“You, dog. Bring me a numer four wrench, an don’t be all day about it.” The squat heavy set woman was bent over the whirring gears of the transmission, trying to fit the wrong size wrench around a bolt that was half hidden on the other side of the mechanism.
Hedric’s eyes met Doander’s. He knew what he had to do. “Chief Engineer,” he said, sounding more respectful than he felt. “Shouldn’t you stop that transmission before you try to adjust it? It’s not safe and…”
The woman spun and threw the heavy wrench at his head. Both he and Dawn had been waiting for just such a display, and he was able to duck the potentially fatal blow with astounding speed. When Doander headed for the door, Hedric shook his head.
“Get my damn wrench, dog!” McFarlain was staring at the whirling gears, blinking, obviously trying to focus her eyes. “I musta dropped it.”
Hedric could see anger flush the other boy’s face as he stuck the wrench in her hand and backed away. The woman slipped the too big wrench over the nut and pushed. The wrench slipped, rounding the nut, and the momentum of the push carried the heavy woman closer to the gears. The edge of her thick ragged shirt was snagged in the spinning gears and caught, drawing the woman down to a certain, horrible death.
“Oh god!” she gasped. “Help me!” The wrench clattered to the deck.
Hedric’s small hand gripped the control lever, and slipped it back to neutral—but not reverse, which would have released the imprisoned chief engineer. It simply held her, red nose a scant inch from the crushing gears.
“How does it feel to need MY help, Chief Engineer?” Hedric was surprised that his voice was so calm. He certainly didn’t feel calm inside. “Look at Doander. Do you see any pity there? You tried to kill him. You tried to kill me twice, Chief Engineer. TWICE! One push of my hand on this lever, and you would be dead from your own stupidity. Luckily, I’m not you.” Hedric pulled the lever back, reversing the gears and freeing the trapped engineer. The woman fell to the floor, too stunned to speak.
They remained that way for several minutes—the woman on the floor, the two boys staring. Finally, with a groan, Chief Engineer McFarlain went to her not-so-secret cubby and removed her bottle. It took her nine swallows, Hedric counted, to finish the brown glass bottle of rot-gut whiskey. She coughed once, and quietly passed out on the engine room floor.
Hedric looked up, pity in his eyes. “You had better go find the Captain, Doander.”
Captain Isenhart arrived at the engine room so quickly that Hedric suspected that she was standing outside the door all along. She took one look at the drunken chief engineer, and her nose wrinkled in distaste. Two big crewmen came in behind her and she turned to the largest. “Get THAT out of here.” She pointed to the comatose body on the floor. “We have a secure room in the forward hold. Put her in and lock the door. Just as soon as we hit the next town she’s off my boat.” She stood, arms folded, as the men carried out her instructions. When they were gone, she turned a curious eye to Hedric. “Was it true, Mr. Swimming, what Doander told me? You saved her life even after she tried to kill you again?”
He looked at the deck. “Yes, Captain.”
“Why?” she asked bluntly.
“I was taught a certain reverence for life, Captain. Killing her as helpless as she was, would have no better than murder. I may only be thirteen, but I know what’s right and what’s wrong.”
The Captain studied him for a long moment. “You will be formidable when you get older, Tad Swimming, but for now let’s see how well you run the engines. Don’t do anything fancy. Just keep them running.”
Hedric touched her sleeve before she left. “Captain, my Uncle Padraig had a ship, I guess you’d call it, and it too was powered by a motor. Every three or four days he would stop the motor and do maintenance. Check and oil all the moving parts, things like that. Did the chief engineer ever do anything like that?”
“Not that I can recall. We’ll be reaching the settlement of Pola in a couple of days. You can shut the engines down and do maintenance then. Will that do?”
“Yes, Captain. That will be fine.”
“Very good.” She gave him a straight faced wink. “The engineering watch is yours, Mister Swimmer.”
The boy stood a little taller, and tried to stick out his thin chest. “Aye aye, Captain.” Hedric looked over at his friend and coworker. “Mister Feltz, let’s get this pigsty cleaned up. Find all McFarlain’s bottles and throw them out. After that we will start cleaning, and maybe get some more light down here.” He glanced up at the painted-over skylight. “Definitely more light. Now, hand me a mop.”
The Captain shut the door quietly behind her, with a smile. The boy hadn’t been in charge for more than five minutes and already he was a better engineer than McFarlain.
He could feel it in the air as soon as soon as he walked in the crew’s mess for his evening meal. Eyes swiveled his way, and conversation faltered and stopped. The cook ladled half again the normal amount of food on his plate and murmured, with a wink. “Good job, lad. Eat up, yev had a busy day.”
Hedric returned a tentative smile. “Thanks, Cookie.”
The only seat open was the one next to Zebediah Gralt. The big stern first mate in his high-collared black coat glanced up as Hedric sat down.
