Helix (13 page)

He
leaned forward, gripped the rail and tried to make sense of the celestial
display above him.

Weakly
he called out, “Sissy. Sis, look at this.”

He
heard a tired, “What?”

He
said, “Get yourself over here.”

He
heard her climb from the bunker and pad towards him. He glanced at her, not
wanting to miss the look of wonder that spread across her face.

“Gina!”
Sissy almost screamed.

Olembe
looked up from his workstation, then hurried over. Across the lounge, Carrelli
woke up and stretched. She joined them and said, “What is it, Sissy?”

Olembe
could only stare, eyes wide, before he began to laugh.

Carrelli
smiled quietly to herself, her optimism vindicated.

Hendry
gazed through the viewscreen. “Salvation?” he said to himself.

The launch of
a
dirigible never failed to fill Ehrin with excitement.

As
a child he had watched from the launch berths, hand in hand with his father, as
the magnificent beasts nosed their way from the hangar into the open air, huge
and ponderous and some of them far vaster than anything in creation, larger
even than the central city blocks. To his infant eyes they had seemed to fill
half the sky, the gaudy ellipses of their envelopes the only splash of colour
against the permanent grey overcast.

As
the years progressed, and the launches and his attendance became more frequent,
he never lost that strange inward thrill recollected from childhood. Then there
came the time when he piloted the dirigibles on their maiden flights, and in
his twenties he was transported back in time, was a child again watching with
pride and awe as his father regaled him with the fascinating details of each
new skyship.

Now
he was at the controls of the
Expeditor
as it left the foundry hangar
and inched out over the city, the thrum of the multiple engines conducting a
thrilling vibration through his bones. Kahran was beside him, monitoring the
controls; they would pilot the skyship turn and turn about over the next few
days. Sereth, as excited as a schoolgirl—this was only her second time aboard a
dirigible— curled in a window seat and stared out through the thickened glass
windows that lined the gondola, commenting from time to time at the sights she
could see far below.

Ehrin
smiled as he gazed down at the city, reduced at this elevation to the
appearance of an architect’s scale model. The monolithic city blocks were
foreshortened, dark cubes against the long slashes of silver that were the ice
canals. He saw crowds lining the canals, tiny beetle-like figures gazing up at
the skyships and waving. He had no doubt that they were cheering, too. A public
holiday had been announced to commemorate the auspicious launch of the Western
Expedition, as the Church had titled it. The authorities made much of the fact
that the expedition would return with the information necessary to begin mining
operations beyond the fastness of the central mountains, and it was as if the
crowds below were celebrating their triumphant return ahead of time. The sight
of the two dirigibles, the smaller lead ship piloted by Ehrin followed by the
gigantic red liveried freighter, must have made a stirring sight as they
processed slowly over the city towards the pass notched in the ramparts of the
western mountains.

The
events leading up to the launch had not been without incident. While Prelate
Hykell stood on the platform and gave a dull, sententious speech, Ehrin and
Kahran had busied themselves with the pre-flight sequences. It was while they
were in the control gondola that none other than Velkor Cannak had burst
through the swing door carrying his travel case, incensed that Ehrin had allocated
him a berth in the freighter. He would, he said, be accompanying them in the
lead gondola. Ehrin had exchanged a silent glance with Kahran, but said
nothing. There was a spare berth aboard their ship, though the journey would
have been pleasanter without Cannak’s dour presence. Diplomatically, Ehrin had
asked Sereth if she would be kind enough to show Elder Cannak to the spare
berth, and there he had remained throughout the launch. Perhaps, Kahran had
quipped as they left the hangar, the official suffered from airsickness.

Now
they climbed higher, ascending to the elevation required to safely negotiate
the mountain pass. Agstarn receded below, so that the buildings lost individual
definition and became mere dark shapes against the grey bowl of the valley. The
city came to resemble a great circle like an archery target, though one shot
through radially with the grey filaments of the ice canals. Ehrin increased
speed, and they gradually left the city in their wake and approached the
snow-draped foothills. Ahead, he made out the isolated villages clinging to the
valleys that striated the flanks of the mountains, the inhospitable hamlets
inhabited by zeer breeders and hunters. Ehrin had never looked upon these
sequestered collections of mean dwellings, observable from the luxury of his
insulated loft, without wondering at the type of people who would gladly make
these places their homes.

“Look!”
Sereth cried, pointing.

Far
below, like a silver river in full spate, a herd of perhaps a hundred zeer was
being driven down the hillside towards Agstarn, bound for the slaughterhouses
on the outskirts of town. Soon even this was lost to sight, dwindling to a
faint ribbon, and then disappearing completely against the snow as the
Expeditor
rose higher and higher and edged towards the gap between the
jagged peaks ahead.

Ehrin
ducked slightly, the better to view the rear mirror mounted on the flank of the
gondola. Behind them, the freighter—its vast scarlet bulk filling the oval of
the mirror—was rising even higher than the
Expeditor
in order to ease
itself through the pass. The freighter carried a crew of three pilots, four
engineers and as many geologists, as well as the requisite drilling equipment
and machinery to carry out the preliminary boring operations.

They
came to the pass, a great gap between the peaks 20,000 feet high, scoured of
snow by the constant winds. It was incredible to think that people had actually
traversed this treacherous route on foot. In the days before dirigibles, the
occasional expedition had set forth from Agstarn, returning after years with
tales of adventures among the wild tribes inhabiting the vast western plain.

