Sky Ship

by Robert P McAuley

  Dan just came up the ladder from the hull walkway and stood on the center walkway when he heard footsteps and felt the vibrations on his walkway. He quickly leaped onto the nearest ladder and climbed up. From his height advantage, he spotted Ari and Rashid coming down the walkway. They stopped two ladders away and looked up. Ari turned to the other terrorists and said, “Rashid, I never did like heights, you go up first.”

  Rashid exhaled and answered, “I will go first, but we must go slow as height was what stopped me from taking the parachuting course.” They started up at a very slow speed. Neither looked up or down.

  Dan had a furrowed look on his face for one second, then, “Oh, no. Jenn.” He climbed as fast as he could and suddenly realized he was at the hatch he left and returned from earlier, Hatch Number Five. He opened the cover and braced for the wind, stuck his head out. He looked forward to the hatch the terrorists headed for and saw Jennifer with her back to him.

  “My God!” he cupped his mouth with two hands and shouted, “Jenn.” She didn’t hear him and kept waving a rag over her head. “Jenn, hey Jennifer.”

  No reaction from her as she continued waving the rag. Dan quickly pulled the slingshot out of his back pocket and took a pellet from his pocket and fired it at her. It veered away as he misjudged the power of the wind and he fired another one. This one hit the hatch cover behind his wife with a loud thud and she turned to see what happened. Her eyes went wide as she saw Dan waving at her, but the rush of the wind prevented her from hearing what he was trying to tell her.

  Inside the gondola, Karim saw another indicator light up. He put his hand to his forehead. “My colonel, there’s . . .”

  Aziz swung around fiercely, “What now! What trivial matter makes you interrupt me as I prepare for the next step?”

  Karim pointed to the airship’s console. “Now two lights are on in the console.”

  “What? Two lights? Have Ari or Rashid reported back?”

  Topside, Dan shouted over the wind, “Close the hatch! Come back here right away, you’re in danger. Crawl back to me right now.” Jennifer heard the urgency in his voice and quickly climbed out of the hatch. The wind pushed her back and she grabbed at the hatch cover. She grabbed a hold of the antenna wire and held it tightly as she kicked the hatch cover closed.

  All Ali and Rashid could see when they did take a quick peek up was the sky showing through the open hatch. Ali pulled Rashid’s pants leg and said with a trembled voice. “Rashid, I must go back down. I must not go any further.”

  Rashid kicked his hand, “You miserable coward. You make me go up this flimsy ladder alone? Very well, go back down.” Suddenly the hatch slammed closed. Rashid shook his head. “Still, I must go to the top and see to locking it or the colonel will be furious.” He continued his slow climb.

  Jennifer did a slow crawl back towards Dan and the safety of his open hatch. The wind pushed against her and she slid, as she had to let go of the antenna wire that ended before hatch five. Jennifer looked to the curved of the airships’ sided and got dizzy. She got to hatch four and grabbed it tight as Dan called, “Keep coming honey, don’t stop now.”

  She let go and once again the wind threatened to push her off. The wind was treating her skirt like a parachute, blowing it and her along the top of the ship. She started to slide again and this time had no antenna wire to grab.

  “Dan! Oh, Dan,” she cried. She slipped more and suddenly her hand was grabbed in a vise-like grip. Her husband pulled her to the open hatch.

  “Quickly Jenn, get inside.” They both got inside the hatch and Dan closed and locked the hatch cover. They hugged.

  At Hatch Number Three, Rashid finally got to the top and sat at a small platform beneath it. “Never again,” he said as he looked down. “Never again.” He turned the lock and opened it. He pushed up and the hatch flew back in the airstreams and he was suddenly half way out of it as he tried to grab onto something. “Awwk! My God. I am going to die!” He flailed in the rush of wind and grabbed the same antenna wire that Jennifer used and steadied himself. He quickly pulled his head down inside the ship and pulled the hatch cover down and locked it. He sat on the platform and heard Arif shout up, “Rashid, did you see anything up there? What was the problem?”

