'Hoooooold! Hoooold, blast your eyes, you scurvy scum!' Allan Cambridge hauled on the lever and choked as Genevieve rewarded his rough treatment with a faceful of scalding steam. 'Bring her down easy! One dent and you're all confined to the bilges! Blast your eyes!' Genevieve groaned and creaked, almost on the valley floor having dropped like a lead balloon thanks to the yahoo attitude her crew had shown in bringing her in to land. They were used to newer ships, ships that responded to touch of lever and whir of cog with an easy grace. Genevieve jerked and rattled, and the levers had to be yanked all the way before she'd respond, and then she did so with a vengeance.

Captain Vesuvius clung, grey-faced and shuddering, to the ship's bulwark, afraid he'd go over, and determined to be able to see if he should. He didn't care how many dents Genevieve took, it was the dents he himself thought himself likely to take that concerned him. He took his silk kerchief from Billy's damp hand and wiped his face with it.

'Nearly there, Cap'n,' said Cambridge cheerfully as he turned the huge wheel. 'She lumbers like a drugged whale, but she's good, she's good.'

'Drink, Billy,' rasped Vesuvius feebly. 'Get me a damned drink!'

'Aye Cap'n. What of?'

'Rum!' Vesuvius squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again as Genevieve finally touched down on the valley floor, with an ominous scraping as her caulks hit bare rock. 'And hurry up.'

'No bloody dents, you shower of bastards!' howled Allan Cambridge. 'You filthy bilge rats! I'll...'

'Billy, if doesn't stop peppering his every utterance with insults filched from pirates, I will drop him over the side as soon as we get to twenty thousand feet again. Go and tell him.'

Billy slid off towards the bo'sun, and Vesuvius thanked the gods that he had several seconds of peace in which to take a drink and steady his nerves. It was time to rally his wits and address his crew. Orders, he thought. What orders? What is it that I'm supposed to do, now that I'm here? He looked about. There didn't seem a lot to see. On all sides, there were mountains. Bare, rocky mountains, and an expanse of scrub and tundra in between. And more rock.

He looked to the sky. That was a small improvement, since the sun was setting in a fine display of liquid gold and fire and amethyst, but was otherwise was as devoid of remarkable features as the land was. Were there stars, this far North? He supposed so, yet not one could be seen in the twi-lit sky.

There was, however, the bird he'd seen before. Circling high above the copper Airship, it seemed larger than ever, and was homing in on them.

Alright. Whoever you are, I'm ready for you! He took his watch from his pocket. Ten-to-ten. Darkness would have fallen by such a time in his own land. Here, he could happily have read by the light still remaining. He straightened his cravat and put up his goggles, ready to address the crew. Genevieve's valves had settled, and save for a despondent puff of steam still issuing from the main engine pistons, she'd fallen silent and peaceful. The crew looked at him expectantly. He looked back, trying to remember the name of each of them, from bo'sun to cook to cabin-boy. He managed most of them, and resolved to find out the rest when he had a chance. For now, they were the crew, and needed orders.

He took his map out from under his waistcoat and unrolled it. There wasn't much on it, just a hazy coastline and some jagged-looking mountains, but it was enough. If one expected one's men to set off into uncharted territory, it helped to have a map.

He flipped open his compass lid and held it up. 'We're fifty miles south-west of North Point,' he said. 'According to this map, the main mountain ranges lie due east of here. If we travel at a rate of twenty miles every day, we should reach the farthest point north of those mountains in a seven-night.'

Utter gibberish, he rebuked himself. Still, they didn't know that. And even if they did, there was nothing they could do except obey orders.

'More like ten days, actually. Who drew your map? There's nothing on it.'

Vesuvius froze. Who, or what, is behind me? He turned slowly, his heart in his mouth and his sweat cooling to ice as it trickled silkily down his body.