Railroad Spine, Parts XXVII, XXIX and Epilogue!
And down the stretch we come! I've written over 5,000 words already today. I've had theses scenes in my brain for a long while, so it was easy to get out even though I don't feel very well. And dbalthasar, this first chapter should definitely have an Abney Park soundtrack. Preferably "Airship Pirate," but I'm not too picky. ;D
I realized today as I was saving the draft that I completely forgot about the "score" ageing/time-keeping system. I went back and changed a few things. Instead of 150 years, I said eight score and fifteen years. If it was under ten, I left it (it sounded ridiculous to call Linus "two-tenths of a score old" when he was two).
And now, done! 78,105 words. Not bad for something that started as a drabble and was planned for a 25k story. ~g~
XXVIII
They were guided in under normal procedure; there was no reason for the hangar crew to think anything was amiss. The Tamerlane was hooked and guided into a stall with other Behemoths close enough on either side that their dirigible balloons brushed against each other. Hannah worried her bottom lip and glanced at Dice. Reading her unspoken question, Dice nodded and squeezed the Airskip's shoulder. They would have enough space to escape. If anything, having the other vessels so close would make the Tamerlane more difficult to hit. As they settled, Dice turned to face the crew.
Her crew.
"Okay. Those decoy crates we loaded in Newams can be off-loaded. Make yourselves look busy, but don't actually do much of anything."
"I think I can handle that," Isaiah said.
"Peri." Dice forced herself to be professional. She bought herself a moment to rein in her emotions by checking the gold pocketwatch she'd borrowed from Paul for the occasion. Their timing was perfect. She shouldn't have been surprised; she had made the run from New Amsterdam to Potomac and back countless times. "Jess will send out the signal in thirteen minutes. You'll have to be in place by then."
"No problem."
"The rest of you... let's move the weapons to the gangplank. Keep them out of sight, but I want them close at hand in case we have to shoot out way out of here." She stepped down and threw out professionalism to kiss Peri. "I love you."
"I love you, too." She kissed the corners of Dice's mouth. "I'll see you in a bit."
Dice motioned to Micah, who handed her a small canvas bag. "We have ten full nodules left. I want you to take them with you in case you get cut off and need to run. If that happens--"
"Get to Newams, find Jess, and hole up with her and the rest of the Ruffians."
"Right." She stroked the back of Peri's neck and knew that anything else would just be blatant delaying tactics. She exhaled sharply and kissed Peri's forehead before stepping away from her. "Eleven and a half minutes. You should go if you don't want to get trampled by security."
Peri took the bag of nodules and stuck them into the top pocket of her cargo pants. She brushed Dice's arm and stepped away from the wall. The others followed the two women through the ship to the gangplank, where Peri stopped and kissed Dice again. "That's not goodbye. That's a promise. I'll be back."
"You'd better be."
Peri winked and looked at the others gathered behind them. "Puno srece," she said.
Lots of luck. The group echoed it back to her, and Peri slipped away before she could delay any further. Dice watched her cross the hangar and enter a glass door at the far end. She was visible through the windows for another few seconds before she turned and disappeared into the labyrinth of corridors. Dice assured herself she hadn't seen the last of her lover - death couldn't keep them apart, how could one little potentially suicidal mission? - and turned to her crew.
"Come on. Let's get busy before someone gets curious about why we're just sitting here."
#
The halls felt like something from another life. And, she supposed, that's exactly what they were. She had been reborn in New Amsterdam... no. She had been reborn in Dice's arms. The woman who lived and worked at this base was a wholly different creature than the one currently treading through its corridors. The devices in her chest had less to do with that transformation than did one Candice Victoria Bodger. Peri noticed a few familiar faces and kept her head down. Fortunately enough of them seemed busy enough with their own work that they didn't notice her.
The day felt so monumental that it was hard for her to believe they were going about their usual business. She heard a discussion about lunch, and she saw someone asleep at their desk. The day was about to get very extraordinary for these people very soon. She had been counting in her head and, as near as she could tell, she had eight minutes before Jess threw the switch and the base went ballistic. She picked up her pace ever so slightly, just someone late for a scheduled meeting, or on their way to break, nothing to be concerned about.
"Midwife Novak?"
She stared at the door in front of her and debated just stepping through. But if someone recognized her, she couldn't have them following her to the computer bay. She slowly turned and saw a tall, gangly bald man in a tailored suit standing a few yards behind her. She'd vaguely noticed him as she passed, but now his brow was furrowed and his horizontal bracket of a mouth was agape with confusion.
"You were listed as... deceased."
She recognized him just barely; Richard Mayfair. The base had a slew of Mayfairs; Harold and Richard and Malcolm and Sebastian. They served one purpose: interrogation and punishment. Peri felt a sudden chill as Mayfair stepped forward and examined her face.
"You are. You're Midwife Peri Novak. You were reassigned to New Amsterdam, and disappeared. There was talk of a..." His gaze wandered, and then snapped back to her face. "You were trespassing, Midwife Novak..."
Peri was still counting.
"You'll come with me, please."
Six minutes.
#
Dice scrambled up the belly of the Tamerlane, a sealing compound dangling from a leather pouch. She had the strap clenched in her teeth as she reached the point where the ship was hooked to the hangar. If anyone asked, she was simply doing a bit of maintenance to prevent a small gas leak from becoming deadly over New Gotham. Their forged assignment papers revealed they were going from Potomac to Crescent City to Seattle Alki and then back south to Calafia Peninsula before coming home. Hopefully that would explain all the supplies they were carrying, should anyone care to peek.
She hung from one arm and took out the sealing compound. She sprayed it across the rigid material of the ship where there was no tear, coating one of the metal ribs where it met the fabric. It wouldn't do any harm, but it wasn't going to do any good, either. With a quick glance down to make sure no one was paying attention to her apparently standard maintenance, Dice stretched out and pressed the nozzle of the sealant to the hook. She squeezed, and the mechanism groaned like an old man settling in a chair. All it would take was one steady pull from the ship and they would be free.
She crawled back down and compulsively checked her pocketwatch.
Six minutes were left before Jess sent the signal.
#
Mayfair was already half-turned, expecting her to fall into line like everyone else he and his ilk confronted. Mayfairs were not to be trifled with, not to be ignored. Peri waited until he'd taken his eyes off of her before she turned and pushed through the door. Stairs marched up from her current position, which was little more than a glorified prison cell. Mayfair called after her, and she stepped to one side of the door and pressed herself flat against the wall. When he came through, his focus was on where a fleeing criminal would have been. He looked right past her. She wrapped her arm around his neck and forced him down, squeezing her bicep so that it pinched his windpipe.
Mayfair went down on one knee as Paul had when he demonstrated the move to her. She grabbed her wrist and pulled, adding strength to her hold, baring her teeth until Mayfair went limp. Peri made the unfortunate mistake of relaxing, and Mayfair swung his balled fist into the side of her knee. She cried out as she went down, and Mayfair threw his weight into her. He wasn't as puny as the suit made him look, and he pressed his forearm against her throat. Peri croaked and clawed at his sleeve.
"You're one of them, aren't you? What do you call yourselves? July Tenthers? Pathetic. What do you hope to accomplish, you lot? We provide you with careers, with lives. We give you homes. You want for nothing, and yet you... Ruffians insist on tearing away. Rebellion for the sake of rebellion makes no sense."
"Intellige--" Her voice was pinched in her throat. "Intelligence is a right. Not... privilege."
"Would you give a pistol to an infant? Would you allow a toddler to fly an airship? We simply control the intelligence. We... keep... you... safe."
"And God help anyone who steps out of line."
"Yes," he hissed. "What would you even do with unlimited information? No one can know everything and they would go insane from the attempt. What you are advocating is mass lunacy. If we caved to your demands, if we allowed the Ruffians what they so desperately think they want, how long do you think it would take for the country to crash into anarchy? We control intelligence and knowledge because it keeps people safe."
"Who made you God?" Peri whispered.
Mayfair leaned closer. "Who made Tesla God?"
Peri squirmed, and Mayfair pressed her tighter against the wall.
"You will tell me why you're here, where you've been, and you will tell me who is assisting you. And if you cooperate, I will take something minor. Say... one of your ears."
"Good choice." Peri slapped her hand against the side of his head, and the power nodule shattered against his ear. He shrieked and recoiled as the acidic battery fluid within splashed over the side of his face, coating his cheek and chin. Peri managed to get her hand away before she was scalded as well. Mayfair dropped to his knees, and Peri grabbed his wrist. She used his own hand to cover his mouth, stifling his howls of pain and burning the skin from the heel of his hand in the process.
Soon he was silent, and Peri was trembling as she took her hand away and stare down at the dead man. She felt cold, stunned at herself, and shuddered at what she had just done.
She looked down at him. "Sorry. Anything you have two of is fair game, and this base has a shitload of Mayfairs."
She dragged him out from the open, hiding him behind the stairs where he wouldn't be discovered for some time. She found a watch in his pocket, since she'd lost count when he was choking her. Four minutes.
Peri ran up the stairs like the devil himself was after her.
#
Three minutes. Micah grabbed Dice's shoulders and stopped her forward momentum, and she realized she had been pacing. "The only one acting suspicious is you." His voice was firm and even. "People are going to wonder what you're waiting for. So sit down, shut up, and relax. Peri can handle herself."
Dice blinked at him. "Wow. Firm hand, Micah."
