A Tale Of Two Secrets: A Steampunk Serial

Chapter 7

My sweetheart I have left behind - I'm bound to fight the Swarm!
And if by chance I don't return, who'll keep poor Sally warm?

- Traditional aeronaut shanty

After a wrong turn or two, Jo and Henry found the quartermaster's office then located their berths in the airship's sleeping quarters. As the newest airmen on board, they were relegated to the least desirable bunks in the stern, where the thrum of the engines would be their constant, rumbling companion.

"At least I won't be able to hear it if any of you snore," Henry joked. He pointed at the beds built into the wall of the airship. "Top or bottom? I'm happy with either."

Now that she was masquerading as a man, Jo was tempted to make the obvious joke Henry's choice of words inspired - most of the time, her gender precluded her from delivering the really good punchlines that sprang to mind - but she remembered his reaction when she'd been called a 'Molly' and refrained. Still, she couldn't keep a slight smirk from her face as she stowed her duffel bag on the bottom bunk.

Henry noticed and flushed a bright red, but Jo was glad when he didn't pick a fight. She rather liked what she'd seen of him so far and hoped they might become friends. She had never had a male friend before and there was something incredibly freeing about not having to think about every word that came out of her mouth before she uttered it.

"So what made you decide to join the Fleet?" Jo asked as the others chose their bunks.

"There's ten of us kids at home," Everett volunteered, "so when I turned fourteen my choices were to go into service or enlist. Life on an airship sounded better than working as a houseboy." He grinned. "At least in the Fleet, there'll be adventure."

"And you?" Jo asked Henry.

"My reasons are similar." He avoided her gaze and seemed disinclined to comment further.

Hmm. Jo filed away his reaction for later consideration. Was her potential new friend telling the truth or was he hiding something, as she was?

"What do you think the Swarm will look like up close?" Jo wondered. "Surely the newspapers exaggerate." 

The illustrations she'd seen depicted the Swarm as a vast army of overgrown wasps, each larger than a man. Collectively, they were reputed to be capable of bringing down an airship before it could fire a single volley in self-defence. 

"It's no exaggeration." A male voice joined their conversation and Jo looked up to see a rather dashing young man standing over her. 

She studied the insignia on his uniform. A midshipman, if she wasn't mistaken - although she very well might be. In her opinion, the hierarchy of aeronautical officer ranks was more complex than it had any right to be.

"So the Swarm is really as deadly as they say?" Everett asked.

"Aye." The midshipman - if that was indeed his rank - nodded. "You'll hear them before you see them. Depending on the size of the offshoot, you'll sometimes hear them while your'e still a league away."

Jo frowned. "Offshoot?" She wasn't familiar with the term.

"Most civilians think of the Swarm as one huge mass that travels together, but that's one thing the newspapers did get wrong. The main body of the Swarm never leaves Australia, where their Queen is located. 'Offshoots' are what we call the smaller groups of wasps that foray into Asia and beyond."

"How big are these groups?"

He shrugged. "Sometimes they're quite small, several hundred at most. The largest that's been confirmed was the original group that invaded Asia twenty years ago. That offshoot was supposedly thirty thousand strong."

"That's more than the entire British Fleet," Henry said weakly.

Jo swallowed around the lump that had formed in her throat. For the first time since leaving home, it occurred to her that this escapade might not have been among her most brilliant of ideas.

The aeronaut looked at their stricken faces and chuckled. "Don't worry, we won't get close enough to Australia to see an offshoot anywhere close to that size. The Sparrow is small and fast, built for reconnaissance and the like. You'll all get a taste of the adventure you were craving without facing any real danger - at least on this first voyage, anyway."

"I hope we do see an offshoot that size," boasted the airman who'd argued with Jo on deck earlier. "I'm not afraid of some brainless insect."

The aeronaut's expression didn't change, though his smile became cooler somehow. "What's your name, airman?"

"Silas Drake."

Yes, the other man's smile was distinctly frosty now. "I'll want to remember that so I can notify your next-of-kin when your ignorance gets you killed."

Drake stood up and would likely have done something foolish if Jo hadn't stepped in front of him. "Airman Joseph Thomas at your service, sir. And these are Everett Watson and Henry Larkin. We're pleased to make your acquaintance."

As the words left her mouth, Jo chided herself. Pleased to make your acquaintance? What had happened to her resolution to speak more like a man instead of a society miss?

Fortunately, no one else seemed to remark upon her manners.

"Midshipman Joshua Davies." Their new advisor gave them a slight bow as he introduced himself and Jo felt a surge of triumph. She had been right about his rank. "Do I know you from somewhere?" Davies continued, staring at Jo. "You look remarkably familiar."

"No, I'm certain we've never met," Jo said in as low a tone as she could manage. It wouldn't do to have Midshipman Davies pondering who she reminded him of and come up with a comparison to a sister or some other female.

Perhaps she should revise her estimation of this plan, she thought as she left the sleeping quarters to report back to Sergeant Brasch. So far it had gone off without a hitch and she was having a whale of an adventure.

What could possibly go wrong?