  Rashid seethed at his partner, waited a moment then picked up the intercom. “Karim, do you hear me? This is Rashid.” Karim picked up the intercom, but Aziz quickly took it off him and answered, “Rashid, this is Colonel Aziz. Did you see anyone?”

  “Nothing colonel. It was the damned wind that’s all.”

  Aziz turned to Karim who heard Rashid’s answer. He shrugged his shoulders, “How should I know? Bad wires?”

  Aziz spoke into the mike, “Rashid, check Hatch Number Five. Its indicator light came on too.”

  “But,” said an excited Rashid into the mike, “It’s the damned wind Colonel. It’s nothing but the wind this monster generates.”

  “Rashid,” said Aziz in a threatening voice, “go and check out Hatch Number Five and report back right away.” He slapped the mike in its receiver and turned back to look at the ocean glide by beneath them.

  Rashid slammed his mike down and slowly started back down.

  Meanwhile, on the platform of Hatch Number Five Dan held Jennifer tight. She looked at him with tears in her eyes and said, “Oh my God, Dan, I was afraid you were- you were-“

  “Listen honey,” Dan said as he looked at her with concern on his face, “We gotta run! Right now, and be as quiet as you can be.”

  Dan went first and helped her down. When they got to the main walkway, he put his finger to his lips as he steered her towards the rear. He looked to the ladder for Hatch Number Three and saw a man who stood there looking up the ladder.

  Once inside the Auxiliary Control Room, Jennifer broke down and cried as Dan held her. “Honey,” he said in a low voice. “We have to work together to get out of this. I need you so we can both get through this and go home to the girls.” He grinned and wiped some grease from her nose. “You with me?”

  She stood up straight and fixed her hair. “I must look terrible.”

  Dan laughed, “You look beautiful babe. And together we can do this. Me, the New York City cop and you, the athlete digging her feet in the sand and not letting anything get past her.” He pecked her cheek, “We’re going to take Sky Ship back babe, you and me. Now lie on that bunk and get some rest while I fill you in on what your crazy husbands been up too.”

  A short time later Jennifer is watching for any terrorist activity as Dan rolled the welding cart into place on the center walkway. He kneeled and lit the torch as he lowered the dark goggles over his eyes. He torched a segment of the walkway and stopped before it burnt all the way through, shut off the torch and sat back on his heels. “A little surprise for an uninvited guest.”

  After that, Dan secured a length of communications wire across the top of the stairs that led to the Auxiliary Control Room. Jennifer was ten feet up in the guy wires as she did lookout duty. Dan glanced up and she gave a thumbs-up, all clear signal as he finished his trip-wire.

  Outside the Sky Ship slipped gently through the sky as dusk settled in.

  In the gondola, Colonel Aziz sat on a three-legged stool and stared out the front of the ship. The door at the rear opened and Ari came in with sandwiches and coffee. He passed Karim and went to Aziz.

  “My colonel, have something to eat.”

  Aziz turned and glared momentarily at him, then his face softened and he said, “Yes, we must eat. We must keep up our strength. He looked at the sandwich tray and continued, “We must stay sharp, for we are the sword of Irajh!” He took a sandwich and coffee, and then looked out the gondola’s front window. The setting sun cast a reddish-golden glow across the horizon.

  Back in the Auxiliary Control Room, Dan closed a locker door and opened another. “The last one,” he thought. “Got to make a list of things we need to stock up on when this ordeal’s over.” He stood on his tiptoes and felt around the back o
f the top shelf. His hand touched something and he jumped to reach it. He grabbed a Peter Paul’s Mounds Bar. “Wow!” He said as he looked at the candy. “Dinner.”

  He went and tapped Jennifer lightly and she jumped and reeled back in fear. “Shhh, honey, it’s only me.” He said as he held her.

  She shook as she stammered, “I, I dreamed that you died when you fell overboard.” She held him tight, “Oh, Dan. Do you think we’ll ever get out of this? Do you think we’ll ever see the girls again?”

