The Price of Flight 39
Hanna in Love V0.01.
Now I'm on a roll again… just getting on with it and progressing the story. One of several being actively written justnow. I think I've evaded Hanna coming up behind me and demanding action to be taken concerning her storyline. I think.
Disclaimer: There will be cross-overs with Michael Moorcock's "Warlord of the Air" trilogy here, but minimal ones. The League of Trans-Temporal Adventurers may not be mentioned, as this would raise even more dense and complex-spin offs. But this crossover became irresistible.
Lake de Coverlet, Überwald
Hanna von Strafenburg spurred her horse into a fast canter, stopping deliberately short of a full gallop. Johanna followed her, occasionally glancing back to where Ruth was following on at her own pace, mounted on a good-natured and tolerant pony thought suitable for a child of her age.
Johanna had few concerns for her daughter. Ruth had been taught to ride like everyone else in the family, and had been on long treks into the veldt on her grandparents' land. Johanna considered she could capably manage a larger horse, but accepted that the Rittmeister was set in his ways, and had considered a ten-year-old girl was best suited to a pony. She could see his point of view and in most cases would agree this was appropriate. However, Ruth was at least half a Boer, and some things were in the blood. And the Rittmeister engaged by Count von Bleibaloon hadn't been at the Witch Trials a couple of summers ago to see what sort of horse a younger Ruth had managed to ride, with Sophie Rawlinson's help. (1)
The Rittmeister had also irritated Hanna.
It was no surprise that Hanna von Strafenburg could ride. She was Überwaldean nobility, after all. It was expected. But the Riding Master here, in a backwater of Überwald that was quite a long way behind the times, had expected her to ride sidesaddle, as befitted a gracious Lady and a Grafin.
Hanna had glared at him and pointed out that in Ankh-Morpork, she had been out for social rides and further equestrian training with Cossacks. Whose women could, if they chose, ride sidesaddle. But generally didn't. She had learnt from people like… and Hanna had hesitated slightly… "Lady Olga Romanoff. Who out-ranks me in the social order. And if Lady Olga disdains riding sidesaddle, that's good enough for me!"
Johanna had smiled at the man, who was only doing his job, poor chap, and she had pointed out she was a Boer. "You understand what I mean by a Boer? Think of us as irregular light cavalry and dragoons who rode rings around the Morporkians. And we didn't do that sidesaddle."
But it was clear Hanna was a little annoyed. Johanna felt she could work out the reasons why: Olga Romanoff got irritated too. Having escaped the social constraints of nobility and having had the freedom to go your own way, if you had to conform to expectations, to wear the noble corset again and behave as a noblewoman should, it could drive any rational woman totally nuts. A picture of Susan Sto Helit formed in her mind: there was another Duchess who found the formal side to be irksome.
Still, at least we can get around faster and perhaps stray to trails and paths where we can see some things more closely from the outside… nobody is going to impede the Countess von Strafenburg. Not when she's in this mood.
Riding around the Count's estates and, in Johanna's case, trying to get closer to the Sheds and the industrial plant, with the Lake on their left side, they were ideally placed to see their first airship take to the skies. The three stopped and watched. It was eyecatching. It was spectacular. It also created a lot of displaced water and a massive wake as it rolled down the slipway into the waters of Lake de Coverlet.
"Wow." Johanna said. She wondered where Gertrude was and whether she was watching.
"Impressive." Hanna said. Johanna read her face. It said "Dangerous or not, I want to be aboard one of these."
"Mummy, now I see why the passenger compartment underneath is shaped like a boat." Ruth said. "It makes it so much easier to take off from the water and not the land. Less drag and resistance. They land on the water too."
"Ja, I see that." Hanna agreed. "I also suspect the engine that drives it is not yet activated. The gravity of its own weight pulls it down the slipway and onto the water. This displaces a very large wake. Once stably floating, with no risk of cold water against a hot boiler, they activate it. And I see it has an airscrew at the rear. Like a ship's propellor but larger. We speculated such things are possible. The next question is how it ascends."