He shrugged. "I've learned from the best. Paul can be quite the hardass. Just relax. Pacing isn't going to do anything but draw attention."
Dice nodded and walked deeper into the ship. She went to the cockpit, where Hannah was making a final check of the systems. She looked up and smiled nervously.
"You ready?"
"You know your endgame is insanity, right?"
Dice acknowledged that with a tilt of her head. "Nothing we can do about it. It's the only way we get out of this in one piece. Will you be ready?"
"When the time comes, I may hand the controls over to you."
"Understood. For now, just be sure this bird is ready to take to the air, okay?"
Hannah nodded. "Dice... what religion is Peri? I-I want to say a prayer for her, but I don't want to offend if she's--"
"Honey... if you want a prayer, call out to any deity you can think of. I'll pray one of them is actually listening."
She turned and, because she couldn't help herself, checked her pocketwatch again.
Ninety seconds.
#
Peri dropped into the seat at the computer bay. She was shaky from what had happened in the stairs, weak from running the rest of the way to her destination, and her heart... oh, her heart. She rubbed the slope of her chest, grimacing as it felt like the damn thing was moving in circles. It felt like it had swelled. Oh, God, what if one of the braces had snapped? She'd seen the schematics. If the heart fell to pieces inside of her, she... it...
She wet her lips and checked her watch. Eighty seconds.
She looked at the computer. Seventy-six seconds.
Peri leaned forward and started typing.
#
Jess had a small clock sitting on the table next to the computing device. Computer. Whatever. The name they gave it wasn't as important as the sequence of events Micah had told her to enter. The library was picked clean. The countless books that had once lined its shelves were now in a remote location, as were all of the personal items from the bedroom. She knew because she'd gone looking for a memento of Paul. Nothing remained. She was the only person left in the house, unless one counted the enormous portrait of Pretty Nikola on the second floor landing.
She eyed the clock's slender hand as it counted off seconds, and then looked at the keypad. She clicked her fingernails, bright red today in honor of Nikola Night, and wet her lips. She was the fulcrum of their plan. If the plan was successful, she would never see Paul again. He and Micah would sail off into the sunset to live out the rest of their lives together. If they failed, though, Paul would come back. She would see him again.
She rested her hands on the keypad and took a deep breath. She heard Micah's voice in her head. "All you have to do is type 're-route, access, portal 328.' When it asks if you're sure, type 'Y.' After that, things might get... noisy. You'll want to run as fast as you can for the hills."
Jess began to type. Paul had made his decision. He chose Micah.
She looked at the clock and, when the second hand passed the XII, she pressed 'Y.'
#
ow-waow-waow-waow-waow-waow-wa
Dice heard the ratchet and clank of the hooks securing all the airships in the hangar to their docks. She looked up and saw the machinery of the Tamerlane's hook move... and then fall back into place. She breathed a sigh of relief and moved back into the ship with the others. They were all armed, but they kept their weapons out of sight. It was an unnecessary precaution; the other ships in the hangar with crew still aboard had closed their gangplanks at the first sound of alarm, as was procedure, and the dock workers had fled to see if their security training was necessary elsewhere.
One good thing about base-wide alarms was that they were never specific. It could tell everyone nearby that a threat was detected, but it didn't specify what the threat was. At the moment defense was all hands on deck.
Dice steadied her weapon. "Only fire if they come after us. Not a second before."
Paul and Isaiah nodded. They were standing on opposite ends of the gangplank, backs to the wall, watching the hangar that was suddenly utterly devoid of life.
Two minutes passed, and the clarion only got louder and more invasive. Dice wanted to clap her hands over her ears, but she pushed the desire aside and focused. Suddenly, there was a chime at her waist. She didn't pay attention to it until the chime was repeated by Paul, and Micah, and Isaiah. They looked away from the hangar to remove their Mistyks. Cecily had already pulled hers out and was holding it when the lights flickered.
"Good Lord, she did it."
Pride swelled in Dice's chest, and she blinked away tears before they could build up. Peri had done it. She'd unlocked all the intelligence the base had to offer and now it was being spread to anyone with a functioning Mistyk device.
Paul laughed. Dice smiled at him, and their eyes were locked when the bullet tore through his shoulder and he fell to the deck.
#
Ezra rolled his eyes and fumbled for his Mistyk. "I know the updates are ready to install, but I don't have the fucking... memory to..." He frowned at the screen and tapped the controls. His eyes widened as he went through the new menus. He clicked on one, certain he would get an error message. Surely this was...
"Monkey."
Ezra had no idea why that was the only word his brain let out, but it was followed by a shrill and almost demented laugh of joy. He clutched his device with both hands and turned away from the forgotten item he'd been working on. He began saving everything he could to his hard drive, deleting things to make the room.
He planned to learn as much as he could before the intelligence went away.
#
Though she had been expecting it, Jess still jumped when her Mistyk activated. She picked it up off the table and stared in disbelief as words began to flow across the screen. Her eyes became wet and she kissed the curved top of the device. "Amazing. Simply amazing... way to go, Midwife Novak."
She pocketed the Mistyk; she would have time to read later. For now she had to get out before the signal was traced to the townhouse. She walked through the empty corridors, pausing just for a moment to push the Tesla painting aside. She entered the digits - the date of Nikola's birth - and let the painting swing back into place.
Jess was halfway across town when the explosive detonated. The townhouse imploded in on itself. It hadn't been part of the original plan, but once Paul pointed out Jess' original career was as a demolition expert, it seemed like the perfect way to stymie any government bloodhounds.
She hummed to herself as she walked to the docks and looked out over the water. She looked to the south and said a prayer that her people would be safe.
#
Dice opened fire on the security officers, cursing her distraction as Isaiah lugged Paul back to safety. The right side of his shirt was black-red with wet blood, and his face was deathly pale. Penn dropped to her knees and applied pressure to the wound as Micah and Dice laid down a wave of fire on the incoming forces.
Isaiah picked up the railgun, which was too bulky to hold and fire at the same time. He rested it on the gangplank and Cecily steadied it as he pulled the trigger. Pale red tracers marked the path of each bullet, and the officers not hit began a heavy retreat. Dice's watch was hanging loose against her thigh and she glanced down to read its face. They had agreed to wait thirteen minutes for Peri.
It had only been five minutes since the Mistyks came to life.
As the officers retreated to the relative safety of the corridor, Micah said, "We're not going to be able to wait."
"Fuck that."
"Dice... it--"
"We promised her thirteen minutes, we're giving her thirteen minutes. Six left." She brought her gun up again and fired at a brave or stupid security officer who had poked his head around the corner. "We can hold them off."
Micah took a deep breath. "Dice, even if we waited, and even if she manages to get back here, she'll have to run through the line of fire to get back on the ship. Paul needs medical attention. He's bleeding to death."
Dice set her mouth in a firm line and watched the doors. She was trembling. One casualty. It would be a miracle if they could get out of this with just... one... casualty.
Micah went in for the kill. "He risked so much to give Peri back to you. Give Paul back to me. Please."
Dice felt tears she didn't remember crying on her cheeks. She stepped away from the gangplank and went to the intercom. She put her thumb on the button and leaned her weight against it. "Hannah... roll engines."
"What? Time."
"We don't have the luxury of time. Fire the engines. Get us ready to go." She rested her head against the hull and sobbed. "I'm so sorry, Periwinkle. Forgive me. Oh, God..."
"Stop her!" Isaiah bellowed.
Dice spun, unsure what he was talking about. The Tamerlane was coming to life under her boots, and she stepped away from the intercom to see what he was looking at. Micah pushed past her, hit the button, and leaned toward the speaker to be heard over the cry of the still-wailing sirens. "Hannah, belay! Do not lift off. Roll engines, but do not leave the ground!"
Dice walked back to her former position and froze when she saw what had caused their change of heart.
Peri.
She was pinned down, huddled against the wall, arms crossed over a bundle of cloth she was holding to her chest. Dice was trembling with fear as she watched the security guards moving closer to her lover. Isaiah said, "What the hell is she holding?"
Peri ducked her head, covering her bundle. Dice squinted and, in a moment of clarity, realized what Peri had brought back from the base.
"Our son. Peri's... carrying our son."
XXIX
Dice reloaded her gun and moved with only one comment, directed at anyone who was still listening. "Cover me."
Cecily and Isaiah followed her out of the ship, both of them shooting as Dice ran to where Peri was trapped. Security turned their attention on the main threat, and Cecily covered Isaiah as Isaiah covered Dice and Peri. Dice reached her partner and grabbed her, only for an instant able to see the face of the child she was holding. His hair was like spun gold, falling over ice blue eyes, and she knew without a doubt it was Levi Barton's child. Peri looked up, eyes wide and frightened until she recognized who had come for her. "Dice..."
"Come on..."
She got Peri to her feet and they ran back toward the gaping access at the back of the airship. "Roll up!" she shouted. Micah disappeared to relay the order to Hannah. Cecily had been hit while Dice's back was turned, and Isaiah was using his weak arm to carry her back toward the ship as he continued firing. Dice took her from him, and he brought up a second weapon to keep the security officers back.
Now that the ship was ramping up for departure, they had grown bolder. They couldn't risk allowing the Tamerlane to leave and they would stop it and her crew at all costs. Bullets pinged off the metal shell of the ship, and Dice saw several bullets sink into the fabric at the back of the dirigible. It was okay... it was fine. They would manage without the rear gas cells. She heard helium hissing from the tears as she pounded up the gangplank and laid Peri on the ground next to Paul.
