The Fabulous Link on the Swinging Trapeze

…

The Grand Sails, being a fully-rigged galleon with masts taller than the ship itself, had a lot of moving pieces holding it together. Most of the rigging saw a few months of wear at a time before the vessel returned to Skyrider Island for a regular inspection. Standing rigging was easy to look at because it did not need to be moved nor should it really be unless it had to be replaced. The ship's running rigging, however, was a lot more complicated. Whereas stays and shrouds were simply anchor points for the ship's masts, almost every other line crisscrossing the air between the sails was a piece of the running rigging. Braces, buntlines, halyards, boom vangs, at least three dozen metal pulleys, chains, cleats, and mounting points for studding sails all had to be checked and replaced in the week the Grand Sails was in port. Any longer attracted Captain Alfonzo's ire, and that generally led to airmen taking extra duties left and right. The first five years of Alfonzo's captaincy had been peppered with men taking on strange jobs aboard the ship just to make up for the captain running out of punishment the first day past the ship's regular maintenance allowance. The crew had had to think up a faster way of checking and rigging the ship back up much faster.

Fortunately, their answer had come the year Link and Line had joined the crew. Being lighter than an average airman but with a decent understanding of the ship's structure, Link and Line were ideal for hauling up the masts to deliver parts and lines for the airmen to rig up. At first, they were attached via the same pulleys used for the regular running rigging along the royal sail yard and switched to the next side or mast as the crew needed. Then, the previous year, the crew had received permission from the captain to set up a pair of blocks at the top of each mast so that they boys could work from those instead of taking up the rigging on the royal yards. Although neither boy could rig up the ship due to not having the strength to rig up shackles or tighten bolts, they made setting up lines much easier. Parts were effortlessly transported from the deck to the airmen setting up the rigging.

It was quite an experience for both boys as well. The first year had consisted of tying a rope around their waists and hauling them up a little at a time since any faster had been likely to cause pain. After that, some of the more inventive airmen had come up with protection and convenience for both the boys and the crew. The last inspection had seen Link and Line fitted into leather harnesses with their support ropes set up through the shoulder straps so that they could remain upright while moving about. For the boys, it had been fun. They had the sensation of weightlessness as they hollered directions down to their crewmates. For lateral motion, they could walk along the yards.

Link took the block that Airman Dexter had just finished inspecting. "Okay, back up to the topsail," he called out to the airmen holding his tow line from behind the main mast.

"Hang on," Airman Blair, heading the three airmen controlling Link, told him. "Haul him up, boys."

Link was thankful for the harness the others had made for him. Granted it chafed his thighs, it was far better than having a bare rope tied around his waist. It was just barely into the evening of their return, and half of the rigging had been stripped and inspected from the foremast. At the rate they were moving, they could have the foremast fully inspected and rigged before the approaching night forced them to quit. They pulled Link up until he was just barely above the second-lowest yard. There, he handed the block off to an airman waiting for him near the mast. This airman then passed it down the line until it would reach the airman at the far end of the yard.

"Hey, Link?"

"Yeah," Link replied, looking to the opposite side of the yard.

Line, standing on the quarter next to the airman rigging the yardarm for a clewline, held up a long bolt for Link to see. "You know where this goes?" he called. Link, after calling down for some slack, pulled himself onto the yard by the mast and started traversing it. The other airmen on the yard, standing on the footrope running the length of the yard, pulled their hands out of the way as he passed. When Link reached Line, Line handed over the bolt for Link to look at. "It looks like it goes through a part of the hull, but it looks too long for a cleat bolt."

The bolt felt heavy enough that it should anchor to something in the hull, but Line was right about the length. He glanced down at the airman on the Flemish horse, who was holding a clewline block in one hand while staring up at Link waiting for a verdict. "And it doesn't fit through the block and the yardarm?" Link asked Line.

"Does it?" Line asked the airman on the Flemish horse.

"Oh, is that what it's for?" the airman asked in turn, glancing back at the block. He started fitting the block onto the yardarm. "Oh. Oh, am I… am I about to feel… ugh, kinda stupid?"

"Uh… yeah, probably," Line said as Link handed the bolt back. "I sure feel pretty stupid." He passed the bolt down to the airman, who then fitted it into the holes in the block's clamp and a hole in the yardarm itself.

"It fits, right?" Link asked.

The airman gave an annoyed sigh. "Yeah, that works."

"Where's the nut that goes with it?" Link asked.

"I've already got it," the airman said, winding said nut onto the screw-end of the bolt.

Line scratched his head. "We should've seen that." Then he whacked the side of Link's head in irritation. "Thanks a lot."

"Whoooa…" Link said, suddenly unable to maintain his balance. He could feel himself going over the side and grabbed for the only thing within reach.

Line.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Both boys hollered out as they fell from the yard. Their support lines suddenly tensioned as the airmen on the deck tried to haul them up as fast as possible. At their height, they were in no danger of falling to the weather deck.

Pum pum! The mast was another story. Link's left shoulder, followed by Line's back, slammed hard into the foremast. Even then, their small bodies produced little sound from the hit. Link felt pain like none before suddenly shoot all over his shoulder, and he clenched his jaw to keep from screaming out. Line managed to fare better, but when he saw his friend holding a very dislocated shoulder in pain, he immediately shouted at the airmen on the deck to lower them.

Link spent the next month stuck at Skyrider Island while his shoulder healed.