Chapter 115: First Flight Part 1

The Crown Prince stopped in the door and gasped. Cal turned back toward him. In different circumstances, she'd have laughed out loud at his expression.
"I did tell you I was making my own prototype from odds and ends." She pointed to the ropes holding the ship to the ground. "I'll need one of you on each of those. But first I need to untie the ropes from on top." Cal scrambled up a ladder on the wall and walked across the beams, untying the ropes from the airship. "Hans, put the shield in place under the heating unit. It will smother the fire and prevent sparks." She slid down the ladder and traded her uniform jacket for the thick leather one she wore to protect herself from sparks. She took the harness off and threw over a shoulder as she pulled the matching leather pants over the ones she wore. Simpler than needing to change. On impulse, she put on the cap, too, and hung her welding goggles around her neck.
The ship bobbed in the barn as Cal climbed into the gondola.
"Pass up the rope and some clips." She tossed the harness to the back out of the way, then used a boat hook to lift the coils of rope and bag of clips up to the gondola. "Pressure holding at 1500 psi. Good, open the roof, Hans."
"Open the roof?" The prince looked at her like she'd grown a second head. Hans pulled the levers to put the roof in motion.
"All right. Your Highness, I need you and your guard to stand by to loosen the ropes on the bow. Hans, you and the driver take the stern. You'll release on my mark. Pull the end until the knot opens then get out of the way. I don't know how quickly the ship will rise."
Wind curled in over the opening roof and pushed the ship about. Cal strapped in and put her hands on the valve to send steam to the engine. She wouldn't open the steering fins until she was well clear of the barn.
The roof thudded into place, leaving the barn open to the night sky.
"Pull the ropes on my mark. Three, two, one, mark."
The four men hauled on the mooring ropes, and the ship rocketed into the sky. The wind caught her and tossed her mercilessly about. Only the straps kept Cal from falling out of the craft. She cranked the wings open and locked the winch in place, then opened the valve to send power through the engine to the propeller.
The familiar howl sounded over the rush of wind and the prop hummed, pushing her ship against the wind. Cal hauled on the levers that controlled the angle of the fins. One up, one down. Her craft tilted crazily and spun until she levelled the wings.
Now that the airship flew with the wind the ride grew smoother, but cold air made her eyes water. Cal pulled the goggles up to protect her eyes and looked around. She had already risen much higher than the Kite had taken her. The wind told her the direction she needed to go.
Once the airship moved forward a slight downturn on the fins kept her from climbing higher. A wild guess about her speed told her it would be at least an hour before she caught up with the Ferandican airship.
Flying the airship reminded her of the exhilaration of sailing the Gates of Hell. It had the same intensity and demand for concentration. It had already been a long day, now it promised to be a long night.
The lights of the city winked out as she travelled farther and farther away. Soon after that, even the port lights faded from sight. From the air, the water of the channel was inky black. Tiny specks of light showed her where ships sailed the night.
Cold quickly became Cal's main concern. Even with her leather, she shivered as the wind blew past. She'd have to build a wood and glass unit on the next one, maybe capture heat from the steam to heat the gondola.
Cal's teeth chattered, but she watched ahead of her, looking for a shadow moving against the water. The cloud cover broke apart and a half moon helped with visibility. Just when she was about to despair, Cal spotted a shadow blowing through the air like paper across a street. The weight of the gondola kept the Ferandican ship from tumbling, but it spun ponderously in the air below her.
Cal pulled on a rope to let hydrogen escape from the envelope until flying with level fins kept her at the same altitude. Tilting them down again, Cal steered toward the larger ship.
The closer she got, the more worried Cal became. It would be a rough ride over there. She hoped the princess wasn't injured. The spinning would prevent any attempt at joining the ships. Cal thought of the Gates again. Perhaps by heading into the wind, she could use her ship to stabilize the larger one, but she wouldn't have much time.
The ships approached each other. Cal got her ship as close as she dared, then locked down the steering levers. She undid the straps and crawled to the rear. Tying one end of the rope to a ring set in the keel, she fastened the other end to the boat hook in the centre. Next, she pulled on the harness, then tied the second harness, used clips to hold them together then fastened the harness to the rope. The second coil of rope went over her shoulder. Cal cut the back of the gondola open. She needed to keep the ships aligned.