Drowning Utopia

Chapter 36: The Trouble with Sky Pirates

Tessa was once again in a steam-powered longboat. It was an older model, one that Veers had stolen along with the Royal Justice when he escaped with his ship and crew. It was in an even worse condition then the Boomer's crafts. The dilapidated engines sputtered and spewed steam and heat as it wobbled and chugged along, leaking in several places from week and old boards. Gray coaxed it with Tessa's help, as Donny, Lonny, and, Vain did their best to keep the water level down.

Gray asked nervously, "All right. It's just around the corner. Everybody ready?"

Captain Brine rolled his eyes. "Really this is not all that difficult. Just act the part of an imbecilic Neanderthal, and you should be just fine."

"I am still unsure that this will work the way you think it will," Miss Briggs said with a bit of trepidation coloring the tone of her voice.

"You better hope it does because the others are counting on us," Gray said.

They pulled behind a cluster of trees, bringing the dam into view. From their hiding spot on the edge of a line of half-submerged trees, they could better assess the damage. To Tessa's surprise, they were met not only by the imposing form of the dam, but the three airships floating just above it as well, the two unmarked black rigid frames, along with the armored Thorn, patched and with a skull painted over the Missidith royal emblem and anchored to the massive structure. surrounding the dam was the remains of the shanty town, the houseboats shattered and ripped apart, the small rafts and riverboats left abandoned, their occupants nowhere to be seen.

"Those lowlifes are stealing one of the power generators!" Gray said with shock and anger.

At first glance most of the damage was superficial, but then Tessa noticed the massive hole in Powerhouse One. The roof had been meticulously pulled off, and several cables and pulleys were hoisting up components to the power generator into Thorn's massive cargo hold. A plethora of Boomers hurried about, intermingled amid the crews of sky pirates, both parties working frantically to dismantle and load up the components to the powerhouse. They even set up a drop-lift, a deployable elevator leading up to the Thorn, as men went up and down from the dam into the belly of the beast.

Lonny nudged her brother. "Would you look at that?"

The blond-haired young man smiled with enthusiasm. "Brilliant. I'm only sad we didn't think of it."

Tessa scolded the twins, "This isn't exactly the best time for admiration." But secretly she thought the same thing. Watching the coalition of criminals loading up the parts with cables to the commandeered Thorn, one of the few airships in the world large enough to carry such heavy components, it was an impressive feat of planning, engineering, and ingenuity. "It must have been part of their scheme all along."

"They couldn't have accounted for the Thorn being here...could they?" Gray thought aloud, flummoxed.

"I think the more pressing question is what they have in mind for the devices we created." Tessa looked back at her fellow inventor.

Captain Brine interrupted, "Not to be a downer on this little conspiracy theory, but we have a more immediate problem. How exactly are we planning on getting the power back on to get a message out when they are dismantling the generators?"

"From the looks of it, I would say only the first and second powerhouses are being dismantled. We may be able to start up generators four or five, assuming they haven't done anything irreparable to them," Gray said, but he fell silent as a spotlight shone from the dam, illuminating their position.

"Oy! You there! What are you doing?" someone called from the dam.

Donny stood. The young man disguised as a Boomer shouted back with a believable southern drawl, "We were ambushed! Managed to get away, but just barely."