"Perhaps more gas is being pumped in." Johanna said. "Through those tubes running back into the boatshed. With that rigid metal framework, it is hard to see the gasbags inside."
"A pity Gertrude can't ride." Hanna said. "If she were here, she would have insights."
Johanna frowned. If what she suspected was going on were right, Gertrude was presenting an unforeseen problem… she'd have to report it back to Olga.
"Mummy, I think I can see how." Ruth said.
The two older women turned their attention to her, so as to hear her thoughts.
Aboard the Experimentelles Luftschiff LB-5
Gertrude Schilling pushed the thought firmly from her mind that if this one was called the Luftschiff Bleiballoon Five, there must have been four previous ones. If so, where were they and if they weren't here to be seen right now, what had happened to them?
"All hands, brace!"
She grabbed an upright stanchion and held on firmly as the cabin floor beneath her feet lurched forwards. Through the windows of the gondola, she glimpsed the inside of the Shed recede backwards at a dizzying speed. She felt the impact as the gondola's boat-hull impacted the water. She saw massive amounts of water cascade upwards to either side as the vessel pitched from left to right, then stabilised. Then it floated sedately forwards. The water receded and the big thick windows now offered a perfect view of the Lake.
Ozzie turned and grinned at her.
"We now have to wait while the main engines power up, Miss Schilling." he said.
It had been, Gertrude realised, exhilarating. With a promise of more to come.
Captain Oswald Bastable smiled a happy smile. Gertrude found herself warming to that smile. The previous night at Dinner, she'd been seated next to him and the conversation had turned to matters of flight and flight-technology. She had asked enthusiastic questions. The little girl Ruth, the one Olga Romanoff had her eye on as somebody with just enough Witch in her to make her a potential Air Watch Cadet(2), had asked more questions of her own. The Count had permitted this. Hanna's brief nod had said that Gertrude could talk freely about herself. This had been part of Olga's briefing too. Tell no lies and be open about who you are. Build trust.
Oswald Bastable was twenty-eight years old, nine years older than Gertrude. He was an Army captain, born in the Shires, who had been to Hugglestone's Academy, survived Education there, and had gone to the Military Academy at Sto Lat. His commission had been as a cavalry subaltern in Venturi's Cherrypickers.
"In fact, I'm still gazetted to them." he had remarked. "Hence the mess uniform."
Gertrude had noted the mess uniform of a Lancer captain. It incorporated, she could not help herself noting, uncomfortably tight close-fitting britches. On a well-kept male body.
"But, as an officer and a gentleman, if your parent regiment places you on the inactive list, you may then seek commissions around the world as you choose." Hanna had remarked.
"That is indeed so, My Lady." he had agreed. "When the Herr Count put out that he was looking for people prepared to join in an adventure promising novelty and excitement, my interest was piqued. And as my Lord Venturi and I did not see eye-to-eye, and he sincerely thought he was punishing me by appointing me to command the Regimental Pioneers, I learnt a lot about military engineering. This has been very useful knowledge to apply here."
Johanna Smith-Rhodes had grinned, knowing. It was just like Venturi to believe he was inflicting social disgrace on an unfavoured officer by demoting him, or so he thought, to socially despised pariahs like the Engineers. The posting had been meant to convey disgrace. Oswald Bastable had thrived on it.
She had watched what was unfolding with interest. Two kindred spirits had clearly met. Captain Bastable was listening, with interest, to Gertrude talking about herself. A socially well-off family, mittelstadt, in the cosmopolitan city of Wiener, in Borogravia. They had sent her to the Quirm Academy for Young Ladies. Several years in, Witchcraft had happened, but not before Gertrude had displayed a precocious talent for Sciences. The next stage had been Lancre for several years, and a senior Witch who had much in common with Lord Venturi had sought to hide her out of the way as a sort of magical technician, a thaumaturgist, doing back-room work to sustain Witches in the field. That Witch had been married to a Wizard, who had seen a sort of talent there. He had provided what had amounted to a Wizard-level education on the fly. Then Olga Romanoff came along, and, err…
"I understand I should properly address you as Fraulein Doktor." The Count von Bleibaloon had said. "Unseen University conferred this rare distinction on you after some truly groundbreaking work you did there?"