“The righteous shall prevail over even the mighty, so sayeth the good book.” His deep voice was sanctimonious, his face hard in its conviction. He touched the boy’s shoulder in something like a benediction, before he stood and left. Hedric frowned as he ate, mulling over the man’s words, finally coming to the conclusion that Gralt had said the same thing as the cook.
Sitting back somewhat later, plate empty, he savored the last tart flavor of his mug of apple cider. The smells of roast beef were slowly fading from the air as the cook cleaned up the galley. Vibrations from the engine made their way up through his feet, and the sound of water rushing along the hull reverberated n the almost empty mess.
It was the first time in his entire life that Hedric had ever been praised for something he had conceived and carried through to completion. He washed his dishes and put them away, before he headed toward his normal spot at the bow of the Golden Fleece. Blinking, he stopped. Tonight he wasn’t alone.
“Oh, come on.” The girl’s voice sounded slightly exasperated. “I don’t bite.”
“You sure?” Hedric chuckled, coming closer. “This boat seems to be filled with women who bite.”
She laughed lightly. “I’m sure.” And held out a slim hand. “I’m Lexi.”
Taking the proffered hand, he gave a formal court bow. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lexi. I’m Tad.” Her grip was strong, and he could feel the calluses on her palm.
Releasing his hand, she studied his face. “Tad? That short for Thaddeus? My grandfather was named Thaddeus. We called him Tad too.”
He laughed. “It’s short for Tadpole. Good joke, eh? Tadpole Swimming.” He gave her a lopsided grin.
“Alexandra is too long for most people to say right, but I like it sometimes.”
Hedrick looked at the girl standing in the evening’s dusky half-light. His age, her shoulder-length pageboy framing her delicate face. Her smooth glossy hair was raven’s wing black and her sapphire blue eyes had just the slightest hint of an exotic tilt to them. She almost looked familiar. “You look—regal.” Hedric mused, more to himself than the girl. “Narrow, aristocratic face, high cheekbones. Alexandra suits you.”
She let out a small bitter laugh. “Aristocratic, right! The next thing you’ll be telling me that you’re a prince or something.”
He found it difficult to swallow, and his mouth seemed filled with dust. “Yeah.” He struggled to get it out. “With a name like Tadpole Swimming I should be a circus clown.”
“How did you come to be lost in that godforsaken stretch of jungle, all by yourself?”
Shrugging, he looked over the railing at the far shore, now just a dark blur. The air was thick with the scent of plants and blooming night
flowers. “I just was, that’s all.”
Lexi frowned, as if to say “you haven’t gotten away so easily.” “All right. I should go to bed anyway. I stand first watch as navigator tomorrow.”
“Wow!” Hedric was impressed. “Navigator. Very good. It must be real hard to learn that.”
She was watching him carefully. “No harder than walking in and running the engine room, I’d say.”
He laughed. “These engines are a piece of cake compared with the engines on my uncle’s airship.” Hedric scowled at his slip of the tongue. When would he ever learn NOT to brag?
“What!?”
“Oh, nothing.” He lied glibly, hoping to cover things up. “I like to make up stories. Like the one about me being a lost prince and my mother the queen of a land far away. Flying in my uncle’s airship and, of course, dealing with the dreaded Corsairs of Aethalia.” He winked. “They’re said to take no prisoners. I’ve also seen a goddess and talked with animals.”
“Fine.” Her voice was angry. “If you want to make fun of me.”
“But…I didn’t…” Hedric floundered.
“Good night.” She spun on the last word and stomped down the deck.
There was a dry chuckle from out of the darkness. “Good try. Keep it simpler next time.” Hedric recognized the voice of the doctor.
“There won’t be a next time.” Hedric replied, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice.
“Of course there will be a next time, young man. You’ll see.” There was a puffing sound, and Hedric could see the man’s face reflected in the red glow of his pipe. “Interesting story you told, lad. Especially the part about the airship.”
“I have to go to bed. Tomorrow will be a long day, I think.” Hedric said nervously.
“That it will. Good night, lad.” The doctor watched the boy’s back disappear down the deck and into the cabin. “Interesting indeed.” He murmured to himself. “I wonder if any of it was—false?”
Pola was an insignificant dirt-speck of a town located in a small backwater three quarters of the way up the Lost River, traveling from south to north, and home to four or five hundred souls, depending on how many trappers were out at the moment. Pulling into the heavy black stone quay, seamen from the Golden Fleece jumped out and began to secure the vessel before it had stopped moving. The telegraph chimed briefly in the engine room signaling FINISHED WITH ENGINES, and Hedric disengaged the side-wheels and damped the fire. His ears rang in the sudden silence. The noon sun blazed into the small room, and the freshly painted white walls and ceiling making it seem even brighter. Every surface that could be polished shown with a glittering radiance and every part that slid or fit into another glistened with oil. Hedric and Doander, in their cleaning frenzy, had discovered replacement bearings for the main gears, and the two boys had plans for working through their brief stay to get the engines in their best possible shape. Already they were propelling the Fleece along at several knots faster than what had been her best possible speed.
