Sigmund Shaw: A Steampunk Adventure (34 page)

From behind him the shackled man asked, “What did you do to them?”

Without looking up from the three downed men, Sigmund answered, “An ether concoction.” Once the shock of the moment passed, he turned to the emerald goggled prisoner and asked, “Who
are
you?”

With a smile, the man that Sigmund just saved said in reply, “Evidently I am indestructible.”

32.

Randolph Faulkner was eager to settle the score with Grimkraken. He sat in the command chair of the
HMS Firefly
, one of the surviving destroyers of their first attack – its captain giving way to ‘The Falcon’. He breathed deeply, trying to calm himself for the battle to come.
Hopefully it would come
, he reminded himself. Sigmund’s plan could work but there were many things that could go wrong. Even if the main cannon was removed, the enemy ship still had many other conventional cannons, it certainly would not be left without claws.

His destroyer had taken off from Northolt and headed west, away from Grimkraken’s ship. He would take up a holding pattern while the other ships from Northolt and other bases got into position. There were nine ships that would be part of the fight. Eight destroyers and one battleship, The
HMS Broadside
. The combined firepower was more than Grimkraken’s ship if only they could get close enough to use it.

“Hoffman…” he stopped. This wasn’t his crew. What was the communications officer’s name?

“It’s Owens, sir.”

“Right, Owens. Send a message to the fleet. Tell them to radio the moment they are in position and not to move until I give the order.”

“Aye, sir.”

Deep breaths
.
Deep breaths
.

* * *

“Indestructible?” Sigmund said in confusion. “What does that mean? Who are you?”

The prisoner looked at Sigmund, a sly smile on his face and said, “Who am I? Who are you? You are the man I saw at the factory…”

“I’m Sigmund Shaw.”

It took a moment and then the prisoner’s face showed recognition. “The Bomb Bandit? Incredible!”

“Kind of, but not really. And you?”

“Jeremiah Maxwell, at your service.” He said with a flourish. “I represent the interests of the Coal Union. Much obliged for the help you just gave me. Would be further obliged if you could get a key from those guards and unshackle me.”

“You have been spying on them all along?”

“Correct. The Coal Union has many powerful friends. And those who they don’t count as friends have price tags. The interests of the Coal Union were in jeopardy, so they called me in.”

Sigmund rummaged through the unconscious men’s pockets until he found a key chain. He stood and approached Jeremiah, saying, “So the Coal Union is trying to stop Grimkraken?”

“Sure, well, not exactly. We are more interested in stopping the cube.”

“What about the war that Grimkraken is promoting?”

Jeremiah laughed and said, “The Coal Union has no problem with war. However, they do have a problem with war being waged without coal.”

Sigmund stopped prior to releasing the shackles and stared disapprovingly. Jeremiah quickly added, “The cube would likely put an end to coal. There would be countless hardworking citizens that would lose their jobs.” Sigmund hadn’t considered that. Jeremiah rationalized, “But at this point I think we want the same thing. We need this ship to be brought down. You can use my help, I know my way around.”

Despite his mixed feelings, Sigmund couldn’t argue against the help. He unlocked the shackles and said, “Show me to the Gauss gun.”

Jeremiah shook his head, “No. Put on one of the guard’s jacket and follow me. I discovered a much better solution and actually was about to execute it when I had the unfortunate experience of being pinched.” Jeremiah walked over to the lead guard and took his gun.

A lot was happening fast and Sigmund took a moment to take it in. A much better solution? Jeremiah undoubtedly knew the ship well. Perhaps there was something about the gun that made it impossible. He decided to trust Jeremiah, for now. He examined the unconscious guards and saw that one of them was near his size so he took his coat and put it on. Looking back at Jeremiah he said, “Think I’ll fool anyone?

“Absolutely. Let’s go.” Jeremiah turned and headed back down the hallway that the men had led him. He stopped at a door a little ways down and opened it, presenting a stairwell. “We need to go up a few levels and then over to the middle section. If anyone spots us, remember, we are just your average crew members.”

Sigmund nodded in understanding. Hiding in plain sight would be easiest. Jeremiah climbed the stairs and Sigmund followed close behind. They passed one level and kept climbing. On the second level Jeremiah stopped. “We’ll probably run into people here. You ready?”

Sigmund nodded again. The two of them walked into the hallway, near identical to the ones below, and they turned left. It wasn’t long before another crew member passed them. Sigmund stared straight ahead while Jeremiah gave a simple nod. Once passed him, Sigmund and Jeremiah glanced at each other and smiled – laughing at danger was easier with someone else.

They passed one other crew man – no alarm raised – as Jeremiah led them through the bowels of the ship. Sigmund was astounded by the size. It would be large for any vehicle but for something this size to be flying? Amazing!

Jeremiah slowed their pace as they evidently were nearing their destination. “Have that gun of yours ready. I hope we don’t need it but this section was secured. The guards you knocked out were the ones for this area, so it
should
be clear.”

Sigmund put his hand on the handle of his gun tucked in his pocket and was ready to pull it out at the first sign of danger. They turned a corner and Jeremiah walked up to a closed door with a yellow stripe horizontally painted across it. Jeremiah pushed it open, walked in, and waited on the other side for Sigmund.

