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“Coop, I think you better hurry along before you get that foot so deep in your mouth you can’t climb the stairs,” Lil said.

  Butch muttered something under her breath and then applied ointment to the one significant bruise Nita had received. Once the treated area was beneath a bandage, Nita quickly began to cover up again.

  “Just the one bruise? How’d you get so lucky?” Lil asked.

  “Wrenches across the chest, wrenches across the back, and the support struts in the corset. The tools of the trade are practically a suit of armor,” Nita said, shakily closing up her shirt and lacing the corset back in place.

  “Heh… You got… maybe you got a spare one of them corsets I can borrow? Me being in fistfights a mite more than you, I could probably use a little more help in that regard.”

  Nita laughed. “You know, I got more than a few snide comments back on Caldera when I explained the corset was to help take the strain off my back when load lifting. I can’t even imagine what they’d think if you were to don one to help you in a scuffle.”

  “Sounds to me like some of your folk don’t have much of a mind for the practical.”

  “Uh… ladies?” Coop called from down the hall. “You all decent in there now? Only I ain’t ate yet, and Butch ain’t seen to my face.”

  “Decent enough, Coop,” Nita said.

  He approached the door and entered the room, his eyes held low and his hand formed into a visor to shield them.

  “I am awful sorry, Miss Graus. That was just me not thinkin’, which is something I’m liable to do, but you got my word as a Cooper I ain’t done it on purpose and I ain’t never doin’ it ever again.”

  “It’s all right, Coop. It was a mistake, I understand,” Nita said, fanning her face as the blush finally began to fade.

  “I ain’t never seen you more ladylike than this. All in a tizzy and aflutter like that,” Lil giggled.

  Nita sighed. “Let’s just see to those masks.”

  The two women stepped out the door and into the hall. When they were clear, Coop finally raised his head and glanced after them.

  “I gotta finish up that poem…”

  Chapter 5

  Two days later, the Wind Breaker crept up to a cottage that was strangely similar to the last meeting place. It matched in design, was built of similarly new materials, and as they approached, rumbled with the same din of voices. If not for the significantly greater density of lifeless trees in the area, one could almost imagine the crew had somehow found its way to the original meeting place again by mistake.

  Lil peered at the structure from the heavily loaded gig as it was lowered down from the Wind Breaker, Nita by her side. “You reckon they just build those by the dozen, or did they take the last one to pieces and move it here?” she mused.

  “If so, I’ve got to admire the dedication to the cause to construct entirely new buildings expressly to do dealings with us,” Nita said.

  Nita adjusted her coat and cinched her mask up a bit tighter. She and Lil were clearly ready for a long expedition. Each was layered with clothes, even more so than they had been. Lil’s long jacket was now draped with a few extra scarves and a backpack, and a rifle and twin pistols were evident. The mass of clothing and equipment quite effectively hid the snuggled little lump that was Nikita tucked well away. Nita carried a shoulder bag and wore her wrench sashes over the coat instead of under. She reached up with her gloved hand and pulled one of a pair of loops that ran over her shoulders affixing a massive purple-hued wrench head that took up the whole of her back.

  “I can’t believe you’re toting that big, fancy wrench of yours along,” Lil said. “We’re going to be traipsing about on foot and you decided to strap on who knows how much extra weight.”

  “I never go anywhere that might have work to be done without the monkey toe. Poor is the engineer who leaves a tool behind that can easily be carried, Lil.”

  “I reckon you and me have different ideas of what’s easy to carry then.”

  The gig struck the ground, crunching into a few inches of snow. This being the fug, the snow had a faint purple tint and was likely poisonous, but that didn’t stop it from giving the dimly lit surroundings an oddly whimsical look. Icicles that resembled garnet and amethyst hung from the curled black branches of the nearby trees, and even the scarce light made everything twinkle with indigo and puce.

  “This is eerily majestic,” Nita said as she stepped out of the gig and took in her surroundings.

  “That’s true. Spoils it some that if you was to catch one of these flakes on your tongue, it’d taste like the fug and probably kill you,” Lil said.

