Chapter 16

“Capt’n, this here’s Levi Wyman and his friends,” Barnabas said as the captain of the Barracuda presented himself.

“Ah, Mr. Wyman, it’s a pleasure.”  They shook hands briefly.  “And welcome to you all.  When we saw that smoke, we weren’t sure what to expect down there.  But we had heard of your ship’s downing, of course, and hoped for the best.  It’s fantastic to see you all well.”

“We’re very grateful, Captain.  We weren’t doing too well in the ‘rustic survivor’ department; don’t know how much longer we could’ve kept on.”

“You seemed to be doing well enough for yourself.  You’re what, four days’ walk from the crash site?  If you’d like, the ship’s physician would be more than glad to look over each of you.  Is your leg alright?”

“Yes, sir, my leg is fine and we appreciate that.”

“Now how long before we get to fly this behemoth over to teach those pirates a lesson,” Simon asked, leaning forward.

“Excuse me,” the captain replied, seemingly confused.

“This is a bloody warship, is it not?  And there happens to be a pirate base over there in that bush.  Just seems to make sense, yeah?”

“What my friend is trying to say,” Levi said, mentally urging Simon to stay quiet, “is that a number of people were taken from the Iron Dove before the pirates scuttled her.  We had actually been making our way there to see if we could get them out.”

“You were planning to… assault a pirate base on foot?”  The captain seemed almost amused.

“Yes, actually,” Levi said, standing up a little straighter than before.  “They are friends and, at the time, we didn’t have much of anything else to be doing.  But you’re here now will a fully equipped and manned destroyer airship.  We’d like your help in rescuing our friends.”

The captain actually laughed.

“There’s simply no way we can do that,” the captain said after he settled down.  “We’re on simple patrol to check the safety of the northern air routes.  We’ll be in this circuit for at least a month until Hannan fully determines the safety of the region.”

“And we’re telling you that there’s a den of pirates just a short flight away,” Simon said, obviously a little perturbed.  “What were you supposed to do if you actually encountered any pirates, run away?  No, you were going to fight them.  So what’s the difference in attacking besides who starts it?  They’re over there and they’re a danger.  They scuttled my bloody ship, for crying out loud!”

“I’m sorry about your loss, captain, and I’m even sorrier about your friends.  But we’re simply not authorized to go attacking supposed enemy strongholds.  We will, however, wire your suggestion that this area be searched for piracy to the Colonial Guard.  I’m sure you’ll handle your concerns in time.”

“It’s the ‘in time’ part that we’re most concerned with here, captain,” Levi said, trying to maintain his composure.  It was harder than he would’ve liked to admit.  “One of those men is Quincy Boone, a man who is under the direct protection of the Hannan Corporation.  Another is Hank Matthews, a Hannan Security employee.  And I am manager of Personnel Distributions for this region.  What I’m suggesting here, captain, is that you ‘distribute’ yourselves over in the direction of that bush.  If you stumble upon pirates would simply be a coincidence.”

For the second time, the captain laughed and Levi almost punched him.

“Unfortunately, you won’t be pulling rank here, Mr. Wyman.  I take my orders from Air Services, not Security,” the captain said with a smug smile.  Levi winced slightly.  He had always hated that little caveat in the hierarchy of the company.  “We are, however, still heading to North Mine like you were to be doing in the first place.  We will deposit you there and then you can do what you please.”

“But that’ll beach us in North for a good week, and that’s if flights haven’t been affected by the recent pirate activity.”

“Which they have,” Barnabas suddenly chipped in.

“Is there nothing that you can do for us, captain,” Abigail said in a voice that Levi didn’t quite recognize.  Was she trying to use some sort of sex appeal or something?  Unfortunately, the captain must have been married.

“No, miss, I’m sorry.  We’re just not equipped for that sort of thing.

“I see.”  She didn’t sound overly disappointed, but then Levi and Simon had learned that her actual tone generally meant little as to her actual thoughts; which was troublesome most of the time.

“Then just give us a runner and a few of your men,” Levi said pleadingly.  “Linger here for one day, that’s all.  If we come back, then great.  If we don’t, you fly off and you’re just down a ship and some crew members.”

“I wouldn’t simply throw my men away like that, Mr. Wyman.  Shame on you.”

“And yet that’s what you’re asking Simon here to do.  It was his crew that was taken and now you’re effectively telling him to abandon them.”

“The situation is different and you know that.  His men are already captured while mine are yet to be.  Don’t try to guilt me into things, I feel terrible enough as it is.  But there’s simply nothing I can do.”

