John Brosnan - The Sky Lords

“It has a mass of several thousand tons. Slowing an object with such a mass involves the expenditure of a lot of energy which the rockets are not capable of providing. They do not have sufficient fuel. They will slow the Sky Angel down and the atmosphere itself will be used as the actual brake.”

“But I still don’t understand why it can’t float down,” persisted Jan. “It’s full of gas, isn’t it.”

“No,” said Carl. “The helium is still in liquid form. There would be no point in starting to fill the gas cells until the Sky Angel enters the lower levels of the atmosphere. Without air density there is no lift … Speed now four thousand two hundred miles per hour. Retro-rockets still firing. The Sky Angel will start skimming the upper levels of the ionosphere at any moment. …

“Temperature of outer hull is starting to rise … Heat shield functioning. …”

“Heat shield?” Jan asked.

“A temporary covering on the outer hull. Ceramic interlocking scales. Like glass. To protect the Sky Angel from the effects of the friction. Will be automatically discarded when … MALFUNCTION! MALFUNCTION!”

The sudden increase in volume in Carl’s voice gave Jan a fright. “What’s wrong?” she cried.

“Two of the rocket motors have shut down prematurely,” said Carl, his voice back to normal. “The Sky Angel will enter denser atmosphere at too high a velocity.”

“But you said the atmosphere itself was going to be used to slow it down.”

“The rockets are still needed at this stage. There has been a malfunction in the fuel supply. Blocked line. Or the fuel has leaked from the tanks. Information not available to me yet … Speed is still four thousand miles per hour … too fast … remaining functioning rocket motors not sufficient in power. …”

“What will happen?” Jan asked worriedly.

“Heat shield may be burnt off … or the intense buffeting may destroy integrity of the hull and the Sky Angel will disintegrate. …”

“Oh no!” she cried, dismayed. “Can’t you do anything?”

“No. The program in the on-board computer is attempting a compensatory manoeuvre, but I have no control over its actions … the Sky Angel is now at an altitude of 350 miles—well within the ionosphere. Hull temperature still rising … I have now lost contact with Sky Angel A810 JLX. …”

“What do you mean? What’s happened? Has it blown up?”

“Condition of Sky Angel unknown. I have lost all radio contact with it. Cause may be intense ionization around the Sky Angel, due to friction, which is interfering with signals.”

“What’s ioni … Oh, it doesn’t matter … just tell me what’s going on!”

“I can tell you nothing.”

A minute went by. Another and another. Jan was in an agony of anxiety. To have got this far and then to have lost everything at the last moment. …

“I have re-established contact with the Sky Angel,” Carl announced, as blandly as ever. “Heat shield is still secure. Speed down to eight hundred miles per hour. Just entering stratosphere. No serious damage has been sustained. Rocket motors being ejected now. Liquid helium being converted to gas. Gas cells being inflated … Thrusters activated. …”

Jan had given a whoop of delight and wished she had someone to hug.

That had been four days ago. And now the Sky Angel was at last in sight.

Yes, it was clearly visible now and heading straight for the tower. Unlike the Sky Lords it wasn’t covered with markings, patterns or giant eyes; apart from where the sun-gatherers glinted in the early morning sunshine its hull was white. Pure white.

Then she saw the other airship. It was well behind the Sky Angel but obviously following it.

A Sky Lord.

And it wasn’t alone. There was another one, even more distant.

Her stomach began to churn. The two Sky Lords could only be the Lord Pangloth and the Perfumed Breeze . The warlord was coming.

“Carl!” she cried in panic as she ran back into the summit room. But it was Ashley who answered. “Hi! Isn’t it great? In a few minutes we’ll be on the Sky Angel.”

“Where’s Carl?” Jan demanded. “I must talk to him.”

“Well, you can’t,” said Ashley petulantly. “It’s my turn to have the voice now. You two talked together long enough.”

“Look, you crazy ghost, this is important! There are two Sky Lords right behind the Sky Angel! Tell Carl! He’s got to do something!”

“Jesus, there’s no need to be rude, Jan!”

“Mother God, help me,” Jan groaned. “Look, you talk to Carl. Tell him about the Sky Lords.”

A brief silence, and then Ashley said, “Carl knows about the Sky Lords. He says that the Sky Angel will arrive here a full twelve minutes before the first of the pursuers. That will give you plenty of time to get on board. With us, of course.”

Jan didn’t share Ashley’s or Carl’s confidence. How long would it take for the Sky Angel to link up with the Tower? And then she would have to get all the way from the nose to the control room. How long would that take? She wasn’t even sure she would know the way to the control room. She ran back out on to the observation deck. The Sky Angel was close enough to look intimidating in its vastness. Its shadow was beginning to fall across the outskirts of the city.

She saw that the Sky Lord behind it was the Lord Pangloth , which the warlord had taken over. She gazed at the third airship, the Perfumed Breeze —was Ceri on board? Was she even still alive?

She drew a deep breath and returned inside. “Ashley, I must talk to Carl!” she cried loudly.

“Oh, all right.”

“Carl?”

“I’m here.”

“What do I do when the Sky Angel arrives?”

“When it links up to the tower I will give the on-board computer the command to open the entrance and authorize your entry. Then you will take our software from this computer and take it on to the Sky Angel. You will then insert it into the onboard computer.”

“Yes, but will I have time to do all that before the warlord gets here?”

“That is doubtful,” admitted Carl. “But what can the warlord do even when he arrives? The Sky Angel is protected by its automatic defence system.”

“Oh, he’ll do something —don’t worry about that,” she said grimly. She went and began to gather up her belongings—her back-pack, weapons harness, canteen, remaining food … She froze when she heard someone coming up the spiral staircase, then relaxed when she saw it was Frusa.

The panther looked at her and said, “You smell of fear.”

“I’m not surprised,” Jan said. “Look, I’m going to be leaving here very soon. You can come with me if you like.”

“Where go?”

“In a big, er, thing that flies through the air.”

“A Sky Lord?”

“Well, yes.” Damn panther. “A Sky Angel, actually. Will you come?”

“What cat eat?”

“Eat?” Jan frowned. That was a good question. “Well, I’m sure there will be supplies on board.” She hoped there would be supplies on board.

“Fresh meat?” asked the panther.

“Uh, I doubt it,” admitted Jan.

“Cat stay here.”

Jan was secretly relieved. As much as she owed a debt of gratitude to the panther she still felt she couldn’t trust her completely. “Very well. Thank you for everything. Take care, Frusa.”

The panther made a noise in the back of its throat, then turned and abruptly left. Strange animal , thought Jan.

“Jan, the Sky Angel is about to link up with the Tower,” announced Carl. “There will be some vibration.”