The Iron Man [Serial]

St. Katerine

That Friday we woke early, or what seemed early to me. Jericho was first, whining until Murphy got up from our bed of low cushions to open the doors. Only minutes after Murphy had returned to bed, a vaguely familiar voice called out, "Tyron."

Murphy pushed himself up. "Here," he said.

As the curtain was drawn aside, Nablus was there, dressed again in the blue uniform of the Egyptian Sky Navy.

"What are you doing here?" Murphy asked him, in English, which was likely for my benefit.

"In my own house?" Nablus laughed. "Are you not happy to see me?"

"I am." Murphy smiled as he looked up at his eldest brother.

Nablus stepped towards the bed and extended a hand to tousle Murphy's hair. "I thought you might need another lift."

I realized they had not seen each other since Nablus had come to air-lift his comatose brother to the hospital. Rather, that was the last Nablus had seen Murphy; Murphy wouldn't have remembered it. Though, I was certain Sina had informed Murphy of Nablus' part.

"The Sky Navy spares a whole barque just for me?" Murphy smoothed his fingers over his hair.

"Not this time," Nablus said. "There are always several barques patrolling the area and this is a suitable time of day for descent. It just happens The Roc is here this time." These Naval maneuvers must not be secret, I supposed, if residents could plainly see the barques.

"Father signaled," Murphy concluded; it did not sound like questioning and I didn't think he knew it for fact. I'd been with him all this time. "It's Yom Kippur tomorrow. My mother asked to be home."

Nablus nodded. "Our father could have made it in near as much time driving, but it is not as if my mother has not sometimes found easy transport aboard a barque."

"Does this mean we get to ride aboard The Roc?" I looked up from the bed to Murphy and to Nablus. Nablus did not return my gaze, but kept his eyes toward Murphy.

"I'll leave you," Nablus said. He turned and left through the curtained doorway.

I must have showed something in my expression, for Murphy lifted my left hand and kissed my palm. "I wouldn't turn from any part of you," He said.

I smiled and kept my hand in his. "I suppose I must love you a little bit for that."

"All those little bits will add up."

And they were. I had felt that fear I'd lost the chance to learn what more we might be to each other. Now Murphy was getting better, I did want to take that chance. Only, not if it meant rushing into something that risked what we already had.

I reminded myself, again, Murphy was, above all else, my partner in our struggle against the repressive elements of the Dress Code and in my mission to become better able to help others realize their dreams.

I wanted him to be able to live free in his country, to love as he wished, to be able to have pride in his musical talent, and to find acceptance with his family.

Some of those goals were surely distant and difficult to reach. Some were likely easier to achieve if we didn't let enemies learn how close we were. Becoming insistent about treatment within his family's home was one thing...

In public, the few years between us meant Murphy had even more to lose than I, if our relationship should be suspected to be physical in nature.

Once we left the guest room, I was his friend.

We carried our belongings to Samir's Hispano steam-cab. I sat in the rear seat with Murphy and Jericho, while Maya and Me'rah sat in the front. Samir then drove the cab to The Roc, which was tethered aside the main road.

Nablus met us there, with young Fir'awn at his side. Nablus pointed to the planks that had been set out to make a ramp and explained that Samir should drive the steam-cab up onto the deck of the barque.

The weight of the cab made the planks bow, such that the front end tipped up, then down, then up again. My stomach fluttered. The bottom of the cab then, briefly, scraped the edge of the barque, before the rear tires bounced roughly onto the deck, disturbing the seat beneath us which squeaked with contraction of inner springs.

"It's safe to exit the cab," Nablus told us, "but stay away from thesides of the barque and out of the way of my skymen."

I slid from my seat at Murphy's gestured invitation. He stood mid-deck with Jericho on a short lead. Naval skymen moved past us, securing the Hispano to the deck with various wedges and ropes.

The dark, cylindrical balloon above was plump with air and heated by elements that smelled like those in an oil-fired steam engine, though here there seemed no steam at play. The oil-burners appeared to heated the air directly, and this hot air made the balloon to rise. 

Nablus moved towards the stern, where skymen had the controls of port and starboard airscrews in hand. He called short command phrases and made hand signs which were passed along among the crew. Tethers were released and burners fired.

The Roc swayed and began to ascend.

The date palms receded. The mountainside began to sink. The horizon expanded. 

As The Roc left the ground, it felt like our ascent grew faster; we climbed higher quicker.

I felt a pinching in my ears, like riding a skandalopetra that too quickly descended toward the seafloor. I tried pinching my nose and closing my mouth to gently send air toward my ears.

Murphy glanced at me side-eyed as he covered a yawn with his right hand. 

As the Roc ascended,  a high mountain valley was revealed between peaks, and within it nestled a town.

Nablus called out and airscrews and wings were deployed to propel The Roc toward St. Katerine.

[Photo of Sinai, St. Catherine's Monasteryfrom the Matson Photographic Collection in the Library of Congress is in the public domain. ]

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Chapter 98! The Iron Man now has over 4,330 reads and 670 votes. It's hanging in on the Science Fiction rankings. Thank you, again, for reading.

Audio media (top) is "Empire of Angels" by Thomas Bergersen. 

It took me a while to work on this chapter. It was not that the actually writing of what is seen here took long, but that I debated for a while in which direction to take this chapter and whether I would soon be introducing new characters. That, and I ended up going out of town for about a week on short notice.