The Sea Is Ours (5 page)

“You are sure all our equipment has been moved out of the way?”

Gogg stood beside her behind the bulwark overlooking the plank, his eyes raking in the passing villagers and wagons, his hand busy writing the inventory on a clipboard. “Packed away where not even the children can touch them.”

“Which means we'll be unprepared should another volcano explode nearby,” Caliso said. She watched disapprovingly as two children ran up the plank, halting the carabao's advance. “Back to your places!” she bellowed, while the children's mother murmured apologies as she grabbed the boys by their arms and dragged them back behind the carabao.

“We just won't stop until we get to Refugee Hills then,” Gogg said, his smile more sardonic than optimistic. “Two days' trip at this rate.”

Caliso stared. “
Two days
?”

“In theory, we could make it to Refugee Hills in less than a day.” Gogg's fingers moved swiftly in the air, tracing numbers that he calculated mentally in his mind. “But that's with your fifty strong and a full supply of volcanic energy. The added weight of—ah—the passengers and their goods are going to slow us down, and we would have to go around Masbate in order to side-step the volcanoes running underneath.”

She sighed. “Long trip, then.”

Gogg seemed unperturbed by this. He quickly examined the next wagon—banana-leaf baskets filled with reddish-green mango and purple mangosteens—and waved them in, scribbling on the paper. “One thing's for sure. These settlers have the right idea, coming up north to work the soil. We'll be dining on the best fruits and vegetables the Pinas has to offer.”

“Careful that it doesn't spoil you rotten,” Caliso said, though the thought of eating ripe mango and rice was enough to lighten her mood.

~*~

It had taken a shorter time to settle the new passengers than it did to bring them into the ship. Caliso had the New Manila princess to thank for the efficiency; Mixa had joined her flock just before departure, had spoken to them about their trip to Refugee Hills and the safety that could be had upon arrival there. Her voice and words and eyes brought levity to the men and women, and they had remained anxious but overall obedient to the instructions that the ship's officers gave once the Amihan took flight.

Avoiding Masbate, however, was no longer on the agenda. The Amihan was a relatively-sized ship, a fast one run by a skeleton crew of fifty men and women. The Legazpi engineers added to the bulk of workers helping keep the ship efficient. And yet…

“We're losing air,” Gogg said, his voice trembling in a mixture of frustration and worry. “There was so much to do, we forgot to refuel at Mayon. If we don't replace the canisters now, we'll not make it to the Hills. But if we land below, we risk the tremors and the volcanoes and—”

Caliso cursed. “How long do we have?”

“An hour, maybe less. It's just enough to hit the northern tip.” The look he gave her was wide-eyed and full of fright. “The engineers are picking up disturbance in the waters, Cali. Do we risk the landing?”

“Yes.” Many things that could go wrong usually did when risking landing near active volcanoes. But it was an even greater risk flailing in the sky with no fuel. Captains did not have room for doubt, and she would have to stick with her decision.

The Amihan descended onto the coast of Aroroy, Masbate's northernmost region, just upon a rocky outcropping near the sulfur-infested Burias Pass. Further out west, the waters mixed with the Sibuyan Sea, which contained blooms of poisonous jellyfish that had begun thriving once villagers no longer fished in the area. It would have been another beautiful place for people to soak in the sights, to jump from the high crags onto deep, pristine waters in order to cool off from the ever-present heat. But upon that point there was only a ship, its crew, two carabao, and three hundred-something passengers.

Caliso walked out onto the open bridge, peering down at the seemingly peaceful waters below. Dato had also stepped out, his goggles masking his expression just as Caliso's did hers. But when she looked at him, she knew her first mate's thoughts, knew that his forehead had crinkled in the way they would when he was worried. She turned her eyes back upon the water and waited. “There,” she said, pointing toward bubbling waters almost obscured by a rocky arch. “Looks ready to burst any minute.”

Dato whistled. “Want to get a crew down there to siphon?”

“Two crews. Either that or risk the entire rock area from exploding before any of our engineers can fuel the four corners. Gogg said the cracks ran underneath. Likely we've got a system of cracks below flowing with enough gas to blow this whole portion of the coast.”

