Agatha H. and the Airship City

Agatha whipped her head upwards, causing the large white cat that was watching her to jump upwards in surprise.

She puffed a lock of hair out of her face in annoyance, and looked back at the objects at her feet. She looked again. Odd, from here, it was obvious that the objects were not haphazardly strewn about. They had been laid out quite deliberately. A book caught her eye. It was an open comb-bound manual. Upon examination, Agatha realized that it was an instruction manual for flying one of Castle Wulfenbach’s small inspection airships. Excitement seized her. This was exactly what Agatha needed! She examined the line drawings that showed the airship controls. They looked fairly simple and—

Agatha paused, looked again at the debris on the floor, and then re-examined the drawing in the book. There was no mistake. Someone had meticulously re-created the control panels out of various found objects. The inference was obvious. Someone else was surreptitiously trying to learn how to fly one of the small airships.

Now Agatha felt conflicted. Yes, she desperately needed to get off of the airship, but here was evidence that someone else had the same need. Who knew what their reasons were. She thought fiercely for a moment, hugging the book to her chest. Then she spoke up. “I need to get off of this airship,” she said loudly. Her voice echoed through the vast room. She listened intently, but heard nothing. “My parents need me, and the Baron won’t let me help find them. This book, the airship instruction manual, will help me get off of this ship, so I’m taking it.”

Silence. Agatha noticed that the cat, which had been watching her all this time, was lashing its tail in an agitated manner. “Sorry, kitty,” she said, “I’ll be out of here shortly.” The cat hissed at her.

Agatha again called out, “If you still need this book, speak up now, and we can work together. My companion and I just need to get down to the ground safely. Your reasons are your own.”

Again there was nothing.

“Okay. I’ve done my best.” However she still had a twinge of guilt as she tucked the book within her jacket. Looking around, half expecting someone to appear at any moment, she exited the room, switching off the light as she did so, and continued down the hallway. Atop the stack of fabric, the cat stared balefully at the doorway and, with a savage swipe of its claws, tore a great rent in the fabric at its feet.

Buoyed by her discovery, Agatha quickly realized that her immediate situation hadn’t really improved. This was driven home by her arrival at yet another desolate, uninformative intersection. She sighed. “I guess I’ll just keep going until I meet somebody or run out of dirigible.”

This decision made, she squared her shoulders, picked a corridor at random and strode off, turned a corner, and came to a blank wall.

She regarded it with disapproval, turned about and marched off, stopping after she had taken two steps. She turned back. “That’s stupid. Why put in a corridor that leads up to a dead end? There must be something here…”

As she glared at the wall, one of the rivets surrounding the edge caught her eye. It looked… different. Experimentally she pushed it, and was rewarded with a dull CHONK noise, and the wall swung open with a faint squeeee.

Agatha grinned, stepped through, and found herself at the lip of a vast pit. She windmilled her arms, barely keeping her balance upon the small ledge that surrounded it.

The room itself was lit by the lights of some odd-looking machinery that lined the far wall. Agatha noted that there was a much larger floor, as well as another door, on the other side, so she was preparing to inch her way around the pit, when a deep booming voice addressed her from the darkness.

“Ah! You must be the Villain’s Beautiful But Misguided Daughter!” She almost lost her balance again.

When she had stabilized herself, she looked up. Agatha saw a large burly man suspended over the pit by an excessive number of chains. A vast complex of devices were attached to various points on his head, and an obvious bomb had been attached to his feet. He smiled at Agatha engagingly. “You’re just in time!”

CHAPTER 6

“Jagermonsters are hard to kill, because the devil don’t want them in Hell.”

—Peasant saying

“I’m the what?”

“You’re the Baron’s beautiful daughter, surely.”

“I am not the Baron’s daughter.”

The hanging man looked nonplused for a moment. His brow furrowed around the visor that hid his eyes. “Are you sure? I’m usually very good at spotting the offspring of evil geniuses…” Then his face cleared. “Ah! Then you must be the plucky lab assistant here to set me free!”

Agatha began to feel like she was on stage and didn’t know her lines. “I’m sorry, who are you?”

The man grinned and, astonishingly, managed to make himself look imposing, even restrained as he was. “Ah, allow me to introduce myself. I am Othar Tryggvassen—Gentleman Adventurer!” He smiled modestly. “Perhaps you’ve heard of me. I’m told the stories are getting around.”

Agatha felt her feeling of unreality increase. “Othar. The Othar. The man who defeated the wooden warriors of Dr. Krause.”

“That would be me, yes.”

“The hero who saved the hamlet of Lunkhauser from the ever-widening moat.”

“The very same.”

“The savior of the town of Mount Horeb from the rain of mustard.”

Othar’s grin slid off his face. He chewed his lip. “I… uh… I’m afraid you have me on that one.”

Agatha nodded approvingly. “I made it up.” She peered down the shaft below. Much to her surprise, the bottom was quite visible, as were the gigantic gears that would swiftly grind anything that fell into them into a fine lubricating paste. She looked back at the again grinning Othar. “You don’t seem too worried about…” She gestured downwards.

“About being a prisoner in a seemingly hopeless predicament? Well I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t inconvenient, but I’ll escape eventually. I am the hero, after all, and you are just what I need!”

“An audience?”

“Ye—no! You can be my spunky girl sidekick. I’m fresh out at the moment. Release me and we’ll blow up the Baron’s Dirigible of Doom, escape by the skin of our teeth, and then it’s cocoa and schnapps all around!”

Agatha folded her arms. “‘Spunky girl sidekick.’”

“Sure! It’ll be fun!”

Agatha nodded and began to resume her edging around the pit towards the far door. “Look, no offense,” she said, “but I’ve been around Sparks and their labs most of my life.”

Othar’s grin faltered. “Oh?”

“Uh-huh, and I’d rather not end up being the Easily Duped Minion Who Sets the Insanely Dangerous Experiment free. Or the Hostage Who Ensures the Smooth-Talking Villain’s escape.”

“Ah…”

“I don’t have any proof that you really are Othar Tryggvassen, or even that you’re really human.”

“Er…”

Agatha reached the far side and dusted herself off. “This Girl Sidekick job doesn’t call for a lot of smarts, does it?”