A Queen Among Crows: Book One of Empire's End

by M. S. Linsenmayer

  "How high are we?" I asked the Grand Duke.

  "About 12,000 feet. You can see houses from that height, tall buildings, city streets if brightly lit, maybe large trucks. People, horses, just look like moving ants. That is why I assumed train cars or such at first, or perhaps those new armored tracked vehicles the Army keeps demanding money for." As he spoke, everything went dark for a moment, then with a cymbal like crash, all the searchlights blasted on at once, sending lances of harsh yellow light into the predawn night below us.

  I heard them before I saw them; a loud hollow long drawn out whistle like a steam engine. My eyes were fooled by the flickering searchlights and shadows; I though they must be manmade objects, the skeletal ruins of once mighty skyscrapers, perhaps. But no, they moved, and quickly, rearing up to hoot their challenge back to us, before charging in even faster. It was impossible to see any detail, they were black and gray, striped like zebras, but massive, larger than anything I had ever seen except a whale.

  "Lois? James?" I asked.

  "Teeth. They have lots and lots of teeth. Mammoths, my feathered arse." James sounded almost subdued. And he cracked jokes while under artillery fire.

  "Very well, at least we have discovered what probably happened to my countrymen. Madame, can you contact the local birds and have them scout the area?" The Grand Duke asked.

  "Yes, come dawn, but I don't know what or how many I will get, most will have fled the destruction." I was still in shock at the size of these things.

  "So be it I..." The airship shook, as if something had hit it. The Grand Duke started to shout an order, but stopped, staring, as a vast shadow flew past the observation window. Far too large to be a bird, a specter on the sky, it passed above the searchlight beams and then circled around. In a moment two, no three more followed.

  The airship shook again, then began to list port side. The Grand Duke roughly shoved past me, bellowing "Make Way" as he began to jog with heavy steps towards the fore hall and the bridge stairs beyond. Alarms began to ring, and then red lights lit all along the ceiling, giving the world a stark hellish look.

  We were under attack.

  And the Maphnk were very real.

  #

  The great airship was now listing to port by almost thirty degrees; I had to keep my hands on the wall as I tried to run down the now slanted hallway to the command deck. Outside the ship the faint retorts of gunfire began to be heard, as she began to fire back at her attackers. Scarce at first, then with louder thunders as the anti-aircraft began to engage, throwing their explosive charges wildly all around the ship.

  "They are too close to hit" a man's voice in the command deck yelled.

  "Get us above them, maximum lift, now!" The Grand Duke commanded.

  I shoved my way past the guards at the door "Belay that!"

  The Grand Duke turned on me, fury on his face "Explain, now, or I will throw you off my ship."

  "The ceiling" I exhaled "Of an airship is what, thirty thousand feet? Large winged predators can top that, and climb faster. But they cannot match your speed unless they are diving." I squeezed past the officers to stand by the helm "Full speed ahead, steady as you can. Then you can either outrun or cross them in a T, as the Duke chooses."

  The helmsman, young, all sandy hair, blue green eyes, and acne, looked up at me, gulped, and turned to his commander "sir?" he squeaked out.

  The Grand Duke stared at me for a minute, anger and thought warring in his eyes. The ship shook again, and that decided it for him "Full speed, steady as she goes, Mr. Chekhov. Mr. Popov, speak to the engineer, I want one hundred and five on engine rotations."

  "One hundred and five, aye sir" Popov bellowed out and orders began to be repeated back and forth. Worse than birds, these airship men. The Grand Duke waved his hand at me, and stepped front to the observation window. I turned left to sidle after him around the helm console. Before us the vast window showed almost nothing, black shapes moving across black skies over black land lit only by the crimson and orange lightning flashes of random flak fire.

  "Is this all random, do you think, or is an enemy behind this? Is someone driving us away from the impact site, or towards it? And if so, why?" I asked.

  "Never" The Grand Duke ground past my question "Countermand my orders on the bridge again. You may be correct this time, but it will not happen again. If you have something to report, signal me, and do so. Am I understood?"

