Railsea

air with dust & noise. He clung to the ladder & grit his teeth. He could see his crewmates shouting below, could of course hear nothing. When at last the angel careered off eastward, Sham trained his lens on it.

Daybe gusted off, following it. As if the bat would grab it out of the air & crunch it down. Sham watched the winking diode light from Daybe’s leg. Daybe was no daybat now, staying up all hours, like Sham himself. It did not fly straight, still obviously confused. It veered again for where the captain stood, even so late, alone & left behind by events.

Daybe swooped around her & the mechanism she endlessly probed. Sham stared.

“CAPTAIN.”

Naphi turned. The crew were ranged behind her. For a while there was only the noise of the train. Everyone swayed with its motion.

“Captain,” Sham said again. He stood with a Shroake to either side. “What are you doing?”

She met his stare. “Keeping watch,” she said.

“But for what, exactly?” said Caldera Shroake.

“You know what’s ahead of us, Captain?” Sham said. “An edge. The end of something. I saw it. But you’re looking the other way. What are you watching for? What’s behind us?”

The captain stared at him, & he held her gaze, & as planned Vurinam suddenly blindsided her. The young trainswain stepped in &, gentle enough not to hurt, he grabbed her mechanism. “No!” she shouted, but Vurinam wrested it from her, threw it to Sham. “No!” the captain said again, stepped forwards, but now Benightly was ready. She struggled as he restrained her.

Daybe landed on Sham’s arm. The bat nuzzled the receiver. “You will let me go!” the captain shouted.

“Mbenday,” Sham said. “What does that mean?” He pointed at a blipping & winking & whistling.

The man stared at it. “That little light there?” Mbenday said at last. He looked up. “That’s your little friend. But there’s another one there.” Mbenday pointed at another light, & swallowed. “A big one, it looks like. Coming towards us. Fast.”

Captain Naphi stopped struggling. She stood tall & straightened her clothes.

“How long have you known, Captain?” Sham said. “How long have you known what was coming?” He raised the receiver. “Mocker-Jack.”

There was a collective gasp. “Mocker-Jack the mole,” Sham said. “& we ain’t going after it anymore. It’s coming after us.”

“IT WAS NEVER going to let us go,” the captain said. “We had the hubris to think we were hunting it. We were never hunting it.” She did not sound mad. “Now the gloves are off. The boot is on the other foot.” She smiled. “Mocker-Jack is my philosophy. & I am its.”

“Sirocco,” Sham said. He fiddled with the mechanism & watched Daybe move again. “Signals like this, do they work both ways?”

“Ah,” Sirocco said slowly. She nodded thoughtfully. “Could be. Could be made to.”

“You see Daybe,” Sham said. He wiggled the receiver & the bat bobbed.

“It ain’t tuned to him,” Caldera said. “It’s a different frequency. How come it shows him?”

“Salvage,” Sirocco said. “It’s always a bit iffy. There’s bound to be bleed. Especially when, like right now, that thing you’re holding must be kicking out a lot of power. Ain’t it, Captain? When did you learn to reverse its field?” Sirocco said.

“Sham,” said Vurinam. “D’you think you could please tell the rest of us what the bloody hell you lot are on about?”

“She flipped the signal,” Sham said. “This …” He shook the receiver. “It ain’t finding Mocker-Jack anymore. It’s pulling. The moldywarpe’s finding it.”

The crew stared. “Turn the bloody thing off, then!” Vurinam squawked. Sirocco took it from Sham & hurriedly fiddled.

“How’d you even learn to do this, Captain?” she said.

“You salvors,” Naphi said. “You’ll tell a person anything with the right blandishments. If you can show off about it.”

“Why do you think she stuck with us?” Mbenday said, frantically pulling at his own hair. “She wasn’t going to let us take the Medes. She needs a moletrain.”

“Can we outpace it?” Sham said. “The mole?” Mbenday read the screen, carefully.

“Yes,” he said.

“No,” said the captain.

“No,” said Mbenday. “I don’t know.”

“I don’t know if I can reverse this,” Sirocco said.

“Much too late. Do you really think,” the captain said, “that Mocker-Jack can’t sniff us now? Can’t feel us? That it doesn’t know the signature of our wheels? It’s coming. This is what we’ve wanted.”

“No, Captain,” Sham shouted. “This is what you’ve wanted. The rest of us been wanting other, bloody, things!”

“It’s really coming quite fast,” Mbenday whispered, staring at the display. “I mean, it’s a few hours away at most. It’s really coming at quite a clip.” He swallowed.

“Wait,” Sham said slowly. “Sirocco, leave it on.”

“What?” said Vurinam. “Are you crazy?”

“Mocker-Jack’s going to find us anyway now. At least this way we know where it is.”

They stood, on the deck, staring, unsure where they were going, what there was to say. Sham hunted an idea. It teased him. “We’re so close,” he said. He pointed in the direction of the dark edge he’d seen approaching.

“Ahoy!” To their star’d flank, two Bajjer scouts approached swinging lanterns in semaphore. They came closer, shouting in every language they knew. They yelled with bullhorns, struggling to make themselves heard & understood.

“What is it?” Sham loudhailered back. “We’re sort of in the middle of something.”

“Is reason is why angels go over there,” one shouted, & pointed east the way they’d come.

“Looking for the mole, yeah?” yelled back Sham.

“No! What? Mole what? Is more.”

“More what?”

“More trains.”

“Pirates?” Sham shouted, & the Bajjer wagged their fingers no.

“Navy,” they bellowed. “Manihiki navy is coming.”

SEVENTY-FIVE

THE RAILSEA SHRUGGED OFF THE NIGHT, & UNCOVERED the ruins of many ancient trains. What graveyard was this? A macabre scene of failed ventures.

Coupled to the back of the Medes, where the captain still stood—what point was there to incarcerating her when all she did was stare, in the direction of her incoming philosophy?—the Pinschon rode the rails on its own stubby wheels. It could not have kept up by tunnelling at this speed. Beyond it, coming for them, the navy was now a visible cloud. Exhaust, fumes, the dust of travel.

“They were never going to let us go,” Caldera said. She turned her charts, looked at them from all angles. “We’re close. To something. I can see where my mum & dad were going, & I can see … I think it looks like we’re heading for somewhere they were trying to avoid …”