Thistle in the Sky | #NONC2022 | ✔

Chapter Twenty

The monster did not respond to Farah and Gemi as they made their escape. Gemi gave a breathy and slightly hysterical giggle when they finally hopped onto the keel catwalk and out of the tentacle's reach. It was dark here. Far down the catwalk, Farah could make out the sheen of moonlight coming in through the collapsed envelope; they'd been in the crate all day, and night had fallen. She prayed that would work in their favor. Thus far, the jellyfish had only struck in the daytime, though with only Arief and the final attack the previous morning to judge, that wasn't much to go by.

Farah felt every jiggle of the cable-suspended catwalk all the way to the back of the ship. There was a tentacle in the backup control room, too, as limp as the one they'd just avoided. Farah led the way and Gemi copied her as they tiptoed past the room.

Can we stop for water on the way? asked Gemi, with a pleading edge to her thoughts. I'm getting dizzy.

Farah was, too, and it compromised both her reflexes and balance. They'd both been most of a day without water. Important as it was to reach the gondola, they weren't going to make it back again under this kind of stress if they didn't look after themselves.

Moonlight percolated through the skin of the envelope to their left, picking out duralumin girders like the bones of a skeleton. The collapsed gasbags behind them were more akin to the folds of some great creature's internal organs than part of a dying airship. A damp breeze licked Farah's arm. The force of her startle sent her off-balance, and she had to catch hold of a girder to steady herself. She peered ahead. Some twenty paces down the catwalk, the moon-glow of a clouded night broke through a rend in the envelope. Farah's stomach clenched. This was where Mega had died, attempting to run this same path in the opposite direction. The monster had punched through the envelope and grabbed her. Loose flaps of fabric around the hole swayed in the breeze.

The catwalk tilted dangerously just beside the rift. Farah gripped the girders tighter as she edged towards it, using her toes to feel along the boards still lodged in the warped metal frame of the walkway. Her heart beat in her throat by the time she drew abreast to the hole. Damp air from the fog-clouds outside ran fingers over her stress-fevered skin, picking out sweat trails like a physical touch. Farah resisted the urge to look down. There was nothing down there. Just however far they had yet to sink to the ocean surface, if they'd lost enough lifting gas to sink at all. Farah could not swim.

The night outside was silent. The ocean in the Tideless made no sound: no waves spoke into the stillness to say how far away they were, and Farah doubted the fog-clouds would part enough to see the water yet tonight. If the wounded Ariomma reached the sea, the cargo hold would fill first. They would have to abandon their crate hideout and take shelter on the catwalks, within easy reach of the tentacles. If it happened while Farah and Gemi were here, Kaz may not realize the danger, or have time or strength to escape.

Farah put those thoughts to the back of her mind before they consumed her. There was nothing she could do except focus on the present, and pursue their only hope of rescue from outside. Only then could she make it past the hole. Gemi did, too. From there, it was a frighteningly short distance to the decks. Farah eased the first door open and checked for danger before signaling that the coast was clear. They snuck into the top deck together. The gondola was only two levels down from here.

They stopped in the galley first. When both of them had drunk their fill from the water reserves—neither dared to use the tap lest the guttering of damaged pipes betray them—they rested for a moment to steady their shaky limbs. It doubled as a chance to plan their approach. Farah spoke in whispered tones this time. They were insulated here by the intact walls of the galley; the monster had simply entered the room by its open door. When both of them felt they could stand and think straight again, they returned to the staircase.