Emilie and the Sky World (7 page)

They waited.

At first, Emilie was tense and jittery with excitement, and she knew she wasn’t the only one. They took turns as lookout on the gallery, keeping watch in case the exploring party returned or tried to signal them earlier than the one-hour mark. Emilie took her turn, though she hated standing out there alone. There was just something daunting about that much empty space, with only the thin barrier of the spell between them and it. It helped to keep the door open and listen to the others talking and moving around inside.

After about an hour, Efrain, who was taking a turn at watch, called out excitedly. Emilie, Miss Marlende, and the professor hurried outside. Emilie looked up to see that Cobbier stood on the aether-sailer’s platform. He waved to them and attached something to a line that ran parallel to the rope ladder, then pulled on the line to send it down to them.

As it drew closer, Emilie saw it was a metal tube, meant to hold a written message. She tried not to bounce with impatience.
We’re about to get answers to all our questions!
Miss Marlende snatched the tube off the line as soon as it dropped within reach, wrenched off the cap, and pulled out a rolled-up square of notepaper. Emilie thought,
Uh, that looks a little small to have all the answers on it
.

Miss Marlende read aloud, “No sign of any crew aboard. Continuing the search.” She crumpled the paper, staring incredulously up at the aether-sailer. “That’s all? After an hour? You have to be joking.”

Up on the platform, Cobbier waved again and went back through the open door, vanishing into the ship.

Everyone stared up in frustration and disappointment. Professor Abindon swore. “That man.”

Miss Marlende’s glance at her was annoyed and a little defensive. “It’s Lord Engal’s handwriting.”

“If your father had meant him to add more, he would have dictated it in exactly…” She registered Miss Marlende’s expression and shook her head. “I’m sorry.”

Miss Marlende pressed her lips together, smoothed the note, and tucked it into a pocket. “Never mind. At least we know they’re all right.”

Emilie let her breath out, controlling her own dissatisfaction at the lack of information in the note. Maybe all the answers was a little bit much to expect, she thought. She stepped back inside to go to the control cabin and tell Daniel what the note had said. He also stared incredulously and said, “That’s it?”

Emilie nodded. “If you had been able to go with them, would you have written more?”

Irritated at the implied accusation, Daniel said, “Of course!” As she continued to regard him, he added, “Well, probably I would have. Maybe they haven’t discovered anything else.”

Emilie grudgingly admitted that was possibly true and went back to the main cabin to start waiting again.

The wait continued for the next hourly report. Emilie had spent the time looking over the wireless manual and memorizing some of the basic codes. It was very dry reading, though, and after a time, she drifted off. She woke abruptly when the bench seat shook violently and the book slid off her lap. She sat up, suddenly wide awake.

Seth, out in the gallery on watch, was now braced in the open doorway. Efrain stared at her from the opposite bench seat. “Was that normal?” he asked her.

“No. At least, I don’t think so.” Emilie pushed to her feet, keeping hold of a support post, but the deck had stopped shivering.

“It wasn’t normal,” Seth confirmed. Still holding onto the door frame, he stepped cautiously out to look up at the aether-sailer. “Can’t see anything out here that might have caused it.”

Professor Abindon clattered hurriedly down the stairs from the upper cabin. “Did something hit us?” she demanded.

“We don’t know; we can’t see anything,” Emilie told her. She had rather been hoping the professor knew.

She followed the professor into the control cabin, Efrain trailing behind them. Miss Marlende had taken over for Daniel at the controls, and he was standing now looking over her shoulder as she checked various dials and adjusted levers. She glanced up, frowning. “Before you ask, I don’t know. It must have been a fluctuation in the current. If something had hit the balloon, we would have heard the impact.”

Daniel was nodding. “It felt like something just grabbed the whole ship and shook us. That had to be the current.”

The professor checked the aether-navigator, then compared it to a long list of figures in her notebook. “The current has shifted three degrees.”

“It can’t have.” Miss Marlende glanced over her shoulder. “Are you certain?”

“Yes.” The Professor’s face was grim. “I’ve been checking our position frequently. Something is disrupting the current.”

Miss Marlende turned back to the controls, and said, “They must have felt that aboard the aether-sailer. Hopefully, Father will make a more complete report this time.”

When the time came, Emilie and Daniel went out onto the gallery to wait with Seth. The professor followed them, and Efrain came to stand in the doorway. They waited expectantly, staring up at the aether-sailer.

