Sky Pirates (16 page)

“ ‘Delicate sensibilities’?” she said.

He gave her a sideways look. “As becoming as that corset and those jodhpurs might look on you, Mrs. Marsh, I can’t afford to have you distracting my men with your womanly wiles. You are to wear overalls that cover you at all times while you are on duty.”

“O—Overalls?” she stammered.

“Is that clear?”

Elle was about to protest, but thought better of it when she saw his expression.

“I might be able to control my own urges, but I cannot vouch for the rest of my crew. As I said, we run a tight ship, but I cannot watch everyone every minute of the day.

“Y—You have urges?”

It was his turn to blink and Elle watched with surprise as a wave of red briefly washed over his cheeks and the backs of his ears.

“It’s for your own safety. And that’s an order.”

Elle nodded. As a woman in her line of work, she was used to men leering and making the odd comment. One or two even made a pass at her in the early days of her career, but she fended them off without too much
trouble. But Dashwood’s words, here in this intimate setting, cut through all her defenses, leaving her feeling most unsettled. Perhaps he was right. Being locked up alone for days had made her lower her guard. She would have to be more careful in the future.

And besides, work was likely to be messy and there would be no way to replace any of her clothes that became worn out or damaged. She would need her good clothes for the day she walked away from this ship. “Aye, Captain,” she said softly and bowed her head—the model of demure obedience.

This seemed to placate Dashwood. He nodded with approval. “Have some breakfast and once you are done, report to the bridge.”

“Aye, Captain,” Elle repeated.

Dashwood smiled. “I think, Mrs. Marsh, that you will do just fine here.”

“Please call me Elle,” she said as she left the cabin.

The
Inanna
had started out with a crew of fourteen plus the captain. Now they were a skeleton crew of ten, if she included herself. Half of the crew worked the night shift, the other the day. They operated on shifts that rotated, because a ship the size of the
Inanna
needed round-the-clock tending.

Most of the crew was between shifts when she entered the mess a little later that morning. She was, as ordered, dressed in her new crew overalls. They were a little too big for her and so she had rolled up the sleeves and trouser legs. She had cinched the fabric around her waist with the leather corset she normally wore over her shirts. She had also tied a brightly colored handkerchief around her head to keep her curls from falling into her face. The resulting look was far more appealing than Captain Dashwood had intended, and Elle felt rather pleased with herself when she met the crew.

Atticus Crow grinned at her from where he was busy spooning scrambled egg into his mouth. “Ay-up, lads! Meet our newest crew member! Int she lovely?” He waved with his fork at her.

The others turned to stare.

Heller cleared his throat from where he had been pouring himself a cup of coffee.

“That’s all right, Crow. Let me do the introductions,” he said.

Heller was first mate, bosun and quartermaster all rolled into one. This meant he was in charge of anything valuable, and if anything were to happen to the captain, he would take over. The men listened to him when he spoke, she noticed.

“Now listen up,” Heller said. He paused for effect, which was a bit superfluous, given that everyone was already listening. “This lady here is going to be our new navvy pilot following the recent loss of young Wes Jones.”

A few of the men swore and one spat on the floor.

Elle felt her smile fade. Perhaps joining a crew after killing a whole load of them was not the smartest move.

“Oi! I’ll have none of that!” Heller raised his voice. “Wes Jones was a good pilot, but he knew the risks when he volunteered to be part of the boarding party, same as everyone. We live as we die, without regrets.”

“No regrets,” a few crew members mumbled.

Heller cleared his throat. “Miss Elle over here is a pilot of renowned skill. She has the hours and you all know she was the captain of the
Water Lily
before she fell.”

There were a few more mumbled comments. Heller waited for a few moments till silence fell again.

“As I said, she will be our new navvy. We’ve made do without a navvy so far, because we’ve been laying low
while we dealt with the last haul. But the fact remains that this ship can’t fly if she don’t know where she’s going, and we can’t know where we’re going without a navvy. Agreed?”