"That is correct, Your Grace." Gertrude said. "Apparently, very few women manage this. Doctor Smith-Rhodes is also a University Doctor in her own right."
"For work with animals." Johanna clarified. "Or to be precise, certain sorts of animals. My doctorate is in the field of cryptozoology. Magical species. I run a zoo and we curate certain species alongside the University."
The Count regarded her, appreciatively.
"So I hear, Lady Stibbons." he said. Johanna accepted her Ladyship. It was the face she had to present here. And the Count von Bleibaloon, socially, was emerging as a straightforward and fundamentally decent sort of man, who was not at the moment demonstrating any sort of psychotic urge to Make Prussica Great Again by unleashing an unstoppable Luftwaffe of military airships to lay waste to hostile cities. In fact, he was coming over as a man driven by a Great Idea who sincerely wanted to use it for the common good and the betterment of the world.
Which doesn't mean that out there, there isn't at least one Prussican noble with ideas about rebuilding the KaiserReich and Greater Prussica, she reminded herself. That's what we should be looking for.
The conversation had turned to relative military ranks. Captain Bastable had remarked that in the Army he remained a Captain. In the service of the Count, he was also a Kapitan, perhaps a Kapitanleutnant, but in the Naval sense. Which placed him on a professional par with a Colonel, several grades above.
"And I'm a Technical Sergeant." Gertrude had said. "I get three stripes and a Sergeant's pay, but for all other purposes I'm still pretty much a Constable."
"And until you look at these things more closely, I might have considered the Countess von Strafenburg's rank of Senior Sergeant to be inappropriate either to her social rank or to her range of duties." the Count remarked. "But the Ankh-Morpork City Watch has different responsibilities. The man at the top, who is known as Commander Vimes, wears the rank badges I would interpret as those of a General. Below him are Captains of varying degrees of seniority whose responsibilities might make them a Brigadier, or perhaps Colonels, in a formal military. Then there are Lieutenants and Inspectors and Superintendents. His various Majors."
He looked, speculatively, at Hanna. She shrugged.
"I am content with Senior Sergeant rank." she said. "It is sufficient to support the work I do with formal military authority. Perhaps you are right, and this would make me a Captain in any other uniformed organisation. But the Watch is different. It is one reason why I love being part of it."
There it is, Johanna realised. She's making one of her expectations clear. She might be agreeable to a romance with this man, even marriage. But she will not leave the Air Watch.
The Count expressed understanding, and did not pursue this line of conversation.
Gertrude and Oswald carried on cheerfully discussing the practicalities of airships as a means of flight. Johanna tried not to shake her head too obviously. Gertrude, in her enthusiastic and guileless way was drawing him out, getting him to talk. And as he was clearly enthusiastic with what he did, he was responding. Which was all for the good. She was listening. And so was Hanna. And so was Ruth, who in her own quiet way was keeping up with the grown-ups.
"Perhaps, Miss Schilling, you might like to come up for a flight?" Oswald Bastable suggested.
Gertrude excitedly squeaked her consent.
Johanna smiled, then frowned. There had been overtones in Captain Bastable's voice. It reminded her, a long time ago, of a shy and diffident young Wizard tentatively asking if she, Johanna Smith-Rhodes, might like to, you know, come and visit the High Energy Magic Building sometime? And Johanna had, equally tentatively, asked if Ponder Stibbons might like to, you know, have a tour of the Animal Management Facility with her? (3)
Two unworldly and slightly nerdy people with a common interest…
She shook her head.
It happens. We're just going to have to remind her she's here on a job.
