by Jason Kent
"NOW!" Dagger shouted.
Kate mashed the button down, hoping it would do whatever Dagger thought it was supposed to do. Behind her, she heard the roar of two rockets ignite. The aircraft bucked as the mooring cables disconnected and shot downward, following the anchor missiles.
"TRAL!" Dagger cursed. She strained to keep them flying straight and pulled against the control column in a desperate attempt to put a little distance between themselves and the unpredictable cables.
"You've got this!" Kate shouted encouragingly. Over Dagger's head, she saw the smoke clear as the kick from the rocket motors pushed their craft in front of the engine. She started to breathe a sigh of relief as the air cleared. At least they could see where they were heading now. Kate immediately regretted the thought. The station was directly ahead of them. She tightened her grip and her knuckles turned white as she realized there was no way they were going to clear the iron beams arching over the tracks at the edge of the platform. Kate gasped, "Not good!"
"Just hang on!" Dagger yelled. She screamed a primal battle cry and did the exact opposite thing Kate or anyone else would have expected. Dagger dove for the tracks.
Merrick shook his head when he saw the glider swerve over the tracks in front of the speeding engine. What on Earth was Dagger thinking? He pulled on the signal cord and let out a long, shrill whistle. The aircraft responded instantly, bobbing up and over the front of the boiler and smokestack.
"Are they going to pick us up?" Tivon shouted to be heard above the roar of the engine.
"There's no way we can all fit on that thing!" Ross yelled back. He glanced out the cab door at the ground and buildings flashing past. "I hope whatever it is they have in mind works! We sure as tral can't jump!"
Merrick spotted the cables trailing behind the aircraft then.
"Oh no..." Ross said. He'd also spotted the cables.
"This is how it ends," Tivon said with a shake of her head. Her glowing blue eyes looked like cold, hard diamonds as they reflected the light of the engine's superheated firebox. She barked a short laugh. "No wonder Nemus wouldn't tell me when I asked. I wouldn't have believed him if he'd told me I was going to die aboard a runaway train!"
Ross reached out and took hold of the archivist's chin. He tilted the woman's head so she was looking out of the tiny window facing forward. The thick mooring lines whipped and snapped behind Dagger's airplane
"There's no way they can stop us with those!" Tivon shouted, her eyes going wide.
Outside, the plane disappeared as it slipped back over the cab. The roar of two explosions briefly superseded the deafening sounds coming from the engine. Ross dove to put his body between Tivon and the fuel tender located right behind the cab. He grabbed a control lever with one hand and an iron railing with the other, trapping Tivon firmly between his broad chest and the metal wall.
Merrick instinctively turned away from the rear of the cab. He found two solid hand holds just as the rockets launched from the plane embedded themselves into the tender. The tender, really just a small car filled with fuel oil to feed the engine's firebox, and water to keep the thirsty boiler topped off, shuddered as the cable anchors took hold. Flames shot upwards as the fuel oil was ignited by the white hot rocket plume.
Amid the flames, violent vibrations, and the screech of the drive wheels grinding against the smoking brakes, Merrick was thrown forward as their speed suddenly dropped dramatically.
"At least that's something," Merrick grunted. In the back of his mind, he wondered if they'd slow enough for them to get out of the cab before the fire behind them cooked them alive. Just as he was contemplating their ability to survive the twenty meter drop to the street below, the train began to lift off the rails.
Merrick shielded his eyes against the flames visible through the tiny windows set high up in the cab's rear wall. The cables had drawn tight and were straining to pull the train up toward the airship.
"Probably should have thought this plan out a little better," Merrick shouted to Ross.
"You think?!" Ross shouted back as the car not only began to rise but slew sideways. His arms bulged as he strained to keep himself and Tivon from falling out the open door. He looked down at Tivon. "At least we got the clock, right?"
Tivon managed a nervous smile. "I'd hoped not to die in the process."