  “There are frogs back home that are the same way. Brilliantly colored but deadly even to touch. Curious how nature does such things…”

  The door of the cottage opened, and out from within walked a handful of fug folk. They were heavily armed and layered with warm clothes, but there was little doubt these were the same individuals from the other day, as they still bore the injuries they’d received during the introductory brawl. Lil gripped her rifle.

  “I gotta say, seeing that many fuggers coming at me with rifles and the like is enough to put my nerves on edge,” Lil whispered. “I haven’t quite got the hang of considering these folk friends.”

  “This stuff need to be unloaded?” asked Bludo as he approached.

  “Yep. We got some ammo, some bits and pieces that Nita here needs for whatever it is she’s planning with them carts of yours, and some food and water for us,” Lil said.

  Bludo and several of the others gathered around and heaved the crates and packages from the gig, doing so with little effort. When they finished clearing the gig, Lester appeared in the doorway of the cabin. He was dressed rather differently than the rest. While the grunts were outfitted with cold-weather work gear, Lester was wearing a black overcoat over a three-piece suit. A long red scarf was wrapped about his neck, earmuffs looped around behind his head, and the whole ensemble was completed with a top hat. In one gloved hand he carried an overnight bag, and in the other a cane. He almost looked like someone heading out to take in a show at the local theater, though the large white bandage on his left cheek from the blow he’d taken during the brawl spoiled the effect somewhat.

  “Well ain’t you all gussied up for a night on the town?” Lil said, placing her rifle on one shoulder and the other hand on her hip.

  “If you recall,” Lester said, “it is my task to convince our chemist to come along. I shall not achieve that goal if dressed like a ruffian or coarse laborer. Miss Prist is a civilized, refined woman and should be greeted by a similarly civilized and refined man,” Lester said.

  “Just so long as you don’t mistake this trip for a pleasure cruise while Nita and me are trudging through this forest of yours doing real work,” Lil said.

  “Where are your carts? I’d like to see what it will take to modify them before we get moving,” Nita said to Bludo.

  “Over behind the cabin. We’ve got them all stripped down for you,” he said.

  Lil and Nita paced along behind him as he led the way. Once they were out from under the Wind Breaker, Lil glanced up to the top deck and waved to Captain Mack.

  “So long, Cap’n! See you when we’re all set!” Lil said.

  “You girls take care now,” Captain Mack said, making the well-wish sound more like an order. “And you boys be gentlemen. If I come back here and I find you been otherwise, it’ll mean bad things for you.”

  Lester stepped onto the gig and promptly fell over backward as it was yanked from the ground and began to retract. “A word of warning would not have been out of place, you troglodytes!” he barked.

  “I’m guessing you’re trying to insult me or some such,” called Coop from the controls of the winch. “But the joke’s on you, because I don’t know what that means, so it don’t bother me none at all.”

  He finished winching in the gig, and a pair of grunts helpfully tugged the mooring lines free of the trees to which they’d been t
ied. Nita turned and caught the eyes of the captain as he took the ship up. He looked irritable, but that was nothing new. Captain Mack usually looked irritable. As a seasoned member of the crew, though, she’d learned to interpret the different flavors of irritation. This one was as near to fear as she’d ever seen on his face. This was clearly unfamiliar and uncomfortable territory for him.

  The thick fug quickly swallowed the Wind Breaker as it drifted skyward, and the thick, heavy air soon hid even the sound of its engines. It wasn’t until the familiar hum of the turbines she maintained had faded entirely that Nita realized how comforting that sound had become for her, and how worrisome it was to be left in the fug surrounded by relative strangers without a means of escape. She swallowed hard and dragged a deep breath through her mask, then hurried to catch up with the others.

  Sure enough, behind the cabin the three steam carts they’d been promised were present and stripped down to the barest of essentials for operation. This meant only a frame, some linkages for steering, the various components of a steam engine, and the associated fuel and water supplies were left. Piled beside each one were the spare parts that had been removed and the mass of equipment that would be loaded onto them when the time came to leave. Nita paced around them, looking them over. Two were in decent repair, though one was notably not. The frame between the front and rear wheels on the left side was quite crooked. It had the look of having been far worse and subsequently hammered back into the rough shape it ought to be. In the center of the mangled section was a scattering of silvery scratches where the oxidation and black paint had been scraped free.