  Dan’s jaw clenched and his lips were a straight line. “I promise you honey, we’ll get out of this all right.” He looked her in the eyes and continued. “Listen babe, we really have an advantage if you think about it. We know how many there are of them and they don’t even know we exist! So, in my mind, we hold a couple of aces.” He held out the Mounds Bar, “Look what I found. Dinner!” He broke it in two, handed her half as she quipped with a smile, “Well, you know, sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t.” She bit into the combination chocolate, coconut and nut bar, patted her stomach and finished her jingle, “mmmm, and this time I do feel like a nut.”

  Dan grinned as he ate his share. “Now, honey,” he said, “I suggest we both take a nap. We’ll need all the energy we can get.” Jennifer nodded and put her head back down on the pillow and was asleep instantly. He put his arm around her and as he dozed off, mumbled to himself, “The tripwire will wake me if anyone decides to come down here.”

  Dawn just broke over the horizon and Aziz and Hadi are huddled over the map. They both have mugs of steaming coffee. Karim stood at the controls and studied the airship’s GPS on the console. He tapped the glass display and nodded. “Colonel Aziz. We are at coordinates Zebra, Lion. I must slow her down for the meeting.”

  Both Hadi and Aziz picked up a pair of binoculars and went to the window as Aziz muttered back to the pilot. “Very well Karim. Slow down when you think it necessary.” He turned to Hadi and said, “The time has come Hadi. Finally after all those years my plan is coming to fruition.” He looked back out of Sky Ship and scanned the dark ocean below.

  Dan woke to the feel of the airship as it slowed. There was a sudden incline as the nose dipped and the feeling of being on a slow elevator going down was felt. He jumped to the small window. As he looked down Jennifer woke. “Are we landing Dan?”

  He shook his head as he rubbed his finger on his front teeth. “No honey, we seem to have leveled off at a lower altitude. Not sure why, maybe they are trying to get low and be off anyone’s radar screen.” He rubbed his teeth some more as he said to himself, “Add a toothbrush to that ‘must have’ list.”

  Karim steadied the big ship as he called to the colonel, “Thirty meters my colonel. The planned height.” Aziz just nodded as he continued to scan the ocean.

  Jim also felt the ship slow and the change in attitude. He was propped against the wall beneath the vent and stood with an ache. “Oh, my back.” He shook his head as he straightened his kilt. “Lad, if we ever get out of this, I’ll lie down for a week. That is after I finish a bottle of Scotland’s best.” The others felt the change and all started to stand and go to the window. The morning sun was just giving enough light to reflect on the ocean when suddenly the door flew open and Salam entered. He pointed his Uzi at them and said in a firm voice, “A ship is passing. Sit down away from the windows. Do as I say and live to see tomorrow’s sunrise.”

  The passengers all sit back down.

  Dan and Jennifer both were at the small window. Both looked down and forward as the airship glided at a slow speed just ninety feet in the air. At first they just saw a thin streak of white appear in the water beneath them, then it grew wider. Suddenly a submarine’s conning tower broke the surface and before it surfaced entirely, hatches opened and crewmen streamed out and manned their lookout positions.

  “Dan,” said Jennifer as she gripped his arm tightly, “look, it’s the navy. We’re saved.”

  “I don’t know hon, why don’t the terrorists just turn away?”

  “Maybe they have the terrorists that these terrorists demanded be set free aboard? Maybe they’re transferring our terrorists down to the submarine?”

  Dan watched as another hatch in the sub’s center opened and more crewmen ran to it. What’s wrong with this picture? Dan thought as they manhandled something out of the sub’s hatch. Then it hit him. “No babe, that’s not a U.S. navy sub, that sub belongs to the bad guys aboard our airship.”

  “But,” she asked with hope in her voice, “how do you know that?”

  “Because those crewmen are wearing yellow rubber suits and gas masks.” They both watched as a line was dropped form Sky Ship’s gondola. It was grabbed by one of the submarine’s crewmen and attached to a large crate. The crate was pulled up to the gondola and the line dropped back down. This time the crewmen attached three canisters to the line and they were pulled up. However, the canisters were left hanging outside of the gondola, still attached to a strong cable. A man in a white hat oversaw the entire transaction from the conning tower and he gave a short salute to Aziz in the gondola. The sub quickly submerged and the ocean erased any clue that a sub had been there.