Cecily's wound was in the leg, and she waved off any attempts to coddle her. "Hand me a gun. I can still shoot sitting on my ass."
Peri stayed on her back. Her face was ashen, and she was gasping for breath. The boy pushed himself up, hands on her shoulders, and then looked at Dice. Her eyes were wide, and she still heard the sounds of gunfire pinging against the sides of the ship.
Peri smiled. "They... never... sent... him... anywhere. All... full." She wet her lips and closed her eyes. "Chest hurts."
Dice tore open the collar of Peri's shirt and opened the hatch. The boy - Linus, he was Linus - leaned back, but looked more interested than scared. Dice fought a smile; definitely his father's son. She opened the hatch and nearly cried out in horror at what she saw.
Two wires had been pulled loose, the wires that modulated the power suck from a single nodule. Peri had disconnected them so that her heart could draw from all three at the same time. Tendrils of steam rose from the settings, and Dice knew she would burn herself badly if she tried to pull them free.
"What the hell did you do?"
Peri smiled as her eyes rolled back in her head in what Dice hoped was just a dead faint.
Seven minutes earlier
She didn't have any time whatsoever.
It was amazing how time could tick by endlessly, and then rush by so fast it left no trace. It was like filling a bathtub with a single half-opened faucet, then draining it with a hatch the size of the Tamerlane's gangplank. She was drowning in time, choking on the seconds that passed as she accessed her own records - open so they could be accessed by whoever inherited her files - and skimmed backward. She didn't remember Dice's case number, something that had haunted her since the day she joined the Ruffians, but she remembered the date. It was engrained in her memory, the day she had held Dice's child in her hands before he was so cruelly torn away.
She found the date and clicked. She was sweating profusely as she ran over the information. She didn't know what she expected to do with the information. Even if he was nearby, they--
Here.
Linus was here, in Potomac District. He had never left. She felt her heart pounding, elated, as she stared at the information. Then she saw that the time had come. She backed out of the Maternity Ward files and did what she had come here to do. In eighty seconds she had all but memorized the file. Linus' name, his location... It was so impossibly brilliantly optimistic that...
Her heart fell as her brain processed the child's location. He was in the almshouse. She checked the watch she'd stolen from Mayfair and saw time was running out. She would only get to Linus and back to the airship in time if she went at a flat-out run, and she was already so goddamned tired...
She looked down at her chest and made a decision. She pushed down the material of her shirt, opened the hatch, and pulled free two wires. Something inside her protested at this, but she ignored it. She juggled through the nodules in the bag Dice had given her until she found three that were full. She took out the empty and half-empty ones, dropped them on the ground, and pushed the fresh nodules inside. She pushed their contacts into place and--
It was an orgasm, a long-held sneeze, and ten hours of sleep rolled into one.
Peri gripped the edge of the desk, shuddering as her body dealt with the sudden and unprecedented flood of power. Her fingers drummed a rhythm on the desk as she pushed herself to her feet. She turned and ran faster than she ever had, the walls and windows becoming blurs as she pounded her feet on the carpet, putting her hand against the wall to guide herself around corners like a missile. Her heart was like an alien creature embedded in her chest, fighting to escape as she pounded through the halls. She burst through the doors to the almshouse, knocking over a person she never even realized was there, and ran into the back room.
--where the children are kept when there's a problem so that they're safe oh my Christ I'm about to come again this feels so fucking good (feels bad too) I can't believe how good it feels (heart's about to explode) want to feel like this forever want to fuck like this have to find--
Rows of beds stretched out on either side, and kids sat hunched on top of their military bedding. Peri felt a surge of dismay, but then she saw him. It was as if a spotlight was shining on the boy three beds in on the left. The hair and those eyes; who else could he be? She went straight for him and knelt in front of him. She remembered the name assigned to him in the files and tried to smile reassuringly. She must have looked mad; sweat streaking down both sides of her face, pale, breathless. She tried to look reassuring as possible as she put her hands on his shoulders.
"Are you Aaron Three?"
"Aaron Mayfair."
Peri couldn't stop a look of disgust from passing over her face. Of course they would assign a wayward child to the Mayfair program. She pushed her personal feelings aside, ignored the twinges in her chest, and pushed his hair back out of his face. "You don't have to be, if you don't want to. You can be Linus Bodger. If you want, I can take you to your momma."
He looked at her with curiosity and suspicion. Oh, Dice's smart, smart boy. "I don't have a momma."
"You do. You have two." She smiled. "I'm one of them. If you want--"
He jumped at her. At first she thought it was a bizarre, four-year-old's attempt at attack, but then he wrapped his arms around her neck and hung from her like a strange necklace.
"All right. Hold on..."
Now
The ship shuddered as Penn checked out Peri's hatch. The fight continued with Micah and Isaiah providing the cover fire as Hannah laboriously lifted them off the ground. The gangplank seemed to take hours to close, and the security officers got off a last few lucky shots that pinged off the metallic hull and made them all duck. Luckily, no one else was injured by the ricochets. Dice, unable to help Peri, turned to look at the boy.
"Hi."
"You look like me."
Dice smiled. "There's a good reason for that. I'm your mother. I've come a long way to find you."
He mimicked her smile. "Thanks."
Dice laughed and put her arm around him. His head turned and she knew he was looking at Peri. "What's wrong with other momma?"
"She's... she's just resting." She looked at Penn, whose face was a study in neutrality. Micah and Isaiah were kneeling by Paul and Cecily respectively, administering what first aid they could while Penn dealt with Peri. "Penn..."
"Go," she said. "You're needed up there."
Dice kissed her son on the forehead. "I'm going to take you somewhere you can be safe, and--"
"Can I stay and help?"
Dice looked at Penn, who shrugged. "Sure you can. Just do what these people tell you, okay? I'll be right back." It took a huge force of will to let go of her son's shoulders and walk away from him, but Hannah needed her. What they were about to do required all the skill they could get. She raced through the ship, thrown roughly against the wall a few times as the ship lurched up and outward.
Hannah's face was streaked with sweat, and her hands trembled around the U-shaped steering wheel. She glanced back at the sound of Dice's footsteps and the tension seemed to seep from her body. "Thank God. Everyone aboard?"
"And then some. Mostly in one piece. Are you good?"
"I... I wish you were..."
"Don't change horses in midstream. Trust yourself."
Hannah pressed her lips together and focused on the task at hand. The Tamerlane emerged from the hangar and sunlight poured across the faceted windscreen at the front of the cockpit. Dice could practically hear every tower-mounted gun from New Amsterdam to the Flyovers turning to face them. The entire coast of the continent was armed to the teeth against them. If they got past the initial barrage, wires were now being sent up and down the seaboard with the Tamerlane's call sign and identifying characteristics. Not that they would be hard to miss with their deflated rear end.
Dice put a hand on the back of Hannah's neck and felt the thick sweat on her skin. "You ready?"
"As I'll ever be."
Both Airskips held their breath as Hannah turned the Tamerlane east and pushed the engines. The nacelles purred as the ship rolled forward, not back onto land.
The phalanx of weaponry held silently as the Tamerlane powered out across the still waves of the sea.
Epilogue
Dice had no idea there could be so much water in the world. They'd left land behind some time ago, and ahead there was nothing but a hazy blue cloud line where the sea and sky met. Dice had joined Hannah in the cockpit to watch the dials slowly spin down. Micah had done what he could, shifting the gas from cell to cell, spacing them out so there were fewer dead zones, but the damage done in their escape had taken its toll.
They were going down, and there wasn't even a rumor of land in the vicinity.
Hannah released the wheel and said, "Boss?"
"Don't mind if I do."
They exchanged positions and Dice slid back into the worn leather of the seat. Suddenly she was transported back in time, and she took a moment to enjoy the flashback. She wrapped her right hand around one tine, and turned on the intercom with her other hand.
"This is Airskip Bodger. The moment I've been telling you about for a while now is upon us. Man your stations and report any leakage. Isaiah has assured me that the ship is airtight, but he also told Penn the sheath would work. So we all know how trustworthy he is."
Isaiah's mock-hurt, "Hey!" echoed through the bowels of the ship, and Hannah chuckled behind her hand.
"Brace yourselves for touchdown. I'm going to make this as gentle as possible, but... to be honest, I've never done this before. Hang on tight."
After they were out of range of any coastal weapons, Isaiah and Micah had risked climbing outside to patch up any bullet holes that would make them leak. Windows were caulked or covered with wooden planks. The railgun mounts, glass hemispheres attached to the bottom of their ship, were sealed off as she knew they would shatter on impact.
As the last gas cells failed, Dice took them down at a gentle angle, back pressed against the seat due to the descent. Hannah wrapped her hand around a leather strap, her boots sliding across the floor until she pressed the side of one boot against the console.
Dice waited until the water splashed across the windows to flick the second switch. The final gas cells vented their contents, and the ship was momentarily lighter than air. It skimmed across the water like a stone being skipped, and Dice held her breath. If they were too heavy... if they were even a little too heavy...
"Now," Dice said into the intercom.
