Wind Dancer: Secret War Steampunk Series - Adventure, Mystery + Mad Science (11 page)

“Damn!” Abigail said. “I had a clock with me on the ship!
It’s probably burned up and on the ocean floor by now!”

“Hold on here!” Will shouted. “Everybody,” he pointed,
“hallway, now!” They all trooped out, and when the door closed, the noise
mercifully dampened.

“Now,” Will spoke into the relative quiet, “Even I know that
this skip resonance thing can be real bad. Is there any chance that Hadley here
is right, Devi?” The Brahman looked uncomfortably at Abigail.

“Well, it is possible,” the Engineer admitted, finally.
“Unlikely, but possible.”

“Possible?” Will raised an eyebrow, “We need better than
that, Devi.” The engineer scowled at him and raised her hands in negation. He
turned towards Abigail, “And you say that you have a gizmo that could fix
this?”

“No,” Abigail said exasperatedly. “I had an instrument that
could determine how to fix it. Unfortunately, it was on the ship in my instrument
trunk!”

Will held up a hand, cutting off her next comment. He turned
to Saira and whispered in her ear. Saira looked at him, then the others, and
ran off down the corridor.

Will turned back to the two of them. “Lady Abigail Hadley,”
he continued, “May I present my Chief Engineer, Devi Neelam, the best one damn
engineer on three continents. Devi, you appear to already know our guest.”

Abigail nodded her head at Devi, “Chief Engineer Neelam. I
apologize for my unseemly entrance. I would not have presumed had I not thought
it of serious import.”  Devi appeared somewhat mollified by this.

“I understand, Lady Hadley,” Devi said. “Sure it is that if
you are right, then all is proper. It is true that we have not had time to do a
thorough resonance calibration in some time. But how can we determine which of
us is right in this? We must surely act quickly. This is not a scholarly debate
we can be having.”

“I know,” Abigail frowned in thought. Hesitantly, she
ventured, “There is another way to measure the resonant harmony of the four
engines, but it will mean removing the outer casings, which has its own
dangers.” Devi’s face held amazement upon hearing this.

“Yes, I would think so!” She exclaimed. “You cannot be
thinking what I think you are thinking.”

“I can do it myself with some help with the casings,” Abigail
replied. “As you say, there isn’t a lot of time here.”

Saira came running back up the corridor, followed by a large
man laboring with a trunk.

“That is my equipment trunk!’ Abigail exclaimed, as the man
set it down between them. She turned on Will, “you didn’t tell me you’d rescued
it as well,” she said accusingly.

“I’m not in the habit of letting unknown castaways have
equipment that I can’t understand loose on
Dancer
,” the Captain
explained. “I was going to have Devi check it out first.”

Abigail flung herself onto her knees, and worked the lock.
She quickly rifled through the trunk and pulled up an intricate device in both
hands. “Light clock,” she held it up for Devi’s inspection, who nodded approvingly.
Getting to her feet, Abigail said to her, “Do you have a spare set of
insulating gloves? “

“Of course,” Devi replied. “I have only heard of this
technique though. Can you do it on ship-sized Teslas?” Abigail gave a very
unladylike snort.

“I have used this on two thousand rated boxes,” she replied.
“I will need help with your viewing ports though, and we will need to check
each one.”

“Of course,” the older woman nodded in understanding. “Let us
get to it then,” Devi turned to reenter the engine room. Her head turned to
look over her shoulder at the British Scholar.

“You are not proposing to enter my engine room like that, I
hope,” she observed.

“Of course not, Chief Neelam!” Abigail exclaimed. She began
quickly removing her hair pins, her long, red hair came down in tumble. She
handed them to Saira, who looked at her in surprise.

“I cannot risk ferrous metal in the engine room. Abigail
explained, “You know, pins, eyelets, and such”. She dropped her bustle and bent
to unlace her boots, which she kicked off. She stood again, unbuttoning her
dress. “Help me please,” she said quickly to Saira. Saira grabbed her overdress
and helped pull it up over her head, then quickly undid her corset. Abigail,
standing now in only her chemise and stockings started for the engine room.

“Wait,” Will said. He stood un-moving in the hallway with his
arms crossed. Devi turned back to him.