“But there must be…”

“Nothing I can do.”  The captain stood there a moment, staring at the three as if to make sure his message had finally sunken in.  “Now then, you’re welcome to stay in the guest chambers down below.  My men will show you were they are.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m sure you’re very tired from your endeavors and I have a ship to run.”

The captain then nodded his head and wandered off.  The three looked at one another, various emotions playing across their faces.  Barnabas casually cleared his throat and patted Levi on the shoulder.

“I’m sorry ‘bout that.  Sounds like a fine idea to me.  Maybe we can figure out somethin’ when we get to North, yeah?”

“Yeah, maybe.  Thanks, Barnabas.”

After getting himself cleaned up and allowing the ship’s doctor to clean and dress his leg – it felt strange having someone other than Abigail fiddle with it – Levi spent the majority of the rest of the day in his cabin alone.  He sat upon his modest bed, his head resting in his hands, as he tried to think of some way out of all of this.  He wasn’t having much luck.  So instead, his mind wandered.

He remembered when he first took the position of Personnel Distributions Manager.  It had been years since he had last seen the expanses of Franklin Reach but his childhood memories still stood out in his mind.  He was pretty sure that was why he had taken the job, in the end.

He had just returned from the war and was looking for a way to put that frightful event behind him.  A short stent on his father’s farm, which was still running strong, quickly told him that such a life simply didn’t hold anything for him anymore.  When he was a child, he had wanted to be just like his dad.  He wanted to drive around in the new tractor; plowing up the earth and making things grow out of it.  But after the war, there was something so… small about all of it.  His mind wandered beyond imagining, and generally to places he didn’t want it to go.  He knew that he needed a new start, somewhere fresh and inviting.  He couldn’t think of any place better than Franklin Reach.

It had, back then, been touted as the epitome of freedom.  Here, the promotional banners read, was a world ripe for the taking, so to speak, with boundless opportunity.  In a sense, it was the New New World.  And so Levi had quickly, quietly, packed his things, said goodbye to his parents, and boarded the train that would take him to his new life.

It had been more luck than foresight that finally brought him to the office of Emma Washington.  Back when Levi was still a teenager, he had spent a summer – at his father’s request – working for what was then a small prospecting company.  “It’ll be good for you, help you develop some character,” his father had said.  A friend of the family had pointed the job opportunity out, initially, and his father had jumped at the idea.  After a series of communication, Levi got the job and was put under the command, so to speak, of one Mrs. Emma Washington.

Emma Washington, even then, seemed like a ridiculously old woman in both appearance and manners.  She was also the manager of her late husband’s company, which was being employed by an upstart corporation by the name of Hannan to survey the Reach.  It was with Mrs. Washington that he had helped discover the North Mine site and had learned almost everything he knew about the Reach.  So when he had dragged himself into a building labeled simply “Prospecting” by bright white paint on the brick wall, it was a pleasant surprise to see her sitting behind the desk.

When he had explained his plight, Emma had simply nodded.  She had said that he could work for her again, of course, but he didn’t want that.  He wasn’t sure exactly why he didn’t want that, but you rarely argued with Mrs. Emma Washington.  Instead, she said that he should work for the Hannan Corporation.  He was surprised to learn that it had swelled to gigantic proportions during the war and it was the big name in Franklin Reach.  Luckily, she said, she had a few strings that she could pull.

Levi had expected to work as a cargo handler or a security guard, so he was marginally taken aback when he received a call asking him to take a management position.  Apparently Emma had pulled some rather large strings, indeed.  He went in to the interview dressed as best he could manage, strangely nervous, as a little man in a full suit asked him a bunch of odd questions.  The interview had been short, relatively speaking, and the little man had shaken his hand and told him that he would be hearing from the within a week.

Exactly a week later, almost to the minute, he got a phone call from Hannan: he had the job.  With a certain amount of excitement, he had practically hopped into the office the first day in a brand new suit.  The little man had greeted him at the door, shaking his hand yet again.

“Congratulations, Mr. Wyman.  Here at Hannan, you’ll really be able to make a difference.”

Levi suddenly laughed, retreating from his memories.  It was a dark laugh, if such a thing was possible, devoid of even the slightest humor.  Some difference he had been able to make; one of his wards and a fellow employee were stranded in a gigantic bush, held by pirates against their will, while he floated along in an airship to a mine.  It was almost comical if it wasn’t so depressing.

