Beyond the Endless Sky

Chapter 19.5

"Miss Hughes," Captain Locklear spoke through the speaking tube in a slow and unhurried way, as if being asked to speak a second time, every syllable slightly too slow and slightly too carefully enunciated to be a conversation. It was, Clarissa had to admit, effective. She wondered if the captain had leaned it in whatever officer school he attended in Volante. "Would you send Clarissa up? I'd like to give Leslie or Mercy a bit of time inside to warm their hands."

Clarissa frowned as she stared out the window, her hand reaching to check the harness set around her waist. "I don't think I'm dressed well enough for that," she said, as she watched the rivulets of water running along the domed window. By the time they ran to the sides, some of the streams were thicker than the length of her hand.

"There's a supply closet just beside the door. Grab what you need. Your boyfriends have extra fabric folded-in that should come up over your knees, so grab a coat, hat, and gloves. It's a damp run, and hypothermia can sneak up on you pretty quickly when you're soaked."

"Aye," Clarissa agreed, and she put in some extra effort to make sure she'd be warm outside. By the time she put on her hat, and checked the buttons on the thick wool coat she put on over her clothes, she was already starting to sweat.

"Oh, and once you're up there," Tonya said, somehow knowing Clarissa was almost ready to leave, despite never taking her eyes off the window. "Make sure you can hear the captain if he shouts, no matter where you are on the deck. If he needs your attention, especially here, you could bet the box against all of Volante that it's important."

Clarissa frowned, and looked back outside. "You said you've sailed through the ruins before?"

"With the captain. A few weeks after I joined up with them. Captain said he was looking for something inside, which should be damn near impossible. Also said he knew how to find it, which also should have been damn near impossible since you can barely see the bow of the ship you're piloting in this," Tonya said. "Ask him if you're keen to know more."

Clarissa nodded and left, pushing herself through the hall. She wasn't quite gliding, there was still some pull, but a single step carried her well over a dozen feet, and he had to keep her hand on the rails to keep from throwing herself up at the ceiling.

Up the stairs, to the door, she clipped in on the wall before she started to push it open. A hard shove, and she clipped on the far side of the doorway before she shut it again.

She might have laughed at her own caution, even just a couple of days ago. But she was aware, all the way down to her bones, that if she slipped now and tumbled off the side, that no one would ever find her.

The mist was so thick Clarissa could barely see the rails at the side of the ship. The canopy of white was so thick, so solid looking, she could almost believe the ship was actually sitting in a massive hanger, completely enclosed from the outside world. Only the slow drift of rock passing over her head reminded her of where she was. But even that was reminder enough.

"Clarissa," Captain Locklear called. Clarissa saw him at the bow, almost right above where Tonya was piloting. She looked over to Leslie, standing on the starboard side, with a smoke launcher. Mercy was over on the port side, with an odd looking hook in one hand, clipped in on the rails, standing on the far side, almost on the side of the ship.

The captain was waving for her to join him, which was a bit of a surprise. She had expected to be giving one of the others a chance to warm up inside. Instead, she walked to the bow and stood next to the captain as he leaned on the rails and stared up ahead.

"So, has watching Tonya given you an itch to try your hand at the wheel?" Captain Locklear asked. "Or has it put you off flying forever?"

Clarissa considered her own feelings for a moment, and then laughed. "I don't think I'll ever pilot. Not sure I could ever be that good."