Phoenix Rising Read Free Page B

board.
    He could feel the Phoenix ploughing forward, getting closer to the plane. If he didn’t stop her turbines, the paddles would keep turning at full speed and they would batter through the salvage like a wrecking ball. Toby shuddered at the thought and began to flick switches.
    Once the wings that formed the ribs of the hull were winched open and the sea was churning into the Phoenix , the pumps would need power to get the water out of the wreck room again and stop the ship from sinking.
    Toby’s shoulders strained as he pulled the lever.
    “Done.”
    He leaned his forehead against the soot-blackened walland felt the paddles grow sluggish, only moving now with their own slowing momentum. As the Phoenix started to rise and fall in time with the flotsam on the sea, Toby allowed the relative quiet to seep into his bones. For a moment, even Polly was still. Then he pressed his fingers against the hull as if he could see through it.
    “Were we in time?”
    Polly’s claws clicked on the pipework. “We’d hear if not. The captain would call down.” She indicated the comms tube.
    Toby nodded. Each silenced paddle told the crew that the pumps would be operational when the hull opened; it was their signal to start working. Sure enough, above the whistle of the steam racing to the turbines, the sounds of the salvage mission drifted through the vents. Toby could hear the banging of Uma’s drum as she kept time, making Big Pad’s team turn the windlasses beyond screaming muscles, bleeding palms and torn calluses. He felt the tortured grinding as the hull spread open. Then the shouts of the hookmen rang out as they fought to catch the plane.
    Toby turned, eyes right, as burnt-orange seawater rose above the level of his small porthole: the Phoenix was getting heavier as the wreck room filled. He pressed his hands against the hull, feeling for the irregular hum asAmit and Ajay pumped madly to fight the incoming tidal wave.
    Polly glided from her roost. “We’d better move it, if you want to see the salvage come in.”

    Toby burst from the hatch and on to the gangway.
    Amidships was empty and the Phoenix felt full of ghosts, so Toby sped towards the action at the bow. The Phoenix bucked beneath him, fighting incoming water, but Toby’s feet remained fixed to the gangway, his toes secure.
    He vaulted on to the rail surrounding the bridge for the best possible view. The captain waved him off as he strained to see past the steerage, so Toby swung from the rail and ducked below the mast.
    “Dee, can I help the hookmen?”
    “Not now, Tobes.” Dee’s long curls had escaped from her scarf. She ground her teeth as she used her hook to manoeuvre the plane towards the Phoenix ’s open hull.
    “You can help here, my boy.” In front of the hookmen, Uma’s team slumped over the windlasses. Job done for the moment, they had to regain their strength for when the hull needed closing again. Uma handed Toby a packet of two-year-old beef jerky. “Hand this out and don’t let that parrot get hold of any.”
    “She doesn’t eat meat.”
    Polly ruffled her feathers and glared at Uma as she walked between the men, distributing cups of filtered water and patting shoulders with a motherly air. The ship’s doctor looked like a cuddly matron, but a club dangled at her waist and beneath her soft exterior she was all muscle and old scars, as hardened as any of the pirates on board.
    Toby followed her, pressing jerky into work-scarred hands. All the time he strained to see the plane, but it was out of his line of sight.
    “All right, lad? Come to see your salvage?” Big Pad smiled tiredly around a mouthful of beef. “Can’t hardly see you, though.” He gestured to his face and Toby rubbed his cheeks, thinking Paddy was talking about the soot that covered him. Only then did he realize that he was still wearing his goggles. He pushed them on to his head, pulling his hair back from his face as he did so.
    “Better.” Big Pad stretched