Ehrin
eased the skyship between the grey facets of rock, aware as he did so that he
was exploring territory new to him. He had travelled around the city by
dirigible in the past, going as far as the bulwark of the mountains, but no
further. This, below, was terra incognita, and the thought brought a smile to
his lips. He exchanged a glance with Kahran, who nodded as if reading his mind.
To him, Ehrin thought, this would be nothing—Kahran had travelled as far as
Sorny, on the shore of the western plain, a distance almost unimaginable to a
mind conditioned by the puny dimensions of Agstarn.

Sereth
came up beside him, slipping an arm around his waist and staring through the
window at the depthless grey wastes ahead.

A
sound issued from along the corridor at their backs, that of a cabin door
opening and closing. Kahran muttered something under his breath. Unsteady
footsteps negotiated the corridor—the gondola was swaying with a slight
pendulum motion—and Velkor Cannak emerged into the control room and cleared his
throat.

“Elder
Cannak,” Ehrin said, determined to be civil. “Please take a seat. Can we get
you a tisane?”

“Neither
will be necessary,” Cannak said. “I merely wish to issue you, as the
secular
leader of this expedition, with this.” He held out a long envelope to Ehrin,
who looked into the Elder’s face as he took the letter. Cannak’s expression
gave nothing away, as cold as the slabs of rock passing by outside.

“I
will be in my cabin if you have anything to discuss relevant to its content,”
Cannak said as he turned and left the control room.

“This
should be interesting,” Ehrin said as Cannak’s door closed behind him. “Any
guesses as to what it might be?”

“A
written apology for his conduct the other day,” Sereth laughed.

Kahran
spluttered. “Believe me, Cannak is not the kind who offers apologies gladly.”

“Then
some kind of pre-payment from the Church,” Ehrin joked. “A cheque for a million
monits.”

“More
like a summons to appear before a court of heresy upon your return,” Kahran
said.

“Open
it and find out!” Sereth cried, attempting to snatch the letter from his hand.

Ehrin
slit open the envelope, slipped out the single sheet of parchment and began
reading. He looked up.

“Well?”
Kahran said.

“An
order from none other than Hykell himself,” Ehrin said. “Brief and to the
point. Here.” He passed the letter to Kahran, who scanned the page and read the
relevant passages aloud.

“...hereby
entrust Officer Cannak with the spiritual and physical well-being of all those
embarked upon the expedition to etc., etcetera. In this capacity, Cannak’s
opinion in all matters relevant to the success of the mission is to be sought
at all junctures. Cannak’s word is final and is to be obeyed as that of the
High Church. Any instances of insubordination will be dealt with by the High
Council upon the return of the expedition, etcetera... Signed, Prelate Hykell.”

Kahran
looked up, shaking his head. ‘“All matters relevant to the success of the
mission’...” he said. “What does Cannak know about the technical side of the
mission, anyway? There was nothing of this in the contract!”

“I
wouldn’t let it get to you,” Ehrin said. “We reach the plains, the geologists
and engineers do their drilling, and we move on... What can Cannak order us to
do, other than go down on our knees and pray three times a day?”

Kahran
snorted. “Let him try.”

Sereth
said reasonably, “The Church had to produce something like this, just to show
us that they think they’re in control. Ehrin’s right. It means little.”

“But
the insult in thinking that he can dictate—I” Kahran began, flapping the
parchment. He moved off, heading for the corridor at a shuffle. “I’m going to
have a quiet word with him.”

Ehrin
reached out and caught the old man’s arm, shocked at how the slack flesh
shifted on the bone. “Leave him be, Kahran. Conflict would only suit him. The
response that would most rile the Elder is no response at all. We will act as
if we haven’t read the missive.”

Kahran
stared into his eyes, and finally nodded. “Very well. You’re right. But allow
me one futile gesture of protest...” And, not waiting for Ehrin’s response, the
old man crumpled the parchment in his fist and tossed the ball across the control
room.

The
Expeditor
had moved beyond the mountain pass. Below, sheer slabs of rock
fell away in a drop that seemed to go on forever and made Ehrin’s stomach
clench with vertigo. He stared ahead and made out a great plain spreading in
all directions save one. After the confines of the tiny plain on which Agstarn
sat, this one seemed illimitable, its very extent inhospitable. Who or what
could safely make their home here, without the shelter of enclosing mountains
to shield them from the razor-sharp winds?

They
would find out, he knew. For a fact, tribes did inhabit the plain, though it
had been decades since explorers had last made contact with the tribespeople.
What kind of lives these people lived, what language they spoke, and even what
gods if any they worshipped was something that the expedition might in time
discover.

Ehrin
eased the dirigible down the mountainside, glancing in the rear-view mirror to
ensure the freighter was right behind them. Its colourful bulk hove into view,
eclipsing the dark V of the pass. Ehrin accelerated, set the controls to
automatic and took a swivel seat before the pedestal.

The
plan was to continue at top speed for the remainder of the day, landing at
nightfall to make camp—or rather to moor the ship and sleep in the gondolas. It
was deemed too dangerous to sail by night, when the winds of the plains were
known to become gale force. In the morning they would continue, the geologists
surveying the terrain for what seemed to them a suitable drilling site.

Then
they would make camp while the engineers erected the bore, and wait upon the
success or otherwise of the prospecting. If the engineers struck lucky, then
they would mark the site and the expedition would return triumphant to Agstarn.
Ehrin hoped that the first few test drills discovered nothing, to give them
longer out here on the plain.

If
they came upon villages or settlements, then Ehrin fully intended to explore,
make contact with the tribes and learn as much as he could about their lives.
If, that was, such a venture did not fall within the proscription of their
ecclesiastical chaperone.

Kahran
brewed a pot of tisane and they drank the steaming cups, from time to time
Ehrin casting an eye over the controls.

Kahran
busied himself with a bulky camera he had set up beside a window. “I won’t let
the opportunity pass to get a record of
this
journey, Ehrin.”