A distant explosion thudded. The shock wave shook them. Another random pop from even farther away made them all jump. For a few moments the distant explosions continued in rapid fashion, then stopped.
“Balloon charges,” Timas said. “They’re under us.”
The pirate ships were tougher than this airship. They were designed to drop into the clouds as they hid and smuggled their goods. That was why they’d gleamed silver when Timas had spotted them. Their hulls had been stripped clean by flying through clouds laden with sulfuric acid.
Another balloon charge exploded, closer, and the entire airbag rippled. To the rear a pipe exploded. Acidic steam shrieked out into the catwalks.
The pilot glanced back and a pair of Aeolians converged on the pipe at his silent order. They used a wrench to close a valve, and the steam subsided.
But the next explosion Timas felt in his chest. Three pipes exploded, and shrapnel bounced, clattering to the floor.
After ten more minutes of balloon charges even Timas could see the inevitable. The air around them was filling quickly with Chilo’s own substitute. They all coughed constantly and struggled to breathe. The skeleton of the ship creaked, stresses ready to snap it, and the pipes providing air and managing the airship’s lift abilities leaked all throughout.
This was a dying airship.
The pilot confirmed it. “I have the fans revved up at full throttle to keep us in the clouds. But when I run out of fuel we’ll start falling if we have to depend on just lift. I have enough to limp us to the Yatapek rescue party if we give our guy up, or to just surrender. Either way, I don’t intend on committing suicide for you people, risk bonuses only go so far.” He looked over at the Aeolian woman leading the group. “And, Renata, I’m sure your bonus pay doesn’t extend out that far either.”
She had a name. Timas guessed he could have asked Katerina. The Aeolians wouldn’t think to introduce themselves, it was true. They assumed if you wanted to know, you would be able to find out.
Renata nodded at the pilot and walked back to Pepper. “I guess you’re going to have to meet some new friends.”
She tapped the loops around his neck and wrist. As they fell away Pepper stretched. “You’re going to offer no resistance?”
“From what we saw before we took you, your information about this threat is needed. No doubt my fellow citizens will front the ransom money the pirates want for you. As far as the Consensus is concerned, it’s just the price and people who bring you to them that has changed. Ultimately the will of the people doesn’t care how you get to the cities.”
Pepper smiled. “I hope the pirates are as accommodating as you expect.” The fans howled as the pilot tried to climb out of the clouds.
“I have no idea what to expect right now,” Renata said. She walked away as if washing her hands of it all, leaving them alone to wonder what came next.
Itotia leaned against Timas. “And what does Yatapek have to give for us? Nothing like what the Aeolians have.”
Timas didn’t answer. He didn’t even want to think about what the pirates would do.
The airship shuddered and turned.
“They’re docking with us.” Katerina looked down at the airlock where the pirates would appear soon.
Timas moved closer to Pepper. “My mother is right. We are nothing to the Aeolians or the pirates.”
Pepper’s dreadlocks twisted with his head as he looked over at Timas. “And?”
“Heutzin saw the aliens under the storm so many years ago. Can he remember where it was? Will our rec ords be easy to find, the date easy to backtrack?”
Pepper grinned, a sudden flash of perfect teeth. “You bargaining with me, Timas?”
“Yes. You put me on the surface, I’ll find where I saw that alien in relation to where the cuatetl is on the surface. I’ll take days off your search. Days you claim we can’t afford.”
“So what do you want me to do?”
Timas stared at him. “You’re quick, you’re dangerous, you’re a soldier. You fight.”
“You think I’m going to be able to do much with one arm and one leg?”
“Are you saying you have no plan, that you are going to let these pirates take you? I don’t believe that of you. No, you say you don’t have time, time for all this, time for ransoms and negotiations. But I look at you, and I think you’re free to move again, and you want to make things happen.” Timas stared at him.