An alarm sounded as Micah hit a release that, in training, Dice had been ordered to never, ever use. There was no emergency worth it, and her instructor didn't know why it had been installed. Dice doubted they had a moment like this in mind, but whatever their intent, it worked. The dirigible balloon separated from the body of the airship - just a ship now, she supposed - and was blown back as their momentum sliced them through the water. Dice was tense, biting the inside of her cheek hard enough to draw blood as she watched the ocean rush past the glass.
Then, after an eternity of barreling forward, the ship stopped.
Dice let out an explosive breath and turned around to look at Hannah. She was so pale that her hair looked like fire. "I didn't think it would work in a million years."
"I don't blame you." Dice stood and patted Hannah on the shoulder. "I'm going to go check on the troops. Keep us on an even heading."
"I'll do my best. I'm not much of a sailor."
Dice went down into the body of the ship. She could smell the salty, wet smell of the ocean coming through the hull, but as far as she could see the seals had held. She knocked on the metal and confirmed it wasn't too strained before she stopped to check on the patients. The first large room she came to had been set up as a medical center. Paul had some of his color back, thanks to blood transfusions from Hannah. He had obviously been sleeping during their landing, and he ran his hand through his hair when he saw her. "I thought I booked a non-stop voyage."
"Stop complaining or I'll tow you in a dinghy out back." She looked at the other patients. "Everyone okay down here?"
Cecily looked up from her Mistyk and smiled. It was heavily bandaged, but Penn predicted a full recovery. "If you have to be anywhere during a rough landing, I recommend lying down on a soft bed."
"Glad to hear it." She gestured at the device in Cecily's hands. "So what are you reading about?"
Cecily gave a joyous sigh. "Everything."
Dice winked at her and moved around the foot of the bed to where the last patient had set up a small den. She knew it was unfair to have a favorite patient, a most-loved crew member, but everyone knew where her bias was and seemed okay with it. Her smile faded when she saw what was transpiring on the smooth sheet. "Hey, corrupter. What the hell are you doing to our son?"
"Losing to him," Peri said. "Badly. I think cheating at Six-Bones is genetic."
"You could just play better," Linus suggested.
Dice bent down and kissed his head. "He's right, darling. You are terrible at it."
Peri stuck her tongue out and finished tallying up the points from their last game. "I owe you eighteen kisses. Your mommy--"
"You're betting me now?"
"Your mommy," Peri repeated, "owes you twenty-eight kisses."
Dice bent down and began paying off her debt by smooching Linus' forehead until he squirmed away from her in a fit of laughter. His foot shot out and knocked the cup off the edge of the bed. He tensed and flinched when it hit the ground, his mood changing like the flick of a switch. His arms were tight against his chest and his eyes widened like dishes.
"I'msorryIdidn'tmeanto."
Dice bent down so that her eyes were even with his. "You're in a different place now, Linus. Understand me? You can mess up. You can be a bad kid... every once in a while. And Momma Peri and I will love you anyway. Know why?"
"Cause... I'm yours."
Dice smiled. "Damn straight." She kissed his forehead, his cheeks, and held his shoulders as she straightened. "Just don't be too much of a bad kid when you're bad."
"Promise."
Dice stooped down and retrieved the cup, tossing it to Peri. While Linus was preoccupied with the bones, Dice lowered her voice and touched Peri's chest. "How are you?"
"I'm doing very well. Very, very well."
Dice didn't doubt her, but she couldn't help worry. The stunt with the nodules had cost Peri dearly. The contacts were melted, completely burnt out, and even a fully-charged nodule wouldn't pick her up. But her heart was in one piece, as was her lung, and Penn cautiously predicted a full recovery. She would have to take it easy, but in the long run Dice knew she considered it a fair exchange.
She ruffled Linus' hair again as she backed away from the bed. "Let her win a couple, boy. I want to owe her a couple of kisses."
Peri waved goodbye and set up a new game. Dice left and found Micah, Isaiah and Penn waiting in the engine room. "You guys ready for this?"
"I'd rather wait until Paul was a hundred percent, but... if the option is drifting aimlessly, I think we should get it done ASAP."
Dice nodded. "Okay. Shouldn't take too long... I hope." They followed her to a hatch that was normally used for gas cell maintenance, but Dice jerry-rigged the latch and led them up and out onto the top of their newly streamlined vessel. Dice put her goggles on to protect her eyes from the wind and looked back the way they'd come. Their wake cut a wide swath in the ocean, and she could see the deflated cone of their balloon settled on the waves like the moon had fallen out of the sky.
Micah handed up the tools. Dice and Isaiah went to work, turning screwed and releasing the strip of metal that ran down the center of the ship's body. When it was slid back, tumbling off their rear like jetsam, the corridor was exposed from the cockpit all the way back to the cargo bay. Dice was just able to straddle the gap, one foot on the flat metal to either side, and Isaiah went down to help Micah with the long, bulky poles they had loaded before leaving Newams.
They stood it up and Dice used her arms and legs to hold it in place as they bolted it to the floor. When it was secure, Isaiah put his shoulder against it and used all his weight to test its strength. It didn't budge. Dice whooped, and the men smiled up at her. She motioned them onward. "Okay, boys. We have two more of these things to erect."
Isaiah snorted and moved to the next mast.
Dice had used the pictures in the maritime book as her guide. It was one of the few tomes she'd smuggled out of New Amsterdam and, she hoped, it would help get them where they needed to go. If there was something she needed to know that wasn't in the book, well, she could just look it up on her handy-dandy new Mistyk. She smiled as she caught the next mast and held it tight as the men secured it.
By the time the sun was touching the watery horizon, Dice's insane fantasy had come true. The Tamerlane had three billowing sails, sewn by Cecily, being pulled taut by the breeze. Hannah abandoned the steering column and focused more on using the tiller to guide them. When the stars come out, Dice did her best to note where they were so they wouldn't get too far off course... whatever their course actually was.
Hannah and Micah spent the night in the cockpit. Dice knew that Hannah was training him to take a few shifts, but she also suspected they were taking advantage of the alone time. Paul seemed to give it his blessing, at least while he was laid up, so Dice didn't say anything. When the ship went to bed for the night, Dice joined Peri in her med-room bed, curling with her under the blankets while Linus slept on a smaller folding bed on the floor next to them. They had offered him a full-sized bed, but he told them he was more used to the smaller bed.
Dice didn't want to force him, but seeing him on the little cot broke her heart. "Okay, but maybe we can transition to a bigger, nicer bed. Can we try that? Just a little at a time?"
He nodded, and Dice and Peri both kissed him goodnight. Cecily and Paul said goodnight to him as well. Dice smiled; he'd become a bit of a mascot among the crew. Peri rolled over in Dice's arms and kissed her neck, and Dice took the opportunity to kiss her in the dark.
"I love you, Periwinkle."
Peri chuckled and brushed her cheek against Dice's. The sway of the ocean lifted the ship and gently put them down again. Dice's stomach flipped but she knew she could get used to it. She closed her eyes, her arms crossed over Peri's back, and fell asleep to the sound of Paul's snoring.
#
"Momma!"
"Mm. Your son is calling you."
Peri stirred, but made no move to get up. "Why is he always my son when he wants something before breakfast?"
"You held him first."
"Technically you held him for nine months."
"He saw you first."
Peri slid her hand down and then sharply slapped it against Dice's rear end. Dice yelped and sat up, bending back down to kiss Peri's temple. "You're going to pay for that once we get our own rooms again..."
"Promises, promises."
Dice slipped out of bed and pulled on her much-mended leather trousers. They'd been at sea for twenty-six days now, and the ship had acquired an odd rhythm. It helped that they had lived together in the townhouse, but being trapped on a boat together put them at a high risk of homicidal behavior. Dice squeezed Peri's foot before she left the med-room and headed up the makeshift ladder to the upper deck. There was a railing that ran along the outside of the ship, originally meant to hold the dirigible in place but now providing a lovely viewing platform. Linus loved coming out to look at the water, but Dice made sure he knew to never go up by himself. At the moment, he was sitting on Isaiah's shoulders, but the big man put him down when he saw Dice approaching.
"What's all the hubbub, bub?"
Linus ran to her, grabbed her hand, and dragged her back to the railing. He pointed, and Dice leaned back to call over her shoulder, "Peri! Get your ass out of bed! The rest of you should probably come, too." She looked at Isaiah, who looked like a kid on Christmas. The railing was just barely low enough for Linus to see over, and he put his hands against it and stretched. Dice put her hands on top of his to keep him steady as the rest of the crew joined them on the upper deck.
Peri pressed against Dice from behind, arms around her waist, and gasped at what was ahead of them. Cecily was using a cane, leaning heavily on Penn. Micah and Paul walked together, Paul's dead arm tucked against his side. Hannah was the last to arrive.
"I saw it through the glass, but I thought I'd just been on shift too long. But if you all see it..."
"We see it," Dice said. "Land."
Ahead, the solid line of the horizon had broken into something green that seemed to stretch across the face of the world. Dice bent down and kissed Linus and, as she did, she noticed something. The gap where her pinkie should have been exposed her son's index finger. For an instant, it looked like it was starting to grow back. She would blame the tears in her eyes on sea salt if anyone commented, but no one did.
"Will they like us there?" Linus asked.
"Sure they will. But if they don't, we'll figure something out. It's what we do best."
The ship was lifted on an ocean swell and foam splashed up to wet their pants. Linus ended up soaked, and Dice picked the boy up and held him so he would be saved from any further deluge. Whatever they found on the land that lay ahead, they would deal with it or move on. She leaned back against Peri and tightened her arms around Linus.