Her first mate shook his head. “Worse than Mayon?”

She cringed. “Much worse.” She pushed herself away from the bridge's bulwark. “Better get to work.”

Caliso paused at the entrance to the female changing rooms. One of Caliso's crew, Esta, had volunteered her extra magma suit, rubber boots, and a pair of thick, rubber gloves to Mixa, who had donned it in favor over her baro't saya. She'd swept her hair to the back and her tattoo was completely visible from the scoop neckline of a tucked-in yellow shirt. Caliso placed the royal woman's age to almost fifteen years her junior, not yet the proper debut age. Too young to be handling volcanized gas. Even the magma suit seemed to dwarf her.

“The Prinsesa insisted,” a mechanical box said. The metallic nature of Esta's vozbox had lacked the tone of amusement, but Esta's face had told Caliso all she needed to know. “I informed her that volcano chasing was not for weak constitutions, but she's said she's done it before.”

“Oh?” Caliso crossed her arms over her chest. “And what crew did you belong to that would give you such experience?”

“My father believes that understanding the power of volcanoes would lead us to a better way of life.” Mixa had put the helmet over her face, and her voice crackled not unlike Esta's vozbox. “The way of the mountains, he called it. He placed me under the tutelage of my eldest brother Raksan.”

Caliso resisted the urge to look impressed. Instead, she narrowed her eyes. “The captain of the Kalibutan?”

Mixa's helmet bobbed, indicating a nod.
Of all the luck
, Caliso thought. The Kalibutan had been one of the few ships that had never been caught by the Cebuanos after volcano chasing had been decreed illegal. It was also the only thing the New Manila monarchy possessed that could very well buy them a city. But even kings and princes have their pride and dignity, and the Kalibutan forever remained off the market and in the hands of the royal family.

Caliso shrugged. “Now is not truly the time to test your mettle.” When it seemed as though Mixa was about to argue, the Amihan's captain raised her hand. “But we are three members down and I need people who
know
what they're doing to come with me. Esta, you, too. Dato has to oversee the refueling.”

Esta nodded. She was a horse-like middle-aged woman decked in coveralls that seemed too big for her. Esta was mute and used the assistance of a vozbox in order to speak to anyone. Even so, she hardly utilized the mechanism, choosing instead to communicate with her long hands and fingers. Since Mixa did not know the hand-language, however, Esta's vozbox remained strapped to the woman's side.

Esta pulled another magma suit out, Caliso following in her wake. The two dressed silently, Caliso grunting as she pulled her boots over the thin, but cushioned armor. She'd always detested wearing such protective clothing, especially on a siphoning. No suit would be strong enough to protect anyone from a volcanic explosion. Sure, it would slow the magma from burning flesh, but there was no stopping the gases and ash from suffocating them in the suit. Not to mention the force of the blast, which could very well crush them in seconds.

Still, at least Gogg's new designs had made the suits more limber.

Caliso stood.

“I do not need to tell you how dangerous an active volcano can be,” she said. “If there is a possibility that it will erupt on your feet, you get out of the way as quickly as you can. Understood?”

The instruction had been more for Mixa's benefit than Esta's, yet both women's helmets wobbled in assent. If the New Manila princess had been nervous, Caliso could not tell. “You can stay with me, Prinsesa, at least then I can keep my eye on your safety.”

“Ah, yes.” Something in Mixa's voice hinted at wry amusement. “Can't pay you if I'm dead, I suppose?”

“Exactly,” Caliso said. The Cebuanos would want the woman alive, and Caliso was loathe to disappoint them.

~*~

The climb down toward the water seemed endlessly long, and for a siphoning, this made all the difference.

“At this rate,” Caliso grunted, testing the rocks for a foothold, “we will likely be dead before the siphon can get to the gases.”

The bubbling waters, the slight shaking and breaking of rocks, the absence of jellyfish and other sea creatures, the increasing heat as they neared the bottom—these were what determined how close they would be to seeing an underwater mountain gush with powerful gases.

