Sky Ship

by P McAuley, Robert

  The figure on the trolley didn’t move from a sitting position on the small seat. They walked closer, all the while checking around them. They both made out the man at the same time, and Jennifer recoiled at first, then summoned something inside and walked with her husband to inspect the corpse on the trolley.

  It was Tony Caputo: King of the Deli’s. His face was smeared in blood, rice and chicken. It was obvious there was a bullet in his head. Dan closed the dead man’s eyes as he stared in anger. He turned to Jennifer and held her hand. “Come on honey, we have to stop this.”

  Colonel Aziz is back in the gondola and once again had the map of the airship spread out on the navigation table. He had a finger on a small closet off the hallway and said to Harun, “Place the explosives here. It’s close to the passengers and right over the main hull structure.” He grinned as he continued, “That will insure their deaths and the breaking up of the ship after our releasing of the gas.”

  Harun made three trips from the gondola to the room and set-up the explosives as the colonel ordered. When he was done he reported back to Aziz.

  “Good,” said Aziz as he took a short, thin timer from his pocket. “Wait here and watch for any ships, Harun. I will go and set the timer to ensure that there’s no evidence to implicate Irajh.” He went and set the timer as he thought, Truly this is the sword of heaven and I am the one who delivers the stroke and beheads the many Satan’s of the world.

  Dan and Jennifer walked away from Caputo and once again put a girder between them and anyone that might be on the main walkway. “Okay, hon, now you see what we’re up against.”

  Jennifer nodded and answered, “As I said let’s get this done.”

  Dan smiled and shoved the flare gun and walkie-talkie into his belt and stuck the pistol in his pocket. “Hon,” asked Jennifer as she rearranged the bow over her shoulder, “what’s the plan?”

  “I’ve got to get into the gondola, but first we’re gonna have to rally the passengers.” He looked in her eyes, “Are you game, babe?

  She grinned, “I’m game.”

  Dan pecked her on the forehead. “Believe me, babe, you're the best partner I ever had.”

  No sooner had they started, then the intercom came alive and blared with Colonel Aziz’s voice throughout the ship’s interior. “Dan? Did you get my gift, Dan?”

  Dan stopped and grabbed Jennifer, “Quick, I need to get back to the room.”

  “But why, Dan?”

  “I have to use the intercom.”

  He started aft when Jennifer grabbed his arm. “Dan, he’s playing mind games and it’s causing us lost time.”

  “It's okay,” he said as he pulled her along toward the room, “I'm gonna buy us some time.” She followed and they went back to the room.

  Aziz’s voice came back on the air. “Dan. Can’t you hear me? I asked if you enjoyed my gift to you?”

  Dan keyed the intercom. “What can I do for you, Abbie – put a bullet in your head, for example?”

  “Tsk! Tsk!” came Aziz’s answer. “You shouldn't take things so personally, Dan. The passenger was only my way of reminding you who is in command here.”

  Dan answered with lightness in his voice. “Hey, by the way, I wanted to thank you for dumping that guy out of the water tank for me. I know it’s none of my business, Abbie, but am I sensing a little dissension in the ranks? I mean I didn’t catch all he said to the other guy, but he was pissed about something and I heard your name at least once.” Dan fingered the 9mm, tucked it back in his belt, and gestured Jennifer to the door.

  “Not any longer.” Answered an angered Aziz. “In fact, everything's going exactly as planned: In thirty minutes, we will be over Miami and our attack will begin. Seconds later, more than one hundred pounds of explosives will destroy this ship, you and your friends along with it.”

  Dan and Jennifer left the room as Colonel Aziz continued, “Meaning that you have less than thirty-one minutes to live. You fought well, Officer McKee, but it's time to die.”

  Dan and Jennifer ran down the main walkway towards the front of the airship. Dan pointed to the ladder that went up to the roof of the rooms the passengers were being held in. “We go up that ladder and tell all the passengers and crew what we plan to do. You can’t miss the ceiling vents, Hon, because the light from the room beneath them shows through them. He pointed to a section of roof and said, “You take the group on the right side and I’ll do the left side. Got it, hon?”

  She nodded, “And we don’t have to remove the vent, right?”

  He nodded, “I have to open Jim’s but it’s loose now, so it’s no problem.”