Right now she doubted there was anything this crew couldn't accomplish.
THE END
I realized today as I was saving the draft that I completely forgot about the "score" ageing/time-keeping system. I went back and changed a few things. Instead of 150 years, I said eight score and fifteen years. If it was under ten, I left it (it sounded ridiculous to call Linus "two-tenths of a score old" when he was two).
And now, done! 78,105 words. Not bad for something that started as a drabble and was planned for a 25k story. ~g~
XXVIII
They were guided in under normal procedure; there was no reason for the hangar crew to think anything was amiss. The Tamerlane was hooked and guided into a stall with other Behemoths close enough on either side that their dirigible balloons brushed against each other. Hannah worried her bottom lip and glanced at Dice. Reading her unspoken question, Dice nodded and squeezed the Airskip's shoulder. They would have enough space to escape. If anything, having the other vessels so close would make the Tamerlane more difficult to hit. As they settled, Dice turned to face the crew.
Her crew.
"Okay. Those decoy crates we loaded in Newams can be off-loaded. Make yourselves look busy, but don't actually do much of anything."
"I think I can handle that," Isaiah said.
"Peri." Dice forced herself to be professional. She bought herself a moment to rein in her emotions by checking the gold pocketwatch she'd borrowed from Paul for the occasion. Their timing was perfect. She shouldn't have been surprised; she had made the run from New Amsterdam to Potomac and back countless times. "Jess will send out the signal in thirteen minutes. You'll have to be in place by then."
"No problem."
"The rest of you... let's move the weapons to the gangplank. Keep them out of sight, but I want them close at hand in case we have to shoot out way out of here." She stepped down and threw out professionalism to kiss Peri. "I love you."
"I love you, too." She kissed the corners of Dice's mouth. "I'll see you in a bit."
Dice motioned to Micah, who handed her a small canvas bag. "We have ten full nodules left. I want you to take them with you in case you get cut off and need to run. If that happens--"
"Get to Newams, find Jess, and hole up with her and the rest of the Ruffians."
"Right." She stroked the back of Peri's neck and knew that anything else would just be blatant delaying tactics. She exhaled sharply and kissed Peri's forehead before stepping away from her. "Eleven and a half minutes. You should go if you don't want to get trampled by security."
Peri took the bag of nodules and stuck them into the top pocket of her cargo pants. She brushed Dice's arm and stepped away from the wall. The others followed the two women through the ship to the gangplank, where Peri stopped and kissed Dice again. "That's not goodbye. That's a promise. I'll be back."
"You'd better be."
Peri winked and looked at the others gathered behind them. "Puno srece," she said.
Lots of luck. The group echoed it back to her, and Peri slipped away before she could delay any further. Dice watched her cross the hangar and enter a glass door at the far end. She was visible through the windows for another few seconds before she turned and disappeared into the labyrinth of corridors. Dice assured herself she hadn't seen the last of her lover - death couldn't keep them apart, how could one little potentially suicidal mission? - and turned to her crew.
"Come on. Let's get busy before someone gets curious about why we're just sitting here."
#
The halls felt like something from another life. And, she supposed, that's exactly what they were. She had been reborn in New Amsterdam... no. She had been reborn in Dice's arms. The woman who lived and worked at this base was a wholly different creature than the one currently treading through its corridors. The devices in her chest had less to do with that transformation than did one Candice Victoria Bodger. Peri noticed a few familiar faces and kept her head down. Fortunately enough of them seemed busy enough with their own work that they didn't notice her.
The day felt so monumental that it was hard for her to believe they were going about their usual business. She heard a discussion about lunch, and she saw someone asleep at their desk. The day was about to get very extraordinary for these people very soon. She had been counting in her head and, as near as she could tell, she had eight minutes before Jess threw the switch and the base went ballistic. She picked up her pace ever so slightly, just someone late for a scheduled meeting, or on their way to break, nothing to be concerned about.
"Midwife Novak?"
She stared at the door in front of her and debated just stepping through. But if someone recognized her, she couldn't have them following her to the computer bay. She slowly turned and saw a tall, gangly bald man in a tailored suit standing a few yards behind her. She'd vaguely noticed him as she passed, but now his brow was furrowed and his horizontal bracket of a mouth was agape with confusion.
"You were listed as... deceased."
She recognized him just barely; Richard Mayfair. The base had a slew of Mayfairs; Harold and Richard and Malcolm and Sebastian. They served one purpose: interrogation and punishment. Peri felt a sudden chill as Mayfair stepped forward and examined her face.
"You are. You're Midwife Peri Novak. You were reassigned to New Amsterdam, and disappeared. There was talk of a..." His gaze wandered, and then snapped back to her face. "You were trespassing, Midwife Novak..."
Peri was still counting.
"You'll come with me, please."
Six minutes.
#
Dice scrambled up the belly of the Tamerlane, a sealing compound dangling from a leather pouch. She had the strap clenched in her teeth as she reached the point where the ship was hooked to the hangar. If anyone asked, she was simply doing a bit of maintenance to prevent a small gas leak from becoming deadly over New Gotham. Their forged assignment papers revealed they were going from Potomac to Crescent City to Seattle Alki and then back south to Calafia Peninsula before coming home. Hopefully that would explain all the supplies they were carrying, should anyone care to peek.
She hung from one arm and took out the sealing compound. She sprayed it across the rigid material of the ship where there was no tear, coating one of the metal ribs where it met the fabric. It wouldn't do any harm, but it wasn't going to do any good, either. With a quick glance down to make sure no one was paying attention to her apparently standard maintenance, Dice stretched out and pressed the nozzle of the sealant to the hook. She squeezed, and the mechanism groaned like an old man settling in a chair. All it would take was one steady pull from the ship and they would be free.
She crawled back down and compulsively checked her pocketwatch.
Six minutes were left before Jess sent the signal.
#
Mayfair was already half-turned, expecting her to fall into line like everyone else he and his ilk confronted. Mayfairs were not to be trifled with, not to be ignored. Peri waited until he'd taken his eyes off of her before she turned and pushed through the door. Stairs marched up from her current position, which was little more than a glorified prison cell. Mayfair called after her, and she stepped to one side of the door and pressed herself flat against the wall. When he came through, his focus was on where a fleeing criminal would have been. He looked right past her. She wrapped her arm around his neck and forced him down, squeezing her bicep so that it pinched his windpipe.
Mayfair went down on one knee as Paul had when he demonstrated the move to her. She grabbed her wrist and pulled, adding strength to her hold, baring her teeth until Mayfair went limp. Peri made the unfortunate mistake of relaxing, and Mayfair swung his balled fist into the side of her knee. She cried out as she went down, and Mayfair threw his weight into her. He wasn't as puny as the suit made him look, and he pressed his forearm against her throat. Peri croaked and clawed at his sleeve.
"You're one of them, aren't you? What do you call yourselves? July Tenthers? Pathetic. What do you hope to accomplish, you lot? We provide you with careers, with lives. We give you homes. You want for nothing, and yet you... Ruffians insist on tearing away. Rebellion for the sake of rebellion makes no sense."
"Intellige--" Her voice was pinched in her throat. "Intelligence is a right. Not... privilege."
"Would you give a pistol to an infant? Would you allow a toddler to fly an airship? We simply control the intelligence. We... keep... you... safe."
"And God help anyone who steps out of line."
"Yes," he hissed. "What would you even do with unlimited information? No one can know everything and they would go insane from the attempt. What you are advocating is mass lunacy. If we caved to your demands, if we allowed the Ruffians what they so desperately think they want, how long do you think it would take for the country to crash into anarchy? We control intelligence and knowledge because it keeps people safe."
"Who made you God?" Peri whispered.
Mayfair leaned closer. "Who made Tesla God?"
Peri squirmed, and Mayfair pressed her tighter against the wall.
"You will tell me why you're here, where you've been, and you will tell me who is assisting you. And if you cooperate, I will take something minor. Say... one of your ears."
"Good choice." Peri slapped her hand against the side of his head, and the power nodule shattered against his ear. He shrieked and recoiled as the acidic battery fluid within splashed over the side of his face, coating his cheek and chin. Peri managed to get her hand away before she was scalded as well. Mayfair dropped to his knees, and Peri grabbed his wrist. She used his own hand to cover his mouth, stifling his howls of pain and burning the skin from the heel of his hand in the process.
Soon he was silent, and Peri was trembling as she took her hand away and stare down at the dead man. She felt cold, stunned at herself, and shuddered at what she had just done.
She looked down at him. "Sorry. Anything you have two of is fair game, and this base has a shitload of Mayfairs."
She dragged him out from the open, hiding him behind the stairs where he wouldn't be discovered for some time. She found a watch in his pocket, since she'd lost count when he was choking her. Four minutes.
Peri ran up the stairs like the devil himself was after her.
#
Three minutes. Micah grabbed Dice's shoulders and stopped her forward momentum, and she realized she had been pacing. "The only one acting suspicious is you." His voice was firm and even. "People are going to wonder what you're waiting for. So sit down, shut up, and relax. Peri can handle herself."
Dice blinked at him. "Wow. Firm hand, Micah."
He shrugged. "I've learned from the best. Paul can be quite the hardass. Just relax. Pacing isn't going to do anything but draw attention."
