J.D. stopped, his hand going to the wall.
"What is it?" Chris hissed behind him. When the boy didn't immediately answer, he motioned for Josiah to take Buck, then he moved up beside their guide. "Damn it, boy, if you're leadin' us into a trap..."
"Chris..." Buck groaned. "He's not gonna..."
"Can't you feel it?" J.D. looked up at Chris, his hazel eyes wide and bright. He looked back at Buck. "Can't you feel it?"
Buck frowned. "Kiddo, I'm doin' my damnest not to feel a thing." he admitted, leaning against Josiah.
"We're moving!" When the three men just looked at him, J.D. threw up his hands. "The Prometheus is moving! You can feel the engines. It vibrates through the floor beams. They weren't cushioned right, so the vibration..."
"Moving?" Chris repeated.
"Captain, if the Prometheus is moving... is it moving on the Aurora?" Josiah wondered.
"Shit. The Aurora!" Chris looked about. "Damn it all to hell. What's so tough about puttin' in a window?"
"We're three layers in." J.D. pointed out. "All you'd see with a window here is the next room."
The agent's hard, blue eyes snapped about to glare at him.
"J.D." Josiah quickly intervened. "We need to get off this thing. Without too much of a fight." He glanced down at Buck.
J.D. followed his look, knowing that his new friend couldn't take too much more fighting. He was barely conciouse as is. Forget about avoiding a fight. They needed to get him to a doctor! But...
J.D. shook his head. "Every way we turn, they're gonna be thick as a Boston fog."
Buck huffed. "Never seen a Boston fog."
"Never seen a fog I can't cut through." Chris added. "Forget getting off this boat. If this thing is after the Aurora, we gotta stop it." He turned so as to be face to face with their new ally. "How do we stop the Prometheus?"
J.D. bit his lip.
Maude Standish's eyes narrowed as she felt the deck beneath her feet shift.
Slowly the scene in front of her shifted as the Prometheus moved its huge bulk until it was facing the opposite shore and the Aurora.
"Where is she going?" the lady gambler wondered.
The guard assigned to her shrugged. "We are crossing the river to claim the airship." he explained.
Maude turned to glare at him. "No, stupid! Where's the Aurora?" she snapped.
The guard blinked. He turned his head to look... then spun about to look in a new direction... then spun about again and look in yet a new direction. Finally, pale and stupified, he looked up at the woman and exclaimed "She's gone!"
Maude Standish groaned loudly, before turning and stomping off toward the bridge.
"Ma'am?" the soldier called as he hurried after. "Ma'am... where are you going?"
Ignoring him, she pushed her way into the command center of the Prometheus.
"Lady Standish!" snapped one of the men within as he came to his feet to meet her. "You shouldn't be in here."
"Shoot it down!" she commanded.
"What now?" the deck Captain demanded, wondering why it was always his' shift that went straight to hell.
Maude slammed the soldier aside and repeated to the Captain "Shoot it down!" She threw a finger at the window. "Shoot the Aurora down! Now!"
Her guard had come up behind her. "But your son is on the Aurora." he protested.
Maude spun on him, slapping him across the face. "That bastard is not my son! That is a traitor! And he is stealing the Aurora from our Lord right under your stupid noses!" She spun back toward the Captain. "Shoot it down! Before he gets away!"
"Lady Standish, our orders is to take the Aurora. Not destroy it." the Captain answered. He glanced at her guard. "Take her to her cabin." That taken care of, he started to turn back to his duties.
But Maude would not be so easily dismissed. Yanking her arm out of reach of the guard, she put her hands on her hips. "Take the Aurora?" She chuckled. "You ignorant slug, you don't have the forte to tie your boot laces, much less match wits with Ezra P. Standish!" She waved a hand at the window. "He can find the fifth ace out of brand new deck with little more than a sigh." She pointed a finger at him. "And he will get away with that little ace out there if you do not shoot him out of the sky now!"
The Captain paused, glancing back at her. He could tell she was serious, dead serious. She wanted him to shoot her very own son out of the sky. She was either the most loyal soul to their great Lord, or, straight up, insane. Either choice, if wrong, could end not only his career, but his life.
Grinding his teeth, the Captain turned back to his crew. "Lieutenant Wong, arm the air-to-air cannons. But no one fires unless I give the command."