No one said anything. Somewhere in the background one of the men burped loudly. Heller gave them a sharp look. “Captain’s orders. We are all to give her the respect a lady of her standing deserves. Right-o?”

There was a bit more grumbling in the background, but no one objected any further.

“What would you like us to call you?” Heller said.

“My name is Eleanor. Elle for short,” she said.

“That’s not a very interesting name!” one of the guys in the back called out.

“My surname is Chance. Or it used to be,” she said.

“Ah, better!” Heller exclaimed. “Round here we tend to have names for everyone. I think we should just call you Chance for short, eh?” He grinned at her. “What do you say?”

“Fine by me. Chance it is,” she said with more confidence than she felt.

“Let’s hear it for our new navvy then!” Heller said.

There were a few reluctant cheers before everyone went back to their respective dinners or breakfasts, depending on which shift they were on.

“Let me introduce you,” Heller said as he took Elle by the elbow.

There was a fellow named Mick, who was apparently on the lam after escaping from a sentence he had been serving in Australia. From his grimy clothes and the myriad of gadgets he carried around strapped to his overalls it was easy to tell that he was the ship’s mechanic. Elle made a note to befriend him; she was a woman in the market for a few new gadgets.

Then there was the ship surgeon, Dr. Mackenzie, who was Scottish, and a cook everyone called Fat Paul.

“You would do well to keep on the good side of Fat Paul,” Heller said out the side of his mouth. “No one knows his real name, but some say that he was a cook in the kitchens of the Tsar himself. Some say he escaped execution after a whole banquet-load of guests fell ill one day. We found him in a tavern in Kiev.”

Elle stared at Heller.

He laughed. “Anyway, he’s a genius with a meat cleaver. And so as to ensure you don’t starve, you should be nice to him.” He looked her over. “You are only the size of a penny and you could do with a good feed, by the looks of you.”

Elle nodded and smiled at Paul, who nodded back, wiped his hands on his big grease-stained canvas apron and went back to spooning large helpings of bacon onto plates.

Atticus Crow was one of the three pilots the
Inanna
needed in order to remain airborne. He operated the controls to the giant spark engines that ran the thrusters which drove them forward. It was his job to control the velocity of the ship. They called him the thruster pilot.

The other pilot was a thin, humorless man named Mr. John Kipper. He wore his shirts immaculately starched, with the collars buttoned up as high as they could go. He operated the complex sets of tanks, valves and recyclers that filled and emptied the cavernous helium gas chambers which kept the ship afloat. He was called the altitude pilot and it was his job to ensure that the ship ascended and descended safely.

The remaining two crewmen were brothers, Elias and Finn, who were both freebooters. They were called all-rounders because they could do almost anything on board. They had left the American South to find adventure. Normally the ship would carry four freebooters, but given that two had recently departed this world,
only Elias and Finn remained, and they seemed the most unhappy about Elle’s appearance.

The third pilot needed to fly the ship was the navigator pilot. The person stood at the helm and made sure that the ship stayed on course. To Elle’s surprise, once they left the mess, Heller guided her to the steering panel on the bridge and started explaining the intricacies of the ship’s navigational system to her.

“Captain says that you are supposed to be good with maps. At least that’s what he’s been told.” Heller gestured to the panel. “Best we point her in the right direction.”

“Right then,” Elle said, scanning the charts before her. From a cursory glance it looked as if they were somewhere above the Atlantic Ocean.

“Say, where did you say we were going?” she asked Heller.

“I didn’t.” He grinned at her, and in that moment she realized that he was joking. “Never you mind, Chance,” he said, ruffling her hair. “You’ll get used to us yet. We’re not a bad lot when all is said and done.”

Despite her apprehensiveness, she found herself smiling at Heller.

“San Francisco,” Heller said, pointing at the chart. “Got a delivery or two to make.”

“Right, so due west then,” Elle said, more to herself than to anyone else.

“Due west,” echoed Mr. Crow as he pushed forward levers and adjusted the flow into the thrusters.

Slowly the ship creaked as she made a wide arc through the air, righting her course as she went along.

