it had to be powered by somethin' else.' He scratched at his bearded cheek. 'Somethin' like this.'
'This is what you came looking for?' Crake asked, peering closer at the sphere.
'Ain't it enough?' Grist asked. 'A power source that don't need aerium or prothane? If you could figure it out, you could power a fleet with these things. You'd never need to refuel. Allsoul's balls, it'd be a revolution! The Fourth Age of Aviation!' He nodded his head towards the sphere. 'You know what this is worth to the right people? There ain't enough numbers in the world.'
'I've got some. Fifty-five, forty-five,' said Frey. 'Like we agreed.'
'Aye,' said Grist, reluctantly. 'Fair's fair. I reckon even fifty-five per cent'll be more money than I can spend in a lifetime.'
'Don't forget my five per cent!' Hodd chimed in hopefully.
'Aye, yes, five per cent for you,' said Grist, waving him away.
Frey lowered his cutlass. 'The deal stands, then.'
'The deal stands,' Grist agreed.
Frey slid the blade back into his belt. The tension in the room eased down a notch.
'Better let me run some tests on that sphere before anyone touches it,' Crake suggested. 'Don't want anyone dead. I'll go get my equipment.'
'I'll come with you,' said Frey.
Frey was at the doorway when Grist spoke. 'One more thing, Cap'n Frey,' he said quietly. 'Draw a blade on me again and it'll be the last thing you do.'
'If I have to draw this blade on you again, Captain Grist, it'll be the last thing you see,' Frey replied.
They retreated to the antechamber, where Crake began gathering up his equipment and moving it down to the room with the sphere.
Frey didn't help. Instead he took his lantern and went and stood in the passageway outside the antechamber. He needed a little air, or as much air as he could get in this place.
Frey leaned against the chill metal wall and listened to his heart slow. Damn, he'd been frightened. Hadn't shown it, but he'd felt it inside. There was something about Grist. He'd caught a glimpse of the man under the grins and the laughter and the backslapping, and it had scared him. Something black and furious and maniacal.
He hadn't forgotten Gimble's fate either, the careless way Grist's bosun abandoned a wounded crewmate to die. A captain's nature was reflected in his crew, Frey reckoned, and that didn't speak well of Grist. Partnering up with him seemed like less and less of a good idea.
But he was committed now. And to be fair, Grist hadn't done anything Frey wouldn't have done himself, if he were in Grist's boots. So what if he'd kept some secrets to himself? A lie by omission was barely a lie at all, really. At least Frey had figured it out in time.
Maybe they could still come out of this rich. But he'd have to keep a close eye on Grist. That was for certain.
You don't know nothin' about me, Grist had said. That, at least, was the truth.
He thought about heading off to search for Silo and Jez, but decided against it in the end. No sense everybody getting lost. If they weren't back by the time Crake was done, they'd all search together. In the meantime, he daydreamed about the kinds of things he could spend all that money on. This time, he promised himself, he wouldn't fritter it away. He'd do something worthwhile. No blowing it on cards and booze and women.
Maybe he'd build an orphanage. After all, he'd have money to burn. Might ease his conscience a little. It'd go some way to making amends for a squandered life, anyway. Besides, a man could do pretty much what he wanted, as long as he could say he'd built an orphanage. You could shoot someone and it'd be okay. What kind of monster would hang a man who'd built an orphanage? A man who'd helped out all those little kiddies?
Presently he heard footsteps, and saw lanterns. Silo and Jez, back from their travels. He had no idea why Jez had wandered off, and he didn't care to ask. Jez looked a little shaken, but they both appeared unharmed.
'Everything alright?' he asked.
'Fine,' said Jez. 'Just went for a look around.'
'Find anything exciting?'
'A few things,' she said. 'Did Crake get through the door?' Frey noted the rapid change of subject, but he was happy to let it pass for now. 'Yeah. It was some daemonism thing. Apparently Manes are daemons. Did you know that?'
Jez went white. 'No . . .' she said. She swallowed. 'No, Cap'n. I didn't.'
'Are you alright? You look like—'
He was cut off by the sharp sound of gunfire.
Eleven
Frey ran through the antechamber, towards the room where the metal sphere rested on its pedestal. Grist, Crattle and Hodd were coming the other way, faces underlit by their lanterns.
'We heard shots . . .' Crattle began.
'The lookouts,' Frey said. 'Trouble outside.' He pushed past them, into the room where Crake was working. Tuning rods were arranged all around the sphere, linked by cables to the resonator. Crake was squatting in front of it, scribbling down readings in a notebook.
'Tell me that wasn't gunfire,' he murmured.
'Get moving. We need to get back to the others.'
'I'm not leaving my equipment!' Crake protested. 'There's no way I could afford to—'
'Alright! Gather it up! I'll send Silo down to help you.'
On cue, Silo appeared in the doorway. 'Cap'n.'
Frey was wrongfooted by Silo's unusually fine sense of timing. 'Erm . . . Help Crake,' he said.
'Cap'n,' replied Silo, brandishing the packs they'd brought the equipment in. Crake began frantically disconnecting everything. Grist loomed into the already crowded room.
'Is that thing safe or not?' he demanded, pointing at the sphere.
'I don't know!' Crake said. 'I haven't had time! It takes tests, procedures, careful study—'
Grist reached past him and snatched up the sphere.
'However,' Crake continued, 'a reckless disregard for one's own life will do just as well.'
There was another volley of gunshots from outside, snapping through the silent, empty dreadnought.
'Pack up your junk and catch us up!' Frey snapped at Crake. He ran out of the room, with Grist and Crattle hard on his heels. Grist had the sphere under his arm, which Frey wasn't happy about, but now wasn't the time for arguments. He'd make damned sure he didn't let the captain out of his sight, though.
They found Jez sitting by the doorway, a distant look in her eyes. Shell-shocked. Frey didn't have time to wonder what was wrong with her. He hauled her up. 'On your feet, Jez. You alright to shoot a gun?'
She shook herself and focused on him. Her face firmed. 'Yes, Cap'n.'
'Come on, then.'
They backtracked through the dreadnought. The gunfire intensified as they approached the breach where they'd entered. Finally they saw daylight ahead. There, crouching among their abandoned packs in the cover of a bulkhead, was Tarworth. He was using the rifle that had been his crutch to fire out into the undergrowth. Frey reached him first. Tarworth looked up, and his eyes were afraid, but he said nothing.
Frey peered out around the ragged edge of the rip in the dreadnought's hull. Beyond was the forest, steeped in weak daylight. It was alive with movement. Leaves rustled. Half-glimpsed figures rushed this way and that. A few dozen metres ahead of him, he could see the ridge they'd clambered down to get to the floor of the defile. That was
