Gaia's Brood

Chapter 6

"You could have told me where we were going," Izzy grumbles.

I could have and I should have, but everything was too frantic last night. And since then I've been too busy, I lie to myself. Besides, where did she think we were going to pick up supplies? If I'd told her before we left she might not have crewed for me at all.

I peer through a telescope at the trading platform on the horizon, which we are fast approaching. Unlike New Frisco, the fragile wooden structure of decks and suspended boardwalks rely entirely on hydrogen balloons to maintain altitude. A large warehouse dominates the single deck, the "Shop," surrounded by a mass of docks for visiting airships.

"I'm not sure there's anyone home," Izzy says, "looks deserted."

The Shonti Bloom limped along all night on one spluttering bio-engine, then at dawn we dived into a bank of cumulus cloud. No sign of pursuit, but I know Jack McGraw won't give up that easy—he has a Father to impress. Inside the cloud cover we changed direction and headed west––a course that took us out over the open sea and ended at Uncle Felix's trading station.

Just like me, mother would have stopped for supplies as she headed off on her last trip. If anyone knew where she was headed, it's Uncle Felix.

As the first rays of dawn strike the photo-voltaic fabric of the blimp, the battery cells swell with energy and Scud activates the tail. I sigh with relief as the Shonti Bloom picks up speed—at least there's nothing wrong with her main propulsion.

Electronic synapses, built into the rear third of the blimp's semi-rigid skeleton, snap up and down with alternating electric currents. This causes the large tail flukes to churn the air powering us forward with great sweeps: maximum thrust, minimum energy.

I cut the sick bio-engine. With more momentum, I can now engage the forward fins to improve the steering.

Free at last of the clanking engine and sluggish rudder, the Shonti Bloom soars through the air like a porpoise skimming the clouds. My heart soars too—this is what flying is all about: the rush of adrenalin as you ride the breeze, the sheer joy of surfing the eddies, and the flow of the currents. Everyone thinks I joined the Pilot's Guild to follow in my Mother's footsteps, but the real reason is the joy I'm now experiencing. One trip in my Mother's airship, as a young girl, and I was smitten. I just love the sensation of flying—it's all I've ever wanted to do.

Fernando tries to snatch the telescope from Izzy. She ducks out of reach of his grasping hands. "Mine. I got here first."

When I visited the trading station as a kid, before mother left, I remember it constantly bustling with activity—a stream of noise and color; traders, post packets, and leisure yachts docking, and departing all the time. I know Reavers have killed off much of the leisure traffic since then and our skies are generally quieter (most traders travel in convoys as protection against Reaver raiding parties), but surely things can't have changed that much.

This inactivity worries me. Something is definitely wrong. I train my telescope on the floating rig. A stab of fear chills my heart, a ragged black flag flutters from one of the supporting cables: Plague.

"We're still going in," I say, determined to find out what I can from Uncle Felix about my mother's last trip—even if he is at death's door. How dangerous can it be?

"Not until we've voted," Fernando declares, "No Captain can make a decision like that, Nina. Not without the crew's consent. Guild rules, remember."

I was hoping no one would remember, but he's right.

Scud searches me out from his seat in front of the wheel. "Guild rules must be obeyed, Nina. We don't even know whether your uncle is alive."

I have lost the argument before I've even begun, so I might as well be gracious. I don't want a mutiny on my very first day as captain.