And Gertrude found herself standing in a surprisingly big open enclosed space, but one that had lots of people in it, disregarded for the moment while Kapitanleutnant Oswald Bastable, Commander of the experimental airship LB-5, issued orders, speaking very fluent Überwaldean. She sensed the vibrations under her feet, recognising the engines, located right at the back of the ship in an emphatically sealed-off space, as they fired up. She heard his orders to the Helmsmen to be alert.
The Count had genially given permission for her to be aboard, stressing "no secrets". She tried to work out who was who here in the command compartment, and what jobs they did. Some crew members were observers, she got that, watching the lake and the skies for possible problems. She frowned. The huge framework above containing the enormous gasbags was going to be an obstruction to vision, wasn't it? Ozzie had said something about having some sort of external observer, in a crow's nest sort of thing, up top, connected to the cabin by some sort of speaking tube, if we could only figure out one that works. She tried not to shudder. Several thousand feet up and open to the elements, it would be an uncomfortable and unpopular crew duty.
She regarded Ozzie, now in comfortable overalls, but ones carrying his rank insignia, as he made final checks and corrections.
I've got to admit, he's a really interesting man. I think he's single. He did talk about a Hubsvensskan woman called Una, though. I might get jealous of that person.
She heard a distant muted hissing. Ozzie had said that was nothing to worry about, just the gasbags filling up to the point where we achieve buoyancy...
And then everything started to move forwards and upwards at the same time. She thrilled at the sensation of pure flight. You never got tired of that.
"Impressive." Hanna von Strafenburg said, as they watched the huge cigar-shaped object lifting up from the lake.
"I can't help thinking." Johanna said, thoughtfully, "If one of those appears over Ankh-Morpork. Those people in AMUFORA are going to go completely and utterly nuts."
"Ja." Hanna said. "The alien mothership."
She turned to Ruth.
"You said you had an idea about how they take off?"
"Yes, La… Hanna." Ruth said. She was trying not to be intimidated by the stern-looking woman, who was sincerely encouraging her to be on first-name terms. And she worked with Bekki, who thought well of her and had said "She's basically okay. She just needs to know how to relax and let go a bit more." Bekki had explained that Hanna von Strafenburg had once unbent enough to have done her a very big favour, and had actually set the rulebook aside to do so. Which suggested to her sister that despite the forbidding external appearance, there was actually a decent normal woman in there somewhere. (4)
Ruth controlled her voice.
"The gas makes them float in the air and pulls the ship up with it. The more gas they put into that big long sausage-shaped thing, the higher it floats, so it finds its own height. There must be some way aboard of controlling this so that the captain can fly at the height she chooses. Err. Or he chooses."
Ruth paused, watching the airship ascend.
"If the gas is squeezed up so tightly that it isn't a gas any more, it can't add to the lift. When it turns into a liquid, it's just extra weight. Ballast. I'm not sure how they do it, but I think there are compressors on board, and valves. These allow the liquid gas to become gas again as the pressure is taken away. When they want to lift, they open valves. When they want it to go down, they suck gas back into the storage tanks, and it becomes a liquid again. But I can't quite see how."
They watched the airship again, paying attention to the rear. It was obvious now that two long downward-pointing chimneys which curved at the ends were venting exhaust from the steam engine, deliberately directing this as far away from the gasbags as possible. It looked as if the venting chimneys could be rotated once in flight, possibly rotated upwards when not in use to save on hangar space.
"That engine drives the propeller." Hanna said, thoughtfully. "I wonder if it also drives the compression mechanism? We shall have to ask Traudl if she can get access."
"Still looks bloody dangerous to me." Johanna said. "How many tons of inflammable gas is that thing carrying?"
"Four hundred thousand cubic feet of hydrogen, mummy." Ruth said, promptly. "Captain Bastable said so. I did the sums. That's still only three-quarters of a ton in weight. But it only counts as weight when it's all turned into liquid. The storage tanks don't need to be massively big, because there's always got to be some gas inside the balloon part."