When both her feet found stable rock below, she waved to Mixa. The New Manila princess hunched over onto the rock wall, scaling down and following Caliso's path. Esta and several other engineers—Legazpi passengers and volcano chasers—took their turn as well, some following Caliso and Mixa's course, the others taking Esta's backup route. The captain's climb became more wary and over-cautious after each level of descent, and every few paces, she'd paused to gauge the wall's rumblings. Twice, she and Mixa had stayed still long enough to feel the rocks vibrate and hiss with flowing steam. Caliso had turned her head to the side to prevent the gases from blurring her vision.

Halfway down the long climb, Caliso slipped.

One hand clung desperately to the rock above, while the other clutched onto the thick, rapidly-fraying wire that connected her to the ship. Her feet flailed, and she felt her sweating hands slip slowly out of her rubber gloves. Caliso closed her eyes and breathed heavily through her mouth, misting her helmet. She looked down and her heart-rate increased. It was not the fall that had made her seize up in panic; if she survived the slip, she'd be killed by the rocks.

Mixa was at her side before Caliso's panic could fully take over. The New Manila princess held onto her wire, her feet steady and still, her other arm snaking over Caliso's waist, pressing her magma suit towards the rock with surprising strength. Caliso half-flailed with one hand and found a handhold close to her head. With both hands now clinging to rocks, she raised her body somewhat and felt below for something to steady her dangling feet. When she found herself stable again, she took deep breaths, calming herself.

“Thanks,” she whispered. Mixa had already moved back to her position.

She slowed her climb to a crawling pace. By the time she hit the ground, she saw Esta already anchored on the other side of the bubbling water, just beneath the entrance of a cavern. Esta signaled above for the siphon and tube. She nodded once to her captain, then began to communicate with gestures and signals to the line of men and women who'd followed her route.

“Why the two teams?” Mixa asked as she landed next to the Amihan's captain. The two removed their wires—Caliso discarded hers with more contempt than necessary—and walked further toward the water.

“In case one doesn't make it back,” Caliso said.

“Oh.”

“Familiar with siphoning from an underwater volcano?”

“Different from taking gases above ground,” Mixa said, crouching to look at the water. There were several large
pop pop pop
s in the water bubbles, then long periods where it merely splashed upon the rocks. The New Manila princess stirred her rubber gloves in and pulled her hand out of the water quickly. “Hot.” She looked up. “It's one thing to siphon gas out of cracks in the rocks, quite another to extract gas bubbles out of water. Kuya Raksan had a deal of trouble using the accepted method.”

She felt the princess hesitate, and Caliso frowned. “But?”

“We started using a filter and conversion system recently.” Caliso detected a tone of pride in Mixa's voice. “So our water siphon works the same way as the regular siphon, except our tube gets fitted with several semi-permeable filter chambers that—” She paused again, as though she'd spoken too much on the subject. “The point is there's no need for the extra tubing.”

Caliso fought to hide her grudging respect for the young woman. Politics had been easy to ignore, and the begging and pleading even easier. Caliso had expected a pampered, smooth-skinned girl with idealistic ideas and no clue as to their implementation. What she saw instead was someone with exceptional talents, a girl who'd survived in a nation of explosions using her mind and physicality. She almost belonged on the airship as a volcano chaser, and it made Caliso begin to think that the price Cebu City had on Mixa's capture was too damn low. The end of the trip would be unpleasant at the least, with a tasteless betrayal coming soon to the talented young princess.

She stiffened. Since when had she begun thinking of her impending action as a tasteless betrayal?

“A pity then that we still use the
accepted
method,” Caliso said drily. She waved to the crew at the top of the cliff. “But Gogg is more than happy to implement new upgrades, should you choose to want to divulge any designs.”

Her crew had secured themselves on parts of the wall, either planting their feet safely on jutting rock, or strapping their waists upon the wires that held them together. When the crew member at the top saw her hand signal, he waved back, and two more people came close to the cliffs, lowering the tube and the water siphon.

The tube snaked its way from the edge of the rock wall, led quickly down by the crew members pulling on the metal rungs attached to the sides. The top-most engineers used a harness to send down the siphon needle, which—unlike the one they'd used at Bulkang Mayon—was a system of two glass vials, one closed at an end, the other open. The vials were connected to each other by a small passage in the middle. At the ends were two tubes, both made out of clear malambaso, more malleable than the vials, and certainly more movable.