Chapter 49: Drydock Part 3
"If you can't fix it, you'll have to reinvent it. Every engine's a little different. Stop trying to put the old one back together."
"Captain Cully won't let me do that." Cal rubbed her eyes.
"Do what?" Captain Cully stepped in the room in a set of grubby whites.
"She needs to strip the beast down and build it back her way. You won't get no one who can tell ye how, not here anyway."
"We'd better get to work." Captain Cully stepped back.
"Talk to you later, Monky."
"Why? Help me down there. I'd prefer the smell of the engine room over this place."
Cal left the Captain to help Monky dress and climbed down into the engine room. She prowled through it labeling each pipe and valve and engine part in her mind. When she looked at it as a fresh task, not a repair, Cal could see what she'd do differently. How she might make it more efficient.
The Captain came in and set Monky in the corner on a tool box.
"Well?"
"We need to strip the boiler, everything except the water feed for now. Then take apart the engine. Something in it is broken from the wobble on the shaft. I think I can make it more efficient anyway. All that will give me space to get a proper pistons and drive arms. I have no idea how we're going to tackle that, but we take it apart first."
Cal wrestled with the wrench while the Captain helped. Each piece they removed, they carried to the part room where they could be winched up on deck.
"Shouldn't have let all those strong young sailors go on shore leave." Captain Cully stretched.
"Not much room for them to work. We'll need them when we start putting it back together."
"You sure you can do that?"
"Little late to ask now, Cap'n," Monky said.
"I've got the schematic to follow." Cal tapped her head. "I know what I need, but I'm going to set it up a bit differently. For one, so Bran doesn't bang his head so much."
Cal headed back up the hill. This time she used the back entrance and the servant's stairs. Meireka came and promised to have the bath ready in no time.
The bath with the pine oil refreshed her, so Cal decided to go down to the lounge to eat. She put on her once-best dress and headed down.
The lounge was crowded with people drinking and laughing, but Cal found a corner in the back to sit. The waiter brought her a brandy and promised food shortly. The brandy warmed her as Cal looked at the people who traveled the world by going from one hotel to the other. She empathized with Crysabel's sadness at not really seeing anything in spite of her travels. Cal had a hard time imagining enjoying travel other than what she had on the Peregrine.
Pentam and Crysabel walked in laughing at something. Cal felt a pang through her heart. They looked good together. Crysabel saw Cal and dragged Pentam over.
"Cal," she said breathlessly when they'd sat, "How did the engineering go today?"
"We decided to strip everything down and rebuild it. There are some improvements I'd like to put in."
"How are you going to do that in a week?" Pentam looked at Cal his brows drawn down in puzzlement.
Cal wanted to smooth the wrinkles away. No, she wanted to grab him by the ears and give him a kiss to scandalize everyone in the room. Instead she smiled.
"I'm staying until the work's done. Father says they're sending a ship to pick up the specimens and equipment. They'll bring me the parts I need."
"But your drawing, the report, Lord Carroway." Pentam's face looked about to crumple.
"Pentam, I'm trusting you to bring the journal to Lord Carroway. I'll send it back with the other cargo. You and the others are the scientists. You'll be fine without me."
He pushed away from the table and stalked out of the room.
Cal put her head down and groaned.
"Are you all right?" Crysabel put her hand on Cal's arm.
"No," Cal said into the table cloth, "I'll never be all right."
The food arrived, but Cal's appetite had vanished. Crysabel had them send it up to the room.
"Pentam was supposed to ask you, but I expect he hasn't." Crysabel stood behind Cal in their room, rubbing the tension from her shoulders. "Do you have a uniform? We're about the same size. I think it would be fun to go to the fancy dress ball as a sailor."
"You saw me last night, that's as close to a uniform as I get. You'd terrify them."
"It might be worth it." Crysabel said.
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