"Yes, sir." snapped a small, heavily armed oriental man, before he spun about, pointed to two other men, then lead them out onto the deck.
"Is that all?" Maude demanded. "Have you not been listening to me? You can not fence with that boy!"
The Captain spun on her. "For a woman so disgusted by a man's betrayal, you sure do sound like a proud mother." he accused. He held up a hand, thinking he was taking control of this conversation. "Enough is enough, Lady Standish. It is your cabin or the brig. Frankly I don't give a damn which. But you will get off my bridge and you will do it now!"
Maude Standish stood perfectly still for a moment, the crew waiting for her reaction. Then she smirked. "Of course, Captain." she said, transforming before their eyes into the riverboat Lady she was so well known for. "After all, it is your bridge... it is your life." Whisking about, her skirts snapping with the quick move, she floated out the door.
The Captain watched her go, not entirely sure that he had won the battle.
The engine crew busied themselves about the room, manning this and that, checking that gears turned as they were supposed to, seeing that bolts were tight and equipment was locked into place, making absolutely sure that the Prometheus ran perfectly smooth.
"So, does anyone know where the word sabotage comes from?" Josiah whispered as he moved behind them to take his position at the top of the ladder.
He, Chris Larabee, and J.D. stood on the cat walk above the engine room. Buck, too unstable on his feet to move quietly, remained just outside the door in the hallway, keeping watch in case anyone approached. There was only two ways off the catwalk: back the way they had come, or down through the busy engine room.
"Swiss, protest, wooden shoes tossed into the gears." J.D. shrugged.
Josiah paused to look at the boy, impressed and more than a little startled to find anyone, much less this out-of-nowhere kid, who knew such an off the wall tidbit of information.
Chris was less impress. "Problem is we don't have any wooden shoes." He threw a glare at the little stranger and snarled "Any other suggestions?"
J.D. looked up at him and grinned. "There's a reason they're being so careful." He pointed toward a slowly turning rod that ran from the gears in the center of the engine room, up, pass the catwalk, continued on through the ceiling, and on to other parts of the ship. "The spinny part... it runs up through the ship and turns the propeller. We stop that..."
"We stop the engine. Stop this tub dead in her tracks." Josiah finished. He glanced at Chris. "Same principle, even if we don't have wooden shoes."
"Great." Chris glared at the boy a moment longer, before turning his eyes to the going-ons below, searching for anything that just might possibly be out of place, anything that might indicate a trap. He was still trying to figure out whether or not they could trust him... well, if he' could trust him. Buck was already in love with the annoying little runt, and Josiah looked to be quickly following suit. Didn't seem to matter to either of the men that this John Daniels Dunne was wearing the uniform of the enemy.
"John!" Josiah suddenly hissed, snapping Chris' attention back to the topic of his thoughts.
The boy had slipped pass Josiah and was sliding down the ladder.
"Shit!" the agent cursed. He started after the little traitor, which he was now sure J.D. was, but Josiah grabbed his arm.
"Too late. They see him."
J.D.'s boots clunked on the lower floor. "Chief!" he called to the man standing on a small platform, directing the crew.
He glanced at the boy. "Humph. Whatta ya doin' down 'ere, pup?" he wanted to know. "Ah thought all ya smart asses kept to da sunshine decks."
"Sunshine doesn't interest me much. All the interesting happenings are happing down here." J.D. shrugged.
The Chief barked out a laugh. "'Course it does, pup. 'Course it does. but ah ain't in the habit of entertaining', so..."
The boy inventor smiled. "I was wondering how the new designs were doing. Did the gear shift improve the crank turn?" he wanted to know. In all honesty, he did want to know. He had worked hard trying to improve the engine for General Coal. It hurt, the idea that he was going to destroy all that work.
The Chief huffed. "Damn glorious, pup. Smooth as sippin' brandy, she is. Not one slip since ya put in that new contraption. " He waved a hand at the gears at the base of the shaft that ran up through the ship. "Welcome to take a look for yerself. Jus' mind ya, ya fall under foot and ya will get stomped on."
J.D. snapped off a playful salute. "Don't worry. I'll stay out of the way." he assured. Then, moving pass the Chief's pedestal, he made his way to the indicated destination, nodding hellos and offering smiles to the men he passed.