Knowing that he would find no sleep for a while, he slowly pulled himself up onto the deck.  He didn’t know what would happen if he ran into the captain again, so he silently prayed that wouldn’t transpire as he stepped through the portal into the clear night air.  The nights of Franklin Reach had always been a particular favorite of Levi’s and even in the situation in which he found himself, he still appreciated it.  There was something about the dark simplicity of it that calmed him, like looking out at the ocean in the dark.  You knew that it went on forever, which was quietly horrifying, but you couldn’t see it do so, which was comforting.  It was a complicated thing, Levi decided.

“Careful now, we don’t want you falling off,” Simon suddenly said from behind him.  “How would that look in the newspaper?  ‘Famous Hannan Man Falls from Ship’?”

“At least it would be enjoyable on the way down,” Levi replied gloomily, to which Simon chuckled.

“I know what you mean.”

They stood a time in silence, simply looking out into nothing.  The ship they stood upon – which was actually called the Mongoose of all things – was relatively silent; an innovation that most new warships employed.  The feeling of complete helplessness, even on that devastatingly powerful ship, was impossible to push aside.  Simon obviously felt it, too, as he suddenly slammed his fist into the railing.

“This is bollocks, you know that?  I mean, I didn’t even want to go charging into that place like we were going to, that was all you.  But after trekking across that bloody grass and you with your little caveman axes… It’s just not fair.”

“Like Barnabas said, maybe we’ll figure out something once we get to North Mine.  We’ll be there tomorrow, after all.  This is only a short diversion.  We’ll get some plan together, one better than charging in on foot without support, and get everyone out.”

“Right.  And maybe the pirates will just let them go.”

“What choice do we have,” Abigail said from behind them.

“Well hello, love.  Couldn’t sleep, either?”

“Your whining was keeping me up,” she said, though in a gentle tone.

“Sorry, princess, but I don’t take a defeat like this sitting down.  Maybe we could take the ship by force?  Stranger things have happened.”

“Yeah, that would be great,” Levi said.  “I mean, the entire soldier brigade stationed in the ship may be a little bit of an obstacle but I’m sure you could pull it off.  Just tell them it isn’t their concern, maybe they won’t notice.”

“Hey, you were the one having up tromp through the Reach hunting snakes.  I’m just looking through alternatives here.”

Abigail slowly reached out her hand and let it rest on Simon’s arm.

“We’ll get your men.”

“Those scallywags can handle themselves.  I just don’t want that dork of a pirate captain to think that he can push Simon Spriggs around.  I don’t go down that easy, after all.”

“Your men are more important to you than you let on, Simon.”  She finally took her hand away.  “I can tell.”

“He’s always had a soft spot for his crewmates,” Levi said with another grin, his mind momentarily forgetting about the outside world.  “We once sat with a private from the army we were transporting…”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“…who had become seriously air-sick,” Levi continued without so much as a pause.  “The soldier had also never flown before, it turned out, and was horribly afraid.  Simon here sat with him for over an hour until the boy calmed down.  It was quite touching.”

Simon, glaring, shook his head slightly before speaking.

“The kid was horrified, sure, but I just told him to suck it up.  There was no ‘sitting for over an hour’ or any of that stuff.  Just a cruel story they made up, that’s all.”

“Well I think it’s sweet,” Abigail said, smiling.  “But, gentlemen, I’m going to bed.  It’s too cold out here to stand for long.  Goodnight.”

The men said their goodnights before returning to their previous positions, leaning on the railing and looking out into the dark.

“So there you go, Simon.  She thinks you’re cute.”

“What?”

“Abigail.  You’re cute, now.  You wanted her to like you, right?  Well, you’re welcome.”

“Heh, I suppose that’s true.  Thanks, brother.”

“Any time.”

For the majority of the night, they two men stood in silence, each one of them thinking about their current place in the world and how they could change it.  Finally, though, the glow of the sun started to appear off on the horizon and Levi was having trouble holding his head up.  With a pat to Simon’s shoulder, he finally, at long last, went to bed and was able to sleep; blessedly without dreams.

After two uneventful days of eating, resting, and healing up aboard the Mongoose, the captain finally informed the ship’s inhabitants that they would be coming into the North Mine docks shortly. With a strange sense of growing apprehension, Levi moved up to the dock where he found Abigail and Simon already looking off into the distance.  He joined them, silently watching the massive North Bush looming up before them like a colossus.  It was always an impressive sight when you came up close to one of Abascal’s famous bushes and Levi remembered belatedly that this was the first time Abigail had seen one.

