For Forty Weeks the Sunbird Flew: An Airman's Tale

Chapter 4: Take Off

"Is the oil heated?"

"Should be, Mr Walker. It reads one-hundred and ten on the instrument."

"A little low for my liking, but still safely in the boundaries to start. Midshipman Darren!"

A young boy in his early teens, if Archer had to guess, snapped to attention.
"Aye, Mr Walker sir!"

Lawrence huffed a little at the title, but kept any course words to himself.
"We're ready to go! Run the message to the captain, if you'd be so kind."

"Aye sir! At once sir!"

The boy bounded around the corner, and Archer could faintly hear the sound of him clambering up the ladders to the decks above. Lawrence's half-amused voice filled the silence for a moment as he spoke.

"I'm fairly certain the midshipmen call me 'sir' just to annoy me at this point. They know I'm no sir, yet they do it anyway no matter how many times I tell them not to bother."

The engineer shrugged, seemingly to himself, and continued.
"Ah well. There's plenty worse nicknames to be given."

"Such as?"

Lawrence turned to him, seemingly confused. Perhaps he had not realised he spoke aloud?
"Hm? What was that?"

"Have you ever been given a nickname, Mr Walker?"

The man chuckled a little before speaking, seemingly recalling a fond memory.
"Yes, I have. When I was younger, probably no older than Midshipman Darren is now, the crewmates I was around used to call me 'Ice-Eyes'."

"Why was that?"

"Well, there were two reasons I suppose. The first, most obvious reason, is simply the colour of my eyes."

He motioned towards his eyes, and Archer realised upon closer inspection that, yes, they were an almost glacier-blue colour. He leaned back and nodded, and so Lawrence continued.

"The second reason was because... well, I'm sure you've noticed that I'm probably the biggest stickler for following regulations and generally appearing stern out of everyone aboard that you've met so far?"

Archer nodded, hoping his agreement wouldn't come across as offensive or simply plain rude, but if he found Archer's agreement to be so then the engineer didn't admonish him for it, simply carrying on with an almost fond smile on his face.

"Well, believe it or not I've 'mellowed out' considerably, according to Cooke at least. I like to think I have as well. When I was younger I would never have dreamed of stepping a single pace out of line, and I was often confused when I found that others never held to the rules as rigidly as I did. Apparently I had an almost glazed-over expression, a lack of emotion in my eyes, hence 'Ice-Eyes'. To be honest I do not believe I could physically have made myself break out of my schedules and protocols back then. I don't think I started to break that cycle until... well, there's no need to get into that. What about you, Mr Haywood? Any nicknames of your own?"

Archer rubbed his chin with his hand, thinking hard for a moment. Not just on nicknames from his past, but on the words of Mr Walker. There was something at the end of his statement that made Archer most curious, and to be honest the thought of Lawrence being truly stern was a little intimidating. He was just glad that the man had loosened up a little since then; he didn't think he'd make it long without breaking as the apprentice of a strict and apparently emotionless boss.

"Nicknames for me? Well, I suppose you aren't looking for vaguely insulting monikers from the son of a baronet?"

Lawrence grimaced.
"Ah, one of those nobles was he?"