After a time, Professor Abindon checked her pocket watch and snorted with exasperation. “Of course he’s late.”

But Seth was frowning. He said, “He wouldn’t miss a report.”

Daniel looked concerned, too. The Professor conceded, “Well, the craft is large, and they may be at some distance from the door by this point.”

Daniel bit his lip. “They may not want to split up, either.”

Emilie felt a sinking sensation. No one is coming, she thought. She didn’t know how she knew. There was just a sense of emptiness and silence and…
It’s like how you’re expecting the post to come, but it doesn’t, and you just know there was a problem with the wagon, and even if they fix it, they won’t send it out this late
.

They waited, but no one opened the door.

After three hours had passed, Miss Marlende said, “We’ll have to go after them.”

Daniel nodded. “I’ll go, with Seth. I can do the protective spell. Dr Marlende showed me how he constructed it. We’ll need–”

“Daniel, you can’t climb that ladder, not with your shoulder,” Miss Marlende interrupted impatiently. “If you tear that wound open, you could lose control of the spell, and you and whoever was with you would die in a very unpleasant fashion.” Daniel drew breath to argue, and she added, “Do not attempt to cross words with me.”

Daniel hesitated for a long moment, then let the breath out, words unspoken. His expression was torn between frustration and grim anger. He knows she’s right, Emilie thought. At least he was sensible enough to acknowledge it. He said, “But who will go?”

“I will,” Miss Marlende said.

“But the spell–”

“The professor can do it.” Miss Marlende’s gaze met the professor’s.

Professor Abindon lifted her brows, then said, “I can. I will.”

“But can you climb the ladder, Professor?” Daniel asked. “It’s such a long way–”

She gave him a withering look. “Please. I’m not decrepit. I’ve climbed the lighthouse at Silk Harbor every week for the past two years, to adjust their aether weather-scope. And the current’s buoyance means we won’t weigh as much while we’re climbing.”

Miss Marlende nodded firmly, though Emilie read the relief in the set of her shoulders. She hadn’t been entirely certain the professor would agree to go. She said, “Very well. Seth, you’ll remain here also.”

Seth stared in astonishment. He had clearly been counting himself as a member of the party. “But Miss Marlende, you can’t go alone, just you and the Professor…”

Miss Marlende fixed him with a steely gaze. “Neither Efrain nor Emilie can pilot the airship, and Daniel will need a relief pilot. We may be gone for some time, and we can’t risk the airship changing position and breaking the lines to the aether-sailer.” He started to speak and she interrupted. “Are you going to present a relevant argument or are you going to make an emotional appeal?”

“But…” Seth deflated. “Just the two of you… It’s not…”

“Safe?” Professor Abindon’s mouth twisted in ironic comment.

Emilie took a deep breath. She felt a flood of fear and was surprised to note that it didn’t seem to be any easier to get used to, having felt it so much in the Hollow World. But it subsided and she said, “I’ll go with you.”

“Emilie.” Miss Marlende rubbed her eyes, for a moment betraying just how tired she was. “There is no reason for you to risk yourself–”

Emilie said, “Are you making a relevant argument or an emotional appeal?”

Miss Marlende froze and stared at her. Emilie figured either this would work, or she would be fired on the spot.

The professor gave Emilie an appraising look. “I like this girl.”

Miss Marlende glared at her mother, then at Emilie again. Daniel’s expression was hard to read; possibly he wanted to object, possibly he felt that adding more members to the party was only sensible. Miss Marlende appeared to wrestle with similar thoughts, then finally said, “Very well. You may come along.”

Emilie breathed out, mostly in relief that Miss Marlende wasn’t going to dismiss her from her assistant position. “Thank you. You won’t regret it, I promise.”

Then Efrain said, “I’m going, too.”

Miss Marlende said, “Oh, please.”

Efrain lifted his chin. “You can’t stop me.”

Miss Marlende regarded him. Her eyes narrowed.

Seth told him, grimly, “She could stop you.”

Daniel seconded, “Oh yes, yes, she could.”

Efrain looked from one to the other, then at Miss Marlende. His eyes widened a bit as he saw they were serious. He quite obviously decided to take a different tack. He said, “Please. I can’t let my sister go without me. And there’s nothing useful I can do here. I’d be a waste of… of air. With you, I can carry things, and guard your back. I know how to shoot a pistol.”

“You know how to shoot a duck-hunting gun,” Emilie interposed. “It’s not the same thing at all.”