  They climbed up the access ladder and Dan pointed to Jennifer’s group of rooms. “Over there,” he whispered, “We’ll meet right back here. Be careful honey.”

  They kissed and she dashed off into the shadows of the gasbags. Jennifer saw the faint glow of light from a vent and went into a crawl as she approached it. By the faint light, she noted the words stenciled on the vent; ‘ROOM 5.’ She heard voices from the room below, cupped her mouth and in a whisper said, “Hello in room five. Keep quiet and gather around the vent.”

  The room held ten people and all were tired and hungry. Fred Langerton and his wife Lenore were the first to hear Jennifer’s voice. He stood and said, “Who is that? Is there someone up there?” The others looked at him then at the vent as they tried to figure out what was happening. They all drifted next to Langerton and looked up. Jennifer said, “Listen, we want you to rush the guards when you hear a commotion in the hallway. That’ll be the signal for you to run out and attack the guards. Use any type of furniture or utensil you can fashion. Got it?”

  Fred Langerton looked up with a look of disbelief on his face. “Are you crazy? Why would we do that? And, why would you make any kind of a commotion in the hallway? I mean, haven’t you heard, we’re on our way back home?”

  His wife patted his arm, “Tell her to leave us alone, Freddy. Tell her to leave us out of her crazy heroics.”

  Langerton actually jumped up and slammed his hand against the vent as he said almost in a shout, “Leave us alone! Get off of our roof! We want nothing to do with . . .”

  Suddenly all the tension inside Jennifer came to the surface as she hissed back at them, “Listen to me, all of you! They made no deal with the government. They gassed a fishing boat and laughed as the crew died gasping for air. They then sank another ship, then killed at least one passenger, not five minutes ago. And now they plan on gassing thousands of people in Miami in about thirty minutes. We are going to act, and if you don’t help, then you can rot in hell along with them.” She crawled away as the passengers of room number five looked at one another with hang-faced looks on.

  Meanwhile, Dan crept to room number two and listened to make sure they were alone. Finally, he heard Harry Slade’s voice, “ . . . I figure we are one to two hours out of Miami. What about you Jerry?”

  Dan answered his question, “Make that about twenty-three minutes, Harry.”

  “Hey, it’s Dan McKee!” he said in an excited voice.

  “Shhhh,” Dan came back. “Harry, who’s in this room with you?”

  “Captain Eckener and some of the crew.”

  Eckener stood beneath the vent and asked, “Dan, are you okay? I mean, we never saw you in the roundup and I thought . . . well, I just thought, you know.”

  “Yeah, I know,” answered Dan, “and I have some great stories to tell you guys. But first here’s the deal.” The crewmembers gathered around the vent as he continued. “I only have a second: They're attacking Miami. You'll have to rush them - but wait until you hear Jim McFarlane. He’ll make the first move and he’ll come out bellowing! That’ll be your queue to come out swinging. Now I’ve whittled them down to a few, so hopefully they won’t be able to handle a concentrated attack. Got it guys?”

  Captain Eckener spoke for them all. “We're with you, Dan!”

  Dan crawled over to room number two. He beeped Jim and said, “Jim,
I’m right overhead. Come to the vent.” He heard shuffling beneath him as Jim stepped beneath the vent, looked up and said, “Danny Boy! How are ‘ya, laddie?”

  “Just fine, Jim, just fine.” He removed the vent and lowered the flare gun down to the big man. “Here, Jim. It’s not much, but just the size of the barrel will scare the hell out of someone.”

  Jim passed the flare gun to Levon who hid it under some clothes on the bed. Jim then asked, “What’s the plan, Dan?”

  “Jennifer and I are alerting the passengers and crew in the other rooms, when they hear you, they’re to rush the guards.”

  “Hear me? Should I yell or something?”

  “I thought maybe a Highlander as you had some sort of a clan war-cry.”

  Jim nodded and said, “Aye’ lad, I can do that. It’ll be as blood curdling as I can make it. And you Dan, what are you going to do?”

  “Jim, I’m going back to the Auxiliary Control Room and try to play with the rudder. Don’t know exactly what I’m gonna do, but if you don’t hear from me in thirty minutes, lead the charge.” He hesitated then thrust his hand down through the opening as he said, “Jim, I just want to say thanks for the job, and good luck.”

  They shook hands as Jim said with a grin, “Thank you, Danny Boy, and good luck to you and Jennifer. God speed!”