  "Sir, yes sir." I saluted.

  "Good. As to your question, there is damage to one lifting bag, how bad we don't know yet, and we have lost pressure, but it is not catastrophic. This ship was built to take such injuries. We can patch the leaks and compensate withe the other bag and engines. It will slow us, but that is all. Madame Bird" He turned to look at Lois "Your analysis, if you please."

  "Your Highness?" If Lois was surprised at being addressed directly her voice didn't show it.

  "Could these be natural creatures?"

  "At this point" The command deck quieted as Lois started to speak "It is impossible to be sure. There are clear pros and cons, however, to that argument: On the positive side, they have been reported in your mythology for over a thousand years, and they exhibit traits related to several terrestrial species, both current and extinct. On the negative side, mythological reports are not clear biological facts; someone would have found some evidence of such large creatures before this, and two separate cryptic species, both predators, would leave a lot of evidence."

  "One, I think" James put his beak in "All the flying ones looked male to me. Much larger males with big teeth is the sort of thing us gentleman birds notice."

  "Extreme sexual dimorphism? Insects and fish do that, not higher creatures. But it would explain the communication" Lois wiggled her wings "It is a hunting pattern, the small males spot the prey from the air, then drive it- probably herds of caribou and the like- towards the waiting females, who are ambush predators..."

  Lois was interrupted, and almost fell, as the airship shuddered again, but this time in a front back direction. The acceleration, which had been constant, stopped for a second then with a massive weight lunged forward much faster. Julie caught me as I staggered back, before helping me upright. The Grand Duke barely even budged.

  I started to say something, but Popov bellowed out "Main Propellers engaged, one hundred and five, as ordered, your highness. Engineer recommends not keeping this speed for more than forty minutes."

  "Very good. Mr. Popov." The Grand Duke turned to his crewmen "Keep an eye on those temperature gages, if you please. Have the helm maintain this speed as long as safe, then cut down to normal cruise. If this is an attempt at a delay, I shall not allow it. Damage reports by section as soon as possible."

  "How fast are we going?" I asked. The helmsman looked at the Grand Duke, who nodded.

  "About One hundred forty miles per hour." The helmsman said.

  "Oh my." And I thought that damn automobile was going too fast. I think I missed horses. I couldn't stand them, really, during the war, or they at least could not stand me; but they didn't run into mountains and make an awful mess, either. "A great bird can hit ninety, but only when swooping, in a straight race they can reach at most thirty or forty. And will have to slow for their ground forces, if they are working together."

  "That is the plan" The Grand Duke was about to say more when an older officer came up and handed him a stack of papers "Good, good, damage reports, Mr. Yeltsin." He turned back to his officer "Take the spy, the genius, and the lunatic to navigations, then get those photographs from weapons control. I want an idea where we are going to be racing too."

  "Aye, sir," A Ukrainian accent on this one. "Madame spy, genius, lunatic, follow me please. " He marched off, smartly, even with the listing of the ship.

  I followed, if less smartly, with more sliding of feet and hands on the wall. I was beginning to hate air travel. Julie followed, then the girls, and lastly James, who not only hopped, but also skipped, serpented, sha sha'd and for a few step
s, danced the apache, all while singing matching vaudeville tunes. The looks on the bridge crew's faces was almost worth the pain caused by his singing voice. His tenor was fine, but the falsetto, oh dear gods, the falsetto.

  #

  Navigations was a long, rectangular room two levels above the command room, lit by large red electric lights on the ceiling. Clocks, six at least, all set to different times, were on one wall, and the other was full of cubbyholes containing row after row of rolled up maps. Four officers had several of these maps splayed out on the tables now, while a fifth bald officer with a glorious mustache constantly made markings on a complex chart pinned to a drawing board, beside him a young enlisted man wearing a radio ear set kept in constant contact with the helmsman on the bridge.