Dice nodded and walked deeper into the ship. She went to the cockpit, where Hannah was making a final check of the systems. She looked up and smiled nervously.
"You ready?"
"You know your endgame is insanity, right?"
Dice acknowledged that with a tilt of her head. "Nothing we can do about it. It's the only way we get out of this in one piece. Will you be ready?"
"When the time comes, I may hand the controls over to you."
"Understood. For now, just be sure this bird is ready to take to the air, okay?"
Hannah nodded. "Dice... what religion is Peri? I-I want to say a prayer for her, but I don't want to offend if she's--"
"Honey... if you want a prayer, call out to any deity you can think of. I'll pray one of them is actually listening."
She turned and, because she couldn't help herself, checked her pocketwatch again.
Ninety seconds.
#
Peri dropped into the seat at the computer bay. She was shaky from what had happened in the stairs, weak from running the rest of the way to her destination, and her heart... oh, her heart. She rubbed the slope of her chest, grimacing as it felt like the damn thing was moving in circles. It felt like it had swelled. Oh, God, what if one of the braces had snapped? She'd seen the schematics. If the heart fell to pieces inside of her, she... it...
She wet her lips and checked her watch. Eighty seconds.
She looked at the computer. Seventy-six seconds.
Peri leaned forward and started typing.
#
Jess had a small clock sitting on the table next to the computing device. Computer. Whatever. The name they gave it wasn't as important as the sequence of events Micah had told her to enter. The library was picked clean. The countless books that had once lined its shelves were now in a remote location, as were all of the personal items from the bedroom. She knew because she'd gone looking for a memento of Paul. Nothing remained. She was the only person left in the house, unless one counted the enormous portrait of Pretty Nikola on the second floor landing.
She eyed the clock's slender hand as it counted off seconds, and then looked at the keypad. She clicked her fingernails, bright red today in honor of Nikola Night, and wet her lips. She was the fulcrum of their plan. If the plan was successful, she would never see Paul again. He and Micah would sail off into the sunset to live out the rest of their lives together. If they failed, though, Paul would come back. She would see him again.
She rested her hands on the keypad and took a deep breath. She heard Micah's voice in her head. "All you have to do is type 're-route, access, portal 328.' When it asks if you're sure, type 'Y.' After that, things might get... noisy. You'll want to run as fast as you can for the hills."
Jess began to type. Paul had made his decision. He chose Micah.
She looked at the clock and, when the second hand passed the XII, she pressed 'Y.'
#
ow-waow-waow-waow-waow-waow-wa
Dice heard the ratchet and clank of the hooks securing all the airships in the hangar to their docks. She looked up and saw the machinery of the Tamerlane's hook move... and then fall back into place. She breathed a sigh of relief and moved back into the ship with the others. They were all armed, but they kept their weapons out of sight. It was an unnecessary precaution; the other ships in the hangar with crew still aboard had closed their gangplanks at the first sound of alarm, as was procedure, and the dock workers had fled to see if their security training was necessary elsewhere.
One good thing about base-wide alarms was that they were never specific. It could tell everyone nearby that a threat was detected, but it didn't specify what the threat was. At the moment defense was all hands on deck.
Dice steadied her weapon. "Only fire if they come after us. Not a second before."
Paul and Isaiah nodded. They were standing on opposite ends of the gangplank, backs to the wall, watching the hangar that was suddenly utterly devoid of life.
Two minutes passed, and the clarion only got louder and more invasive. Dice wanted to clap her hands over her ears, but she pushed the desire aside and focused. Suddenly, there was a chime at her waist. She didn't pay attention to it until the chime was repeated by Paul, and Micah, and Isaiah. They looked away from the hangar to remove their Mistyks. Cecily had already pulled hers out and was holding it when the lights flickered.
"Good Lord, she did it."
Pride swelled in Dice's chest, and she blinked away tears before they could build up. Peri had done it. She'd unlocked all the intelligence the base had to offer and now it was being spread to anyone with a functioning Mistyk device.
Paul laughed. Dice smiled at him, and their eyes were locked when the bullet tore through his shoulder and he fell to the deck.
#
Ezra rolled his eyes and fumbled for his Mistyk. "I know the updates are ready to install, but I don't have the fucking... memory to..." He frowned at the screen and tapped the controls. His eyes widened as he went through the new menus. He clicked on one, certain he would get an error message. Surely this was...
"Monkey."
Ezra had no idea why that was the only word his brain let out, but it was followed by a shrill and almost demented laugh of joy. He clutched his device with both hands and turned away from the forgotten item he'd been working on. He began saving everything he could to his hard drive, deleting things to make the room.
He planned to learn as much as he could before the intelligence went away.
#
Though she had been expecting it, Jess still jumped when her Mistyk activated. She picked it up off the table and stared in disbelief as words began to flow across the screen. Her eyes became wet and she kissed the curved top of the device. "Amazing. Simply amazing... way to go, Midwife Novak."
She pocketed the Mistyk; she would have time to read later. For now she had to get out before the signal was traced to the townhouse. She walked through the empty corridors, pausing just for a moment to push the Tesla painting aside. She entered the digits - the date of Nikola's birth - and let the painting swing back into place.
Jess was halfway across town when the explosive detonated. The townhouse imploded in on itself. It hadn't been part of the original plan, but once Paul pointed out Jess' original career was as a demolition expert, it seemed like the perfect way to stymie any government bloodhounds.
She hummed to herself as she walked to the docks and looked out over the water. She looked to the south and said a prayer that her people would be safe.
#
Dice opened fire on the security officers, cursing her distraction as Isaiah lugged Paul back to safety. The right side of his shirt was black-red with wet blood, and his face was deathly pale. Penn dropped to her knees and applied pressure to the wound as Micah and Dice laid down a wave of fire on the incoming forces.
Isaiah picked up the railgun, which was too bulky to hold and fire at the same time. He rested it on the gangplank and Cecily steadied it as he pulled the trigger. Pale red tracers marked the path of each bullet, and the officers not hit began a heavy retreat. Dice's watch was hanging loose against her thigh and she glanced down to read its face. They had agreed to wait thirteen minutes for Peri.
It had only been five minutes since the Mistyks came to life.
As the officers retreated to the relative safety of the corridor, Micah said, "We're not going to be able to wait."
"Fuck that."
"Dice... it--"
"We promised her thirteen minutes, we're giving her thirteen minutes. Six left." She brought her gun up again and fired at a brave or stupid security officer who had poked his head around the corner. "We can hold them off."
Micah took a deep breath. "Dice, even if we waited, and even if she manages to get back here, she'll have to run through the line of fire to get back on the ship. Paul needs medical attention. He's bleeding to death."
Dice set her mouth in a firm line and watched the doors. She was trembling. One casualty. It would be a miracle if they could get out of this with just... one... casualty.
Micah went in for the kill. "He risked so much to give Peri back to you. Give Paul back to me. Please."
Dice felt tears she didn't remember crying on her cheeks. She stepped away from the gangplank and went to the intercom. She put her thumb on the button and leaned her weight against it. "Hannah... roll engines."
"What? Time."
"We don't have the luxury of time. Fire the engines. Get us ready to go." She rested her head against the hull and sobbed. "I'm so sorry, Periwinkle. Forgive me. Oh, God..."
"Stop her!" Isaiah bellowed.
Dice spun, unsure what he was talking about. The Tamerlane was coming to life under her boots, and she stepped away from the intercom to see what he was looking at. Micah pushed past her, hit the button, and leaned toward the speaker to be heard over the cry of the still-wailing sirens. "Hannah, belay! Do not lift off. Roll engines, but do not leave the ground!"
Dice walked back to her former position and froze when she saw what had caused their change of heart.
Peri.
She was pinned down, huddled against the wall, arms crossed over a bundle of cloth she was holding to her chest. Dice was trembling with fear as she watched the security guards moving closer to her lover. Isaiah said, "What the hell is she holding?"
Peri ducked her head, covering her bundle. Dice squinted and, in a moment of clarity, realized what Peri had brought back from the base.
"Our son. Peri's... carrying our son."
XXIX
Dice reloaded her gun and moved with only one comment, directed at anyone who was still listening. "Cover me."
Cecily and Isaiah followed her out of the ship, both of them shooting as Dice ran to where Peri was trapped. Security turned their attention on the main threat, and Cecily covered Isaiah as Isaiah covered Dice and Peri. Dice reached her partner and grabbed her, only for an instant able to see the face of the child she was holding. His hair was like spun gold, falling over ice blue eyes, and she knew without a doubt it was Levi Barton's child. Peri looked up, eyes wide and frightened until she recognized who had come for her. "Dice..."
"Come on..."
She got Peri to her feet and they ran back toward the gaping access at the back of the airship. "Roll up!" she shouted. Micah disappeared to relay the order to Hannah. Cecily had been hit while Dice's back was turned, and Isaiah was using his weak arm to carry her back toward the ship as he continued firing. Dice took her from him, and he brought up a second weapon to keep the security officers back.
Now that the ship was ramping up for departure, they had grown bolder. They couldn't risk allowing the Tamerlane to leave and they would stop it and her crew at all costs. Bullets pinged off the metal shell of the ship, and Dice saw several bullets sink into the fabric at the back of the dirigible. It was okay... it was fine. They would manage without the rear gas cells. She heard helium hissing from the tears as she pounded up the gangplank and laid Peri on the ground next to Paul.
