“Yes, sir.” The captain knuckled his forehead again.
When Conrad left, the captain stood taller, losing his diffident manner. He pointed to the fellow smeared with coal dust. “Give Chum your shovel, and show her the ropes. Denny, stow her gear. Malcom—” he pointed to a bearded man with a shotgun, “—you’re on guard. Stay alert, and keep her working. I don’t want our boat lingering over downtown Dawson. Look cheery men. We’ve a nice pay day coming up.”
The captain left, taking the men he hadn’t named with him. The one who had conducted her search looked around, probably trying to figure out what he was supposed to do with the armful of weapons and tools. He shuffled to the far end of the boiler room, dropping a screwdriver on the way, and dumped everything except her gun onto a metal table bolted to the wall. Toolboxes were secured there, and an empty crate on the floor read propeller blades. Machine shop, Kali guessed, eyeing it speculatively as the pirate headed out. If she could free her ankle and get over there, maybe she could build something useful for escaping. And then what? She eyed the bulkheads, looking for a door that might lead to the engine room, but the pipes from the boilers disappeared through solid walls behind the equipment, and she didn’t see any exits except for the ceiling hatch Conrad had used.
The sooty man thrust his shovel into Kali’s hands, distracting her from her thoughts. He drew a knife and cut her wrist bindings. “That goes in there.” He pointed at the coal bin and the furnace door.
“Excellent instructions,” Kali said. “I’ll be sure to recommend you for a promotion.”
It was hard to read a face coated in coal dust, but he curled a lip and growled at her, and she got the gist. He ticked a finger against a gauge on the adjacent boiler where a needle hovered at the low end of the operational zone. “Make sure that stays between here and here. If it’s here, add more coal faster. If it gets up here, you can slow down for a spell. There’s a safety shutoff, so don’t get any bright ideas about getting things too hot.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Kali said.
Which was true. She ought to be concerned solely with escaping, maybe finding that girl and getting her out too, but the fact that she was within the bowels of the very airship she wanted to claim for herself kindled ideas in her mind. Maybe she could yet take it over somehow and keep it for herself. Unless she ran out of other options, she wouldn’t risk blowing half of the hull off in a boiler explosion.
“Now, I reckon I can get some sleep, though the night seems young for that.” Soot-face threw a smirk at the guard, then considered Kali through slitted eyes.
She tensed. With her hands free and a shovel in her grip, she thought she could defend herself, leg iron or not, but the guard standing by the hatch was watching, his shotgun at the ready.
“Don’t see why Sparwood gets all the girls,” Sooty grumbled.
“’Cause he can pound you into pieces,” the guard said. “You better leave her be and find your hammock.”
“Guess you’re right.”
Given his defeatist words, Kali wasn’t expecting Sooty’s hand to lunge in. He squeezed her breast, mashing down with the subtlety of a jackhammer. Kali swung the shovel, cracking him in the side of his head.
He staggered back while the guard laughed and said, “You deserved that.”
Kali dropped into a crouch, expecting retaliation. Sooty clutched at his head, but he was grinning.
“Worth it,” he said and sauntered to the ladder. “Sparwood’ll find his goods bruised up.” He snickered as he climbed and disappeared through the hatch.
“Idiot,” Kali said.
A woman’s scream sounded, then was cut off when the hatch clanged shut. Kali’s indignation faded. Kali could be experiencing a far worse fate at the moment. And she might still have to worry about that, if she didn’t escape.
The guard jerked his shotgun toward her. “Get to work.”
Kali opened the furnace door and squinted as heat rolled out. Next to the gloom of the boiler room, the flames threw off an inferno of light. While she scooped coal from the bin and into the firebox, she debated her options. She could fling a shovelful of burning embers at the guard, but he was too far away for her to launch a follow-up attack. She hadn’t seen the captain pass him the keys for her leg iron either. Something on the workbench might help her escape, but it too was well out of reach.
