Sky Pirates

Chapter 51

Parker Greene kept his patterns. He was nearly finished sorting through the Queen's contest entries that filled his office. There were those of no use, those he hoped to use against his captors, and, finally, those that would appear to be weapons and tools his captors would find interesting, that would be easy to build, but would never work.

He gathered the papers into two great stacks and sent word via his house girls that he required help moving them to the workshop. He wondered how he'd ever get them all back to England.

Whenever he asked the women for anything, they were polite and coy, filled with joyous smiles and giggles. Parker worried that their mirth might offer a clue or sign to the pirates, but his neighbors seemed oblivious to the dwarfs. Those who lived in the houses around him kept to themselves, drinking away the days on their lawns and shaded porches. Those captives, he decided, would be left behind.

A group of little men arrived with two small wagons. They took the papers and transported them to the workshop. Parker tagged along, enjoying the journey through the tunnel where he did his best to explore the reddish-orange lighting. The bulbs in the tunnel seemed to burn bright, but there weren't wires inside the glass enclosures.

"Sir?"

"What is it?" Parker asked one of the small men.

"We have found a way to fill the glass globes with an inert gas. This, when electricity is introduced, glows brightly, without the need for wires or filaments. The bulbs at the ends do have filaments, but that's because we haven't been able to replace them yet."

"And why is that?"

"Both of our glass blowers died in a furnace accident." All the men bowed their heads for a moment before continuing on their journey.

They arrived in the workshop and, as when Parker Greene had arrived before, all activity in the shop stopped.

"What is this silence? There's work to do!" Nate barked at his crew. He came around the corner, discovered Parker Greene, and lowered his head. "My apologies, Lord Greene."

"No apologies necessary. Back to work." His tone was playful, but the small men at the many benches around the room went back to pounding, molding, and whatever other activities they were about. "Nate, come with me." He pointed to the men lugging the wagons and indicated for the ones pulling the escape plans to head into his office and the others to set the stack outside the door on a table.

"So, you are finished?" Nate asked, looking at the plans.

Greene dismissed the helpers. "Yes. These are tools and weapons I think might be useful. I've ordered them in desired preference. The stack outside the door are the dummies. There is another batch, still in my home, that are useless."

"Oh, I wish you had brought those, too. It is helpful to keep the majority of the boys working on things that hold no hope of aid to the pirates. Most of the benches out there have two projects going. One for show, that is rubbish, and a second that will be for our use to escape."

"I like your style, Nate." Parker resisted the urge to pat the little man on the head and instead he bent a bit and patted the foreman on the shoulder.

"If you'll come into my office, I want to show you the plan we've developed." The two moved from one small glassed cube to another. "Here." Nate pulled on a handle and the top of his desk flipped over to reveal a map of the four islands. "We're here." Nate pointed to a building on one of the brown circles. "Brown for land, blue water. Just for reference, here's your house. And, this is the Magistrate's island and the bazaar."

Parker Greene shuddered at the thought of the heads on the poles.

Nate continued to point out landmarks. "The Balsa Robin's hangar is there. And the meeting point for our people is here."