Skykeep (31 page)

“There… This engineering stuff isn’t so—”

His ill-informed observation was cut short by
a metallic crunch and a deafening whistle that sent both Butch and
Coop diving to the ground.

“Damn it, Coop. Now all five turbines are
down!” bellowed Mack over a speaking tube. “We’re adrift!”

Coop squinted through the once again
thickening steam to find that the far end of the pipe he’d been
“adjusting” had completely ruptured. Any steam that would have been
making it to the turbines was instead venting down the hallway with
terrifying intensity. Worse, the whistle of pressure was rising
swiftly, and while Coop didn’t know the first thing about steam
systems, he
did
know the
last
thing about them, which
was that if the pressure got too high, it stopped being a system
and started being a hole in the ship.

He didn’t panic because in Coop’s head there
usually wasn’t much room to spare for things like panic. Instead he
crawled forward to where the wrench had landed and plotted out the
next part of the system he intended to beat on until it started
behaving. Butch, still on the floor, had found a shiny piece of
hand-etched brass attached to the wall beside a valve near the
point where the offending pipe and its parallel twin separated.

“What you got there?” Coop asked, crawling up
to the floor-level valve. He squinted through the steam at the
careful, precise letters that could only be Nita’s handiwork. “By…
bypass valve to… to reroute…”

The pitch of the whistling steam rose
sharply, and Butch started screaming something with enough urgency
and concern that even Coop couldn’t understand.

“Aw heck, it can’t make it worse, right?”

He grasped the valve and muscled it open.
From the first fraction of a turn, it was clear it was having an
effect. The second pipe began to rattle with increasing flow, and
the wail of escaping steam began to drop off. Better yet, the hum
of turbines started to pick up, and with them the speed of the
ship. He twisted with all of his might and got the valve almost
entirely closed before a grind and creak suggested some combination
of overpressure and Coop’s attempted maintenance had damaged it
enough to prevent complete closure.

Coop climbed to his feet and hauled Butch up,
then ran to the nearest speaking tube. “Where we at, Cap’n?”

“Four of five turbines, but they’re not where
they ought to be. Something still ain’t right!” he answered.

Coop looked to Butch. “So things got better
when steam stopped coming out from over there. Probably things’ll
be right again when there’s no steam at all coming out from over
there. But the valve’s busted…” He looked at the wrench, then the
dented pipe. Finally he turned to the tube. “Okay, Cap’n. I’ll have
this fixed up right quick. Don’t mind the clanging.”

He reared back and began hammering the pipe
flat, each blow cutting the flow off just a bit more, and restoring
a fraction more power to the turbines.

“I hope Nita won’t be too sore about me
busting up her pretty little pipes…”

#

Assistant Warden Blanc loaded his pistol.
Minutes earlier Warden Linn had reached the central tower, managing
to escape the riot below through careful use of the staff passages.
The wardens were joined by two guards and two of the snipers. They
were the last remaining staff that was healthy and armed.

“All right, men. We all know that it is only
a matter of time before the inmates advance on the offices. We drop
as many of them as we can. Protect the warden at all costs,” Blanc
ordered.

“No…” Warden Linn said slowly.

Unlike his men, who were fighting off various
states of panic and showing it, Linn seemed entirely composed. If
not for the rain that had drenched him in his sprint for the tower,
one would think this was an everyday situation he was quite
equipped to deal with.

“Warden, this is a full scale riot. We must
meet force with force!” Blanc urged.

“We are
jailors,
not
executioners
!” Warden Linn stated. It was the first time any
in the room had heard him raise his voice. When he continued, he
was once again composed. “Few of our inmates are here for violent
crimes, Blanc. They aren’t after our blood. They are after freedom.
And despite their appearance, those surface women aren’t after
blood, either. Whitman took a bullet to the thigh, the only serious
injury. It could easily have been to the heart if they had been
after blood. This, all of this, is in pursuit of freedom… And
freedom is what we are charged with denying them. Sharpshooters,
you are with me. Weapons steady, and fingers off the trigger. No
one fires without my order.”

“Warden, the chains have been severed. The
prison is no more.”