Kali eyed the heavy black chain attached to her ankle and didn’t see any weaknesses. It would take a blacksmith to break one of the thick links. At the other end, the chain attached to an eyelet secured with a hinge to an iron plate mounted flush in the deck. She couldn’t have been the first prisoner to be chained in the boiler room.
She kept scooping coal into the furnace while she contemplated that hinge. In its present state, she doubted she could wedge the tip of the shovel into the crease to pry the eyelet free, but she’d loosened many a rusted old bolt by applying heat to break the bond.
The next time she dumped fresh coal into the furnace, she slipped a few burning red embers out. The guard was watching her, but the door hid the shovel, and the furnace itself blocked the eyelet from his view. Kali laid the glowing coals on the metal plate around the hinge. Making certain not to take too much time and rouse suspicions, she repeated the process until a pile of hot coals lay all about the eyelet.
Kali continued to load the furnace for a couple more minutes, giving the iron time to heat. Even if she was able to loosen the hinge and pull the chain free, she still had to deal with the guard.
“It’s getting pretty full.” She paused to mop sweat from her brow. “How much more should I put in?”
“When it’s full, close the door and start loading the other one.”
“Whatever you say, boss.” Kali considered her words, then added, “I don’t suppose there’s anything I can do to talk you into letting me go?” If she was too good of a worker and didn’t try to wheedle her way out of her fate, that might make him suspicious. “I’ve got money stashed at home. How much do you make as a pirate?”
“More than you’ve got.”
“I doubt that,” Kali said. “My partner is a proficient bounty hunter, and he shares his earnings.”
“Men who give money to women are stupid. Get back to work.”
Kali rolled her eyes but didn’t argue. She certainly wasn’t going to explain what she did to earn her half. No need for him to think she might have a crafty side.
“It’s powerful hot in here.” Kali wiped her brow again and leaned on the shovel. “Any chance I can get some water?”
“You’ve barely been working five minutes. You’re fine.”
Kali made a show of letting her shoulders slump and tried to look weary as she went back to shoveling. After a few more rounds, she said, “I just need a little break.”
She slipped between the furnaces, nudged the coals off the eyelet with her shovel, and eased the tip into the hinge crease. She wiggled the blade in deeper, relieved when there was enough give to do so. Then she leaned her weight onto it. The hinge pin eased upward, but it made a telling creak.
“What’re you doing over there, woman?” Footsteps thudded on the deck.
Kali shoved downward with all of her strength. The hinge popped free. Kali scattered the hot embers, smacked the shovel against the furnace, making a loud clang, then dropped to the floor on her back, hiding the popped hinge with her body. She closed her eyes and didn’t move.
The guard stomped around the corner. Kali watched through her eyelashes as he surveyed the mess. “Stupid woman, what’d you do?”
Passed out from heat exhaustion, or so she hoped he’d think.
The guard came close enough to kick her boot with his foot, then, when she did not respond, he leaned in closer. He reached down, probably intending to take the shovel from her reach. Before he could grab the shaft, Kali whipped it up and slammed the pan into his face.
The pirate reeled back, but the blow was not enough to drop him. He lunged for the shovel. Kali hit h
im again and scrambled to her feet. The guard, blood running in twin rivulets from his nose, started to lift his gun. She jammed her heel into his shin, and he yowled and went down. Kali snatched the heavy iron chain from the floor and swung it at his head. It connected with a solid thud. The man’s shotgun drooped in his hands. Kali tore it free and backed away, aiming it at his chest.
“On your belly,” she barked.
The man groaned and slumped to the floor, eyes crossing. She found the rope the pirates had tied her with earlier and hurried to bind his hands and legs while he was still woozy. If she could find the key to her leg iron, she’d stick that on him as well and see how well he liked being tied up.
“You have any more buckshot?” Kali asked after checking the shotgun. She could fire it once, but that was it.
“Not down here,” the pirate growled, his eyes focusing again. “Why don’t you wander up and look for some above decks? I’m sure someone can help you out.”
“With a bullet to the chest, I’m sure,” Kali said.