Pepper grabbed his shoulder, one-armed, and pulled Timas’s face close to his. “Are you willing to help? If I put a gun in your hands, will you be willing to take someone’s life? Because the easier route is the Aeolians’ right now.”
He was up to something. Timas trembled slightly. He felt like he’d stepped off a cliff, moving to help someone like Pepper. This would be dangerous. “Yes. I think.”
The grip Pepper had on his shoulder increased, squeezing until Timas bit his lip. “You think? This isn’t ‘think’ time. This is yes or no time.”
“Yes.”
Itotia looked at them, not close enough to hear the whispering. But she suspected something. She unstrapped herself and shuffled over. “Timas!”
Someone rapped on the cover of the airlock down to the cab. Pepper used his one good hand to push himself back.
“Open it,” he told Timas. “They’re being cautious and want to see a face first to make sure it isn’t a trap. So open it, peek over the edge, and make sure you end up standing behind them.”
Itotia shook her head. “Timas, no. Don’t get involved with him.”
“But we already are,” Timas said, and turned to let the pirates in.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Pepper waited for the pirates to come through as Timas leaned forward. The boy offered a friendly, if somewhat nervous face to whomever came up the ladder.
The rage bubbled just underneath, but now Pepper wondered if it controlled him too much.
He’d been pent up, prevented from acting, and forced to use people around him as resources.
Pepper hated that. It wasn’t him. He was never the man who sat there and schemed, and convinced, and maneuvered. Being . . . sly . . . that didn’t fit him.
Timas had just offered him his life in the hope that Pepper had a careful plan.
And the truth was, Pepper didn’t have a plan. Just an aching desire to hurt back, right now. Plans came when one had options, not when events forced themselves down one’s throat.
For some reason events always forced themselves down Pepper’s throat.
He liked it that way, he thought, as the spiked, armored head of the first pirate poked through and regarded them. Clean, simple. An arrow of action.
The pirate wore night-black armor. A fashion statement.
So did the next.
But at least the third had chosen red.
“Who’s in charge?” The voice boomed out from amplified surfaces on the suit’s chest and bounced all around the balloons, catwalks, pipes, and surfaces of the airship’s bag.
Pepper looked at Timas, who jumped slightly, then stepped carefully behind the men. As he did so Renata leaned over one of the catwalks above them and removed her helmet. “I am.”
The man in the suit on the left shot her. The other two men quickly took out five of the other Aeolians. Renata swore and dropped to the grillwork, and while the pirate lined up another shot at her, Pepper launched himself.
They didn’t expect a man with only one arm and one leg to cross the distance that fast. He’d counted on that.
They didn’t expect that same man to snag the fired weapon so quickly. Or for him to shoot the gun out of the second black-suited man’s hand, and then for him to kick that man back down into the airlock.
Pepper turned and grappled the red-suited man. It took a second of squirming, grunting chaos as the second pirate with a now-ruined hand jumped on his back to rip him off, but Pepper found the release catch on the crimson helmet and ripped it off. The pirate’s curly hair had been pulled back
with a band.
“Hello,” Pepper said, jamming the gun against the stubbly beard in the man’s neck. “Both of you freeze. Aeolians, do not shoot!” He could hear seven of them moving through the shadows to pick a good position to begin shooting.
The man on his back let go.
“I don’t know what you’re thinking you’ll do,” the man Pepper held spat. “You still are surrounded in the air.”
“Yes, but now we get play the game of hostage chess. And you are clearly not very trustworthy, are you? Hand your gun very carefully over to that young man standing by you.”
Timas took the gun.
“Now point that at the man by you,” Pepper said. “The safety is off, you pull the trigger, he dies. So don’t get jumpy. But if he does move, squeeze.”
“If they hadn’t shot me, Pepper,” Renata yelled down through the catwalk, “I’d be shooting you.”
“They were going to kill you all and take me alone. Be grateful you’re alive.”
“So what now?” the red-suited man grunted.
