Sky Ship

by P McAuley, Robert

  As Dan and Jennifer watched, the fishermen instantly gagged, choked and drop to the wooden deck. The fish stop flapping and the seagulls’ splash into the water or drop with thuds onto the boat and two dead bodies.

  Aziz ripped off his gasmask and the others followed suit. “Ha, ha! Did you see that men?” Aziz asked as he ran down the side of the gondola to watch as the airship passed by the little boat beneath it. He slapped Hadi and bear-hugged Karim with glee. “It was a success! Not like the controlled gassing of prisoners in an enclosed room, but an open air gassing! And it worked as planned.” He turned back to Hadi. “How much did we use on them, Hadi?”

  Hadi looked at his gauge and answered, “A three second burst, Colonel Aziz. Almost nothing.”

  Aziz stripped his suit off as the terrorists all removed theirs and hugged each other. Aziz said to Hadi, “Sink it! No evidence is to be found.”

  ”Karim.” said Hadi as he went to the crate on the gondola’s floor, “Bring her around and put the boat on the right side of the airship.” He addressed Ari as he took out an air-to-ground missile launcher, “Ari, open the middle window on the right side.”

  The airship swung around on its axis and slowly the fishing boat came into view on the right side of the zeppelin. Hadi lifted the shoulder-launched missile launcher and sighted through the side window. “Nobody stand behind me!” he said and settled the crosshairs on the center of the bobbing boat. He pressed the red button and fired the missile. It streaked down, struck the decking and a millisecond later exploded in a black and red mushroom of high explosives. Dead fish, seagulls and men were blown to bits and what was left of the boat quickly sank. The ocean made fast work of anything even slightly resembled a man.

  Colonel Aziz checked his wristwatch. “Set course for Miami.”

  He turned to Hadi. “Bring in the Captain.”

  Hadi went to the hallway between the rooms that held the passengers and crew. Two terrorists that guarded the rooms sat on the floor with their backs against opposite walls. Harum and Mitanni both cradled an Uzi and both rose as he approached.

  “Which room holds the crew?”

  Harum pointed towards the room and Hadi motioned for him to follow. He opened the door swiftly. Captain Eckener lay on the couch as Beniquez paced the floor. Harry Slade and five of the Flight Attendants sat along the rear wall. All are surprised as the door flew open and Hadi entered followed by Harum who pointed his Uzi at them. Hadi looked at Eckener with a sneer on his face. “Eckener, come follow me. The colonel wants you, now!” He turned and left as Eckener stiffly got up off the couch and followed. He didn’t follow fast enough for Harum who jammed his Uzi in the small of his back and shoved the elderly man forward, causing him to stumble.

  Beniquez gritted his teeth and started forward just as Mitanni aimed his Uzi at him and with a crooked grin said, “Come closer and leave this airship through a hatch.” He laughed as Beniquez stopped in his tracks. The terrorist closed the door and laughed some more.

  Hadi led Captain Eckener and Harum followed, Uzi at the ready. They opened the gondola door and pushed Eckener in. The sight of Colonel Aziz who sat in Eckener’s airship commander’s seat greeted him.

  Aziz smiled and greeted him with; “Ahh, Captain Eckener. Come in, come in. I have some business for you to tend to.”

  “What kind of business, Aziz?”

  “Tsk, tsk Captain Eckener. I treat you with the respect befitting a commander and you talk to me like that? I just wanted you to know that I have decided to take us back to your base.”

  “So,” answered Eckener with a shrug of his shoulders, “what do you want me for?”

  Aziz thrust a sheet of paper at him. “You will call your airfield and read this to them. The speaker will be open and if you, even slightly, deviate from what I’ve written, we will kill you immediately then shoot all the passengers in one of the rooms.” He still had a grin on his face as he continued, “Do you understand me, captain?”

  Eckener gave him a dejected nod.

  “Good! I knew you would understand.” He opened his hands and still with a grin said, “I mean, who wants to die? And do you think I really want to kill all those passengers? No, of course I don’t!” He sat back and continued, “But, as I said, I will if you don’t keep to my script.” He turned to Hadi. “Open the communications link and give the captain the mike.”

