Beyond the Endless Sky

Chapter 24

"Did we miss our launch?" The captain asked, as he reached down and checked his pocket watch. His tone was as gentle as it ever was with Yannick, and he smiled as if something had gone right. "Make sure your answer's accurate. I'll understand if it takes a bit longer than usual."

"He wouldn't be the first person to put a ship off course because of a pretty girl," Leslie added. His remark broke the restraint holding the rest of the crew from laughter. Tonya's giggles came out of her mouth as if it had been pushing at her lips to escape. Mercy laughed so hard she had to support herself by resting her hands on her knees, and Anita leaned on the dock rails. Leslie looked rather proud of himself as he laughed at his own joke. Even the captain smiled, though he didn't join in the mirth. Instead, he waited near Yannick, his smile still gentle, one hand still holding his now folded pocket watch.

Yannick, to his credit, had worked through the laughter, though his face was a distinctly pink colour. "Nine, nine more minutes, sir."

"Mercy, Anita, get that suit on Clarissa before she tries snogging my navigator again. Leslie, Tonya, get the boat in place," the captain said, as he turned around and began to unfold a thick, heavy looking grey object.

Mercy guided Clarissa to a massive, grey suit spread out on the dock. Her boots were standing next to where the feet were, and Clarissa sat down to take off the clingy boyfriends. Once she finished, she stood up in time to see Tonya disassemble a brass clamp a bit larger than Leslie's hand.

"You can wear your boots inside the suit. Leslie could wear it in a pinch, so it will fit you better with the clingy boyfriends," Mercy explained as she did her best to bunch the suit up and hold the only opening open. "It's a Monastery void suit. It will keep you breathing and comfortable even when you and the captain are up above the sky. Monastery gave it to us years ago, and check it over every time we return. Feet first."

Carefully, Tonya and Mercy guided Clarissa's feet into the suit, then slowly pulled it over her waist, and tucked her arms through the holes. Once it was on her shoulders, they set the wide brass collar together, and used the clamp Tonya had disassembled to secure the rest of the opening, until the clamp rested like a piece of armour on Clarissa's shoulder.

Tonya and Mercy picked up the helmet and carefully set it around the suit's collar. It clicked into place with a single, firm twist. From the corner of her eye, she could see Tonya twist a latch on the side of the helmet.

Mercy tapped the glass with her knuckles, hard enough to rock Clarissa back. She stumbled to catch herself, and responded with a swing of her arm that flailed impotently in the air.

"Seal's good?" Mercy's muffled voice came through the glass. There was a small clang from somewhere behind her, and then she could hear the mechanical wheeze of a hand pump beginning to push more air into her suit. To her immediate distress, the suit became harder to move, ballooning up until the limbs were even stiffer than the suit's weight already made them.

Mercy lifted Clarissa's arm and began to feel around the suit. Behind her, Tonya said, "No air loss on the pressure gauge, LT. I'd feel fine riding in it."

"You also felt fine flying through the ruins," Clarissa mumbled irritably, just before someone twisted something on the back of Clarissa's head and the suit deflated a little.

The captain was also suited up, in a suit that looked less like Clarissa's ballooned form and more like a suit of armour. Where she was wearing half a fish bowl in front of a pressurized cauldron, the captain had a helmet that had two well-tinted glass lenses set on a steel helmet. Instead of an inch of fabric he had thinner material set beneath chainmail, with greaves, paldrons, and more arrayed overtop.