Figuring she didn’t have much time, she rushed over to the work table. She decided the iron band on her ankle wasn’t a priority and left it on while she searched through her tools for, yes, there was the vial of flash gold. She was surprised the captain hadn’t taken it with him, but maybe Conrad was the only one who knew what it was, or maybe he’d warned them not to take it. Now if Kali could come up with something useful to do with it before someone came and checked on her….
Another feminine cry of pain echoed through the ship, muffled by the closed hatch, but not muffled enough. Kali clenched her jaw. She had more than one reason to hurry.
Kali checked the machine shop drawers and toolboxes. She doubted she would stumble across something as obviously handy as ammunition for the shotgun, but maybe she could find raw materials to make—she did not know what yet. But she had the flash gold, so she could power something. She just had to figure out what.
A tin of kerosene sitting in a bottom drawer made Kali pause. A slow smile curved her lips. That certainly increased the possibilities. Another drawer offered a bunch of funnels and strainers of various sizes. They must fill the ship’s running lamps down there.
Kali tapped the shotgun thoughtfully. “If I could find some kind of pressurized tank…the flash gold could be turned into an ignition system. It’s an energy source, after all.” While she muttered to herself, she rifled through the rest of the drawers. “Piping, hm. I could make a pump to pressurize a tank with air…like with my spud launcher.” She snorted, imagining herself racing through the corridors, pelting pirates with potatoes. This new weapon would have to be a little more inimical. She grabbed a screwdriver and started disassembling the shotgun’s firing mechanism.
Minutes ticked past as she hunkered over the table, sweat dribbling into her eyes and dropping from her chin. It had to be over a hundred degrees in the boiler room. Still, she’d rather be there than in Sparwood’s cabin.
Muffled grunts came from between the boilers, and Kali jumped. She’d forgotten about her prisoner. With her new project in hand, she rushed over to check on him. He was still bound, though he looked like he’d been trying to saw his ropes off using the corner of the coal bin.
He gaped at Kali when she came into sight. Actually he gaped at the shotgun in her hands. It still had the same body, but the two salvaged tanks attached under the barrel were definite upgrades. One held kerosene and the other pressurized air. A slender tube fed the flammable liquid into and through the barrel. The flash gold flake was tucked out of sight, inside the muzzle, but she’d imprinted it with a command to ignite the kerosene when the trigger was pulled.
“Whuf iff it?” the pirate demanded, his words almost indistinguishable through the gag Kali had stuffed into his mouth.
Kali doubted her weapon would work on the first attempt—given the way the day’s luck had gone, she might even blow herself up—but she pulled the trigger, figuring she had to try it eventually anyway. And wouldn’t it be great if it worked with this stunted vegetable looking on?
The weapon issued a soft gurgle as liquid traveled from the tank and through the gun. Though she had taken some care to hide the flash gold from view, streaks of yellow lightning escaped, coursing along the weapon, creating a riveting display. Kali rolled her eyes. The stuff always seemed to want to steal the show.
Then the fuel ignited.
Kali had been expecting a flame—that was the whole point of the design, after all—but the three-foot-long, six-inch-wide inferno that whooshed out of the barrel surprised her with its size and power. She nearly dropped the gun. Even with the flame shooting out of the end, heat crackled in the air, beating against her hands and face, and she eyed the wooden stock with concern. It ought to be all right, for the short term. She hoped.
“What is it, you ask?” Kali said, trying to cover her surprise with nonchalant words. “I haven’t thought of a name yet. Got any ideas?”
“Shit,” the pirate said, sort of. The gag made elocution difficult.
“That won’t impress anyone at the patent office.”
The air buzzed around the weapon, and lightning continued to dance, streaking along the outside of the shotgun shaft to mingle with the flame. The stink of burning kerosene arose, and Kali wondered if she should have made a switch that could modulate the amount of fuel sent to the flame. Ah, well. Next time. If nothing else, this ought to scare some pirates. She let go of the trigger, and the flame died out.
Thus armed, Kali jogged for the ladder leading to the upper decks of the ship.
