtainium reactors. The heat is used to pressurise air pulled in using a fan. The exhaust temperature is quite high and if we have a hole in the pressure vessel we risk the entire unit failing. Possibly catastrophically.’
Charles checked their speed, and estimated the loss of acceleration and the distance they would be likely to cover before the bombs went off behind them. ‘Ten miles. We should be at least ten miles from the blast.’
‘Is that enough?’
‘It should be. The blast radius is likely to be huge, but at that distance, in this ship, I would expect minimal effect.’
There was a buzz from Moorbridge’s console and he frowned before locating the source and pressing a button. ‘Hello?’
‘We’re in the engine room,’ Antonia’s voice said from a speaker. ‘Von Auttenberg left us a present which is why we have apparently lost an engine.’
‘That would explain the problem,’ Moorbridge replied. ‘The Count himself?’
‘Kate dispatched him quite thoroughly. Are we safe?’
‘Doctor Barstow-Hall assures me that we should reach a safe distance in time.’ He took out his watch and checked it. ‘You may wish to find a seat. We have only a minute or so.’
‘It is fortuitous that this room appears to be equipped with two then. We will return once the fireworks are over.’
It was just over a minute later that another, far longer, shudder ran through the ship. ‘My God,’ Moorbridge said as the vibrations finally settled, ‘that was at ten miles?’
‘With but four pounds of explosives. Still… What do you know of the device Gantheim designed? Von Auttenberg’s ultimate weapon.’
‘I know it existed. The detail of it is not my area of expertise.’
‘Good. I would ask you to forget that it existed at all. That device would be the end of everything and if the military ever finds out that it is a possibility, some fool will want to build one.’
‘Would it really be so bad?’
‘Sir, it would make what we just experienced akin to a light tap on the nose.’
Moorbridge was silent for a second. ‘Personally I have no recollection of any such project.’
‘Good man.’
The Land of Opportunity
Kenya, Africa, 4th September 1920.
‘This is Mrs Antonia Wooster aboard the commandeered German dirigible approaching from west-south-west.’ The fourth position in the airship’s cockpit had, it turned out, been concerned primarily with communications. Antonia sat at the console holding a microphone and was trying to contact the ship they all hoped was in the harbour at Mombasa. ‘HMS Empress of the World, do you read me?’
Kate sat in the co-pilot’s seat, though slumped would be more accurate, watching her friend. Her condition had become quite obvious by the previous evening,
but by that time they had other problems. The second engine had started losing pressure. Moorbridge had suspected a problem with the main fan and they had had to cut their speed to a relative crawl in the hope that the problem would not get worse. It was getting worse, but they were still moving.
‘Antonia Wooster to the Empress of the World, please respond.’
‘Mrs Wooster, this is the Empress of the World. Please confirm your status. Over.’
‘Thank heavens! There are four of us aboard. All British. One of our number needs… specialist medical attention.’
The voice on the other end of the radio connection changed, becoming a little gruffer, but also with a far clearer, better-educated accent. ‘Mrs Wooster, this is Captain Hemming. We are under orders to locate you, Doctor Barstow-Hall, and a Miss Felix, to arrest you once found, and to transport you back to England. Over.’
‘Frankly, Captain, we were very much hoping that was the case. We can explain when we get there, but I believe our mode of transport will suggest that things are not all as they would appear. I’m supposed to say “over” now, aren’t I? Over.’
There was no response for a second and Antonia was beginning to wonder whether he had heard her. ‘Good God, madam! What are you flying?!’ Apparently the lookouts on the ship had spotted the airship. ‘We are in the harbour. There is an airship dock just inland. Over.’
‘Doctor Barstow-Hall knows it, Captain, and we will explain everything when we are off this horrid thing and aboard your vessel, but we must make all haste. A young woman’s life depends upon it. Over.’
‘I’ll have men waiting with an ambulance. Over and out.’
The Empress of the World.
Of course, it was not going to be as simple as asking. Captain Hemming was, as one would expect of a man in command of the most powerful ship on the planet, a career officer, a gentleman, and a practical man. He fitted the image well too: he was tall with broad shoulders and a handsome face, though his nose had been broken at some point which seemed to indicate that he was not entirely a desk sailor.
‘The reactor?’ Hemming asked.
‘Yes, Captain,’ Charles said, trying his best not to sound like he was explaining the problem to a simpleton. ‘Miss Felix has a unique physiology. I am sure you were briefed on the matter.’ That got a nod. ‘I have formulated a drug which can replace the radiation treatment she needs, but her supply was lost when we were shot down. She has been without for over three days and is weakening rapidly. I need to get her into the reactor room as soon as possible.’
‘That room is extremely dangerous. The shielding is–’
‘I am, perhaps, more aware of the potential dangers than you are, Captain. Miss Felix is highly resistant to the effects and she needs the radiation. You are using Katheros aboard ship now, are you not?’
‘We are?’
‘And how many men have required treatment for radiation sickness since you began using it?’
‘None.’
‘Katheros is derived from Miss Felix’s blood. Without her, your engineering staff would be getting sick and slowly dying.’
Hemming sighed. ‘While I see that there are grounds to consider the charges invalid, Miss Felix is still a wanted criminal.’
‘Then she is under arrest, sir,’ Antonia said from her place beside the chair Kate had been more or less forced into. ‘You are required to bring her in for trial. She will not survive the voyage back to England so if you wish to discharge your duty, I suggest you allow us to treat her.’
Hemming nodded. ‘I need to seek clarification from London anyway. I believe you know the way below decks, Doctor.’
