Joseph Lewis - Halcyon

The major was just thinking it might be time to back off when Taziri yanked a wrench off the engineer’s console and smashed it across Hamuy’s jaw. The force of the blow sent Taziri stumbling across the cabin as Hamuy dropped to the deck in a heap of twisted, bloody limbs. Syfax let him fall and in the seconds that followed all he could hear were three people gasping for breath.

“Ohana.” Syfax wiped his hand on his coat. “You almost killed my prisoner.”

Taziri turned to stare up at him. “That’s unfortunate, sir.”

She’s still in revenge mode. That’s the last thing I need. “You mean it’s unfortunate that he almost died, or that he didn’t quite die?” Syfax knelt down and cuffed Hamuy’s hands behind his back. “Get back in the cockpit, lieutenant.”

She went back to her seat in silence. Syfax made sure Kenan still had his head on straight and left him to guard the unconscious prisoner. With Evander lying across the upholstered bench at the back of the cabin and snoring violently, Syfax found a shortage of seats so he went back up to sit in the engineer’s chair.

Hours passed. The ship shuddered, the engines droned, and the clouds parted to reveal a sea of stars ahead, as much as could be seen around the edge of the gas envelope. The landscape below offered only dim and ragged shapes that might be trees and snaking lines that might be roads. The ghostly outlines of Zili and Lixus came and went, along with other smaller fishing villages. And from time to time, they would pass over the tiny blue light of a marker tower leading the way south along the coast.

“What’s that?”

Syfax looked back and saw a sleepy-eyed Evander kneeling on the padded bench and pressing his face to the window. “That right there. That light. What is that?”

Syfax leaned across the cockpit to peer at the dull orange glow on the ground. It flickered once, twice. “A fire. A big one.”

Ever so gently, Taziri eased the Halcyon to port to pass over the wavering firelight blazing half a mile from the coast line. As they came closer, Syfax stuck his large shaven head into the cockpit beside her and said, “Take us down. I wanna check that out.”

She frowned behind her scarf. With each passing second, the shadowy shapes on the ground became more distinct and suddenly she recognized the broken lines of an airship gondola on the hillside. “Major, I’d rather not get too close. I can’t see the ground clearly and there could be trees.” Taziri began easing back the throttles. “Maybe we should come back in the morning.”

He looked sharply at her. “Not a chance. If that’s the Crake, then the ambassador can’t be far away. Land the ship, Ohana.”

Taziri nodded. “Yes, sir.” She worked the pedals and the throttle, and after a quarter hour of gently sinking down over the rocky slope, she flipped the propellers over and pinned the airship to the ground. There weren’t any trees nearby but she did see several jagged stones poking up from the earth, large enough to pierce a gondola deck by several feet. She stared at one particularly sharp rock a few yards to her left. “If the wind picks up, we’re going to slide around on this gravel, sir, and that would be a very bad thing.”

“I’ll be quick.” Syfax unlocked the door and stepped out onto the earth.

“Watch out for the bats!” Taziri watched him through the open doorway. He swayed and grabbed the side of the gondola and the aviator smiled. He’s landsick.

“What bats?” Evander asked.

“Oh, she means the flying foxes,” Kenan said. “They can be a little nasty, but the fire should keep them away from us here.”

“Flying foxes?” The Hellan stared. “Am I misunderstanding you? Foxes?”

“No, they’re just big reddish bats that look like foxes. They eat birds, mostly.” Kenan held out his hands a meter apart. “About that big.”

The doctor shuddered.

Taziri smiled as she watched Syfax jog up the slope into the wreckage where the flames were already burning low and dim. She slid over to her seat at the engineer’s console and busied herself with routine system checks. Her hands glided across the dials and lights. Everything was fine. Everything was just the way it should be, except for the empty seat beside her. She scratched at the tip of her little finger, but felt almost nothing. I can’t remember if that’s good or bad. Hopefully the major will turn me loose soon so I can get the Halcyon home and under lock and key, and then get to a doctor. She glanced back at Evander. My doctor.

Taziri climbed back into the pilot’s chair and fiddled with the throttles and fans to hold the airship steady against the stiffening night breezes coming in off the ocean. Behind her, Evander snorted in his sleep and Kenan chuckled softly at the old man. “I wish I could fall asleep that fast.”

Syfax shouted from the darkness, “Doc!”

Taziri jerked upright and twisted around in her seat. “Doctor? Doctor? The major wants you out there. Doctor?”

Without moving from his prisoner’s side, Kenan leaned over and shook the Hellan’s foot. Evander snorted and opened his eyes. “What?”

“Major Zidane needs you out there.” Taziri pointed at the burning debris outside.

The old man grabbed his bag and shuffled out the door into the night. She watched him trudge up the hill and disappear behind the bulk of the wreckage. A long minute passed in silence. Taziri glanced at Kenan but couldn’t think of anything worthwhile to say, and the sight of Hamuy sleeping peacefully on the floor just a few feet away made her stomach turn.

When she looked outside again, the doctor was leading the major down the hillside toward the Halcyon at a brisk jog. Syfax had a body lying across his arms. Both of them were glancing up at the sky and the major was shouting, “Move it, move it!”

The doctor coughed as he stepped inside and Taziri watched the marshal set a young woman in an orange jacket down on the floor just behind her. “Ghanima!” She leapt out of her seat and knelt over the unconscious girl to wipe the soot from her face. Taziri glanced at the doctor. “How is she?”

“Fine.” Evander dropped back into his seat, dabbing at the perspiration on his brow with a small cloth. “Not even a bruise, I don’t think. Just that lump on her forehead. She’ll wake up in the morning right as rain. The damn bats were only interested in her dead friend.”

Taziri looked from one man to the other. “Bats? Major?”

Syfax shrugged. “Yeah, half a dozen of the bloodsuckers were out there. Real nasty ones, too. They’d already gotten to the other pilot. We’re done here. You can lift off.” He followed her into the cockpit and sat beside her. “The extra weight won’t be an issue, will it? I know you have limits on these things.”

“No,” she said, turning the propellers over and easing the throttle forward. “We’re still well below maximum. You didn’t find the ambassador?”

“Nah, she’s gone, and no hope of tracking her without a dog.” Syfax shook his head. “Your friend here was awake when I found her. She said the ambassador shot the Crake ’s captain just before they crashed.” Syfax thumbed his nose and leaned back into his seat. “I waved off the bats long enough to get a look at the captain, too. She was shot in the back, so I’m guessing there wasn’t much of a struggle. The girl here must have dragged her body out of the wreck after the crash.”

“Ambassador Chaou shot the captain?” Taziri stared at the Copper Crake as it slowly dropped down out of sight and then she peered out over the dark landscape in search of a figure, a woman running away, a woman that she could land the Halcyon on. “Why would the ambassador steal an airship? She flies all the time. The Crake was practically her personal airship anyway.”