  Nita knelt beside the cart and ran her hands across the damage. “What happened here?” she asked.

  “That’s where Louis was,” said a familiar voice. “Now he’s underground. The poor sod.”

  Lil and Nita turned to find a grunt looking woefully at the damage. The deckhand practically tackled him to the ground when she realized who he was.

  “Donald! I was wondering when you’d show your face!” Lil said. “Is Kent around?”

  “Still inside. I fink he’s tracing out our paf or somefing,” Donald said.

  “I want all of you folks to come over here and shake this man’s hand, and Kent, too. Because them two are the ones that taught me there were some decent fug folk. If not for them, I might have gone to my grave thinking the lot of you were like the mayor back in Fugtown.”

  “What exactly happened here, Donald?” Nita asked.

  “That there’s the cart we used to do our first survey. That’s where somefing got ahold of us.”

  “You’re telling me a creature did that?” Nita said.

  He nodded. “Don’t know what it was. Don’t fink anyone got a good look at it, since the rest of the folk wif me just called it ‘what the hell is that fing?’”

  Nita eyed the damage again and did the mental math of working out what size creature it would take to cause such destruction.

  “I imagine we should get started on fortifying these carts then…”

  “Nita, Lil!” said Digger.

  They turned to the doorway. He was just emerging, and his face was the very picture of relief. He had a few bruises from the brawl but had gotten off easy.

  “I’m so glad you decided to come. I confess I was not confident, after our last encounter, that you would return to complete the mission.”

  “We keep our promises. Sorry about your jaw, by the way,” Lil said. “You shouldn’t’ve tried to pull me off those three over there when they were beating on Coop.” She hiked her thumb at a cluster of rather badly bruised grunts.

  “A lesson learned quite thoroughly, I assure you.”

  “Are you coming along on this part of the mission?” Nita asked.

  “I’m afraid I wouldn’t be much use. My skills are largely diplomatic and administrative. I’ve had only the most cursory education in technical matters, and no education at all on the subjects of wilderness hiking and big-game hunting. I would be a liability as part of the expedition, and furthermore I shall be needed here to coordinate the follow-up expedition to bring the chemist to the site, provided she is successfully gathered.”

  “Oh, they’ll get her. Even if they have to tie her up and drag her,” Lil said.

  Nita finished sizing up the cart and looked to the dozen or so grunts in attendance. “How many of you have ever worked on equipment like this?”

  Eight people raised their hands. Lil grinned and raised her hand as well.

  “Okay. What we’re going to do here is very simple. Watch closely, and when I’m through I’m sure you can do the same modifications on the other carts yourselves. We’re going to tap into this line here, the vent feed for overpressure on the output of the steam engine. With some minor adjustments to the regulator we should be able to operate the guns by opening the vent valve. So you’ll need pipe cutters, a bender, a threader, and some number four copper piping. If you’ve got a braising torch, that would be ideal as well. Are we all set? Then let’s begin.”

  #

  Lester clambered up to the top deck of the Wind Breaker just as Gunner and Coop were finished reeling in the mooring lines. A surprised and confounded look was plastered on his face.

  “Something wrong, Lester?” Coop said, clapping the dust away from his hands.

  “I… I believe I must have missed some part of the ship,” Lester said.

  “What were you looking for?” Coop asked.

  “The guest quarters.”

  Coop laughed. “Guest quarters. Listen to this highfalutin fella lookin’ for guest quarters.”

  “Where am I intended to stay, if not in guest quarters?”

  “Lil and Nita are off ship, so that leaves two bunks empty. You can either sleep in the gig room where Nita usually sleeps, or bunk up with me in Lil’s hammock. Except I’m not going to let you bunk up with me, so that just leaves the gig room.”

  “Surely you don’t mean that drafty mass of greasy machinery on the lowest deck!”