Sparrow watched Kate and Dagger's flight unfold beneath her with analytical detachment from the airship's bridge. She noted several items of interest which could help improve the tiny craft's performance profile dramatically. Sparrow filed the information away for later. She could brief Dagger at some point in the future.
Below, the train engine overtook her, due to the airship's relatively slow velocity, and blasted ahead of her. The glider with Kate and Dagger maneuvered wildly then finally stabilized directly over the engine. Sparrow squinted against the brilliance from the rockets firing the steel anchors down into the tender. She tightened her grip on the wheel as the mooring lines running from the underside of the airship to the engine began to go taut. She expected a slight jolt and did not want to lose her hold on the controls.
With a twang, the thick cables Dagger and Kate had fixed to the train stiffened then bucked dramatically. Sparrow was nearly thrown to the deck by the violent motion. Under her breath she said, "So much for a 'slight jolt'."
The rear set of wheels on the tender lifted from the tracks as the anchors took hold.
A brilliant explosion burst out of the tender, forcing Sparrow to shield her eyes with one hand. For an instant, she was worried the engine, along with her friends, had been destroyed in the blast. As she watched, the engine sped out from under the cloud of smoke. It was moving a little slower, but was still going dangerously fast. That, and now the tender car was an inferno along for the ride.
Sparrow wished she were in the airship's engine room. If they ever needed to put the engines in full reverse, the time was now. It was the only way she could safely stop the train secured to the airship without it leaving the tracks. She sighed as she worked the bridge controls instead of being able to manipulate the engine components with her special touch. She pulled back on the levers controlling their buoyancy. If she couldn't make the engines go into full reverse, the next best thing would be to apply force on the cables by gaining altitude. By shifting helium to the leading gas bag in the blimp, she'd start her zeppelin on a steep climb, and take the train with her.
The airship's engines strained against the momentum of the heavy engine. The stress and fire in the tender proved too much for one of the cables. It snapped with a twang.
"Great," Sparrow murmured as she computed the strain she was now applying to just one cable. She watched helplessly as the severed cable sailed right for the airship bridge...and her. Sparrow had only enough time to duck behind the heavy wood of the ship's wheel.
The cable smashed into the cockpit window's metal frame. The big panes of glass shattered, sending jagged shards tearing through the bridge. The glass missiles and bits of the cockpit frame exploded against brass dials and shredded hydraulic control lines. As red hydraulic oil coated the walls and floor of the bridge, the cable continued its destruction. The ceiling proved as unresisting to the mooring line as the windows. After making quick work of the wooden ceiling, the cable sliced through the passenger deck above the bridge then deep into the soft innards of the blimp.
Sparrow stood up to find the top half of the airship's big wheel was missing, cut off by the errant cable. She lifted her eyes to survey the damage above her. The jagged hole in the cabin's ceiling continued all the way up through the upper deck and then into the gas envelope. As she listened to the hiss of escaping helium, Sparrow realized the sounds from airship's engines had ceased. Looking through the gash, she could see all the way through the zeppelin to the sky above. Sparrow immediately knew the airship would not be able to remain aloft. She needed to land. Now.
Before Sparrow could begin to formulate a plan to safely bring down the big airship, she was th
rown off her feet as the deck jerked to starboard. She just barely managed to keep herself from falling through the broken windows by grabbing ahold of a piece of what was left of the twisted railing. She looked down. The remaining mooring cable had managed to somehow stay attached to the tender. Instead of the airship pulling the train to a stop, the train was now dragging the severely damaged blimp behind it. Luckily, the effect was nearly the same; the train had slowed down dramatically.
Sparrow's eyes darted to the station, now only a single block away. She realized their efforts would not be enough to bring the train to a complete halt before it thundered between the platforms.
The airship continued to slew sideways. Sparrow tried to restart the engines to no avail. She sensed the boilers and most of the other machinery was still functional. Unfortunately, Sparrow had no time to pinpoint and correct the malfunction. Between the lower buoyancy and the still propellers, Sparrow knew there was nothing she could do to control the big vessel's landing.