“There is no time for suspicions now Captain,” Devi said. “Be
assured that I will be watching that she does not blow us all up,” the engineer
finished exasperatedly. Will flung up his hands in surrender towards his chief
engineer.

“Alright,” he allowed, “but Saira goes in there too to watch
her also.” The lights dimmed again, and they all looked up.

“Fine,” Devi snapped quickly. She addressed Saira, “You stand
where I tell you, and do nothing unless I tell you.” She looked over Saira’s
rubber suit and knives with disdain. “Get shed of any metal. That includes
those bloody big pig-stickers of yours, and you do not wear that bloody suit in
my clean engine room!” Saira nodded and without saying a word, dropped her
weapons belt. Devi turned back to Will. “You would help best by reducing us to
idle speed, and keeping our altitude level.”

“Got it,” Will turned and started at a run towards the
bridge. Abigail turned to the engineer.

“While I appreciate that we need to remain level, reducing
the energy through−put will not have a major effect what we are about to
do,” she said, puzzled.

“I know,” Devi replied. “But otherwise, he will be down here and
in our way. It is best to always give a captain something to do, and elsewhere
if at all possible. They need to feel useful, you see.”

“Oh,” Abigail replied in a small voice. Devi opened the door,
and the calliope of noise flooding the corridor.

“Now, young Scholar,” the Engineer shouted over the din,” let
us do it!”

~~~

Upper corridors, Wind Dancer

Indian Ocean

Some hours later, Saira guided a weary Abigail up to the
deck where their cabins were. Saira had been fascinated watching Devi and Lady
Hadley work. To be sure, she thought approvingly, the English woman was no
stickler for graces. She had gotten her hands dirty with the rest of them, and
more than once had stepped under an arch of lightning spitting between two of
the tall engines, with no regard for her own safety.

She would make an adjustment that stopped the arch or made it
flow differently. It was like watching a story of ancient magicians chaining
the sky demons, and made as much sense as well. Finally, the horrible noise had
calmed to a dim hum, and as they conferred over gauges and dials, the two women
had expressed satisfaction they had gotten the problem ‘temporarily resolved’.
Devi had told Saira to take Abigail, who was swaying with exhaustion, to bunk
out for a watch at least. Despite her protests, she’d allowed Saira to lead her
out of the engine room.

“Here we are,” Saira said, opening a door. Abigail stood in a
small room barely wider than the bed, and looked around dully.

“Like we said,” Saira went on, “It is not much. The bed will
do, and there’s a pot under it. Light switch there, and emergency light there.”
Saira pointed to places on the walls.

“It is fine,” Abigail mumbled. She turned to Saira. “You will
wake me, won’t you? Those copper inducers really need replacing. No one has
used those for years! Your engineer is a miracle worker you know.” She yawned,
“Oh, pardon me.”

“Yes Lady Hadley,” Saira grinned at her. “I promise to wake
you. You are right, Devi knows her business, but then I am seeing that you do
too.”

“Call me Abigail,” the other woman said with a hand wave, and
another yawn.

“Alright Abigail,” Saira replied easily. “But now you should
lay down for a bit, aiya? Devi will have words, if you show up too tired to
stand.”

“Yes, I suppose so, at that,” Abigail smiled wanly. “She is
quite formidable.”

“That is one way of expressing it,” Saira rolled her eyes.
“Do you need anything?”

“No, I will just sit for a minute if you don’t mind.”
Matching action to words, Lady Hadley settled on the edge of the bed.

“All right then,” Saira replied. “I am right next door if you
need anything.” She paused, “Do not try and make your way back there without
me, hear?” Abigail waved the comment off.

“I would not dream of trying,” she assured the Arms-Master.

“Well, rest well then.” Saira closed the door.

Abigail looked around the bare walls, and considered removing
her now even filthier chemise. She tested the pallet and found it comfortable.
At least it was more comfortable than the storage room had been. Perhaps she
would just lie back for a moment first.

There was a noise. Abigail groggily tried to recognize what
it was. Was it that Mrs. McDougall, the housekeeper, beating the rugs? No, it
was far too loud for that. What then? Suddenly, she remembered everything, the
letter from her father, the betrayal, the rescue. She came awake just as the
door opened. She opened her eyes to find Saira standing over her.