“Whar…goin’?” the pirate tried to call through the gag.
“To put a wrench in Cudgel’s wheel.”
Kali clanked her way up the ladder, the gun bumping and tangling in the rungs, the leg iron adding weight to her ankle.
“Perhaps not the best weapon for stealth,” she muttered.
Nonetheless, she made it to the top and managed to juggle her gear long enough to ease the hatch open and peer out. She didn’t see any feet in the narrow door-filled corridor above, but the hatch blocked half of her view. She listened. Muffled voices came from somewhere nearby, someone’s cabin most likely, but no footsteps thudded toward her, so she hoped that meant the corridor was empty. From her point of view, she couldn’t see the steps or ladder that ought to lead to the open deck up top. All of the doors in view were shut, including one at the far end.
If Kali could find the navigation area without anyone spotting her, maybe she could surprise whoever manned those controls and take over the ship before anyone knew what was happening. Except that she feared a ship like this, designed like a naval vessel, would have its navigation bridge above decks where lots of people could see it. Well, it was the middle of the night. Maybe the crew would be sleeping or down in the city, enjoying their ill-gotten earnings on gambling and women.
Kali lifted the hatch the rest of the way and climbed out.
“You!” a pirate barked from narrow stairs that had been hidden from view by the hatch. He charged her, a cutlass raised overhead.
Kali cursed in her mother’s tongue and whipped the modified shotgun up, pulling the trigger.
This time, with the weapon already primed, the flames leapt to life immediately. The pirate ran right into them. They poured against his chest, incinerating clothing and searing flesh. He screamed, an ear-piercing cry of pure agony.
Kali pulled her weapon to the side and released the trigger, half because she couldn’t hold those flames on a man, and half because she was afraid she’d catch the wooden corridor on fire. The pirate’s scream only grew louder. Knowing she needed to quiet him, she slammed the butt of the shotgun into his head. It was cruel to beat a man already so wounded, and she hated that she had to do it, but she couldn’t have him carrying on, alerting the entire ship. The pirate crumpled to the deck, clutching his chest, and sobbing. The air stank of burning flesh, and Kali’s stomach roiled. Frustrated with her lack of options, she pushed him so that he fell throu
gh the open hatch and into the boiler room below. There was a lock on the hatch, and she threw it into place. It blocked out the man’s sobs, but she would never forget the sight of his flesh and muscle being burned off before her eyes.
“What have I made?” she whispered, tears stinging her eyes. She should have found a way to make more buckshot for the gun. It’d be a more merciful way to kill someone. Even a pirate didn’t deserve—
A door in the corridor flew open, and a barefoot man stumbled out, gun belt clenched between his teeth while he fumbled to fasten his trousers.
No time for self-doubt. Kali stood, foot on the closed hatch, and aimed the weapon at him. Cruel or not, it was the only one she had.
The pirate stared at her—no, at the strange gun in her hands—and didn’t immediately run toward her. She thumbed the flames on again, judging him far enough away that he’d feel the heat without being burned. Fire leapt from the end of the barrel with surprising flair. Narrow streams twisted and twined in the air, shifting intensity and direction, like dancers on a stage. Watching it gave Kali a chill, as there was no mundane explanation for that. The flake of flash gold had to be affecting it, as if it had a mind of its own and was taking artistic license. Showing off.
After a long, stunned second, the pirate stumbled back, his belt falling from his mouth.
“Go back inside your cabin,” Kali said, “and don’t come out until the sun’s up.”
She had no idea what she looked like after the rough night, but he stared at her, mouth agape, as if he’d seen the Grim Reaper. Then he lunged back inside and slammed the door shut.
“That’s a better solution than maiming people,” Kali said, then shut her mouth, because there was a tremor in her voice. Her hands were shaking too.
Somewhere above her, people shouted. The whole ship had to have been roused by that man’s scream. Kali was surprised pirates weren’t already charging down the stairs to get her. Sneaking to navigation was out of the question now, and she feared she wouldn’t have much time to come up with a plan before she found herself in a firefight.