"Shit."
It was the first time Pax had heard Faith swear. They weren't surprised; they fully felt like doing just that. They were feeling the effects of hiking up the crew— malfunctions were starting to raise their heads, and the engines weren't powering up again.
"We'll have to wait until I've got them fixed," Pax sighed. "It won't be before tonight though."
"That's alright. We need to talk about out next moves."
As they headed to the stern to look out in the direction of the city, Pax voiced their agreement.
"Suppose we get the King... we're going to have to disappear pretty quickly."
Faith thought over this too, frowning.
"I may be captain, but I don't know how to hide an airship this size."
Pax squeezed her hand, and looked out over the landscape.
"We'll think of something. Maybe we could just drop him out here for a while. It's a pretty big jungle out there," they laughed.
Faith smiled, breathing in the air.
"I can hear it. Trees creaking, birds, leaves rustling and such. What do you see?"
"Thick green. Tangles and tangles of it. The trees are tall— they almost touch the airships underbelly. And then there are the birds, some are red, some green— oh, one just flew into the mountain. There's a cave."
Faith perked up.
"A cave?"
"Yes, it's huge. I didn't see it before, it's right against the mountainside below us."
Faith began to breathe quickly.
"Big enough to fit an airship in?"
Pax paused after a short intake of breath.
"Maybe..." they began cautiously, "but I don't know if the manoeuvres required are even possible. We'd have to get just over the mountains and immediately drop altitude, fast. Even if we managed that, we'd have to spin around to get inside, and I don't know if we'd ever get out again."
Faith sighed, replacing her chin onto her hands. Pax hated to cut her hopes down like that, but they couldn't see a way past it. It was too dicey.
"We might just have to count on stealth," Faith said, and after some thought, added, "and have the guns ready."
"I hope it doesn't come to that," Pax replied. As Faith drew closer to them, they had a feeling they had echoed her thoughts exactly.
"Come on," they said after a while, "let's see if we can get the old girl moving."
YOU ARE READING
Terrestrial Undead
Science FictionIt's a rigid life on Airship 11, although most of the crew members don't mind. But when young unit 009 receives a punishment only whispered of behind closed doors, she sets in motion events which will thrust her and the only people who help her-003...