  Hadi flipped the switch and immediately the radio clicked on with a background of static. Eckener spoke into the mike, “U.S. Dirigible Sky Ship Zero-Zero-One to Flight Center. Come in, please.”

  A female voice responded right away. “McFarlane Flight Center to Sky Ship Zero-Zero-One: I read you loud and clear. How's it going, Captain? Over.”

  Hadi pressed his 9MM pistol against Eckener’s head. The captain shuddered and answered the Air Traffic controller. “Sky Ship to Flight Center: We have a problem - a glitch in the rudder in-put motor. I've decided to abort. Our estimated time of arrival at Coral Gables is seventeen hundred hours.

  The air traffic controller came back with a slightly excited voice. “Flight Center to Sky Ship: Is the ship in any danger, Captain? Should I notify the Coast Guard?”

  Capt. Eckener glared at Col. Aziz. Hadi tapped the Captain again with the 9mm. He hung his head and said, “Sky Ship to Flight Center: No danger . . . I just want to be on the safe side. Over and out.”

  Hadi grabbed the mike as Eckener turned to Aziz and said with clenched fists. “What the hell is going on?”

  Aziz smiled an evil smile. “As you said, Captain, we're going home.” He nodded to Hadi, “Take him back to the others.”

  Hadi turned to Mitanni. “You heard the Colonel, get him out of my sight. Mitanni stepped forward and tilted his head towards the door. Captain Eckener went out followed closely by the terrorist.

  Colonel Aziz got out of the chair and scratched his chin in thought. He said to Hadi. “It is in our best interest to keep the sheep we have locked in those rooms, dumb and happy. No sense in having to put down a rebellion, so let’s feed them some disinformation. Hadi, you go from room to room and tell them we have come to an agreement with the American and Israeli governments, and are taking them home.” Hadi left the gondola and Aziz paced the small gondola with his head down and arms behind his back. “That should keep them out of our hair while we go to the next step.” He stopped his pacing long enough to tell Karim, “Karim, turn her around and head back to Florida. It’s time.”

  The pilot nodded and turned the wheel that swung the big rudder at the rear of Sky Ship. Slowly the large airship responded to the command and began a large half circle that would point her back north.

  Jim sat beneath the vent and the others stood or sat in various parts of the small room. They all felt the ship begin to turn. Jim went to the window when suddenly the door flew open. They all recoiled as Hadi put his head in.

  “I have been sent by Colonel Aziz to give you all the good news: Your lives will be spared. The Americans and the Israelis have agreed to our demands. We are returning to Florida.”

  The passengers cheered and slapped each other’s backs as others wept. Jim looked nonetheless worried.

  Hadi made the rounds telling all the ‘good news.’

  In the Auxiliary Control Room, Dan looked out the window as the ship straightened out from her turn. Wonder what the heck’s going on now? He thought as he returned to the end of the room and fitted an arrow onto the bow. He fired the arrow into a stuffed pillow which had he placed against the far wall. The pillow had two arrows in it while the wall had twice as many stuck in it. Jennifer sat by the window. Dan stopped as his walkie-talkie beeped. He depressed the send button and spoke into it, “I'm here.”

  Jim’s voice answered, “Dan, are you all right?”

  “Jim, I found Jennifer, we're both in one piece. I wanted to tell you sooner but didn’t want to take the chance of beeping you in case the bad guys were there.”

  “Oh, thank goodness, lad. Listen Dan, they say their demands ha
ve been met by the government and they're taking us all back to Florida.”

  Dan ran his fingers through his hair, “Boy. These guys sure know how to put a positive spin on things.” He shook his head, “Sorry, but I don’t buy it.”

  “What do you mean Danny?”

  “Early this morning a submarine surfaced and sent up a couple of canisters of nerve gas and some other stuff.”

  “What? Are you- Are you absolutely sure, Dan?”

  “Yeah. And shortly after that, we saw them use it to kill a couple of helpless fishermen. We figure they were testing their weapon.”

  Jim sat on the floor. “Holy Mother of Mary! What the devil are they up to? Dan, you know they turned the ship around and from the position of the sun I believe we are going back north.”

  Dan went over to the computer. “I'll check our course on the computer.” As he typed in his password, he accidentally knocked some magazines that were stacked on the computer desk, onto the floor.

