Airship Stowaway

An Encounter with Thomas

There was no sign of Thomas, so she made her way to the flight deck, where she found him lounging in one of the pilot seats. The view through the forward windshield was even more breathtaking, with the wall of cloud visible across their path and extending to either side as far as she could see. She looked at it for a long time, until she became aware that Thomas was staring at her. 

"What are you looking at, Thomas?" She tried to make her voice as deep and growly as possible. 

Thomas gave his irritating snort again. "The name's Tom, if you please."

She frowned. "But the captain called you Thomas."

He shrugged. "Nuffink I can do about that. Old Rasmussen don't seem to understand no nicknames."

"Rasmussen. Is that the name of the captain?"

Tom gave a twisted smile. "Igor Rasmussen, the man hisself. Although he ain't much of a captain if you ask me."

"Is he Russian?"

Tom shrugged again. "No idea. I'm just gettin' back to London. After that he can go hang for all I care."

Joanna stood and stared at the approaching cloud wall, considering his words. He didn't seem like the helpful kind, but on the other hand, she had learned long ago that if you don't ask, you don't get. 

"Would you be able to help me find an airship back to Aeropolis when we're in London?"

One corner of Tom's mouth lifted in a sneer as he turned to look at her. "Oh, of course, Joseph. Anyfink yer heart desires, naturally. It's what I live for, don't you know?"

Joanna turned away, stung with disappointment. "It's Jo," she said quietly. "Just Jo." 

But Tom gave no indication of having heard her. He got up out of his seat and leaned over the control panel, squinting at the approaching cloud wall. "Better go wake up the old man."

Joanna's heart skipped a beat. "Is something wrong?"

Tom rounded on her, his eyes flashing. "Did I say something was wrong? No? Just go and wake up Rasmussen!"

The force of his anger drove her from the flight deck, and she walked slowly down the companionway and stopped outside Rasmussen's cabin. She tapped gently on the door, but the sounds of snoring emanating from inside did not abate. She knocked more loudly. 

The snoring stopped abruptly, and was followed by coughing and some guttural words she didn't understand. 

"Captain Rasmussen?"

"Mmf. What? Who is there?"

"It's Jo. Sorry to disturb you but Tom sent me to wake you up. Er, I mean, Thomas sent me."

Sounds of movement within were followed by the door opening, and Rasmussen's bearded face glared down at her. She wouldn't have thought it possible for him to look even more dishevelled, but he did. 

"Why he send you?"

"I don't know."

Rasmussen muttered something under his breath and pushed past her. She followed him to the flight deck. He walked up to the control panel, glanced outside, and then turned on Tom. 

"Why you wake me up? Eye wall still far away!"

Tom's face was a picture of earnest innocence. "Not me, guv'nor. It were Joseph here what did it."

Rasmussen's eyes narrowed. "He say you sent him."

Tom's eyes glinted. "Oh no guv. I told him it weren't nuffink to worry about, but he got scared, see, thought the wall was too close. I warned 'im not to wake you, I did, but would he listen?" He shrugged knowingly. 

Rasmussen rounded on Joanna. "Is this true, Joseph?"

Her cheeks burned, and she clenched her fists tightly to control her anger. "No, it's not!"

Rasmussen looked from her to Tom and back again. Then he grunted, and sat down heavily in a pilot seat. "Not matter. Am up now."

While Rasmussen busied himself with the controls, Tom leaned back and smiled gloatingly at Joanna. She resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at him, and tried to understand what Rasmussen was doing. 

A number of ropes had been tied to the control column, attaching it to the control panel and the deck in such a way as to immobilise it. Rasmussen was laboriously undoing the knots, and Joanna wondered why he hadn't tied them in some way that was easy to undo. 

Eventually the last rope fell to the deck, and Rasmussen seized the controls roughly. The ship shuddered and jinked in response, throwing them all sideways in their seats. Tom rolled his eyes, but Rasmussen was intent on his task and didn't notice. He opened up the throttles, and the ship surged towards the cloud wall. 

It took only a few minutes to reach, and then the ship was into the cloud, and the buffeting and bouncing started with a vengeance. Rasmussen and Tom buckled their seatbelts, but Joanna's seat, which wasn't a proper seat at all, but just a fold-down plank of wood on the rear bulkhead, had none, and she struggled to keep her place on it. Tom looked at her with his gloating smirk again, and she felt the anger boil up inside her. She was afraid that if she actually fell, he would start laughing at her, so she stood up and staggered off the deck, bracing herself against the walls as she moved down the companionway. 

Her first instinct was to return to Rasmussen's cabin, but since she didn't want him to leave her in London, she decided it would be best not to antagonise him any further. She opened the door of the cabin opposite. This was larger than Rasmussen's and contained two beds. She knelt on the one below the window and stared out of it, but there wasn't much to see because of the cloud. So she lay down.