Airship City

Chapter 39

JOSEPH

He found himself walking in a partial daze, at the centre of a circle of six troopers. Cole was at his elbow, pushing him along, Vanross silent beside him. As they entered the Core he was the subject of curious stares from bystanders, and he felt a deep shame welling up inside him, making him want to hide his face, ward off their accusing gaze.

It’s what I deserve. Although I never intended to, I’ve brought terrible danger to their midst.

The image of Ione, levelling the pistol at him, despising him with her eyes, tore at his heart. He wiped his eyes on the cuff of his shirt, wincing from the pressure on his temple.

The troopers stopped in front of the lifts. Cole pressed the button. The first lift to arrive was one of the small ones. After a moment’s hesitation, Cole propelled Joseph into the car, motioning one of the other troopers, a short ginger-haired fellow, to bring Vanross in as well. He ordered the rest of the squad to follow in the next lift, and hit the button for Security HQ’s level. 

As soon as the doors closed, Vanross slumped against the side wall of the car, groaning. The troopers ignored him, but he turned to the ginger-haired one, a pleading expression on his face.

“Help me,” he gasped, holding his abdomen. “I think he must have burst something inside me, when he fell on me.” He pointed at Joseph, then doubled over, gagging and retching. The troopers automatically jumped back, and Vanross sprang to his right, as quick as a striking snake, and hit the emergency stop button. The lift shuddered to a halt, bringing everyone to their knees but Vanross, who had been ready for it, and he dropped into a crouch instead. Darting forward, he grabbed the sidearm out of Cole’s holster, and then clubbed him viciously across the temple with it. The man fell headlong and was still. Vanross had the gun pointing at the other trooper’s head before he could even rise off the floor.

“Don’t move an inch.”

The trooper stared at him, swallowed, then nodded reluctantly. Vanross moved backwards to the button panel, covering the trooper with the gun, and released the emergency stop. The lift began to move downwards again, and with a quick glance at the indicator, he hit the button for the next level. The lift moved smoothly to a stop, and the doors opened.

“Get out.” Vanross motioned with the gun. “Pick him up, and take him out. Joseph, help him.”

Together, Joseph and the trooper lifted Cole by the arms, and dragged him out of the lift. Vanross remained inside. The doors closed, and the lift indicator showed the lift moving upwards.

“He’s going back up.”

“What?” The trooper sounded distracted as he bent over Cole, trying to get a response from the stricken man.

“Vanross. He’s going back up again.”

“Well, obviously. He’s going back to the deck to try and escape.”

“But his ship took off. The Lotus Flower— I saw it take off. It’s not on the deck.” The trooper wasn’t listening, but Joseph suddenly knew where Vanross was headed. He turned and looked up and down the corridor. That way. He set off at a run.

“Hey!”

Joseph stopped, and turned around. The trooper was staring at him. “You’re still under arrest!”

“Do you really think Vanross would kick me out of the lift if we were working together?”

The man looked uncertain. “I suppose not. But what will I say to Thornton?”

Joseph shrugged. “Say that I escaped too. Oh, and tell him to send gunships to the aerial platform. The one on the very top of Aeropolis.”

The trooper opened his mouth to protest, but Cole chose that moment to utter a moan, causing him to turn his attention away, and Joseph returned to his run down the corridor.

He found the shaft with the hollow column in the centre easily enough, and soon he was in the little cage, willing it to go faster as it was hoisted up the centre of the column. Then he was on the stairways, pounding his way upwards, and finally at the base of the ladder that led out into the exterior. He started climbing the ladder up the side of the column, and as he emerged he knew immediately that he had guessed right. The imposing bulk of an airship blocked out the sunlight above him, and from the uneven rumbling of her engines and her general state of disrepair, he knew she was the Lotus Flower.

Approaching with her gondola level with the platform that topped the column, her envelope had already bent or broken a number of the radio antennae that were bolted to the slender mast that rose from the centre of the platform. And clinging to that mast, watching the approaching airship, was Vanross.

Joseph swarmed up the ladder as quickly as his tired arms and legs could carry him, but even as he neared the top, the gondola drew abreast of the platform, its door standing open, and he saw Monmouth leaning out, a hand extended to help Vanross off the platform and onto the ship.

Joseph knew he wasn’t going to make it in time. An impotent rage seized him as he watched Vanross step effortlessly off Aeropolis and safely onto the airship, and he heard the engine note increase as the pilot began to pull away. 

Something struck him on the shoulder, and he clung to the ladder, heart pounding, but it was only one of the mooring ropes of the Lotus Flower, trailing behind her like the tentacles of a jellyfish. The rope moved over his shoulder, rubbing against it, and he was suddenly seized by the craziest idea he had ever had. He knew that if he thought about it for a second, he wouldn’t do it, so he grabbed the rope with both hands, and let himself be pulled off the ladder.