  “Pretty sure I do.”

  “That room is not fit for man or beast!”

  “So far it’s been a lady sleeping in there, so I reckon you’re right. But you’ll do fine.”

  “How long shall this journey take?”

  “Three days down, however long it takes down there, and three days back. Normally it would be more like two days each way, but Cap’n needs to take it slow so folks don’t notice us coming and going.”

  “I thought your crew had some sort of means to avoid detection entirely. As far as I know, yours is the only ship the industry doesn’t have moment-to-moment knowledge of.”

  “The industry? That what you folks call the fuggers who’re running things?”

  “Informally, I suppose. Down here the haves and have-nots are defined by their capacity to engage in manufacturing and commerce. You either run an industry or you work for one who does. But that is not the issue at hand. The issue is how you’ve evaded detection thus far, and why it seems you’ve waited until it would be a direct inconvenience to me to suddenly lose this talent.”

  “You being a fugger, and your question being how do we keep secrets from fuggers, I reckon you’ll understand if I don’t answer that.”

  Lester muttered angrily and turned for the stairs.

  “Coop,” Captain Mack said, “we’re covered up here for lookouts. For the rest of this trip, you’ll be keeping an eye on Lester.”

  “Keeping an eye on me? Are you insinuating I am not trustworthy?”

  “Whether you are trustworthy or not, I don’t trust you,” Captain Mack said. “So Coop here will be keeping an eye on you. And Coop, get him to help you stoke the firebox.”

  “You would have me work?”

  “We are down a deckhand and an engineer, Lester. If you don’t pull some weight, three days is a rosy estimate,” Captain Mack said. “And to be honest, if you don’t pull the weight, you’re just weighing us down, and dead weight gets jettisoned on this ship.”

&
nbsp; “… Was that a threat?”

  “I ain’t a man for threats, Lester. That’s just ship policy.”

  “I will not be a lackey to you. You are hired help, do you understand? As far as I am concerned you are merely a ferry to get me to the academy.”

  “Are you refusing to work as a member of this crew?” Captain Mack asked.

  “Categorically, emphatically, and without reservation.”

  “Coop.”

  “Aye, Cap’n,” Coop said.

  The deckhand snapped into motion. He didn’t have malice or anger on his face as he advanced toward Lester, which was perhaps why Lester didn’t react immediately. He didn’t think to even step away until Coop had planted his shoulder into Lester’s midsection and hoisted him from the ground.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Dropping the dead weight, like the cap’n said we would,” Coop said. “Weren’t you listening?”

  “Stop! You lunatics, stop!” Lester cried, struggling but making little headway against the determined deckhand as he toted him to the railing.

  “I thought I’d been clear, Lester.”

  “Fine! You madman! I’ll work!”

  “Drop him, Coop,” the captain said.

  “On the deck or off it?” Coop asked.

  “On.”

  Coop dumped Lester to the slick planks of the deck. The fug man scrambled backward away from him.

  “You would have done it. You really would have killed me!”

  “You wouldn’t be the first member of the crew we had to unload. That ‘industry’ of yours has made things a mite trying for us on the surface. Decisions like that are what have kept this ship in the air. Coop, take him down and get him shoveling.”

  Coop motioned for the stairs, then plodded off behind him.

  “Don’t worry too much about being able to get to sleep, Lester. When you’re through working, waking up will be the tricky bit.”

  #

  After several hours of tinkering, Nita was learning some very important lessons about working in the fug. Lifting heavy pieces of metal made for sweaty work even in the winter, and the icy chill combined with the chemical sting of fug seeping through her clothes made the process profoundly uncomfortable. Likewise, once she was out of breath the mask she wore made it difficult to get enough air to keep going. If she’d not spent the last few months mostly at high altitude, and thus adapted to much thinner air, she might have passed out. Even so, her chest ached with the effort of dragging each breath through the filters, and twice she had to stop herself from thoughtlessly removing the mask. The thin mist had a terrible way of hiding the fine details of whatever she was working on, and the green phlo-light if anything made it worse.