Cecily's wound was in the leg, and she waved off any attempts to coddle her. "Hand me a gun. I can still shoot sitting on my ass."
Peri stayed on her back. Her face was ashen, and she was gasping for breath. The boy pushed himself up, hands on her shoulders, and then looked at Dice. Her eyes were wide, and she still heard the sounds of gunfire pinging against the sides of the ship.
Peri smiled. "They... never... sent... him... anywhere. All... full." She wet her lips and closed her eyes. "Chest hurts."
Dice tore open the collar of Peri's shirt and opened the hatch. The boy - Linus, he was Linus - leaned back, but looked more interested than scared. Dice fought a smile; definitely his father's son. She opened the hatch and nearly cried out in horror at what she saw.
Two wires had been pulled loose, the wires that modulated the power suck from a single nodule. Peri had disconnected them so that her heart could draw from all three at the same time. Tendrils of steam rose from the settings, and Dice knew she would burn herself badly if she tried to pull them free.
"What the hell did you do?"
Peri smiled as her eyes rolled back in her head in what Dice hoped was just a dead faint.
Seven minutes earlier
She didn't have any time whatsoever.
It was amazing how time could tick by endlessly, and then rush by so fast it left no trace. It was like filling a bathtub with a single half-opened faucet, then draining it with a hatch the size of the Tamerlane's gangplank. She was drowning in time, choking on the seconds that passed as she accessed her own records - open so they could be accessed by whoever inherited her files - and skimmed backward. She didn't remember Dice's case number, something that had haunted her since the day she joined the Ruffians, but she remembered the date. It was engrained in her memory, the day she had held Dice's child in her hands before he was so cruelly torn away.
She found the date and clicked. She was sweating profusely as she ran over the information. She didn't know what she expected to do with the information. Even if he was nearby, they--
Here.
Linus was here, in Potomac District. He had never left. She felt her heart pounding, elated, as she stared at the information. Then she saw that the time had come. She backed out of the Maternity Ward files and did what she had come here to do. In eighty seconds she had all but memorized the file. Linus' name, his location... It was so impossibly brilliantly optimistic that...
Her heart fell as her brain processed the child's location. He was in the almshouse. She checked the watch she'd stolen from Mayfair and saw time was running out. She would only get to Linus and back to the airship in time if she went at a flat-out run, and she was already so goddamned tired...
She looked down at her chest and made a decision. She pushed down the material of her shirt, opened the hatch, and pulled free two wires. Something inside her protested at this, but she ignored it. She juggled through the nodules in the bag Dice had given her until she found three that were full. She took out the empty and half-empty ones, dropped them on the ground, and pushed the fresh nodules inside. She pushed their contacts into place and--
It was an orgasm, a long-held sneeze, and ten hours of sleep rolled into one.
Peri gripped the edge of the desk, shuddering as her body dealt with the sudden and unprecedented flood of power. Her fingers drummed a rhythm on the desk as she pushed herself to her feet. She turned and ran faster than she ever had, the walls and windows becoming blurs as she pounded her feet on the carpet, putting her hand against the wall to guide herself around corners like a missile. Her heart was like an alien creature embedded in her chest, fighting to escape as she pounded through the halls. She burst through the doors to the almshouse, knocking over a person she never even realized was there, and ran into the back room.
--where the children are kept when there's a problem so that they're safe oh my Christ I'm about to come again this feels so fucking good (feels bad too) I can't believe how good it feels (heart's about to explode) want to feel like this forever want to fuck like this have to find--
Rows of beds stretched out on either side, and kids sat hunched on top of their military bedding. Peri felt a surge of dismay, but then she saw him. It was as if a spotlight was shining on the boy three beds in on the left. The hair and those eyes; who else could he be? She went straight for him and knelt in front of him. She remembered the name assigned to him in the files and tried to smile reassuringly. She must have looked mad; sweat streaking down both sides of her face, pale, breathless. She tried to look reassuring as possible as she put her hands on his shoulders.
"Are you Aaron Three?"
"Aaron Mayfair."
Peri couldn't stop a look of disgust from passing over her face. Of course they would assign a wayward child to the Mayfair program. She pushed her personal feelings aside, ignored the twinges in her chest, and pushed his hair back out of his face. "You don't have to be, if you don't want to. You can be Linus Bodger. If you want, I can take you to your momma."
He looked at her with curiosity and suspicion. Oh, Dice's smart, smart boy. "I don't have a momma."
"You do. You have two." She smiled. "I'm one of them. If you want--"
He jumped at her. At first she thought it was a bizarre, four-year-old's attempt at attack, but then he wrapped his arms around her neck and hung from her like a strange necklace.
"All right. Hold on..."
Now
The ship shuddered as Penn checked out Peri's hatch. The fight continued with Micah and Isaiah providing the cover fire as Hannah laboriously lifted them off the ground. The gangplank seemed to take hours to close, and the security officers got off a last few lucky shots that pinged off the metallic hull and made them all duck. Luckily, no one else was injured by the ricochets. Dice, unable to help Peri, turned to look at the boy.
"Hi."
"You look like me."
Dice smiled. "There's a good reason for that. I'm your mother. I've come a long way to find you."
He mimicked her smile. "Thanks."
Dice laughed and put her arm around him. His head turned and she knew he was looking at Peri. "What's wrong with other momma?"
"She's... she's just resting." She looked at Penn, whose face was a study in neutrality. Micah and Isaiah were kneeling by Paul and Cecily respectively, administering what first aid they could while Penn dealt with Peri. "Penn..."
"Go," she said. "You're needed up there."
Dice kissed her son on the forehead. "I'm going to take you somewhere you can be safe, and--"
"Can I stay and help?"
Dice looked at Penn, who shrugged. "Sure you can. Just do what these people tell you, okay? I'll be right back." It took a huge force of will to let go of her son's shoulders and walk away from him, but Hannah needed her. What they were about to do required all the skill they could get. She raced through the ship, thrown roughly against the wall a few times as the ship lurched up and outward.
Hannah's face was streaked with sweat, and her hands trembled around the U-shaped steering wheel. She glanced back at the sound of Dice's footsteps and the tension seemed to seep from her body. "Thank God. Everyone aboard?"
"And then some. Mostly in one piece. Are you good?"
"I... I wish you were..."
"Don't change horses in midstream. Trust yourself."
Hannah pressed her lips together and focused on the task at hand. The Tamerlane emerged from the hangar and sunlight poured across the faceted windscreen at the front of the cockpit. Dice could practically hear every tower-mounted gun from New Amsterdam to the Flyovers turning to face them. The entire coast of the continent was armed to the teeth against them. If they got past the initial barrage, wires were now being sent up and down the seaboard with the Tamerlane's call sign and identifying characteristics. Not that they would be hard to miss with their deflated rear end.
Dice put a hand on the back of Hannah's neck and felt the thick sweat on her skin. "You ready?"
"As I'll ever be."
Both Airskips held their breath as Hannah turned the Tamerlane east and pushed the engines. The nacelles purred as the ship rolled forward, not back onto land.
The phalanx of weaponry held silently as the Tamerlane powered out across the still waves of the sea.
Epilogue
Dice had no idea there could be so much water in the world. They'd left land behind some time ago, and ahead there was nothing but a hazy blue cloud line where the sea and sky met. Dice had joined Hannah in the cockpit to watch the dials slowly spin down. Micah had done what he could, shifting the gas from cell to cell, spacing them out so there were fewer dead zones, but the damage done in their escape had taken its toll.
They were going down, and there wasn't even a rumor of land in the vicinity.
Hannah released the wheel and said, "Boss?"
"Don't mind if I do."
They exchanged positions and Dice slid back into the worn leather of the seat. Suddenly she was transported back in time, and she took a moment to enjoy the flashback. She wrapped her right hand around one tine, and turned on the intercom with her other hand.
"This is Airskip Bodger. The moment I've been telling you about for a while now is upon us. Man your stations and report any leakage. Isaiah has assured me that the ship is airtight, but he also told Penn the sheath would work. So we all know how trustworthy he is."
Isaiah's mock-hurt, "Hey!" echoed through the bowels of the ship, and Hannah chuckled behind her hand.
"Brace yourselves for touchdown. I'm going to make this as gentle as possible, but... to be honest, I've never done this before. Hang on tight."
After they were out of range of any coastal weapons, Isaiah and Micah had risked climbing outside to patch up any bullet holes that would make them leak. Windows were caulked or covered with wooden planks. The railgun mounts, glass hemispheres attached to the bottom of their ship, were sealed off as she knew they would shatter on impact.
As the last gas cells failed, Dice took them down at a gentle angle, back pressed against the seat due to the descent. Hannah wrapped her hand around a leather strap, her boots sliding across the floor until she pressed the side of one boot against the console.
Dice waited until the water splashed across the windows to flick the second switch. The final gas cells vented their contents, and the ship was momentarily lighter than air. It skimmed across the water like a stone being skipped, and Dice held her breath. If they were too heavy... if they were even a little too heavy...
"Now," Dice said into the intercom.
An alarm sounded as Micah hit a release that, in training, Dice had been ordered to never, ever use. There was no emergency worth it, and her instructor didn't know why it had been installed. Dice doubted they had a moment like this in mind, but whatever their intent, it worked. The dirigible balloon separated from the body of the airship - just a ship now, she supposed - and was blown back as their momentum sliced them through the water. Dice was tense, biting the inside of her cheek hard enough to draw blood as she watched the ocean rush past the glass.
