Goliath

“A bit of rowing,” repeated Dr. Barlow’s loris from the ceiling, and had a chuckle. Bovril looked up and joined in, relaxing its grip on Alek’s shoulder a little.

“The others aren’t so lucky,” Mr. Tesla said, staring at the Kaiserin Elizabeth in the distance. She looked like a haunted ship. Her decks were awash with blood and were glittering with spikes, and kappa roamed freely across them, searching for prey. If any crew had survived, they must have hidden belowdecks behind metal hatches.

The second zeppelin hovered over the warship, sending a last shower of darts down onto the kappa. But the first strafing hawks were arriving, hacking at the zeppelin’s fragile skin. Its engines soon fired up, and the German airship began to pull away.

“We won’t pursue them, will we?” Alek asked.

“I doubt we shall bother.” Dr. Busk nodded to Tesla. “Getting you to Japan is more important than this sideshow.”

Alek let out a quiet sigh. As Count Volger had suspected, this long voyage had all been for show. The Admiralty wanted to prove that British air power was global, and that the Great War was a contest among European powers, not upstart empires in Asia.

But at least now that the Union Jack had been waved, the Leviathan could turn around and head for Tokyo—and then America, if the Admiralty allowed it.

“I don’t suppose those creatures recognize the white flag,” Tesla said.

“The submarine will call them off,” Dr. Barlow replied. “Exactly how is known only to the Japanese, for obvious reasons.”

“Wouldn’t want the enemy figuring out how to turn your beasties peaceable, would you?” Dr. Busk scanned the ocean’s surface through a telescope. “Some sort of sound would be my guess. One that humans can’t hear, a bit like a dog whistle.”

“Quite a vicious dog,” Mr. Tesla said.

“Vicious,” Bovril repeated gravely.

Alek found himself nodding. He’d seen plenty of Darwinist creatures in battle before, but nothing as horrifying as these kappa. The beasts had sprung from the water so quickly, like something from a nightmare.

But in a way it was a relief, seeing Mr. Tesla so unsettled. If he was appalled to see Austrian sailors slaughtered like this, surely he would think twice before unleashing his weapon on a defenseless city.

“And yet the ship is undamaged,” Dr. Busk said. “She’ll join the Japanese navy now, like the Russian fleet did ten years ago. A most efficient form of victory.”

Alek frowned. “The Japanese can operate a Clanker warship?”

“They are adept with both technologies,” Dr. Barlow said. “An American named Commodore Perry introduced Japan to mechaniks some sixty years ago. Almost made Clankers of them.”

“Lucky we put a stop to that, eh?” Dr. Busk said. “Wouldn’t want these fellows on the other side.”

Mr. Tesla looked as though he were about to say something impolitic, but instead cleared his throat. “Your damaged engine, is it eectrikal?”

“All the Leviathan’s engines are,” Dr. Busk said, then bowed to Alek. “Except for the two that His Highness kindly lent us.”

“So you aren’t entirely against the machine,” said the inventor. “Perhaps I could be of assistance.”

“Allow me,” Alek said. In his two days of sulking, he had explored all of the ship’s engine pods. “It’s a bit tricky, but I know the way.”

“Thank you, Prince,” said Dr. Busk, bowing. “You’ll be pleased to see that we use your alternating current design, Mr. Tesla. A truly ingenious concept.”

“You are too kind.” Mr. Tesla bowed to the two boffins, and Alek led him from the bridge, heading for the aft end of the gondola.

As they walked, Bovril shifted nervously on Alek’s shoulder.

“A bit tricky,” it whispered into his ear.

Even in the heat of battle, the boom that ran from gondola to ventral engine pod was unmanned. It was cramped inside, designed more to stabilize the ship than as a passageway, and the leggy Mr. Tesla had to stoop as he walked.

“That was a ghastly business,” Alek said once they were alone.

“War is always ghastly, whether conducted with machines or animals.” Tesla paused in his stride, watching a message lizard scuttle past overhead. “Though at least machines feel no pain.”

Alek nodded. “Even the great airbeast itself has feelings, which can be a good thing. It retreated from one of your Tesla cannons when the Leviathan’s officers would not.”

“Useful, I suppose.” Tesla shook his head. “But the slaughter of animals is destructive to human morals.”

Alek remembered an argument Deryn had made in Istanbul. “But don’t you eat meat, Mr. Tesla?”

“A personal weakness. One day I shall give up that barbaric practice.”

“But you sacrificed your airbeast back in Siberia!”

“Not without my reasons,” Tesla said, tapping his walking stick against the floor. “I couldn’t endure those bears starving to death, so I simply let nature take its course.”

Bovril shifted on Alek’s shoulder, murmuring. The loris was always quiet around Tesla, as if cowed by the man. Or perhaps it was listening carefully.

Alek didn’t know what to make of the inventor’s words. Perhaps it made sense, sacrificing one creature to save many. But what if Tesla applied that same logic to stopping the war?

As they neared the engine pod, the floor of the passageway grew wet and sticky, and Alek smelled a foul, briny odor. Through an open hatchway ahead came the clang of tools.

“Hello?” Alek called.

A figure in a grimy flight su it was lpeared, sodden and smelly. As she snapped a salute, Alek realized with a start who it was beneath the muck.

“Mr. Sharp!” exclaimed Bovril, leaning forward on Alek’s shoulder, reaching out for her.

Of course. Deryn Sharp could always be counted on to be in the thick of any mayhem aboard the Leviathan.

Alek stiffly returned her salute. “Mr. Tesla, I believe you’ve met Middy Sharp?”

“He was kind enough to drop in on me in Siberia,” the inventor said. “Are those feathers?”

Deryn looked down at herself. Trapped in the engine grime on her flight suit were, indeed, a few feathers.

Deryn flicked one off and snapped her heels, as if she were at a formal dance instead of in an engine room covered with bilge. “I was tending to the strafing hawks. Very kind of you to visit, Mr. Tesla.”

Tesla waved his walking stick. “I’m not visiting; I’m here to help. This engine is based on my design, you know.”

“What exactly happened here?” Alek asked.

“The propellers sucked in a bit of rocket,” Deryn said, avoiding Alek’s eyes. “Started a fire, so the engineers called for a Herculean inundation. Watch your step, please.”

Inside, the engine pod smelled like the gut of the ship. The floor was covered in gunk, the machinery blackened by fire. The engineers stopped their work and stared at Mr. Tesla, their eyes wide.

“A Herculean inundation?” the inventor asked. “As in the seven labors?”

Deryn looked puzzled, so Alek jumped in. “They must have flushed the rear ballast through the pod. Hence that sudden dive that sent us all sliding across the bridge.”

Tesla lifted one shoe to peer at its grimy sole. “Both ingenious and unhygienic, like so much Darwinist technology.”

Deryn stiffened a bit, but her voice stayed level. “You say you invented this particular engine, sir?”

“I created the principles of alternating current.” Tesla poked at the machine with his walking stick. “Much safer on an airship.”

Alek nodded. Visiting the pods a few days ago, he’d noticed how the electrikal engines didn’t spit smoke or