Before Efrain could retort, Professor Abindon said, “A little brute strength might come in handy, depending on what we find.”

She meant come in handy if they had to help injured men back to the airship. Emilie bit her lip and decided to stop talking. Miss Marlende met the professor’s gaze again and seemed to draw the same conclusion as Emilie. She said to Efrain, “You must obey my and Professor Abindon’s orders exactly. And if I ask Emilie to tell you to do something, you must do it at once, with no argument. Can you swear to me that you will do that?”

Efrain’s expression was serious. “I swear it. On my mother’s grave.”

Emilie felt her jaw tighten. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to object to. Having become an ally of Uncle Yeric, Efrain hadn’t actually given up any right to their mother’s memory. But she felt like he had.

Miss Marlende nodded. “Very well. Let’s get ready.”

They hastily assembled supplies. Emilie had a pack that contained, among other things, a hand-cranked battery lamp, a coil of very strong line, matches, a water bottle, packages of lifeboat rations, a notebook and pencils, and a first-aid kit. She put on her jacket in case it was cold aboard the aether-sailer, shouldered the pack, and was ready to go.

Miss Marlende finished with her own pack and asked the professor, “Do you have everything you need?”

Professor Abindon said, rather grimly, “We’ll find out, won’t we?”

The professor went first so she could do the protection bubble spell, then Miss Marlende, then Emilie and lastly Efrain. Efrain had a pack too, and had exchanged his good town shoes for an extra pair of Seth’s work boots, which had been left in a supply locker aboard the airship from some earlier trip. Efrain was lucky he had big feet for his age.

Emilie had climbed a very long ladder down into a very dark hole, but this was worse. At least in the dark hole, she had suspected that the fall would be enough to kill her painfully but she hadn’t known it for certain. Here, she knew it for certain.

As she started up the rope ladder, she thought suddenly of climbing the ladder up to the other airship, with the angry sea people shooting at them, and what had happened to poor Beinar. It made her stomach lurch, and she had to take a deep breath and force her hand to reach for the next rung. Once she got past that moment, it wasn’t so bad. She concentrated on the movements of Miss Marlende’s boots and trousers above her, and tried not to think about anything else.

Emilie wasn’t aware of the protective spell until she realized the balloon was no longer in the peripheral vision of her right eye, and the shimmer of the barrier was suddenly within arm’s reach. It had formed around her as she had climbed out of the range of the airship’s spell, without her noticing. And oddly, she did feel lighter, as if she didn’t weigh as much. That must be the aether current’s buoyance. She still didn’t succumb to the temptation to look down.

Finally, Miss Marlende stopped, then moved forward again, and Emilie heard her say, “Emilie, do you need a hand?” Her voice sounded hollow and distant, an effect of the separate spells.

Emilie made herself lift her head and her neck bones creaked. She had been staring so fixedly at one spot that her shoulders had gone stiff. “I’m all right.”

But it was still a relief when Miss Marlende’s firm hand grabbed her pack strap and guided her as she scrambled up onto the platform. Emilie couldn’t really feel it through the protective spell; she knew there was hard metal under her hands, but it felt curiously neutral, neither hot nor cold. She pushed to her feet and moved over a few steps to give Efrain room. She was breathing hard and the back of her head hurt, probably from tensing her muscles so much.

As Efrain scrambled up onto the platform, she heard a muted thunk behind her. She turned and saw Professor Abindon had already opened the door of the ship. Emilie stepped to her side to peer in.

It was dim but not completely dark. The walls were a bronze color, and the golden, diffuse light seemed to come from chased metal strands embedded in the curved ceiling. They looked like a container of molten metal had fallen and splashed, then hardened into strings of rivulets. Emilie found herself exchanging a look with the professor.

Miss Marlende stepped past them and into the aether-sailer. The professor moved after her, and Emilie followed.

The corridor was a good ten feet wide, at least, and the ceiling was well above their heads. It made sense for a ship this big to have room to spare. Efrain hesitated in the doorway, then stepped through.

The floor had little ridges in it, possibly meant for traction in rough weather. The walls were textured too, with raised ridges that formed abstract patterns. Emilie looked up and down the corridor. It curved away behind them, following the shape of the hull; ahead of them, it went some distance and then dead-ended into a little circular chamber. “I guess they didn’t go that way,” she said. Her voice came out as a whisper, and she cleared her throat.

“But they did.” Miss Marlende moved to the wall, pointing to an arrow hastily drawn with light-colored chalk. “This is Father’s mark.”