“We control what we can and cope with what we
cannot, Blanc. I intend to see to it that the inmates remain within
the prison regardless of its state. Secure the door behind me. And
prepare the countermeasures.”

He opened the door, wind blasting through and
drenching him without prompting even a flinch. He simply strode out
onto the reeling courtyard and turned aside to stalk toward one of
the remaining shelters at the foot of the tower. There was one
final point of preparation before he faced the inmates…

#

Nita and Lil stalked slowly up the stairs
into the pounding rain. They took a wide stance, putting their air
legs to the test. Both of them held their pistols at the ready.

“It’s a heck of a storm to be flying a prison
in,” Lil called out. “At least those boys won’t be able to draw a
bead on us unless they’re…”

Through the wind and rain, she saw them.
Warden Linn, both snipers, and Anthus. The hound was standing with
his head down and his hackles up. He bared his teeth and released a
growl that could be heard even through the downpour. Though his
gunmen and even Anthus wavered as the prison pitched and rolled,
Linn was as steady as the girls, legs wide and planted, face stern
and impassive.

“Miss Graus, Miss Cooper,” he said, his voice
even.

“Warden,” Nita said.

“I must say, I underestimated you. But I
don’t think anyone could have foreseen so suicidal an action.”

“Well, you’ll know better next time. The
Wind Breaker
crew stops at
nothing,
” Lil said.

“In your zeal for freedom, you have likely
sentenced yourselves and each one of your fellow inmates to death.
A far heavier sentence than even their peers and your enemies saw
necessary. But the nature of the sentence is not my concern. My
role is to be sure that it is carried out.”

“All we have to do is bring the facility down
slowly. There are controls for that in the tower, aren’t there?”
Nita began.

“There are,” he said.

“Then if you’ll just let us bring this down,
once—”

“No, Miss Graus. You’ve crossed a great many
lines since you arrived. This last line, you shall not cross.
Gentleman, take aim. If they come a step closer to the office…
dissuade them.”

“Well hell, there’s more than one way to let
the gas out of these things,” Lil said. “We can just blow a few
holes in them, or let some of them go. Won’t be a smooth landing,
but I walked away from plenty of hard landings before.”

“And what then?”

“Then the
Wind Breaker
arrives,” Nita
said.

“If your crew attacks, then they will die,
because I
will
defend this prison.”

“With what? We’re probably miles away from
your precious cannons, and they wouldn’t be able to aim without the
prison to spot for them anyway,” Lil said.

“That isn’t your concern. All you need to
know is that there is no way that this will turn out in your
favor.”

“Warden Linn, with all due respect, I think
the same can be said for you.”

“Perhaps, but we shall all do our jobs until
the very moment we are unable,” Linn said. “I will give you and
your fellow inmates one final chance to end this. Return to your
cells.”

Nita stood in awe of the warden. She didn’t
know if she admired or pitied the man’s iron resolve to do his job
even in the face of incomprehensible disaster. He was like a
statue, rain pouring down on a suit that, for the first time, was
less than tidy. He almost seemed to feel that through raw will he
could return the prison to its foundation.

A distant bolt of lightning filled the sky
and drew Nita’s eyes to the central tower above. Two guards were
there, and each of them held a curious contraption.

“Lil… in the tower.” Nita kept her voice low
so that over the wind and rain only Lil could hear the words.

“I see them… What’re those things they
got?”

“I think I’ve seen Gunner tinkering with
things like that from the warehouse heist. He said it was called a
rocket-propelled… something.”

“Aw heck. If Gunner was messing with it, it
must be pretty dang dangerous.”

“If there’s even a chance that it might be a
danger to the
Wind Breaker
, I don’t think we can risk
leaving it.”

“I am growing impatient, ladies. I suggest
you head down and speak to the others. Quickly,” Linn warned.

“Your gosh dang prison’s blowing in the wind,
Warden! There’s dedicated and there’s just plain stubborn.”

Another flash of lightning illuminated the
sky. One of the guards called out.

“Incoming ship! Zephyr class! Heavily
damaged! With a heavy scout on its tail!”