  Jim asked, “How's it look lad?”

  “Yep. We're heading back northeast.”

  Jennifer bent down and scooped up the fallen magazines and placed them back up on the desk. She suddenly saw a TIME magazine and looked closely at it. On the cover was a group picture of the OPEC ministers. The headline read "The Ministers Meet," while the subhead read, "Masters Of Our Oil Lifeline." She sat on the bunk and flipped through the pages of the issue. “OPEC?” She sat up, looked straight ahead at nothing in particular as she thought out loud, “That’s right! It was on the news. They're meeting in Miami!”

  She looked at Dan as he spoke in low tones to Jim. She showed the magazine to him. “Dan, OPEC is meeting in Miami today!”

  Dan said in a low tone to Jim, “Jim, hold one, Jenn might have just figured this whole thing out.” He took the magazine and thumbed through it, his eyes went wide. “My God! Jim, OPEC is meeting in Miami today.”

  “OPEC?” Jim asked with a silent shrug of his shoulders, “Not sure what you’re getting at Dan. How . . . Good Lord, could they . . . ?”

  “Jim, Irajh is an oil-producing nation.”

  Jennifer nodded her head. “And they're known to be anti-American.”

  “Jim, if Miami is their destination, they won't be veering far off course from our airfield in Coral Gables. No one will suspect a thing until it’s too late.” He paused and looked at the magazine. “And, as I said earlier, I don’t believe they ever contacted the government at all.”

  Jim answered in a low voice. “Good God, a nerve gas attack on OPEC in Miami. Then one would have to assume these madmen are planning on killing us all.”

  Dan’s knuckles went white as he squeezed the mike. “They can crash the ship or if they did get explosives from that submarine, blow it up over Miami as easily as they can over the ocean.”

  Jennifer looked wide-eyed at him. “Dan, the nerve gas - it spreads, doesn't it? I mean it’s like a cloud it drifts and spreads?”

  Dan looked speechless.

  Jennifer took the walkie-talkie. “Jim, I know you’re familiar with air currents and all that stuff being in this business, tell me the truth: How far does nerve gas spread?”

  He knew he couldn’t lie to her and wouldn’t anyway. He shook his head and gave his best estimate. “Depending on the winds, the quantity and consistency, it can spread far, Jennifer.”

  Now it was Jennifer’s knuckles that went white as she gripped the mike. “Can it spread to Coral Gables, Jim? Can it spread five miles?”

  Jim’s silence told her all she needed to know. She sobbed and handed the mike back to her husband. “My babies,” she sobbed, “my little girls.”

  Dan’s jaw set tight as he asked, “Jim, at top speed, and taking a direct route, I figure we could be over Miami in four hours.”

  Jim nodded. “That sounds about right.”

  “Jim, sit tight for now. We'll call you later.”

  Jennifer wiped her nose and stood tall. “Dan, I'm scared. Our - our little girls!”

  “Shhh. We'll get a message out somehow. We gotta stay strong. Right?”

  She nodded and hugged him. He took her hands in his and removed them from his shoulders, “Jenn, I gotta go.”

  She looked terrified at him, “No!”

  “Listen honey. We're the only chance the girls have, and I can't help them by staying back here. I have to take some action and we only have four hours to do it.”

  She wiped her eyes and said as she stood tall, “I'll come with you.”

  He shook his head and said firmly, “No way. Stay here. I'll be back. I promise.”

  She hugged him, tearfully.

  Dan took his weapons, went out the door and walked up the stairs to the center walkway. He stopped and carefully looked around. “Let’s not be seen now, Danny Boy,” he whispered to himself as he slowly walked down the walkway, bow semi taut with an arrow in the firing position. He got to the ladder that would take him up to Hatch Number Five. Boy, he thought, do I ever have déjà vu. After making sure the coast was clear, he put his arm through the bow and placed the arrow in the quiver at his side. He started up the ladder, stopped every few rungs to make sure all was clear. When he got to the top, he took a short length of rope and tied it around his waist. He quickly opened the hatch, braced himself for the wind he knew flowed across the top of the airship and stepped out, as he held tight to the hatch cover. Dan closed the hatch cover and tied the end of the rope to an attachment point behind it and waited.

