Beyond the Endless Sky

Chapter 6

Clarissa followed an excited Anita down a flight of metal stairs, finding the engineer's enthusiasm infectious. So much so that as they got closer to the ship's engines, the gentle vibrations in the handrails and the stairs brought an excited smile to Clarissa's lips.

At the bottom of the stairwell Anita jerked the metal lever up and opened the door. Warm orange light spilled out from the now open doorway, accompanied by a wave of hot air that pushed Clarissa back and made her grey cloak billow. Anita's tightly curled hair bounced around in the confines of the leather band, but the ship's engineer smiled as she squinted and pushed her way inside.

"Welcome to the breathing, burning, thrumming heart of the Ravens' Child," Anita said, whirling about with her arms extended, dancing to the tune of churning gears and hissing pistons. Clarissa followed her in, to see this large room devoured by the enormous bulk of the engine. They stood on a causeway, with stairs on either side of the room leading down to where the engine was set into the keel of the ship. From a storey below, it rose like a chained giant up above their heads.

At eye level, in the centre of the towering machine, was a steel edifice that shimmered with heat. It rose well over Clarissa's head, with a heavy looking round door in the middle, and a smaller hole in the side where a conveyor belt extended from. Anita stepped up to it and put her hands on the handle. "Here's where all everything we need the Child to do starts from. Fire to turn water into steam. Steam to turn gears. Turning gears for propellers and electricity."

Anita crouched down in front of the door and opened it just a finger's width. A hands-width of orange light decorated the engineer's face, and a gust of air blew her hair back. She peered into the opening for a moment, smiled contentedly, and shut the door again. "My fuel injector's been working nicely, the ship's purring like a well-fed kitten."

"So what are we doing down here?" Clarissa asked, looking around.

"Making sure the engine's running hot. Captain's gonna push the ship hard over the next few hours, and our job is to make sure the engine gives him all the power he needs," Anita explained. "To do that, we make sure the furnace stays nice and hot."

Anita stepped to the side and pointed past the furnace. The new machine she pointed at was surrounded by a large metal frame and dozens of pipes, but there were dials and gauges set somewhat haphazardly all about the room. She turned back to Clarissa and tapped one of the larger pipes with a wrench. "Just as important, make sure we're not straining the steam circuits by over-pressurizing the boiler. So watch the gauges over there in case the pressure is too high. I have relief values and warning whistles built into the machinery, but that don't substitute a good eye and prudent suspicion. Asides from that, watch the running gears to the propellers, let me know if they squeak or groan."

Clarissa nodded, not fully confident she understood what she was looking at. "I get the basics. Keep the fire hot, watch the pressure. What should I do if we run too hot?"

"Tell me," Anita said simply, and she grinned. "Steam spittle, you have that much down already? Haven't seen no one as comfortable with this contraption since the Captain. That monastery education is really something."

"You're impressed?" Clarissa asked. "But I can't do much more than shovel fuel into the furnace and tell you the pressure's tripping the relief valves."

"I spent three weeks trying to get Leslie and Tonya to that point. Mercy threatened to shoot me if I asked her back down," Anita said, and she gently jabbed Clarissa in the ribs and rubbed her hair. "Only person who ever picked it up as quickly as you was the captain, and he's like you."

"Like me?"

"A monastery kid," Anita said, frowning. "Didn't you know?"

That revelation hit Clarissa like a bucket of cold water. But whatever she might have said next was interrupted by a shout that seemed to come from right in front of her. She jumped back, as the captain's voice thundered over the engine's quiet concert. "Tinker, we're getting close. The two of you ready?"