The new room was the largest by far that Sigmund had seen on the ship. The ceiling was two stories high while the floor area had to be twice the size of Harry’s barn. Most of the room was empty. There were a few crates along the right wall and two large crates in the middle of the area. “Now what?” Sigmund asked as he looked around and saw nothing critical to the ship.

“We bring the ship down.” Jeremiah answered simply as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He started walking towards the two large crates.

“I don’t understand. What can we possibly do from here?”

Jeremiah stopped and turned around. It must have occurred to him that Sigmund didn’t have all the facts yet. He said, “I’m assuming that you heard about the Portsmouth attack.” Sigmund nodded. “I’m also assuming that you know it wasn’t an attack from the Ottomans, that it was Grimkraken.” Again, Sigmund nodded. “Are you aware of the nature of the attack? The use of a train?”

“Yes. We deduced that the train was carrying large amalgam cubes.”

Jeremiah nodded, “Yes, that is exactly right. Grimkraken put two enormous cubes on that train and rigged them to activate near Portsmouth. However, those were not the only large cubes that he had created.” Jeremiah nodded at the two large crates.

It took only a moment for Sigmund to understand what Jeremiah was saying. He looked at the crates, each about as tall as a man, and involuntarily stepped back. He knew that a cube the size of a grapefruit would produce enough heat to power a train, the ones in this box must be a hundred times that size. That amount of heat would destroy the ship.

“That amount of heat would destroy the ship!” Sigmund exclaimed.

“That is the hope.” Jeremiah said and started walking towards the crates.

“Wait! How will we escape? How will the crew escape?”

“Like the ones in Portsmouth, these have a timer function in the electrical apparatus. We give ourselves a little time and we head for an escape hatch. There are silk parachute packs that we can use.”

“And the crew?”

“I guess some might make it but most won’t. Who cares?”

“What? No! I can’t allow it.”

“Wait? Isn’t this why you are here?” It was Jeremiah’s turn to be confused.

“I came here to disable the main gun so that the RAF can bring her down. I did not come to kill.”

“What do you think the RAF is going to do? Fly up and ask politely that they land? You can’t have one without the other.”

“Once Grimkraken sees that he is outgunned, he will surrender,” pleaded Sigmund. “He is not the kind of person that ‘goes down with the ship’. I’ve met him, he is arrogant and will not likely give his life for any of this. We have to try to disable the cannon before trying to just destroy the ship and kill all these people!”

“Look, what you are asking, taking down the main gun, it is possible. They aren’t expecting any rebels to be onboard. But this,” he pointed at the crates, “is
so
much easier.”

Sigmund did not relish the idea of fighting his way into the gun room. But he would rather try that than destroy the ship and all onboard. He flashed back to the deaths he saw at the factory battle and couldn’t bring himself to be directly at fault for more deaths. He didn’t say to Jeremiah that the destruction of the ship could also mean the destruction of the cubes; he wasn’t ready to give up on letting the cubes survive and giving his niece a chance at walking.

“How about this,” Sigmund said in a reasoning tone, “you set the timer for a long time. Give us an opportunity to take out the gun. If we fail, then the cube activates and destroys the ship. If we succeed, we have time to turn it off and let the RAF do their thing. Either way, we win.”

Jeremiah sighed and shook his head. “You do realize how many people have been killed because of Grimkraken and his men?”

“I do. I’ve seen many of them die firsthand. Grimkraken and his men need to be brought to justice. I’m just not ready to be the executioner.”

Dropping his shoulders in defeat, Jeremiah said, “Alright, we’ll do it your way.” He hefted the gun he took off one of the guards and said, “If we get in a tight spot, I’ll use this. I have no qualms about being the executioner.”

Sigmund didn’t like this partnership much but he gritted his teeth and said, “Set the timer.”

Jeremiah examined the crate and then looked around the room. He found a crowbar quickly and went to work on opening the wood container. A minute later it was open and Jeremiah was working on some part of it. Sigmund stayed near the door listening for anyone that might discover them. Another minute and Jeremiah stood up and said, “Done.”

“How long?”

“Ninety minutes. If we are going to succeed in taking out the cannon, it will take much less time than that.”

Sigmund nodded and looked at his watch, 9:30 pm, they had until 11:00 pm to get back here. “You can get us to the Gauss cannon?”

“Yes, I know where it is but I have never been in the gun room. Not sure what we’ll find in there.”

“One thing at a time. Lead on, coal man.”

As they made their way to the Gauss gun they didn’t pass many people. At this hour the crew were either on watch duty – searching for any RAF dirigibles – or in their bunks. Still, Sigmund never had his hand very far from his gun.

After passing through countless hatches Jeremiah finally stopped and indicated the next hatch, “The next hallway leads to the gun room entrance so there will probably be a guard. You ready with the knock-out juice you have there?”

Sigmund pulled the gun from his holster and nodded.

“Stand behind me so he doesn’t see the gun. I’ll do the talking until we’re close enough for you to blast him.” Jeremiah opened the hatch and walked through. The other side was another metal lined hallway, only one door on either side, and at the end of the hall was a man with a large, intimidating six barreled rifle that stood in front of the far door.

Sigmund, trailing behind Jeremiah, whispered, “What kind of gun is that?”

Jeremiah shook his head and then spoke to Sigmund loud enough for the guard to hear, “If I find out who broke the mechanism, I’m gonna tie him to one of the propellers.” They kept walking towards the guard. “I mean, I was in my bunk having this great dream. Why couldn’t it wait until morning?”