“Good question. Pepper, what’s your plan?” Renata asked. He could hear the pain in her voice. She’d been quick, literally realizing they were going to be shot and twisting enough to get shot somewhere survivable. Her companions, not so quick.
Pepper whispered to the pirate, “She thinks I have a plan. I had only thought ahead to enjoying killing you. The problem is, I’ve had hundreds of years of trying to die in a blaze of glory that takes everyone who’s pissing me off with me, and for some damn reason people keep getting in the way with plans. It’s strange.”
“Look,” the red-suited man said quickly. “People like me and you, we understand each other. We can work something out.”
“Me and you?” Pepper grinned.
“Yes.” The man nodded. “Yes.”
“How important are you to the ships outside?”
“Important enough.”
“There’s not much honor among thieves, or command structure. Sure you won’t just get written off?”
“It cost a lot of fuel to get out here on an intercept this quick. We had a tip that the Aeolians were transporting someone very important back to their cities. Look, we’re all almost broke. We need to make money. If I can offer them money, they’ll consider almost anything.”
The man begged for his life in calm, rational terms. He kept his cool.
He was part of this group’s leadership. “Next time you board a ship,” Pepper said, “you shouldn’t lead the rush in.”
“And that would lead to respect from these men how?”
Pepper let go. “Captain . . .?”
“Yes.” Pepper got a somewhat hangdog look from him. Not often one stared down a sheepish pirate captain. “Scarlett Riviera.”
Scarlett was having a bad day, and that made Pepper feel much, much better.
“Scarlett, you stay with me.” Pepper pulled himself up to stand using the railing. “Together, we’re going back with the crew of this little airship to meet the rescue ships from Yatapek.”
“To be handed over?” Scarlett shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
“I know: you’ll die before that happens, and so on. Here’s what I’m offering. You’ll pick three of your crew. They’ll fly this airship back after it gets refueled and you’re set loose.”
The pilot from the front of the airship objected. “This is my ship you’re giving away.”
“A second ago you were wondering if you would live,” Pepper snapped. “Shut up.”
“But that still doesn’t give me anything.” Scarlett glanced around.
“We’re not done playing ‘trade the hostage’ yet.” Pepper leaned forward. Negotiation annoyed him. Everyone kept popping up objections even before the final lay of it had been set out. If they’d all shut up and wait it would go quicker.
“That takes care of you getting back out of this. What do we get?” Scarlett folded his arms.
“Money.” Pepper named a sum. Scarlett shook his head. Pepper doubled it several more times.
“That’s nice, if you ever come through with it.”
“You’ll take all them with you.” Pepper waved at the Aeolians. It would do him good to get rid of them.
“That gives us more money in the form of ransom from the Aeolians, yeah. But if you pull a stunt when you get out of here, it leaves us still pretty dry. I’d be crazy to bring that back to my crew.”
“You can’t throw us to them like that,” Renata said.
Pepper laughed. “Oh, who cares how you get home? Whether it’s through your own efforts or escorted by these gentlemen for some escrowed money, as you said not too long ago, what difference does it make?”
“Go to hell,” Renata grunted.
She didn’t sound too convinced. She probably knew this was the best option. She didn’t seem clueless. Pepper handing them over as hostages probably meant they’d live.
Back to the trade-offs. “If the Aeolian mercenaries aren’t enough, then consider this.” Pepper moved over to Katerina, using the railing to hold himself up. “An Aeolian avatar.”
He grabbed her chin to twist her head and show the captain the silvered eye. She had quite a glare on her, but kept quiet. Scarlett nodded. “Okay, now we’re getting somewhere, she’s a symbol, important, they’ll pay well for her. We had no idea she was aboard.” He looked relieved. “I’m willing to play.”
“Good.” Pepper glanced at Timas, still holding the gun. He looked upset, but somewhat relieved.
Welcome to the world of compromises, Pepper thought. The world of things you’ll regret, if you didn’t keep your eyes on the bigger picture: that Chilo needed saving, that they were all on the brink of destruction.