  I stood with Julie, James, and the girls beside the clock wall and tried to pretend to be useful while Lois prowled along the table, searching among the maps and photographs like some ebony feathered tiger. "Where is that developer?" She snarled "I need a clearer shot of the tip of the axis, and he promised me a close up ten minutes ago."

  "I thought" I said "The plan was to estimate from the size of the devastation."

  "It was originally, but that was never going to be very accurate; too many variables, the number of trees, mass of the trees, amount of water or snow on the ground, and so forth. If I can get a clear image of the axial indent, however, we can get something much clearer; the angle of incidence should roughly equal the angle of reflection, with the shape of the shock wave echoing down to the ground below. Basic ballistics." Lois said.

  "Basic ballistics" Julie looked at me, totally lost.

  "Like a billiards ball bouncing on the wall." I explained "The Object comes down too fast, hits air, and bounces like a stone on a pond. The ripples from each impact made the damage to the ground below; Lois thinks she can calculate how far it skipped?"

  "But can we just not follow the trail of destruction?" One of the navigators asked.

  "Nein." The man with the fantastic mustache said. "The last jump will have come down soft, and possibly have made no sign at all. We will need an idea where to search."

  "Ah, I love good Prussian engineering. Efficiency at its best." Lois preened.

  "Ahem." James barked "You may be young again, Missy, but we have eighteen kids, remember?"

  "James, really!" Lois, well, squawked. "Besides, he is human. "

  "Like that mattered to you sister." James pretended to cough into his wing.

  "Dad! What? Did aunt Ruth? Really??" The girls all said at once.

  "Enough!" Julie pushed herself to the front of the room. "Lois, here comes your photographs. This sounds like it may take a while, I am going to get some coffee and eggs. And Eryma." She turned to look at me "If they are aspects of your personality, you are insane."

  I was too embarrassed to answer, just stood there and tried to look stoic as James continued to mutter under his wing. Julie looked at me for a moment, then stomped out the door and down the hall.

  After a second glance at their mother, the three girls hopped after Julie, asking if they could have some eggs too. And cheese, sausage, bacon, biscuits... I wondered if Anna had any idea what she was getting into with Ilona... Well her Grandmother Elizabeth was an Empress, so at least the food will be fresh.

  "Go ahead dear, and save me some if you can, this will take at least an hour." Lois was now engrossed beak down in her new photographs.

  "All right, but I will leave James with you for now, just in case of more... Rats" I headed out the door for the officer's mess. I am not sure Lois heard me, she was busy starting her calculations, but James saluted, so that was fine.

  My shoulder felt empty as I walked after Julie and the girls, but it's not like Lois and I haven't split up before. It was the incident in Prussia, I feared, and then was strangely happy; I may have lost my old scars, but I was getting new ones fast, at least on the inside.

  In order to encourage the growth of these budding emotional issues, I spent most of lunch surreptitiously looking under tables, cupboards, napkins for rats, time bombs, and those strange pajamas wearing assassins the Japanese like. Once I explained what I was doing, Julie offered to help me look... Under my clothes. As I was fairly certain there were no rats or bombs there (one can never be certain about ninjas) I declined, but not without some regret. It would be time to get back to work all too soon.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Lions, Tigers and Maphnk, Oh My

  Interlude

  Signal Received: 31st October 1908, 16:31 hours

  Code Group: Blecher B6 A1 Red Priority

  Signal Transcript:

  For First Sea Lord Admiral's Eyes Only

  Sir, while attempting to navigate Nansen Ridge passage have encountered Russian Naval Patrol. Stop.

  Cannot travel around them due to ice conditions. Stop

  Observations of enemy vessels indicate these are older local patrol ships, not Russian Imperial Navy, repeat not Russian Imperial Navy. Stop.

  I am confident my command can destroy them with minimum damage to own ships. Stop.

  Do we engage? Need response at once. Stop.