“So what do you think,” he asked.

“It’s… breathtaking.  It’s just so large and…”

“That was my reaction the first time, too,” Simon said, nodding.  “They’re rather hard to describe, huh?”

“Definitely,” Abigail replied, nodding.  “It’s just amazing that such things exist.”

As the ship continued to glide on, the tiny city that was North Mine came into view.  As far as mines went, North Mine was easily one of the biggest, rivaled only by Rice Beach far to the south.  Like other large mines back on Key, North Mine had quickly gathered around itself a community of secondary businesses, shops, and homes that made it more than a simple refinery plant.  Though only the more commercial and residential portions of the town were visible, Levi knew that the more industrial parts snaked their way deep into the bush, each connected to the main town by a large rail and road system.  To Levi, it had always reminded him of fingers spreading out from a hand.

It had grown quite a bit since his last visit, though.  In truth, he recognized little except for the massive refining plant and the docks, with the latter having been expanded greatly to meet increased demand.  But it was as much a fort town as he had heard, though.  Some sections of the town actually had walls around them – for what purpose he wasn’t sure – and the mighty anti-air guns sat in nests all around the perimeter and even within the town proper.  A number of smaller airships moved back and forth between buildings, though the majority of ships in the air were battle barges, meant to screen the area from any possible aerial attacks.  All in all, it was protected quite well.

“You weren’t kidding about this place’s security, huh,” Simon said, whistling.  “This is even worse than when I was here a few months ago.  They must’ve got word about all of the pirate nonsense down south.”

“Looks that way, yeah.  Well, Abigail, what do you think of your new home?”

“I must say, it’s impressive.  But is it as militaristic as it appears?”

“Surprisingly, no,” Levi said, nodding his head.  “They are all ships of the Air Services and Security departments of Hannan and have very little bearing on town politics, as it were.  Did you know that this place even has its own mayor?  This place will be a big city in the next couple years, I think.”

“If it’s as important a place as you say, then I can imagine that to be so.  Is that the hospital,” she asked, pointing to a large brick building.

“Aye, that’s the general hospital for the town’s inhabitants.  There’s also a smaller field hospital of sorts deeper in the bush.  Do you know where you’re going to be stationed?”

“I’m not sure, no.”

“Ah, well we’ll get you set up with the local personnel manager.  He’s a nice guy, if a little impersonal.  They probably have you set up with an apartment somewhere.  They’re generally rather considerate like that.”

“Yes,” said mumbled, distractedly.  “I’m sure it will be fine.”

The ship settled down into the oddly busy dock.  Few long-range ships came up to North Mine; instead it relied mainly on smaller ships to ferry things back and forth within the town.  Levi was rather impressed, then, by the volume of small craft that the town seemed to have accumulated.  He wondered if Cairn City had this many airships.

True to his word, Levi’s first stop was at the Hannan Personnel offices there in the town.  He had a short discussion with the nasally manager – including a brief explanation of why he was rather late and short a person – and managed to learn that Abigail would be working in the general hospital, as well as the location of the apartment set aside for her.  That was their next stop, as Simon and Levi helped the apartment manager move some of the spare furniture from storage and into the apartment.  It was a nice place, if a little small, but Abigail didn’t seem to mind.  With a sad grin, he had closed the door on them promising she’d find them later.

Levi and Simon, in turn, went across the street to a cheap inn.  They had no money to speak of, but luckily Levi had been able to keep his Hannan identification card through his ordeals and it was good enough to get two tiny rooms.  They were little more than closets with beds crammed in them and they shared a bathroom, but they didn’t mind; navy life had taught them to accept accommodations as they came.

“Hey, do you mind if I borrowed that card for a bit,” Simon asked, popping his head into Simon’s room.

“What for?”

“I’m going to go buy myself some clothes.  Unless you’ve forgotten, we don’t really have any.”

Levi broke out into laughter, falling back into his bed, which felt glorious.  Soon Simon joined him and they simply stood there, laughing.  It was surely an odd sight to anyone that happened to be out in the hall, but they didn’t really care.

“Sure, take it,” Levi said, handing him the card.  “Pick me up something, too.”

“Need anything in particular?”

“Anything but a hat,” Levi said, smiling.  “I still have one of those.”

“Heh, right-o.  Back in a bit.”

Levi grinned again, leaning back onto his bed.  It was far too early in the day to sleep but, once again, he didn’t care.  A nap, he thought, was something he deserved.  And so he napped.