“Oi,” Saira said smiling down at her, “You are a hard one to
wake! Do not tell me you slept in your chemise?”

Abigail slowly sat up. Yes, it appeared that she had done
just that. Fuzzily, she looked up at the smiling Hindu woman.

“Must you be so bloody cheerful?” Abigail growled. “What time
is it?”

“It’s just now three bells into day watch,” Saira replied.
“You have slept much around the clock. Here,” she held out a steaming mug of
tea. Abigail grabbed it and inhaled the steam rising from it.

“Ah, you may indeed be my savior after all,” she sipped the
hot tea. It was full of spices that she could not name, sweet and very strong.
Saira laughed again.

“Well, if you would sell your soul so cheaply,” she replied
gaily, “who am I to refuse?”

“You say that I’ve slept an entire day?” Abigail started to
try to stand, tea mug in one hand. The Teslas need those new inserts! You were
supposed to wake me!” She felt woozy and sat back down again hard. Saira held
out her hands, to help her steady herself, nearly spilling the tea in the
process.

“Hold on!” Saira said to her,
“Devi said to let you sleep, and to tell you that the ‘inserts’, whatever those
are, will be waiting for you when you get to the engine room. Cap’n Will says
‘much obliged for your help’, and that you are to clean up and have breakfast,
on his orders. Then, if you would be so kind, he requests that you help Devi. I
have found you some other clothes to wear, and will take you to the baths, then
food, as soon as you have finished your tea.”

“Oh, “Abigail replied, feeling somewhat foolish. Saira sat on
the edge of the bed silently while she drank. Finishing the tea, she felt less
grouchy, and looked up at Saira.

“Thank you,” she said, “I can be somewhat difficult when I
first wake. My apologies.”

“None needed, I assure you!” Saira said reassuringly. “My
uncle, now there was a man difficult to wake,” she remarked. “His first
response was to throw sharp knives at you for waking him!”

“What did you do?” Abigail said.

“Learned to duck,” Saira’s face broke into a big smile. Abigail
found this incredibly amusing for some reason and started laughing. She laughed
so hard that tears started down her face as she rocked, before she got herself
back under control.

“Oh, my, “she gasped, looking embarrassed. “I can’t remember
when I last laughed so hard. I am not sure what came over me.”

“The wise ones say that laughter is one of the sovereign
remedies for the soul,” Saira replied still smiling. ‘I am glad to see you so.”

“Thank you for that,” Abigail said wiping her eyes. “You
mentioned something about a bath and food?” She looked down at her chemise. “I
suppose that I should dress. It would not do to wonder about the ship
half-naked.” Saira looked at her in puzzlement.

“I do not see that you are even half-naked.” She observed.
“And I should remind you that you have already wandered the ship, dressed as
you are. I have brought an assortment of clothing for you if you wish it.” She
held up a pair of pants.

“Oh, but I couldn’t wear that,” Lady Hadley protested, “it
shows off my legs!” Saira cocked her head to one side to stare at her.

“And how would it not?” she asked. “I wear them. Would you
rather climb a ladder with the next person looking up your backside?”

“Oh well,” Abigail replied flustered. “That was necessary
before, and you look very proper and…and martial.” She gulped her tea, refusing
to meet Saira’s eye.

“No one was really looking on the ladders were they?” Abigail
asked somewhat plaintively. Saira regarded her solemnly.

“I did not pay attention,” the Arms-Master said dryly. “I am
certain that no one had a shocking revelation upon seeing something new if they
did so.” Abigail grimaced at this and drained her tea mug.

“Right you are,” she said stoutly. “Well, I can do this if
you can stand to be seen with me.” Saira smiled at her.

“That is the spirit!” Saira exclaimed. She picked up the
other clothes. “I shall bring these along to change into after the bath then.”
Abigail nodded at her, if not enthusiastically than at least determinedly. She stood
up.

“Lead on then!” she said.

Making their way down the corridors, Abigail was pleasantly
surprised to find that they did not meet anyone as she walked in her underwear.
They did not, thankfully, climb any ladders, and soon found themselves in front
of a pair of large redwood and brass doors.

Abigail stopped, her heart suddenly pounding. She remembered
what Saira had said before. “Communal baths?” she said involuntarily. She
realized that she had been running around the ship in just her chemise and stockings,
but this seemed different somehow.