"What the hell is he doing?" Chris growled from above. "Why didn't he turn us in?"
"Maybe because he's on our side." Josiah ventured.
Chris grunted at that idea, pointing out "So everyone has been claiming lately." But, as he turned back to watch the kid, J.D. still hadn't raised the alarm. Damn, maybe the kid was on their side... or he was one hell of a lier. "Josiah, grab Buck. Find yourself the nearest hole and get off this damn thing. If you can't get back to the Aurora, make for the woods." he ordered.
"What about you? And young John?" Josiah wanted to know.
"If he's on our side, I'll get him out." Chris promised. "If he betrays us... it will be the last thing he does... even if it's the last thing I do."
Josiah opened his mouth to protest, but stopped himself. The Captain was right. And, even if he wasn't, he was still the Captain. With a sigh, he patted his friend on the shoulder. "Don't get yourself killed." he whispered, before slipping back into the hallway behind them where they had left the wounded Buck.
Chris watched him leave, then leaned back against the wall where he could watch the boy while still being, more than less, out of sight. With nothing else to do but wait, he pulled his commandeered revolver from his belt and began to check it over, being sure he was ready for when the trouble started.
"Where are we going?" Nathan wanted to know.
"Up." Lord Fogg answered, short but simple. He was used to giving short, simple answers and that being that. After all, he was Lord Phyliss Fogg.
Then again, these were Americans.
"Up where?" Vin Tanner wanted to know, not at all comfortable with the strange, little frenchman steering his ship. Admittedly, it freed him to handle the guns which he was much more fluent in, but, still...
It was his' ship! His' Aurora!
Fogg glanced at the young Texan. "Up above the Prometheus." he expanded, irritated that he was being question at a time like this. There was a reason he had left Verne behind!
Vin opened his mouth for another question, but, to Fogg's great relief, Passpartout came to his master's rescue.
"The Prometheus is only air ship... most time." the little frenchman explained. "She's not putted together to fight other air ships. All her guns are pointed down... most time. The Arouras... they go up. Not down... most time."
"Most time." Fogg agreed, smiling slightly. "Quite right, Passpartout."
The valet beamed at the praise.
"The Auroras?" Nathan spoke up. "More than one?"
"No." Fogg huffed. "There is only one Aurora. My' Aurora. This..." he waved a hand at the derrigible around them. "This is a copy."
"Master." Passpartout called. "The Prometheus is looking for us."
Fogg stepped out onto the observation deck and stood beside Vin. "So she is." he observed, watching the huge ship below them slowly turn, men rushing about her decks, leaning over rails with spy glasses, trying to find the Aurora. "Rather two dimensional, aren't they?"
The Texan understood that, to Fogg's surprise. Putting his rifle to his shoulder and taking aim, he mumbled "A good hunter knows a bear worth his salt can go to the branches as easily as to ground."
Fogg chuckled. "Ah, proverbs from the wild country, I assume." He set a hand on the barrel of the gun, pushing it aside. When Vin frowned up at him, he pointed out "A very good hunter knows when to hold his fire."
"Proverb from a dandy fix hunt?"
Fogg's amusement wavered, but held. "Something like that." he answered, resisting the urge to point out that that something' tended to be Russian spies or Asian assassins.
Knowing his master, Passpartout giggled.
Glancing at him, the English Lord smiled. "Passpartout, hold us steady directly over her propeller." he instructed. "Mr. Tanner, if you would be so kind, save your expert marksmanship until you must give cover for your companions. After all, the only way off that monstrosity is out across the deck... which, you might have noticed, is in a bit of an excited state."
Vin blinked at him. Then, with an agitated grunt, rested his rifle back down. "I'm used to waiting." he admitted, crossing his arms and leaning them on the rail where he could look down and watch the Prometheus below.
"Well, I hate waiting." Nathan mumbled. "Who knows what could be happening to them down there." He threw a glare at Ezra who sat at the map table, sipping at brandy.
The gambler lifted his glass, offering "Patients is a virtue, Mr. Jackson."
"Indeed." Lord Fogg's eyes narrowed as he was reminded of the double agent. "Patients is a virtue... for some. For others it may only be what keeps them alive."
tbc