“Tad?” The mellow voice called him as he struggled to loosen the nut the chief engineer had stripped during her near-fatal accident. He looked up to see the Captain standing in the door.
“Yes, ma’am.” He wiped his hands on a rag, and gave a quick glance at the almost spotless engine room. “How can I help you?”
“I thought that you might want to say goodbye to the chief engineer.” A heavy set seaman pushed the ex-chief engineer forward, to stare open-mouthed into the now bright and well-run engine room.
“How?” Was all she could get out.
“Hard work, Bet. Something you weren’t familiar with. Tad?”
“Goodbye, Chief Engineer.” Hedric thought of a million cutting things to say, but he remembered he’d made mistakes too. Something his Uncle Gorku had said came back to him now. “May you have fair winds and following seas.”
The Captain looked at him sharply, then turned to her crewmen. “Take her away. Put her ashore with her belongings and pay her up to date.” There was a small scuffle as the seamen led the now crying woman away, and the Captain turned to the boy. “I would have offered you shore leave, but I see you’re busy.” She was smiling.
“Thank you, Captain. But I don’t have any money, so I might as well not go.”
“No money?” The woman sounded stunned. “Have you gambled all your pay away?”
“Pay?” Hedric winced, knowing it sounded stupid.
“You didn’t know?” Captain Isenhart was laughing now. “You work on my ship you get paid. You were paid as an apprentice engineer when you first started. Now you are being paid as a full engineer, and engineers are well paid.”
“Oh…” He could feel his face turn red. “I didn’t know.”
She looked at him sympathetically. “You can return to your work. I’ll have Doander bring down a bowl of apples for you two.” Her blue eye winked. “To tide you over.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
“Now all I have to do is find someone to catch us a cat.”
“Cat?” Hedric blinked.
“Yes, lad. Cats are good luck to a boat. They also catch the mice and rats that tend to sneak aboard no matter what you do. They’re smart though, and not easily caught or tamed.”
“Cool.” Hedric said without thinking. “I like cats.”
“I’m so glad.” Her smile was wry.
Hedric and Doander continued working on the recalcitrant gears until dinner, ate, and then returned to work. It was midnight when they finished replacing the worn bearings. Doander staggering off to bed while Hedric headed for the bow. Except for distant singing from the dockside tavern, the night was quiet and the moons Elysium and Medin stood full overhead, washing the night with their pale blue and white radiance. A gray sliver of Lethe stood low on the horizon while a soft cool breeze touched his cheek, carrying the scents of cooking and wood smoke. He wondered idly if Selene and Rhiannon were up on their moons right now, looking down on him.
He caught the movement out of the corner of his eye. A dark shaped flowed from shadow to shadow along the quay. Hedric thought, for a heart-pounding moment, that it was a huge rat, until with a graceful bound it leapt the ten feet from the edge of the quay to the ship’s railing. A second shape, slightly smaller, followed the first. Cats!
The first shape marched purposefully down the railing, stopping a scant few inches from Hedric’s outstretched hand. “Brrrrt?” He could tell that it was definitely a question, but he didn’t speak cat. “Brrrrrt? Yeooow?” The cat stepped forward and placed an ice-cold nose on the back of Hedric’s hand.
The world opened up…
As they were arguing, Hedric felt another presence sliding itself into his awareness.
There was light mental laughter.
He felt another cold nose touch his hand, and suddenly there were two more presences in his mind. How many more, he wondered in a silly thought, before it became a party?
was focused on him.
He took a deep breath and knocked on the Captain’s door. There was a pause, a scuffling sound. Yellow lamplight streamed from beneath the door. “Come.” He swung the door open to a small neat cabin, the traces of a lifetime on the river arranged neatly on small shelves attached to the cabin walls. “Mister Swimming, exactly what…” Her angry voice shut off as the cats walked in, regally surveying the room. In the warm light Hedric could make out the dark brown mask, ears, paws and tail on a tawny body of the big male, and the blue/gray mask, ears, paws and tail on a cream colored body of the smaller female. The male, Hedric guessed, weighed a full twenty five pounds, while the female couldn’t have been more than a svelte twenty.
“I think I’ve found our cats, Captain. Or, they’ve found me.”
The female cat was kneading the warm blankets of the Captain’s bed, preparatory to claiming it for her own, while the male was stropping the woman’s legs. “So I’ve noticed.” She reached down and gave Blue a stroke, after which the cat raised his head to Hedric, and gave the boy a slow wink.
“I think that I’ll go to bed now. We worked until midnight, so we might be a little late starting to…”
“Take tomorrow off, Mister Swimming.” The Captain interrupted. “You and Mister Doander both. You deserve a little rest.”
Hedric was surprised and pleased. “Thank you, ma’am. Maybe I’ll go into town for a bit after all. I could use a few clothes, if they have a store.”
“See me after you get up, and I’ll give you some money.”
The boy grinned widely. “Thank you, Captain. Good night.”
The Finger of God: a Thalassia novel Page 4