Hanna was thinking furiously.
"So there must be a crew stoking the boiler." she said. "Other men to manage the trim. Perhaps a Chief Enginbeer aboard, who controls and organises these things as the Luftschiff's captain dictates. Who moves that big rudder?"
Johanna's mind was moving on a different track. She was computing a different outcome. This involved exothermic alchemy. How big a bang would it make and how much energy would be released?
Hydrogen plus atmospheric oxygen. Plus fire. Will recombine as water. Ag, an environmentally friendly explosion…
They watched the airship ascend and diminish into the sky.
"We should watch to see what time it returns." Hanna said. "Its duration in flight must be limited by, for instance, the amount of fuel available for the engine."
"I agree." Johanna said. "Except Gertrude is aboard and she will almost certainly be taking note of these things. We perhaps don't need to be here to watch."
She suggested they ride to the nearby town of Konstanzia-am-de-Coverlet. We can stop for coffee and cake, perhaps, and I can get paper and pen. Then send a report back to Ankh-Morpork via Clacks. Hanna, we should agree on a form of words?
+++++GRAND TRUNK COMPANY OF ÜBERWALD, GmbH+++++
Sendestation für Kommunikation/Originating station: Konstanzia-am-de-Coverlet, ÜbW.
Empfangsstation für Kommunikation/Destination station: Pseudopolis Yard, Ankh-Morpork
Zu Händen von/For attention of: Captain O.A.E. Romanoff, A-MCAW.
Sicherheitskategorie/Category: Confidential.
Olga. Report from Valkyrie and RooiRatel. Penguin is at present otherwise engaged on her duties here. She will report separately.
Contact made with CvB and others in his employment. First impressions: he is honest and sincere in his intentions and his motivation is a sincere one. However, there are other backers who at the moment are in the shadows. These are believed to be members of the Prussican nobility. A name which has been mentioned is that of Graf Helmuth von Moltke. Valkyrie knows him to be a hawk as well as one who has held higher military rank. Further information will follow.
We have seen bird in flight. It is impressive. Can confirm experimentation is in advanced stages.
Request: please find out more about a Captain Oswald Bastable, formerly of Venturi's Cherrypickers, who is an Ankh-Morporkian citizen working in a position of trust and responsibility for CvB. He is also an ornithologist and has a particular interest in penguins. RooiRatel is monitoring this situation. It has, however, allowed a Penguin to take flight.
Also, can University records be checked for graduate wizards who have taken salaried positions in Überwald? Have reason to believe CvB is employing Mages. Please check for Wizards with HEM experience.
Is it possible to be discreetly visited by a courier, who can update with further instructions, and we can send fuller reports as we assemble them, directly to you? We believe the Clacksmen here can be absolutely trusted to send this in the Overhead a.p. practice, but we do not want to take this for granted.
Awaiting response.
Valkyrie
RooiRatel.
+++++GRAND TRUNK COMPANY OF ANKH-MORPORK Ltd, +++++
Originating station: Pseudopolis Yard, Ankh-Morpork.
Destination station: Konstanzia-am-de-Coverlet, ÜbW
For attention of: RooiRatel.
Category: Confidential, City Watch special communication.
Johanna.
Report received. Good work so far.
Checking persons of interest, including the penguin enthusiast. Ponder is to check records at Unseen and speak to contacts at Braseneck.
Keep watching the sky. Stay alert. Proceed with preparation of written reports. Keep them safely till they can be collected. Remind Valkyrie and Penguin they have their Omnicons, and for these to be switched on between 0600 and 0800 and again 2100 to 2359. (Stress: Überwald time!) Silent comms will apply.
Well done
Siren
"So what's silent comms?" Johanna asked. "Could be embarrassing, if you're at dinner with the Count and your communicator goes off."
Hanna smiled.
