Captain Gravenor’s Airship Equinox (Steampunk Smugglers) Read Free Page A

flew a figure-eight pattern. It’s the free traders. We
must be clear.”
    “They were searching for you?”
    “Why would they not? Test flights are notoriously
unreliable, and we’ve been down here for hours.” He heard a clank above them,
then a metallic squeak. “Move quickly now.”
    He grabbed for her hand and squeezed, then reached around
until he found the two steps leading up to the platform and crawled down them.
“We need to make for the railing for safety.”
    Just as they reached the deck, something large slammed
against the balloon.
    “They’ll be trying to hook the chain handle at the top of
the balloon.”
    “Not an exact science,” she said, crawling along the deck
with him.
    “Which is why it is best we are far from the center of the
airship.” The deck rocked beneath them as the crew tried to hook the chain
again, but hit off center. “They cannot see very well in this gloom.”
    “Is it still raining?” she asked.
    “I cannot tell with all the noise.” He heard swearing above
them, then someone shushed the swearer.
    “Do you find that rain changes the efficiency of your
airship? Or a change in the barometric pressure in general?”
    “It certainly affects the crew.” He winced as another loud
clank offended his ears. They did realize that their iron hook could damage the
deck underneath the balloon, did they not?
    “Has anyone ever been killed during this hook and eye
maneuver?” she asked.
    Whoever this woman was, she was too interested in the
mechanics of the Red Kite operations. “Not to my knowledge.”
    “I’m guessing they aren’t fishermen,” she muttered. “Or they
would starve.”
    “Light travels faster than sound, which is why these idiots
appear bright until you hear them speak.”
    “Ha.”
    There. He heard the sound of metal sliding along metal. “It
takes them four times to calculate properly in this weather, apparently.”
    “I suspect it was luck.”
    “Come along, and do not forget to be appreciative to them
who have rescued you.” He put out his hand, finding where the hull began, and
started his ten foot crawl toward the coal bucket and the ladder to the burner.
    “I was trying to die.”
    “You had not made the ultimate decision as of yet,” he
returned.
    By the time he’d reached his bucket, the balloon had been
partially winched above the deck. It would inflate completely before they had
the risk of being smothered with fumes. He filled his bucket and crept up the
ladder to relight the engine. Once he had it going he climbed down the ladder
and checked the vat of water, instrumental in the creation of hydrogen for the
balloon. It was still more than half full, and the two large tubes for oxygen
and hydrogen hadn’t been damaged, so he returned to the platform to begin the arduous
charging of the batteries that would allow the balloon to refill.
    As the balloon inflated above them, the chugging noise from
above intensified and moved away.
    “They are leaving us?” she asked, picking up the spyglass
from where it had rolled next to the base of the wheel.
    “No need for all of us to be out here.”
    As if on cue, he saw a puff of white smoke drift up from her
hand. At first, he was grateful the spyglass hadn’t been damaged, but then he
thought of what the signal meant. “Bloody hell. Here come the Blockaders.”
    The Red Kite airship tacked, turning back toward them.
    “Get back to camp,” said an amplified voice from above.
“We’re armed.”
    One of these days, the Blockaders would get their mailed
fists on the technology that the Red Kites used for their heater cannons, but
for now, they was far from assured a fair fight. Underneath his feet, Brecon
felt the deck shift.
    “Are we going to get lift?”
    “I’ve never tried it like this.”
    He heard deep, rattling chugging as the Blockader airship lumbered
toward them. The deck rocked again, and Philadelphia caught his arm. He widened
his stance, bracing himself as the airship tried