Then, after an eternity of barreling forward, the ship stopped.
Dice let out an explosive breath and turned around to look at Hannah. She was so pale that her hair looked like fire. "I didn't think it would work in a million years."
"I don't blame you." Dice stood and patted Hannah on the shoulder. "I'm going to go check on the troops. Keep us on an even heading."
"I'll do my best. I'm not much of a sailor."
Dice went down into the body of the ship. She could smell the salty, wet smell of the ocean coming through the hull, but as far as she could see the seals had held. She knocked on the metal and confirmed it wasn't too strained before she stopped to check on the patients. The first large room she came to had been set up as a medical center. Paul had some of his color back, thanks to blood transfusions from Hannah. He had obviously been sleeping during their landing, and he ran his hand through his hair when he saw her. "I thought I booked a non-stop voyage."
"Stop complaining or I'll tow you in a dinghy out back." She looked at the other patients. "Everyone okay down here?"
Cecily looked up from her Mistyk and smiled. It was heavily bandaged, but Penn predicted a full recovery. "If you have to be anywhere during a rough landing, I recommend lying down on a soft bed."
"Glad to hear it." She gestured at the device in Cecily's hands. "So what are you reading about?"
Cecily gave a joyous sigh. "Everything."
Dice winked at her and moved around the foot of the bed to where the last patient had set up a small den. She knew it was unfair to have a favorite patient, a most-loved crew member, but everyone knew where her bias was and seemed okay with it. Her smile faded when she saw what was transpiring on the smooth sheet. "Hey, corrupter. What the hell are you doing to our son?"
"Losing to him," Peri said. "Badly. I think cheating at Six-Bones is genetic."
"You could just play better," Linus suggested.
Dice bent down and kissed his head. "He's right, darling. You are terrible at it."
Peri stuck her tongue out and finished tallying up the points from their last game. "I owe you eighteen kisses. Your mommy--"
"You're betting me now?"
"Your mommy," Peri repeated, "owes you twenty-eight kisses."
Dice bent down and began paying off her debt by smooching Linus' forehead until he squirmed away from her in a fit of laughter. His foot shot out and knocked the cup off the edge of the bed. He tensed and flinched when it hit the ground, his mood changing like the flick of a switch. His arms were tight against his chest and his eyes widened like dishes.
"I'msorryIdidn'tmeanto."
Dice bent down so that her eyes were even with his. "You're in a different place now, Linus. Understand me? You can mess up. You can be a bad kid... every once in a while. And Momma Peri and I will love you anyway. Know why?"
"Cause... I'm yours."
Dice smiled. "Damn straight." She kissed his forehead, his cheeks, and held his shoulders as she straightened. "Just don't be too much of a bad kid when you're bad."
"Promise."
Dice stooped down and retrieved the cup, tossing it to Peri. While Linus was preoccupied with the bones, Dice lowered her voice and touched Peri's chest. "How are you?"
"I'm doing very well. Very, very well."
Dice didn't doubt her, but she couldn't help worry. The stunt with the nodules had cost Peri dearly. The contacts were melted, completely burnt out, and even a fully-charged nodule wouldn't pick her up. But her heart was in one piece, as was her lung, and Penn cautiously predicted a full recovery. She would have to take it easy, but in the long run Dice knew she considered it a fair exchange.
She ruffled Linus' hair again as she backed away from the bed. "Let her win a couple, boy. I want to owe her a couple of kisses."
Peri waved goodbye and set up a new game. Dice left and found Micah, Isaiah and Penn waiting in the engine room. "You guys ready for this?"
"I'd rather wait until Paul was a hundred percent, but... if the option is drifting aimlessly, I think we should get it done ASAP."
Dice nodded. "Okay. Shouldn't take too long... I hope." They followed her to a hatch that was normally used for gas cell maintenance, but Dice jerry-rigged the latch and led them up and out onto the top of their newly streamlined vessel. Dice put her goggles on to protect her eyes from the wind and looked back the way they'd come. Their wake cut a wide swath in the ocean, and she could see the deflated cone of their balloon settled on the waves like the moon had fallen out of the sky.
Micah handed up the tools. Dice and Isaiah went to work, turning screwed and releasing the strip of metal that ran down the center of the ship's body. When it was slid back, tumbling off their rear like jetsam, the corridor was exposed from the cockpit all the way back to the cargo bay. Dice was just able to straddle the gap, one foot on the flat metal to either side, and Isaiah went down to help Micah with the long, bulky poles they had loaded before leaving Newams.
They stood it up and Dice used her arms and legs to hold it in place as they bolted it to the floor. When it was secure, Isaiah put his shoulder against it and used all his weight to test its strength. It didn't budge. Dice whooped, and the men smiled up at her. She motioned them onward. "Okay, boys. We have two more of these things to erect."
Isaiah snorted and moved to the next mast.
Dice had used the pictures in the maritime book as her guide. It was one of the few tomes she'd smuggled out of New Amsterdam and, she hoped, it would help get them where they needed to go. If there was something she needed to know that wasn't in the book, well, she could just look it up on her handy-dandy new Mistyk. She smiled as she caught the next mast and held it tight as the men secured it.
By the time the sun was touching the watery horizon, Dice's insane fantasy had come true. The Tamerlane had three billowing sails, sewn by Cecily, being pulled taut by the breeze. Hannah abandoned the steering column and focused more on using the tiller to guide them. When the stars come out, Dice did her best to note where they were so they wouldn't get too far off course... whatever their course actually was.
Hannah and Micah spent the night in the cockpit. Dice knew that Hannah was training him to take a few shifts, but she also suspected they were taking advantage of the alone time. Paul seemed to give it his blessing, at least while he was laid up, so Dice didn't say anything. When the ship went to bed for the night, Dice joined Peri in her med-room bed, curling with her under the blankets while Linus slept on a smaller folding bed on the floor next to them. They had offered him a full-sized bed, but he told them he was more used to the smaller bed.
Dice didn't want to force him, but seeing him on the little cot broke her heart. "Okay, but maybe we can transition to a bigger, nicer bed. Can we try that? Just a little at a time?"
He nodded, and Dice and Peri both kissed him goodnight. Cecily and Paul said goodnight to him as well. Dice smiled; he'd become a bit of a mascot among the crew. Peri rolled over in Dice's arms and kissed her neck, and Dice took the opportunity to kiss her in the dark.
"I love you, Periwinkle."
Peri chuckled and brushed her cheek against Dice's. The sway of the ocean lifted the ship and gently put them down again. Dice's stomach flipped but she knew she could get used to it. She closed her eyes, her arms crossed over Peri's back, and fell asleep to the sound of Paul's snoring.
#
"Momma!"
"Mm. Your son is calling you."
Peri stirred, but made no move to get up. "Why is he always my son when he wants something before breakfast?"
"You held him first."
"Technically you held him for nine months."
"He saw you first."
Peri slid her hand down and then sharply slapped it against Dice's rear end. Dice yelped and sat up, bending back down to kiss Peri's temple. "You're going to pay for that once we get our own rooms again..."
"Promises, promises."
Dice slipped out of bed and pulled on her much-mended leather trousers. They'd been at sea for twenty-six days now, and the ship had acquired an odd rhythm. It helped that they had lived together in the townhouse, but being trapped on a boat together put them at a high risk of homicidal behavior. Dice squeezed Peri's foot before she left the med-room and headed up the makeshift ladder to the upper deck. There was a railing that ran along the outside of the ship, originally meant to hold the dirigible in place but now providing a lovely viewing platform. Linus loved coming out to look at the water, but Dice made sure he knew to never go up by himself. At the moment, he was sitting on Isaiah's shoulders, but the big man put him down when he saw Dice approaching.
"What's all the hubbub, bub?"
Linus ran to her, grabbed her hand, and dragged her back to the railing. He pointed, and Dice leaned back to call over her shoulder, "Peri! Get your ass out of bed! The rest of you should probably come, too." She looked at Isaiah, who looked like a kid on Christmas. The railing was just barely low enough for Linus to see over, and he put his hands against it and stretched. Dice put her hands on top of his to keep him steady as the rest of the crew joined them on the upper deck.
Peri pressed against Dice from behind, arms around her waist, and gasped at what was ahead of them. Cecily was using a cane, leaning heavily on Penn. Micah and Paul walked together, Paul's dead arm tucked against his side. Hannah was the last to arrive.
"I saw it through the glass, but I thought I'd just been on shift too long. But if you all see it..."
"We see it," Dice said. "Land."
Ahead, the solid line of the horizon had broken into something green that seemed to stretch across the face of the world. Dice bent down and kissed Linus and, as she did, she noticed something. The gap where her pinkie should have been exposed her son's index finger. For an instant, it looked like it was starting to grow back. She would blame the tears in her eyes on sea salt if anyone commented, but no one did.
"Will they like us there?" Linus asked.
"Sure they will. But if they don't, we'll figure something out. It's what we do best."
The ship was lifted on an ocean swell and foam splashed up to wet their pants. Linus ended up soaked, and Dice picked the boy up and held him so he would be saved from any further deluge. Whatever they found on the land that lay ahead, they would deal with it or move on. She leaned back against Peri and tightened her arms around Linus.
Right now she doubted there was anything this crew couldn't accomplish.
THE END