“Well, I certainly hope it’s not anyone else’s mark,” Professor Abindon said. “One party of explorers lost in this ship is enough.”

Miss Marlende’s jaw clenched, and for a moment, Emilie could see the tendons in her neck. She thought the professor was just being sarcastic out of nerves, and not meaning to aim it at anyone in particular. But it was always easier to see that sort of thing when you were standing outside looking on, than when you were one of the people involved.

Miss Marlende said, “It looks safe at the moment, but take care where you step. Don’t touch anything.” She pulled the outer door closed, then moved down the corridor, and they all followed her.

The arrows continued down the corridor, and there were no other doors or cross corridors. Emilie thought the little circular chamber ahead must be some sort of optical illusion, like when straight lines looked wavy, or when you frightened yourself by mistaking the shadows at the bottom of curtain folds for feet.

But as they reached it, it was still a round chamber, the ceiling open to a shaft that stretched up into the ship. The second to last arrow pointed toward it, and the last pointed up into the shaft.

Miss Marlende stepped into the chamber, her brow furrowed in thought. Emilie leaned in and looked up. The walls of the shaft were a bronze color, lit with alternating bands of golden light, the wavy texture on them making the light bend as it reflected. She could see another chalk arrow about fifteen feet up.
The arrows are a trick?
she thought, and felt a cold chill settle in her stomach. Maybe someone… something… had captured the others and taken their chalk to trap–

Then Miss Marlende reached out to touch the wall. She snatched her hand back, startled. The professor asked, “What is it?”

“I think…” Miss Marlende lifted her leg and placed her foot on the wall. And then she was walking up it.

Emilie blinked, floored.
Or maybe they actually did go this way.
She hadn’t quite seen how the transition was accomplished. Still walking, Miss Marlende said, “Come on, this way!”

Emilie stepped forward and put her boot on the wall. It was suddenly like walking down a steep slope as her momentum pulled her forward, and the next thing she knew, the wall was the floor, and she put one foot in front of the other and kept going. Behind her, she heard Professor Abindon say, “How odd.” And Efrain laughed with delight.

Emilie kept her eyes on Miss Marlende’s back, a little worried that if she looked around too much, it would break the spell and she would fall down the shaft. They passed two more chalk arrows, then Miss Marlende stopped, confronted by an arrow that curved into a loop. Emilie carefully turned her head, craning her neck to follow the direction it seemed to be indicating. There was an open circular doorway in the wall directly behind them. “That way?”

“It must be. Let’s see if this works…” Miss Marlende slid one foot to the side, moving cautiously, then took a full step. She turned and walked around the circular shaft toward the doorway. Watching her made Emilie dizzy. She managed to make herself turn and follow.

Miss Marlende reached the doorway and stepped down into it, and suddenly stood at a right angle to Emilie. Emilie lunged forward and stepped before she could change her mind, felt the pull of that strange momentum, then suddenly she bumped into Miss Marlende. Miss Marlende steadied her and drew her back a few steps to allow the professor and Efrain to follow.

They walked into a large open chamber that appeared to encompass two levels of the ship. A bronze metal gallery ran around the second level, with no railings. There were a large arched door directly across the room in the far wall and other doors opening off the second level. Emilie noticed the door in the left-hand-side gallery midway along looked as if it led to a much brighter room.
Maybe they’re in there, maybe those are their lamps
, she thought.

More arrows were marked on the lower level, leading them along to a half-circle shaft in the wall. Miss Marlende stepped into it and was immediately propelled upward onto the gallery. Emilie saw her stumble a bit as she exited, then Miss Marlende called, “Yes, it’s this way!”

They followed, all managing to reach the gallery without falling off. The next arrow was chalked on the wall, pointing to the lit doorway.

The light in the chamber was brighter because it had several of the curved windows in the far wall. There were tables on one side of the room, set with a lot of disks that looked somewhat like the instrument dials in the airship, only there were no glass covers and they didn’t show words and numbers, but tiny little folds of what might be paper. Looking into them was fascinating; they only got more elaborate the longer Emilie stared. She had to tear her gaze away.

Beside them were switches and levers and knobs, though they too were made of something that looked like paper, all twisted into elaborate folds. Emilie was afraid to touch any of them to make sure, for fear of breaking them or accidentally turning something on. There were chairs, or at least round contoured benches, and the dark material upholstering them was very soft. There was a doorway in the far wall, leading into another, similar room.