~~~
The reactor room was hidden away deep in the bowels of the aft section of the huge ship. Antonia and Charles assisted Kate to it down several flights of stairs and, finally, a ladder. Someone had provided a large, dark blue coat for her to put on, which was not making things easier, but she was not yet entirely immobile even if she was moving slowly and with some difficulty.
‘This deck seems thick,’ Antonia commented as they descended the ladder.
‘It is, and composed of layers of adamantium and lead,’ Charles replied. ‘At Greenwich we had the luxury of setting the reactor within yards of concrete and could use less plating. Here, even with this amount of shielding, the engineering staff above are subject to an abnormally high exposure to the reactor’s radiation.’
‘You two will leave as soon as I am inside,’ Kate said.
‘We will do no–’
‘Sharles, I can manage the doors and I will not have you exposed longer than necessary. I would be grateful if you could put on a suit and retrieve me after an hour. I feel I may fall asleep in there.’
‘I’ll do it,’ Antonia said immediately.
‘It should really–’ Charles began.
‘Really, Charles, you should be used to us by now. I am, apparently, dead. I suspect the radiation will have less effect upon my body than yours.’
‘Unfortunately, I cannot find a flaw in your assessment, Antonia. Upon our return to England I plan to engage in a brisk exercise regimen in order to return my masculinity to its proper proportions.’
Kate giggled. ‘We have seen you with your shirt off, Sharles. We have no doubt of your masculinity.’
‘None at all,’ Antonia agreed.
Wisely, Charles chose to stay silent, instead turning to the large door they had arrived at and turning the wheel. ‘There is only an antechamber here, no two-room system. Once you are through the door on the other side you are within the reactor room.’
Kate nodded and began unbuttoning her coat. ‘Please take these away and return the coat when I am ready to leave.’
‘What do you want me to do with the furs?’ Antonia asked. ‘We could ritually burn them on the foredeck if the Captain will permit it.’
‘Oh no, I’ll keep them. I don’t have any fur and I’m not sure I believe in it for decoration, but the animals are already dead and one never knows when one might be called upon to play a barbarian princess.’
Antonia eyed her suspiciously, but she said, ‘I’m sure the Captain has a cabin for us. I’ll put them there for you.’
‘Thank you.’ Naked, Kate nodded to Charles and he pulled open the door. The heat from the reactor was evident even though there was still a door in the way, but Kate walked in and waited for the outer door to close and be sealed before she tried the wheel of the inner one. It was heavy in her weakened state, but she managed it and the cool blue light of the reactor filled her vision. With a sigh, she walked into it.
~~~
‘I am happy to have an escort, Captain, but I will require a visit to the town.’ Antonia was wearing her best ‘I am serious’ expression to impress upon the man that she was firm in her resolve.
‘You are under arrest, Mrs Wooster,’ Hemming said. ‘I am required, theoretically, to lock you in a cell, not send you out shopping.’
‘But you do not plan to incarcerate me and we will be sailing for England as soon as they have replied to your enquiry, I have no doubt. At that point, incarceration will be moot since jumping overboard is not something I plan to do, and I would prefer not to spend the entire voyage in my cabin. Moreover, when Miss Felix is recovered enough, some exercise will aid in her healing. Unless you wish her to perambulate in a fur loincloth, and me to be seen in this blood-stained, indecorous ensemble, I must purchase some suitable dresses.’
‘Captain,’ Charles said, ‘if I may be so bold, it is generally unwise to argue when a woman wishes to buy a dress. This holds doubly so when her reason for doing so is quite so logically defined as Mrs Wooster’s is.’
Hemming gave a sigh. ‘Very well. When Miss Felix is in the infirmary I’ll have you escorted off the ship. Kindly minimise your activities and return as soon as possible.’
‘Of course, Captain,’ Antonia replied, smiling.
Mombasa.
Antonia’s first purchase was two pairs of sunglasses. Kate w
ould need a new pair to hide her eyes, and Antonia felt distinctly more comfortable once her eyes were shaded from the glare by the almost black lenses.
Not entirely comfortable, however. Her skin had never been especially good in the sun, but now it felt as though she was burning whenever she stood in direct sunlight. In the thirty minutes it took to get to Fitzlawrence’s, the skin on her chest was distinctly reddened and she felt slightly sick. She stopped off on the way through to the ladies’ clothing department to purchase a parasol in the hopes that it would stop the same happening on the way back.
‘Mrs Wooster!’ Mrs Fitzlawrence ran the women’s section and had done since Antonia could remember. Her figure had gone a bit in that time, but she was an advocate of the corset to assist where age tried to undo one’s good works, and she had a bust suggestive of twin mountains under her high-collared dress. She cruised across the floor to meet Antonia and her two guardians, a galleon under full sail. ‘Such a surprise, and in such an… avant-garde ensemble.’
‘It is to replace these rags with something more suitable that I am here, Mrs Fitzlawrence. Unfortunately there was an… incident and all of my party’s clothing was lost. I need two dresses, one for my friend who is currently bed-ridden. As luck would have it, I have purchased garments for her before and know the correct sizes.’
‘Very good. Will your… gentlemen friends be staying?’ Her gaze took in the two men with mild distaste.
Antonia glanced back. ‘We will be needing undergarments… Perhaps you gentlemen would care to wait by the door. I promise not to slip out the back.’ The ratings looked mildly relieved as they threaded their way back through the shop. Antonia could not really blame them. She turned back to Mrs Fitzlawrence. ‘Do you stock gloves?’
Unobtainium 1: Kate on a Hot Tin Roof Page 23