The nose of the ship was pointing nearly forty-five degrees to port before the tail struck the first building. Sparrow turned and began pulling herself along the broken railing to the ladder leading up to the airship's passenger deck. She nearly lost her grip when the nose of the blimp crumpled against a brick wall. Out the windows, she could see straight into apartments as she was dragged past.
Sparrow reached the ladder. As she began her desperate climb to put additional super structure between her and the ground, Sparrow chanced a glance down at the train engine.
The mooring line was off-center now thanks to the airship's disastrous maneuvering. As Sparrow watched, the engine leapt off its rails. It shuddered sideways with the burning tender jackknifed against the cab, grinding its way over the tracks. If the station hadn't been right there, it would have tipped and plummeted to the street far below. As it was, the locomotive slammed into the platform.
The airship's tail slipped loose from one building only to collide with another. Sparrow knew she was out of time. She quickly pulled herself up the ladder, wishing her friends good luck as she went. They'd all have to do their best to survive on their own.
Chapter 5
Chronometer Chaos
"Crud," Dagger muttered as the plane dove under the edge of the train station's glass roof. Passengers who'd been patiently awaiting the arrival of the next train scattered every which way, leaving briefcases and shopping bags strewn across the platform. But, the lost luggage and frantic crowd was not what worried Dagger.
Kate tore her eyes from the mass of humanity pressing toward the exits and looked ahead just in time to see the first set of iron supports they were rapidly approaching. She closed her eyes, knowing there was no room for Dagger to maneuver and nowhere for them to go except straight through the station. Unfortunately, the pillars placed at even intervals along the edge of the platform posed a significant obstacle. Especially since their wingspan was obviously wider than the spacing of the pillars.
Dagger managed to get the little aircraft lined up perfectly above the tracks running between the loading platforms. Both wings hit the support pillars at the same time. The wingtips sheared off neatly enough then shot off into the already panicked crowd, creating even more chaos. Dagger and Kate were thrown forward against their seatbelts as the aircraft lost momentum. The nose dipped dangerously toward the tracks and Dagger pulled at the controls with all her strength, trying to eke out one last measure of control to keep them from turning sideways and being crushed against a pillar or the platform wall. Kate left the crash landing to Dagger and threw her arms over her face.
The underside of the cockpit bounced once then began a long scraping grind along the rails. What was left of the wings made contact with the raised platforms. Had anyone been foolish enough to still be standing there, they would have found their feet neatly separated from their legs at the ankles. The damaged wings ripped away from the fuselage and went skidding across the wooden floor. The cockpit slewed to one side as it crashed down upon the tracks. Sparks flew in every direction as they moved relentlessly closer to the far end of the station.
Kate pried her eyes open as the aircraft's movement finally ended. She discovered the cockpit's final resting place was at the very edge of the station where the elevated tracks left the platforms behind and continued on through the city. Through the cracked windows, Kate could see the ground far below. She let her gaze follow the double set of tracks as they curved away and muttered, "At least there isn't another train coming." Kate turned her head to look back the way they'd come and immediately wished she hadn't.
The out-of-control train impacted the other end of the station. The train had jumped the tracks and was sliding sideways along both sets of rails. The platform took the full brunt of the impact. Wood flooring splintered and flew into the air as the boiler, still-churning drive wheels, and cab crushed everything in their path. The flames from the fire in the tender car licked all the way to the top of the station; pieces of the ruined floor were incinerated as they were caught in the on-rushing conflagration.
One thing was clear to Kate; they needed to get out of the plane. Now.
Kate fumbled at the canopy release, desperate to get her and Dagger out of the path of the run-away train charging broadside at them. She noticed with a jolt the pilot was not doing the same thing. In fact, she was doing nothing at all. Kate sobbed, "Dagger! Oh God! Dagger, please don't be dead!"