  Dan and Jennifer finished alerting the passengers and crew in all the rooms and met at the ladder.

  “Boy!” said Jennifer. “A few of these passengers live in a rose-colored world.”

  Dan nodded, “I had a few un-believers too, but I think I convinced them. Now let’s get down and move on to part two of the plan.” They climbed down and Dan pointed to the hull walkway. They walked along it and reached the tool shed near the door in the front section. Dan turned to Jennifer and said, “I’m going to turn on the Rudder Test Unit, then try for the gondola. I want you to hide in here. After we take the ship back, go through that door and meet me inside.”

  She hesitated and said, “But I want to be with you. I can fight too, and don’t want to hide.”

  “Hon, there’s no time to argue. What I’m going to do is a one-person thing and please believe me, with you there, I’ll naturally be looking out for you and it’ll put us both in jeopardy. I need to know that you are as safe as possible and want you to go through that door when the fighting starts. Okay?”

  She shook her head no, and said, “No, it’s not okay! But, I’ll do it if you really think it’ll better the chances for success.”

  He kissed her, “I honestly do, hon. I honestly do.” He tweaked her nose, “I love you.”

  “I love you too, Dan McKee.” She got inside and he closed the door, and then ran toward the aft.

  Colonel Aziz entered a lavatory in the Passenger’s Lounge. He had a small package the submarine had sent up to him under his arm. He opened it and as planned, inside was a small, chest-parachute. He tried it on, then satisfied, repacked it and went back to the gondola and hid it in the overhead compartment. He slapped Karim on the back and said as he looked at his wristwatch, “Twenty-five minutes to Miami.” He looked out the window at the dark, swirling clouds and flashes of lightning, and asked, “How's it look Karim?”

  Karim smiled with the friendliness that the colonel showed him and said, “Weather will soon be clearing, Colonel; the squalls are moving out to sea. The target area will be clear and calm.”

  Aziz clapped his hands. “Excellent, just excellent!” he spread his arms and continued, “At last! We strike at the heart of the evil of the world, and shall go down in history as the martyrs that placed Irajh in her rightful place in the world!”

  Karim held a steady course despite the winds outside.

  It was sunny and warm in Miami as Juan Sanjuaro sat in the stalled traffic in front of the Hotel Le Grande. His taxi window was open and the lady in the rear was clearly upset. “Sir!” she groaned, “Can’t you put the air condition on? We’ve been sitting here for thirty minutes and I’m melting!” Juan looked at her through the rear view mirror and said with a shrug, “The car would overheat if I put the air on miss. We should be going soon.”

  She wiped her forehead as she mumbled, “Damn foreigners, why do they have to have their damned OPEC meeting here? Why not have it over there where they’re used to this damned heat?” Once again the driver looked at her in the mirror, “This is a very good thing miss, having an OPEC meeting here in Miami. Maybe we can get them to lower their oil prices.” The honking of horns drowned her response out.

  Dan ran as fast as he could, easily jumping the obstacles they set up in the dark. Damn, he thought, I know more about the insides of this ship than I do my own house. He rushed into the room that he and Jennifer used as their hideout and climbed up the ladder at the rear of the room. He opened the door of the Rudder Test Unit box and took a deep breath as he peered in.

  “Jim, I hope you know what you're talking about.” He grabbed the red lever and pushed it from the center to the right. Immediately, the huge rudder snapped to the right. The wind pushed against it and the ship was thrown violently into a continuous right-hand turn. The sudden jolt almost threw Dan off the ladder. He banged his head against a rung as he started his old habit of talking to himself.

  “Damn! Good thing I was holding on. Gotta tell Jim, to tell the next guy, all the info pertinent to the switching of the rudder lever.” He rubbed his head as he started back down the ladder.

  In the gondola, Aziz and Karim go crashing into a wall. Aziz got up and saw blood on his hand. His nose was bleeding. “What now?” he turned to Karim sprawled on the floor, trying to get up. “What now I ask, Karim? What now?” He picked the pilot up and almost threw him against the control wheel. “Is this the work of the storm or that, that, man inside the ship?”

  Karim rubbed his head and was on the verge of passing out, “My, my colonel . . . I, I don’t, I mean, I’m not sure, wha . . .?”

  Aziz sat him down and realizing he needed him, said in a softer voice, “Sit, Karim. Sit and gather your facilities. Rest a moment.” He went and looked out the window, as the ship circled in the storm.