  “Up, Karim,” said Aziz to his pilot, “take us back up and make ready for part two of our great plan.”

  Karim nodded and signaled for more power from the engine room. His request was filled immediately and Sky Ship rose back to her altitude.

  Dan sat and assumed the pose of ‘the thinker’ without realizing it. Jennifer knew that, at times like this, he was trying to figure what was the best way to go, first. She saw him sit like that on and off for an entire month as he wondered whether or not to leave the New York City Police Department.

  Dan sat upright and nodded to himself in silent agreement.

  “He has his plan of action,” Jennifer thought.

  He looked at her and with a wry grin announced. “Okay hon. The way I see it is, they’re not going to try to make a deal with the government. If they had contacted the government, as they said they did, there would have been around-the-clock surveillance of us by now. That destroyer and others, along with their armed helicopters, would have been our constant companions.” He shook his head as he picked up the bow and quiver of arrows. He stuffed his pockets with shot for the slingshot then looked at his wife. “Jenn, it’s up to us now. I believe they are close to doing whatever it is they have planned. You ready babe?”

  She nodded and with a brave grin said, “Ready, willing and able Danny Boy. What first?”

  “Ships’ computer. We don’t have Internet access from here, and that’s another thing I’m putting on my ‘must have’ list. But, it has information we can use. He typed his password in and the screen opened up. He then typed: ‘SHIPS POSITION’ and the ship’s GPS popped up and showed the same route that had been planned from the beginning with Sky Ship one thousand miles from Florida in the middle of the Caribbean.

  “Okay,” said Dan, “We're still on course.”

  “Dan, what kind of gas do you think it is?”

  “Nerve gas, probably.”

  Hadi was going through the crate that sat opened on the floor of the gondola. Aziz checked off the items as he identified them. Hadi came to a small package marked, ‘COLONEL AZIZ/PRIVATE.’ He passed it to Aziz as he said, “Special delivery, Colonel. From your brother, perhaps?”

  Before Aziz could answer, Ari, who was doing lookout duty at the front window called out: “Ship! Ship directly in front of us about two miles away.”

  Aziz dropped a square of plastic explosive and ran to see for himself. He lifted his binoculars to his eyes. “Yes! Just what we wanted! It’s a small fishing boat.” He turned to Karim. “Keep this course and drop down to one hundred feet.” He looked again through his binoculars then turned to Karim and asked, “What’s the slowest you can make this thing fly and still stay up?”

  “My colonel, I can stop her in mid-air and by using the movable engines hover in place.”

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p; Aziz made a fist and pumped it vigorously. “Good! Get as close as you can to that scow and slow down to a crawl.” He turned to Hadi, “Hadi, you set the release mechanism up on the canisters?”

  Hadi nodded and shrugged his broad shoulders. “But of course, Colonel. Just as you ordered.”

  Aziz didn’t care for the disrespect in his underling’s voice, but had other things to do at this moment. “Good, then. Move ahead with the plan.” He now stood in front with crossed arms as the airship with the dangling canisters slowed and lost altitude.

  Dan and Jennifer were just about to leave the Auxiliary Control Room when once again they felt a change in attitude and decreased speed of the airship. They both ran to the window and looked out. What they saw was a small yellow and blue boat that had seen better days years before, bobbing with the Caribbean waves. Two deeply tanned men pulled nets filled with flapping fish into the boat, as seagulls soared above its wake. Both see Sky Ship at the same time and stop to wave at their unexpected flying visitor. To their dismay, however, the colossal zeppelin is bearing down upon them. They see the gas-masked 'Flight Crew' and the hanging canister. Their waves slow down as the smile on their faces turn to fear as the huge ship dwarfs their small boat.

  Hadi Bakr held the control that was wired to the canisters beneath the gondola. Just as the gondola passed over the terrified Fishermen, Aziz’s shout sounded muffled through the rubber gas mask.

  “Now Hadi, now!”

  Hadi tapped a button on the control.