Elle scanned the maps spread open on the large table before her. The maps were held in place with little brass clips, and there were metal markers with magnets which one could use for positioning. Carefully Elle checked
their coordinates and placed the marker to show the
Inanna
’s position in relation to the earth.

They were heading for the other side of America, she thought with a sinking heart. Their destination could not be farther from home if she had picked it. But orders were orders and these would have to do for now.

SAN FRANCISCO

The thin winter sun was fighting its way through the relentless mist and drizzle when the
Inanna
set down in the city of San Francisco. She bumped against the docking trellises and came to rest with a shudder.

Elle looked up from her navigation table. Her mouth was set in a determined line of concentration, for she had never berthed a ship this large before.

“Nicely done, Chance!” Atticus slapped her on the back and gave her a little shake of appreciation.

“You’re not too shabby yourself, Mr. Crow. Although you
did
have a docking bay big enough to park two airships. What was that maneuver?”

The other crew started laughing and, to her surprise, Elle laughed too. Despite her misgivings, she was finding that it was quite fun being part of a crew. She had been on her own since she left the flight academy because none of the commercial ships would hire a woman. But here among these men she found no such prejudice and she had to admit that she missed the camaraderie she had known in flight school.

She was still the only woman on board, but somehow she did not feel as lonely.

It was also rather nice for someone else to worry about the welfare of the ship for a change. She stole a glance at Dashwood. This morning he was dressed in his
green velvet coat with brass buttons down the front. His boots had been polished to a bright sheen.

“Ready to disembark, Captain,” Heller said, following her gaze and eyeing Dashwood’s outfit. “I see you’ve brought the old captain’s coat out. Am I to tell Fat Paul that you will be dining out this evening? With a lady friend, perhaps?” Heller, it seemed, was the only one who could get away with teasing the captain.

“Mr. Heller, let’s see if we can off-load some of that cargo we brought with us from Edinburgh,” Dashwood said with a small smile, avoiding the question. He turned to look out of the window but as he did so, Elle could have sworn she had seen a slight blush form on the planes of his cheeks.

“Right on, sir.” Heller turned from them and started shouting orders.

Elle kept her eyes on the charts before her. If Dashwood was due to go drinking and womanizing, this could be a golden opportunity. Granted, she was a world away from home, but as long as she could escape, she would be able to find her way back.

“A word please, Mrs. Marsh,” Dashwood said, interrupting her thoughts.

“Sir?” Elle turned to him.

He took her by the wrist and before she could say anything, he had strapped a slim metal cuff around it. It clicked shut with the decisive sound of something that had been tempered by the Shadow.

“What are you doing?” Elle withdrew her arm and started tugging on the cuff. It was making her skin tingle with a sensation that could have been only from the Shadow.

One side of Dashwood’s face lifted in a regretful smile. “This binds you to me. We can’t have you running off the moment I turn my back, now can we?” He stepped closer to her. “And I, for one, am planning to be
rather … distracted later today.” The suggestiveness in his gaze left no doubt as to exactly what activities he was planning.

“How dare you? I am not some dog that needs to be kept on a leash.” She tried to drag the cuff over her hand but it remained resolutely stuck. “I demand that you remove this thing at once,” she said.

“Once we are back on board safely, I promise I will remove it. But while we are ashore, you are bound to me.” He held up his arm. Around it was a similar cuff. “The two are linked, so no matter where you go, I will be able to follow you. I will always be able to find you, no matter where you run.”

“So I am to be your prisoner then?” she huffed. “I do have rights, you know!”

Dashwood smiled at her. “You keep forgetting that I am your captain and my word is law. I may do as I please, and right now it pleases me not to have you escape the moment my back is turned.” He studied her face for a few moments. “You weren’t thinking of escaping, by any chance. Were you, Mrs. Marsh?”

Elle closed her eyes in frustration. She was starting to develop a serious dislike for mysterious bracelets that could not be removed once worn. And this one had just neatly put an end to her plan.

“No, Captain. I wasn’t,” she said in a low voice.