  Admiral Sir Archibald Berkeley Milne, HMS Indefatigable

  After eating, and some flirting, but mostly eating, we all stomped back to the navigation room, I at least remembered to bring Lois a snack. A hardboiled egg, some cheese, and a bit of dried bacon. The Russians fed their crews well, I will give them that. There were, it seemed to me, two types of governments; the ones that fed their people, and trusted them not to rebel, and the ones that fed their troops, and trusted them to put down any rebellion. The problem with the latter is any troop, no matter how well fed, has issues with shooting their own grandmothers.

  The shiny uniforms, fancy marches, and loud marching music help with all that, but the only real way to keep the troops going is to give them a justification, a reason to believe they are doing things for the greater good. Every military empire, sooner or later, needs an enemy to fight. I wonder if Catherine has thought about what she will do, when she has no more enemies to conquer?

  And what did it say about me that I worried about feeding my troops?

  I figured Lois would still be beak deep in her calculations when I got there, and I was right, what I did not expect was the Grand Duke would be with her, dress jacket off, sleeves rolled up, and a pencil behind his ear. He was at the table with her, head bent down, along with senior officer navigator Mr. I have glorious mustaches, whose name I should probably try and get some day. They seemed quite happy about something.

  I waited until a break in the murmuring, then rapped once on the door post "Lois, your lunch."

  Her eyes lit up "Ah, good, I am famished."

  The tray clanked on the table, away from the maps. "Give me a second, dear, and I will peel these eggs for you... I take it we have had some success?"

  "Yes, quite." The Grand Duke stretched his back before reaching for his own coffee. "We found a second 'splash' much smaller than the first, with an epicenter about two miles off from where Madame Genius Bird predicted it. Sadly, it does bring me some concern; too many of these 'splashes' and the object could very well end up in the Laptev bay, which is a half-frozen lightless abyss, making it almost impossible to obtain."

  "I doubt it will go that far" Lois said around her bacon bits "Each splash, as you call it, cuts the power and velocity of the object by an enormous amount; it may get one or two more, but each jump will be less than the cube root distance of the first... We have confirmed one thing however; the object is not in any way natural."

  "Because a natural object would not behave like this?" I asked.

  "No, love, because no natural object would survive behaving like this. Each splash releases a considerable amount of energy, which is applied to both the atmosphere- hence the shock wave and resulting ground damage- and equally to the object itself; and any energy that cannot be absorbed as force is instead applied as heat."

  "Which" Officer Must
ache mused "Is why the trees are burnt to ash."

  "Exactly. Excuse me." Lois stopped for a second to swallow some egg. "I hate to keep using words like 'considerable' or 'immense' but there is no other real way to describe the sorts of numbers we are talking about; natural meteors, even heavy ones made of nickel or iron, vaporize or disintegrate after a splash like this."

  "Everyone." Lois hopped over the big map, and pulled it open, putting her talon on the first splash zone. "I know you are all thinking about politics, and science, and possible uses for new technologies. But please consider this for a moment; This object, from the point of view of our weapons technology, may very well be indestructible. It has already survived powers far greater than any artillery or explosive we know of can create; Even your dread Mother, your Highness, may be no more threat to it than a fly. If these people, and yes, I say people, because I do not believe in gods or magic; if these people who created it are hostile, our entire world may be in grave danger."

  A horn sounded twice. "Command deck to Navigations." A voice piped in over the speaker.

  The Grand Duke walked over to the wall and picked up a speaking tube. "Navigations. Romanov here. Go ahead, Mr. Yeltsin."

  "We have another possible impact site ahead, sir, close to where it was predicted. Request permission to slow to take photographs."

  "Permission granted" The Grand Duke reached for his jacket "I am on my way up there. What is the visibility?"

  "Clear, with some light rain, you Highness. It is five forty-two local time, still dark but we can see the ground without lights."

  "Ahem" Lois straightened up "Please ask if the impact shape is butterfly or round?"

  The Grand Duke shrugged and repeated the question.

  "Neither, your highness. It's irregular, almost a shaped like a goose neck." Mr. Yeltsin answered.