  In the gondola, Karim saw the indicator light come on and go off just as fast. He was going to just ignore it this time as he remembered the trouble that followed the last time the light blinked. He looked straight ahead when Aziz shouted in his ear from very close behind him, “You idiot! An indicator light came on and you say nothing?” he struck the pilot on the side of his face as he continued his tirade. “It’s fools like you that endanger a mission of such great importance.” He put his face in Karim’s. Do you know that I can have you shot for this infraction? Not just you but your entire family!”

  “But, but,” the pilot stammered, “My colonel, I, I didn’t see it. I must have looked elsewhere at the time. Please forgive my incompetence.”

  “Don’t ever let your incompetence interfere with the mission again, Karim.” Col. Aziz put his finger on the indicator and said, “Now, is this one of the indicators that gave us a problem before?”

  Karim looked and nodded yes.

  “You see what makes a great commander, Karim? Another commander would say ‘ignore it, it has a malfunction.’ But, not I! I say we must investigate all discrepancies.” He turned to Hadi and said, “Send Mansur. He is familiar with that troublesome hatch.”

  Mansur was doing chin-ups in the ship’s gym when Hadi entered. Mustafa and Gailani were lifting weights, with weapon’s close by. “Mansur,” Hadi called from the door and motioned the terrorist to come to him. Mansur dropped to his feet lightly and jogged over. “Yes Hadi, what can I do for you?”

  “Not me, Mansur, Aziz. He wishes you to go up and check out Hatch Number Five. The indicator light came on.”

  “Again?” he answered. “Didn’t Rashid and Ali go and check it out earlier?”

  “Yes, but it seems they might have botched it. Look, I would not send a man up there, but the colonel is in charge.” He put an arm around his fellow terrorist and said in a low voice, “Mansur, you know how he gets. Go up and check it out and keep peace for all of us.”

  Mansur nodded and left. Hadi watched him go as he thought, “The colonel is in charge . . . At least for now.” He went back to the gondola.

  Mansur climbed up the ladder and easily opened the hatch cover. He squinted as the wind hit him in the face. “As I thought,” he murmured, as he looked forward, “nothing up here The colonel is truly becoming a . . .” Suddenly strong hands grabbed his jacket at the shoulders and pulled him almost completely out of the open hatch before he knew what happened.

  “Wha?” He stammered.

  Dan tried t
o toss the terrorist overboard but is surprised at how fast the man recovered from his shock and regained his balance. Mansur lightly stepped back, his back against the wind and looked at his attacker. “You? But how?”

  “Yeah, ass-hole, it’s me. I’m back.”

  Mansur grinned and took a fighter’s stance. “I don’t know how you did it, but this time I’ll snap your neck before I throw you overboard. He started to circle the hatch so he could grab Dan. Dan stepped back the length of the rope he had tied to the hatch, pulled the slingshot out and fished out a handful of shot. He quickly shot a round at Mansur and hit him hard in the neck. The terrorist grabbed his neck and cursed, “You dung-eating son of a pig, now you die slowly by my . . .” He got hit again, this time in the forehead and he automatically winced and put his hand up. This was followed by another shot to his ear, as he turned his head. He screamed in pain and when he turned back to see his adversary, Dan was two feet away and sliding towards him, feet first. The hit took him off his feet. Dan grabbed him and this time there was no regaining his balance. The slide was slow at first and Mansur’s eyes opened wide as he grabbed at the slick skin of the airship. The slide was faster as gravity defeated his flailing arm and legs as they tried to grip the ship. Finally with a scream he slid past the flatter topside and went down the side. As Mansur left the curve of the ship’s side he was sucked into the propeller of the starboard rear engine. The remains of the terrorist were a cloud of red and bits of his clothing that drifted behind Sky Ship.

  It was then that Dan saw something move out of the corner of his eye. It was the Uzi that the terrorist was carrying when he came up. He dived for it but the gun was already out of reach and followed its owner overboard. “Damn!” He said through clenched teeth. “Sure would have liked to got my hands on that. It would help even the odds a bit.” He reentered the still opened hatch and pulled left it open as he went down the ladder.