"It is a new development. I agree it could pose problems if the communicator sounded over dinner, and Olga asks how the investigation is proceeding. Where everyone can hear her. What will happen is that the communicator in my pocket will perceptibly vibrate. Hopefully, not audibly so. This warns me of an incoming message. I then excuse myself from table and go to the privy. Nobody will question that. Then I can either have a discreet private conversation, or else a short written message will be visible on screen. I acknowledge I have read the message and understood. Then return to table."
Hanna smiled.
"Another of Traudl's bright ideas. I understand your husband helped to make this a reality."
"As did Gertrude." Johanna reminded her, feeling quietly proud of him. "Anyway, Olga's set times for one of you to be available to take calls."
"Ja. Before breakfast and after dinner. When we can be private."
Hanna looked up, speculatively.
"She also said to watch the sky. That is interesting."
Johanna considered this. She'd heard Überwald could impede long-distance comms calls. It was in the nature of the place, like Skund or Lancre. Too much of what Gertrude and Ponder called "ambient background magic" It caused static. And being on a lakeside ringed by high hills and mountains also made a signal problematic. Hanna reckoned she probably could get a long-distance communication there, over the thousand miles or so to Ankh-Morpork, if she were six thousand feet up. Or, alternatively, if a pilot were to be six angels high and communicating to a ground station.
"We watch the sky." Johanna repeated. "Got it."
They settled to afternoon coffee and cake, in a companiable all-the-time-in-the-world sort of way. Later, when the LB-5 returned and landed, they could get to debrief Gertrude.
If we can prise her away from Captain Bastable, that is.
Johanna sighed.
Formal dinner with the Count and his household would follow. Hopefully that was to be concluded by nine. So one of us can watch the sky for things of interest and another of us can be somewhere private with a communicator. It also allows time to collate a report. I wonder what the arrangements are going to be for collection?
To be continued…
A short one to keep the story going.
(1) Go to Strandpiel Book One. It all interconnects.
(2) I'll work on her parents nearer the time." Olga had said. "When she gets older, turns thirteen. Three years yet. But it's like it was with you, Gertrude. Even if she can't fly to Air Watch standards, I'd like to get her in on the Tek side. She's got some good ideas." Olga was aware that a lot of people were watching Ruth and would make career offers to her. Ruth was that sort of girl. Olga was also aware Johanna and Ponder were being fiercely protective about this. She needed to take care.
(3) Now go to the story Nature Stuidies for how it all began between Ponder and Johanna…
(4) Hanna had accepted a bribe, consisting of a large bar of Higgs and Meakins Milk Chocolate With Fruit and Nuts, to let Bekki's boyfriend Ampie off with a caution, when she would have been within her rights to have arrested him, and charged Bekki with an infraction of Watch rules. See Strandpiel Book One, where Ampie proves that the lady loves Higgs And Meakin's finest Chocolate.
Notes Dump
Strandpiel 2 and Price of Flight are unavoidably overlapping a lot, as
they deal with events occurring in the same time frame, some of which are even related. This happens during the gap, in the few months' grace in between the end of the Syrrit Crisis and the Howondalandian Situation boiling over.
Also discovered the biggest single use of helium – a gas that takes much effort to refine and of which there are fears the planet has a finite supply – is party balloons. The reasons for the gas being sold far too cheaply for this purpose are myriad and have to do with crazy economics and short-term profits.
Got to laugh. South African actress Charlize Theron, who really should know better, has said she believes Afrikaans is a dying language and anyway "only 44 people speak it". Reaction has included comment like As jou besef, maar as 44 Afrikaanse mense will jou Bliksem! And in the other sense of the word Soos jy sê. maar ten minste sal net 44 Afrikaanse mense jou 'n bliksem noem!
(Sense one – only 44 people are going to want to beat you up for it and sense two – only 44 people are going to call you a stupid bastard over this. NB – loose translations)
RooiRatel (Afrikaans) - Red Honey-Badger. Johanna had needed to nominate a callsign for herself, after all, as she was on Air Watch attachment. She had to maintain family tradition and be the Red Something.