Emilie moved toward one of the windows and looked out, but they were high in the hull here and she could only see the far curve of the airship’s balloon. She turned back to look around the rest of the room again.

Professor Abindon picked up a piece of thin metal that was covered with more of the tiny elaborate paper folds, twisting around each other into patterns. Stepping up beside her to look, Emilie thought it must be art. But the professor said, “This could be writing.” The professor held it flat on one hand and touched it very gently. “Hmm. It’s tougher than it looks.”

Emilie touched it too, gently brushing her pinky finger across it. It did feel more like metal than paper, deceptively strong, so it could be touched and maybe even crushed, and still hold its shape. She said, “That’s why there’s more of this on the panels. Maybe it’s instructions for the switches and levers?”

“And this could be a control room,” Miss Marlende said, “But it’s odd that it’s not more toward the prow of the ship. Do not touch that, Efrain,” she added, and Efrain jerked his hand back from one of the levers. “We don’t know how it operates. If it’s like that lifting wall, it may only require a touch to do something quite dramatic.”

Efrain looked suitably sobered and took a step backward from the table for good measure.

Emilie swallowed her irritation and started to look for the next arrow. She found it by the door, pointing to the next chamber. “Here, Miss Marlende.”

Miss Marlende shook her head slightly, as if more than a little dazed at all these strange sights, and strode forward again. The next chamber was nearly identical to the first, except that it had big cabinets textured the same way the walls were. These seemed promising, but after a brief search they proved to contain nothing but sheets of the metal-paper writing. The next room, however, had something astonishing in it.

It was a big sphere, nearly three feet tall and about as wide. Apparently made all out of one long twist of the metal-paper, the folds extended deep into the sphere so it was almost like looking into the insides of a plant or a strange sea creature. It looked like art, but after the professor had speculated that the metal-paper folds were writing, Emilie wondered if this had some other purpose.
Though if it is writing, I don’t see how they read the bottom without lying on the floor
.

Then Miss Marlende said, “I wonder if they can’t see.” She stretched her hands out towards the globe but didn’t touch it. “If they don’t read this by looking at it but by touching it.”

“What about the windows?” the professor said. Her tone was deeply thoughtful, not argumentative. “If they are blind, they wouldn’t need them.”

Miss Marlende nodded. “True. Perhaps they need light, or can see light, but they need their hands to interpret things that are this detailed.”

Emilie thought of the textured handles and the metal-paper patches on the control boards. Were they instructions? Or were they dials like the ones on the airship, that showed what fuel was left and the air temperature and the compass directions? “Maybe this moves,” she said. “Like compass needles or gauges.”

“A possibility,” the professor acknowledged. “If true, then this object is…”

“A map,” Miss Marlende finished. “But a map of what?”

Efrain had gone to prowl around the other doorway, and now he said, “Miss? I can’t find any more arrows.”

“What?” Miss Marlende turned, frowning.

Emilie went to the doorway. “They probably just didn’t bother to leave any because this just leads to the next room–”

“It doesn’t.” Efrain stepped forward, making a gesture. Emilie reached him and saw he was right; this junction had a doorway into the next chamber and an opening into another corridor. “They could have gone either way, so there should be an arrow.”

Miss Marlende moved toward them. “Look carefully.” The professor came to search, too. The next chamber and the one after it were mostly empty, with chairs arranged for seating and some tables but no control panels or giant globes. They went some way down the corridor, far enough to find another walking shaft that must give access to the rest of the ship. But no arrows.

They came back to the room with the globe and stood and looked grimly at each other. “They were here and then they weren’t,” Professor Abindon said.

“It doesn’t look as if there was a fight. There’s no blood,” Emilie pointed out, trying to be encouraging. “And if someone had knocked into the globe, surely the ends of the metal-paper would be bent.” Efrain winced and the professor gave her an odd look, and Emilie realized that perhaps that hadn’t exactly been tactful. Emilie felt her cheeks flush, and she looked at Miss Marlende. “Sorry.”

Miss Marlende just said, “No, Emilie, don’t apologize. I appreciate your candor. And you’re right, there’s simply no sign of a struggle here. Not that we’ve seen any sign so far of anyone that they might have struggled with.”

“Yes, though it’s a large vessel, and we’ve seen little of it so far.” Professor Abindon tapped her chin thoughtfully. “If we’re being blunt, one or more crewmembers could have gone mad and killed the others, and still be hiding onboard.”