“Okay, no more waiting,” Lil whispered. “I
say we scatter. Save our shots for the guys in the tower.”

“Agreed…
Go!
”

Lil went left, Nita right, each sprinting
across the slick planks of the courtyard. Both rifleman fired,
narrowly missing their targets as the prison shuddered in a
gale.

“So be it,” the warden declared.

He released Anthus, and the beast charged,
choosing Nita as his prey. In three strides the creature closed the
gap between them, but Nita dove to the side. For all of its speed,
the hound couldn’t change direction very quickly, and its feet slid
out from under it.

Lil had gone straight for the supports of the
tower, aiming to reach the catwalk the same way she left it. The
gunmen focused their attention on her, but the rain and wind made
it impossible to aim properly.

Anthus was back on his feet and up to speed
as Nita ran for the firmly secured door. She holstered her weapon
and leaped for a strut that supported the lower of two catwalks
above the door. With inches to spare, she pulled herself above it
while the mass and momentum of the hound carried him through it.
She knew better than to follow him inside, but neither could she
stay put, lest the gunmen turn to her. She dropped down and dashed
around to the opposite side of the tower.

#

“All this climbing and I might as well be an
inspector, huh, Nikita?” Lil said breathlessly as she swung hand
over hand along the bottom of the upper catwalk, working her way
around the tower. The aye-aye crawled under her shirt again in
response.

Once she was safe from the guns for at least
a moment or two, she turned to the
Wind Breaker
. It was
getting closer, and from the looks of the lingering glow around its
leaks, it hadn’t been having a terribly pleasant ride. It unloaded
its rear cannon, but the violent wind was clearly making
navigation, and thus the aiming of the cannons, an issue.

“There! Fire on my word!”

Lil opened her eyes wide and swung out to the
edge of the catwalk, pulling her head up to peek over it. The feet
of a guard were right before her eyes, and on his shoulder was a
rather unimpressive tube with a trigger and sight.

“Steady…
Fire!
” ordered the
spotter.

With no time left, Lil acted out of reflex.
She reached out and grabbed the gunman’s ankle. Immediately her
other hand slipped and she was supporting her full weight from the
man’s leg. The gunner was yanked from his feet, firing as he fell.
A projectile hissed from the tube. It burned like a flare and moved
almost faster than the eye could follow.

The fouled attack streaked by the
Wind
Breaker
, narrowly missing, and continued into the fug. Not long
after, there was a fiery blast from below.

“Someone’s got me!” cried the former gunman
and current piece of climbing apparatus.

Lil’s weight dragged him between the slats of
the catwalk railing, and he released the weapon to grab hold. When
he finally got a firm grip, he was dangling entirely off the edge,
with Lil hanging from one of his legs. He tried to shake her free,
but Lil climbed him effortlessly, slipping through the railing and
giving his fingers a good hard kick for good measure, sending the
man crashing down to the deck below. Before anyone could stop her,
she snatched up the tube and pointed the business end at the
spotter.

“Hold it right here. No one’s shooting at
that ship!” she said, finger on the trigger.

The remaining guard froze, glancing first to
her, then to the crate at her feet, then back to her. Lil looked
briefly at the crate. Inside was a pile of small cylindrical
objects with a bulge on one side and fins on the other. She looked
to the guard.

“This thing isn’t loaded anymore, is it?” she
muttered.

He dove for her, and she dove for the crate,
snatching at its contents. The guard struck her on the side and
sent her rolling to her back, very nearly crushing Nikita in the
process, but not before Lil got a handful of something from the
crate. Her hand came up without a round. Instead she found wire
tangled around her fingers, and a worrying hiss coming from the
crate.

The sound was enough to convince the guard to
dive through the central hatch and shut it behind him. Lil
scrambled to her feet and saw one of the rockets attempting to
fizzle to life. She snatched it up, but it finally ignited in her
fingers, flashing off into the sky and startling her off her feet.
The blast of the rocket set the wood of the ammo crate on fire, and
Lil didn’t need Gunner’s knowledge of explosives to know what would
follow. Rather than attempt to extinguish the flame, she scrambled
to her feet and hopped the railing.