Taylor Anderson - Iron Gray Sea

To Toryu, it was suddenly obvious. “They will likely think I have perished, with all the others with me. We were sent at a poor time of year. Suspecting my envoy did not survive, they might send another. If it arrives, perhaps under the direction of a more… committed ambassador, you must stall them and prepare.”

“Prepare for what?” Von Melhausen asked grudgingly, almost hopelessly, as the enormity and probable veracity of Toryu’s revelation sank in.

“To fight them!” Toryu insisted. “Build more weapons, grow your armies, and somehow contact your natural allies! The ones who fight them already!”

“We still have the transmitter aboard here, though it is never used,” mused Becher. Then he shrugged at Miyata. “It is a dangerous world, and we never know what we might attract! We do listen…” He paused. “We might send them a message!”

“That you must not do!” Toryu warned. “Though he never told the Grik, my former commander, Captain Kurokawa-he styles himself General of the Sea now-has retained communication devices. He will probably hear any message you send, and warn his masters!”

“Then how can we contact these natural allies you speak of?” Nig-Taak asked, frustrated.

Toryu looked at him. “Your Highness, you must go and meet them.”

“How?” Doocy demanded. “As we’ve told you, no sailing vessel nor the few seagoing steamers we have can round the cape. They are just too small to survive those seas!”

Toryu gazed almost helplessly around. There was only one answer, and it was obvious to him.

“What?” challenged Von Melhausen. “You cannot mean…! But Amerika ’s hull has grown as thin as an egg! I could knock a hole in it with a hammer in the shaft alleys!”

“But an egg is still very strong,” Kaiser Nig-Taak reminded quietly. “And I am sure you will avoid any hostile hammers.”

“It will take months to prepare,” Von Melhausen objected, his mind already shifting to embrace the inevitable. “Some repairs are essential. This ship has not been to sea for twenty years-and neither have I!”

“Then begin your repairs at once, mein Kap-i-taan,” Nig-Taak advised. “You do not have unlimited months. One or two, you may have, if God permits.”