  It was panic in room number one for a moment or two. Jim smiled from a sitting position as he and the others were all thrown to the floor with the violent turn. Good going, Dan, he thought, Good going.

  Levon came over and helped him to his feet. “Jim, did Dan do this?”

  Jim nodded as he stood. “Yes, he did, and he bought us some time too, laddie.”

  “Is this the signal to rush the guards?”

  Jim shook his head. “No, if Dan wasn’t able to play havoc with the rudder, we would have to rush them in,” he looked at his wristwatch, “about ten minutes. But now, I say, let Dan follow through with his plan. He’ll be sure to let us know when he wants us to rush out.”

  Jim and Levon looked out the window and see the same scene that Colonel Aziz saw: the ship circling inside of the dark storm.

  Aziz gave the pilot a drink of water and watched as Karim stood and rubbed his eyes.

  At last, this weakling seems to have recovered, thought the colonel as he asked in a gentle voice, “Karim, What is the problem? Can you fix it?”

  Karim tried the wheel: It doesn't turn.

  “Karim? What is happening?”

  Karim looked at the compass. “We're circling! He must've done something to the rudder!” He ran over and picked up the blueprint of the airship off the floor. Aziz watched as the pilot ran his finger down to the rear area of the drawing, the tail section. Karim looked at him with eyes wide. “Oh! There's a unit in the tail,” he looked at the small type and said as he squinted, “It’s labeled a ‘Rudder Test Unit’ and it’s back in the tail! Probably in the Aft Maintenance Room.”

  Aziz is trying to keep from exploding, “A rudder test unit? You didn’t know of this sooner? Is it something we can fix from here? What must be done?

  “My colonel, somebody has to go back there and disconnect it, or we'll keep circling. It overrides our co
ntrols.”

  Crimson with rage, Aziz smashes a Fire Emergency Box, grabs an axe, and rushed out as he screamed, “This time he dies! This time, it will be me that goes back there. I will return with his head.” He stormed out the door, up the short flight of stairs and entered the Passengers Lounge. He ran into the hallway where Ali and Harun stood guard outside the passenger rooms. Aziz slid to a halt long enough to call out to the guard. “Ali! Come with me.” Ali ran after the colonel. They stopped at the door to the interior where Rashid stood guard. “Rashid!” Aziz screamed, “Ali and I are going into the interior and kill that man. Let no one pass.”

  Dan ran along the port side walkway toward the forward section. The gasbags prevented him from seeing the door open, and Aziz and Ali as they ran down the starboard walkway towards the Auxiliary Control Room.

  Dan went as far forward as the walkway permitted. He had done some security patrolling in this section before but always when the ship was moored on the ground. As it was the very point of the airship and the part that always faced into the wind, it trembled as the air flowed over its skin.

  As Dan came to the ladder he needed to use, he got a chill. Wow! he thought as he put a hand and foot on the rung, I was never afraid of heights before. What’s my problem now? He started up the ladder and realized, “Damn! I have a new phobia! That fall must have given me a fear of heights.” He put another hand and foot on the ladder and thought, Got to do this Dan, think of the girls.

  He went up, and as usual there was a small platform at the top of the ladder. He quickly sat and felt sweat run down his back as he held on tight. “No time for fear now, Danny Boy. You have a job to do, now do it!” He stood and to his left, in a box attached to a girder, was a length of coiled rope. The box had stenciled on it, ‘STARBOARD GROUND HANDLER’S ROPE’ He faced a hatch stenciled ‘STARBOARD ROPE HATCH’ and turned the locking device. The hatch was hinged at the top and swung upward. He opened it, and instantly he was engulfed in rain and wind that blew him backwards off the platform. He slipped and grabbed for a rung, finally got a hand on it, and almost yanked his arm out of its socket by the sudden stop. He slowly climbed back up and sat on the platform again. It was wet, and he was cold and exhausted. He stood again and braced himself as he opened the hatch once more. The wind and rain poured in on him again, but this time he was ready for it. He secured the hatch in the open position and then reached and took the end of the coiled rope. He fashioned the rope into a harness around his midsection, then measured off about forty feet and tied the end to a girder. He shrugged his shoulders as he felt for the pistol once again. “Time to do my best impression of Spiderman.”