"Dr. Barlow, who are we picking up again?" Deryn wasn't sure why they'd stopped their journey to Japan in the middle of Russia.
"Nikola Tesla, and… another boffin." The doctor was oddly hesitant on the second part.
That name rang a bell. "Tesla," she repeated, thinking, "Isn't he the one that made the Tesla cannon?"
Dr. Barlow nodded. "The very same. Now, I want you to be nice to him; he's rather strange, but a brilliant man."
"Aye."
A shout announced that Tesla and the unknown boffin were coming up. A beastie that almost resembled a giant Huxley floated up. Three people were on the said beast's basket that was dangling from its body—A dark-haired man wearing a neat suit, a tall blond man wearing a Russian uniform, and a young woman with light brown hair.
Deryn was fairly sure who was who.
The woman was the first to disembark, jumping from the basket that hung from the giant Huxley without fear. Landing neatly, she turned to the captain with a smile and said something Deryn couldn't hear.
Behind her, the dark-haired man- Tesla, Deryn thought- stepped down more carefully than she. He too smiled at the captain, shaking his hand. The captain now turned towards his crew. "This is Nikola Tesla," he said, loud and clear, gesturing to the man, "And this is Helen Barlow."
"You have a barking sister?" Deryn's astounded by this piece of info.
"Sister-in-law," she corrected.
As the crowd dispersed, off to do their duties, Helen Barlow trotted towards Dr. Barlow, calling out in a cheerful tone, "Hey, Nora!" Deryn was surprised at her appearance; her hair was just below chin-length, unusually short. She had black trousers on as well, with sturdy leather boots visible.
Pausing a few feet in front of the older boffin, Helen grinned. "This is great, isn't it? A few more females and we'll have a good start towards taking over the ship!"
Deryn chuckled slightly at that. Helen's attention was shifted by the noise. "And who are you?" she asked.
"Midshipman Dylan Sharp, ma'am," she introduced herself.
"Pleasure," Helen replied, grinning.
"Helen." Dr. Barlow's more formal attitude contrasted her sister-in-law's. "You're not traveling with any of your creatures?"
"Psh. Of course I am." With that said, she suddenly took off running.
"Here we go," Dr. Barlow muttered.
The running boffin put a few fingers to her lips and whistled a single long, sharp note. By then, she was running out of whale. With an almighty leap, she jumped high and dove off the ship.
"Barking spiders!" Deryn was already frantically clipping onto a ratline, hoping to somehow be able to catch the seemingly-suicidal boffin. "Is she insane?"
"Not insane," Dr. Barlow seemed exasperated, though amused nonetheless, like she knew what was coming, "Just… eccentric."
"What do you mean by th-" Deryn cut herself off as an enormous bird flew up, almost completely vertical. With a fourty-five foot wingspan, it made an average pigeon look insubstantial. The Leviathan's strafing hawks would look tiny next to this beast. The huge animal made a big, arcing circle overhead before slowly heading back towards the pair.
It landed with the grace of a cat, flapping once and nearly knocking Deryn off her feet with the gust before alighting on the whale's spine. Deryn took this moment to examine it more closely.
The wings had been shaped like those of a falcon when they were unfurled, a dark red-brown on the topside and more of a cream on the underside. The dark brown color covered the bird, with slight variations here and there. Black flecked the breast of the bird, the same color as its curving talons and hooked beak.
The talons. Big things, each one was nearly the length of Deryn's arm. The tips of the talons had a small piece of leather covering on them, keeping them much less deadly than they would normally be and much less likely to puncture the membrane.
A figure stepped off the bird from where she had been perched in front of the wings. Helen.
Helen smirked at Deryn's shocked expression. Stroking the bird, she said, "I call him Phillip."
"My God!" Alek yelped, looking out the window. Volger twisted his head around. The two hadn't been allowed to watch Tesla and the boffin board the ship.
"What is it?" Volger was mildly worried at the prince's alarmed tone.
He pointed down. "There was a woman! She dived off the side of the Leviathan and-"
Volger turned his attention to the window just long enough to see a woman on a bird shoot past the window.
AN: Helen Barlow was one of Nora Barlow's sisters-in-law in real life. Naturally, I made her awesome, just like our Dr. Barlow.