Dagger started at the sound of her name. She groggily took in the on-rushing disaster. Dagger muttered, "Seriously! I don't believe this tral!"
"No kidding!" Kate yelled back, her tone rising along with her hysteria. She gave up on the latches and pounded against the window over her head, hoping against hope it would simply break. It didn't. "Get this freaking thing open!"
Dagger fumbled then finally grasped two levers at the edge of the window beside her seat and shoved them forward. The canopy unsealed with a loud hiss, opened a crack then stopped. Kate stopped pounding and joined Dagger in pushing up with all her might. Between the two women, they were able to raise the cockpit cover enough to slip out. They threw off their harnesses and scrambled out of their seats and down onto the tracks.
Kate didn't look back as she rushed to the edge of the raised platform. With one smooth motion, she planted her foot on the last rail and jumped. She was completely surprised when she landed firmly on her feet. She spun and caught Dagger's forearm as the pilot tried and failed the same feat.
Dagger shook her head and swayed on her feet next to Kate. "Must have taken quite a hit..."
Kate and Dagger looked down the length of the platform as the locomotive ground to a stop. What was left of the station's wood flooring near the tender became engulfed in flames thanks to fuel oil spewing over everything.
"We need to get them out!" Kate shouted. She was nearly deafened by the intense roar of the fire and escaping steam from ruptured high pressure lines. "They won't last long!" Kate was forced to raise her hand to shield her face from the growing heat. She realized Merrick and the others didn't even have a minute; they had mere seconds to live before the fire encircled the wrecked engine cab.
"Tral!" Dagger cursed, warily eying the rapidly spreading flames. "I know!" She pulled up her leather jacket to protect her face and started to run to the engine. Dagger pulled up short as a fresh stream of fuel spouted from the tender's ruptured tanks. The platform between Dagger and the cab was coated with highly flammable liquid. The fire quickly spread, ending Dagger and Kate's rescue attempt.
Kate knew there was nothing they could do. They couldn't reach the train and the fire was advancing their way at an alarming rate. Still, she couldn't leave Merrick.
Dagger, on the other hand, did not hesitate. Her innate survival skills kicked in and she immediately sought and located an alternate exit. Dagger hooked her arm through Kate's and pulled the smaller woman along, making a beeline for the closest stairwell. "No time, princess!"
"Wait," Kate screamed, struggling agains
t Dagger's inexorable grasp. She cried, "We can't leave them!"
"We can't stay here!" Dagger shouted back, her focus completely on the still clear path to the last exit down from the raised platform.
Kate sobbed as she realized her friend was right. The flames had already spread to the spot where they'd been standing just moments ago. She let Dagger pull her forward but kept her eyes on the cab. She finally saw the movement she'd been praying for.
Ross jumped down from the cab. Even as he raised his arm against the fire raging across the platform, he turned quickly to catch Tivon as she jumped down. The small archivist was clutching something against her chest. She trusted the big marine to catch her without letting go of her prize. Relief swelled up in Kate's chest as Merrick appeared, right on Tivon's heels. The trio dashed across the double sets of tracks, clambered up onto the opposite platform and started running from the flames which were moving just as quickly on the far side.
"Merrick!" Kate shouted and waved with her free arm. "Merrick! Over here!"
Merrick paused just long enough to look back. He spotted Kate and nodded. The marine took one quick glance around the remains of the station and pointed down. Falling panes of glass crashed down next him, drawing his attention back to matters closer at hand. He gave Kate a quick smile and turned to follow Ross and Tivon. They disappeared behind a rain of debris as the rest of the roof began to collapse.
Overhead, the mooring cable, still firmly attached to the burning tender car and being dragged by the airship, was ripping its way through the ceiling. Through the falling glass and rising smoke, Kate could just make out the outline of their airship passing overhead. It dragged the cable behind it even as it fell out of the sky and into the street below. Her thoughts turned to Sparrow, but she was out of time; the station was disintegrating around them.
