Tomlin was right. Almost two carriages full of stuff, the gear the others had with them, and that over the path to the house and beyond. Then Daniel grinned. “I have an idea. Just you start unloading the stuff. I’ll come back soon. I think.” He quickly walked up the rabbit’s trail to Aldrick’s house. “Aldrick!”
Fifteen minutes later, Tomlin stared up as he heard someone yell his name. “I’ll be fucking damned…”
The airship slowly came flying towards the carriages. On board were Daniel and Aldrick, who worked together to land the airship as close to the road as possible. There was not much wind, so they had room to play, and it worked well.
The two wrestlers stared at the ship in disbelief. The captain was right there with them.
“Aldrick? What are you doing here?” Tomlin asked, as he carried the first box to the ship.
“I am coming with you,” the man said. He was dressed in a bizarre black outfit and carried a sword on his belt. “I have decided that I have to come along. I know the airship. Mr. Zacharias here knows how to work the sails, but he cannot do it all alone, and you…” The words did not need to be spoken, Aldrick’s facial expression said it all.
Tomlin did not argue.
They worked in a chain, handing the supplies over to the airship. It had hatches and storage compartments in the weirdest spots, and they almost all got filled up. The skipper kept a log what was stored where. Tomlin then sent the carriages off, back to where they belonged.
The group boarded the airship. Aldrick pointed out a bucket with straps and a large roll of sail that was stashed under a row of seats. “You can make yourself useful with that in case it starts to rain,” the inventor said. “Attach the straps to these lines, on the red marks, and then tie the sail to them. It should keep the rain from us.”
Most people noticed the ‘should’.
Abnezer and Phorlis, the two wrestler types, preferred to sit on the ship’s floor. They had not yet much confidence in this contraption, and avoiding seeing the actual flying seemed to make it better for them.
The skipper unfolded his maps on the roof of the cabin, while Tomlin and Aldrick worked on the steam engine. Daniel was in the first mast, trying the wind and rolling down a few sails.
“Here we go!” Aldrick sounded happy as a child as he pressed on the lever that added the gas for extra lift to the balloons.
The hiss sounded evil. The balloons tightened up. Then, calmly, as if lifted by a giant’s careful hand, the ship went up into the air. On a word from Aldrick, Tomlin brought in the staircase that hung from the side. The skipper placed his big compass on the maps, pointed out what course they should start on, and Daniel set the sails.
Abnezer look at what Daniel did and got up. “Can I help?” As Daniel and he worked on the sails of the second mast, Phorlis decided he would get up later, as soon as he had gotten used to the swaying motion of the ship.
As the airship picked up speed and altitude, its crew looked out over the land and the approaching water mass they would be flying over most of the time. It was, said the skipper, the shortest route.
The first hours of the flight went by as smooth as a baby’s freshly powdered behind. The weather was fine, the wind was fair and everyone seemed to have a reasonable time. Except for Phorlis, who had discovered the need to inform the fish beneath them about what he’d had for lunch several times.
Tomlin and Abnezer sat at the bow of the airship, looking out over the waters. Far below them they saw a six mast ship sail. “Hey Daniel, come look at that thing!”
Daniel, who had been talking to Aldrick, moved forward and looked. “Isn’t that a spectacular view?” he asked. “And the Pricosine was larger. Two more masts and…” He looked at the ship again. Something was not right in the picture.
“Daniel? Is something the matter?” Tomlin asked.
“That’s a ship of the Skinsh ko Talush,” Daniel said, looking at the colours of the sails. He noticed also the course it was sailing. And that was not the same as they were holding!
“Well, so?” Tomlin failed to see the problem.
Daniel quickly went back aft and looked at the compass. “Aldrick, we’re off course.”
“Oh, no, we are going straight ahead, Mr. Zacharias,” the inventor tried to calm Daniel down.
Daniel looked for the skipper, who had found a nice corner for a nap. Then he looked at the compass. “We are going west by north west, Aldrick. We have to go north by north west. Why did you change course?” As he asked it, he recalled that the steering wheel was useless.
“I-” Aldrick started, but Daniel was on his way to the sails already. The sails were fine. They were strapped down, they could not move.
“Something must have happened,” Daniel called back at Aldrick.
“Nothing did, Mr. Zacharias. I only added some more lift to the ship.”
“You what?” Daniel walked back to the inventor. “You made us go up?”
“Yes. The view is nicer that way.” Aldrick smiled innocently.
“Take us down. Now,” Daniel commanded. “Going up means that we get caught in a different layer of wind. That’s what threw us off course.” He had a hard time swallowing down the word ‘idiot’. The inventor was an inventor, not someone who knew about winds.
Aldrick stared at Daniel. “Mr. Zacharias… wind is wind…”
“Aldrick. I beg you. First get us downwards until we’re north by north west again. Then I will explain about wind. Please?”
“Oh well…” Aldrick pulled a handful of wires and the balloons hissed.
Daniel kept his eye on the compass. “Slowly… slowly… Hold it here for a while…” He made the inventor lower the airship a few more times, wondering how much he’d taken it up, until the compass showed they were going the right direction again.
By then the skipper had woken up. Daniel told him what had happened. “Can you plot a new course?”
The man nodded and started work on his map, occasionally staring out over the water. Finally he spoke the relieving words: “I think we’re good again, Mr. Zacharias.”
Daniel hoped he was right.
Night fell, and aboard the airship a set of oil lamps was lit. In the daytime they had decided on a night roster. Daniel and Abnezer would sleep in turn to man the sails. Tomlin, the skipper and Aldrick would keep watch in turns to make sure they were still on course. Phorlis was left out as he was still trying to become accustomed to the flying boat.
The night went by without any disturbance. Daniel and Abnezer were rather groggy after their short naps, but the next day things went like clockwork. Changing the sails became routine, and Daniel more and more dared to fly under full sail, making the airship go very fast.
On the third day, the skipper ordered all sails stricken. As the airship’s speed was dropping to nothing, the skipper pointed at the map. “We should see these islands now.”
Tomlin looked at the compass and shrugged. He looked out over the water and shrugged again. “All nice and good, but where are they?”
The skipper looked at the man in a devastating way. “I said that we -should- see them now. Navigation at sea is not an exact science, and here in the air it is even more difficult. Sir.” It made for an uncomfortable moment.
“I suggest we fly on for a while longer,” Daniel said. “And if we don’t find them, we can see about flying in expanding circles.”
Tomlin nodded. He knew the routine from back when he was still in active duty. “Works for me.”
“We could also fly higher,” Aldrick chipped in, knowing he could be asking for problems.
Daniel looked at the inventor for a moment. Then he looked over the side of the airship, making an educated guess on their current altitude. “That might help. Take us up, Aldrick. Skipper, keep the course. Abnezer! I need you on the sails!”
They climbed. They flew on for an hour. And the islands came in sight.
“Do you think they are hiding out there?” Daniel asked the skipper.
“It is one of the options, Daniel. One of the six I have at hand. They’re based on reports of other survivors. Unfortunately, they too can only guess where the pirates really are. But they have to be around here.” The skipper dragged his finger around an area on the map that was too large for Daniel’s taste.
With some tricky manoeuvring, the crew managed to sail the airship around the islands. From the air, Daniel