Everything was weighed against that.
“Then let’s do this.” Pepper hobbled toward the airlock.
Scarlett grimaced. “One small thing.”
Pepper stopped. “Yes?”
“The boy.” Scarlett jutted his chin at Timas. “The boy comes with us.”
“Why?” he growled.
“He was promised.”
“Unpromise it. I can pay you.” Pepper looked at Timas. The boy’s hand trembled, the gun visibly shaking.
“I wouldn’t look like a man of my word. He at least stays with the hostages until you make good on your ransom. Then we send him back, with the Aeolians and the girl-avatar.”
Pepper looked at Scarlett. The man was quite serious. “Timas, hand me the gun.”
Timas backed up. “You promised me that if I helped, you’d take us with you.” He glanced at his mother. He gained some sort of inner resolve, straightening the gun. “You promised.”
With a quick hop Pepper covered the distance and snatched the gun away. “Don’t make this harder.”
“You promised.”
“I can only do what I can do. Now”—Pepper leaned in close and dropped his voice to a whisper—“tell me where you saw the alien, in relation to the mining machine.”
“And then I am useless to you,” Timas said.
“I’m offering to save your mother and your planet. I will try to come back for you. I will try to get the money for you. But now you need to step up and think about what is really important and what you care about. Do you love your city? Is that why you make yourself throw up, to fit a groundsuit, and risk your life on the surface? Or is it your family you live for? Is that your responsibility? If so, Timas, do the right thing, right now.”
Timas closed his eyes, shaking, and then whispered the direction and distance. “Tell my father everything I did.”
“I will.” Pepper smacked Timas on the head with the stock of the gun and the kid dropped to the grating, out cold.
Itotia ran forward, but Pepper put his hand around her with the gun, hopping with her to pull her back. “He’s brave, your son, leave it be. Listen,” he hissed, “Yatapek is in the way of the invasion. Timas will be out of the way where he is going. If we live, we can get him back. If we don’t, then a
t least he’s alive. Trust me on this. It’s better to live to fight again. Don’t die needlessly for some cause. If you really believe in it, harbor your energy, and bring it to bear when you can do the most damage. Later.”
She pushed him off. He let her. It refocused her on him and kept her away from Timas. “You cannot just hand his life away,” she said. “You can’t do this.”
Pepper looked at Scarlett. “His mother remains with me. You take him. But if he’s seriously harmed, disfigured, or anything of the sort, you will pay. I will be back for him.”
Scarlett nodded. “I’ll pass that on.”
Pepper looked down the airlock. “Then let’s get moving, this airship doesn’t have long.”
The pirates in the cabin retreated, taking their Aeolian prisoners, a dour-looking Katerina, and the unconscious Timas. They left Scarlett, whom Pepper tied to the railing.
Itotia walked to the far side of the catwalk and curled up into a small ball by herself as the pilot got them underway again.
The pilot kept them in the air, barely, as sulfuric acid bit in the air around them. The airbag whistled and distended, the engines chopped away at full throttle, using the airship’s minimal aerodynamic properties to keep it aloft.
It was a coin flip, Pepper thought, whether they’d make it before the whole damn airship just gave up.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Asharp smell shocked Timas awake. One of the Aeolian soldiers, a slender man with green eyes and close-shaved head, waved a pill of noxious smoke under his nose.
They’d been stripped of their armor, capes, and weapons. Renata sat next to Timas. They were all crammed into a small hold along with crates on a subfloor of a large airship car. Brown light streamed up through tiny glass slits in the floor, giving everyone ghastly, underlit expressions.
Timas rubbed his forehead. “He knocked me out.”
“Then they dragged us over to this airship and dropped us through the floor.” Renata pointed up at the hatch above them. “We’re still in place, they’re shifting crew around. Maybe arguing about whether Pepper’s deal will hold or whether just to do whatever they want with us and ditch their old leader.”
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