Chapter Thirty-One: Observation

Chapter Thirty-One: Observation

Faren gripped the ship's railing with white knuckles, forcing himself to take deep breaths as the upper-sky island came into view. Of all his friends and acquaintances, he didn’t know anyone who got more air sick than he did. He felt queasy travelling on a tiny ship like this, especially as the storm season winds meant he was constantly off balance.

“Ready with the rope, mister Faren!” yelled the captain, struggling to keep the ship’s wheel from spinning out of control. “Look! They’re waiting!” the captain gestured with his chin at the approaching island, and Faren squinted to see a pair of demons waving from a small jetty.

Faren braced himself as the ship came ever closer, holding the hefty rope in one hand while trying to keep himself steady with the other. The winds battered the ship, tilting it this way and that. He groaned silently to himself. He’d been assured his career in sensors and communications would mean a dull but stable life in an office somewhere. Unfortunately, things hadn’t turned out so easy for Faren. Sure, he’d finally got the position in an office...

One floating six thousand meters above the continent.

“Going to be a bit of a bump!” yelled the captain over the wind as the island rushed to meet them. They were probably breaking more than a few sky laws coming in to dock like this, but what could they do? If they didn’t dock now, who knew when they would be able to?

In the last few meters, the captain flipped a lever, and the ship spun so Faren’s side aligned with the jetty. “Throw it!” the captain shouted and Faren threw the rope with all his might at the two demons. They caught the rope and a moment later Faren was almost thrown off the ship as it collided with the jetty. The ship listed slightly before lifting up and over the structure.

“Easy, easy!” the captain fumbled with the wheel before locking it in place. A second jolt went through the ship and Faren bent over the side to see that the two men had firmly secured the rope around a metal post. “Good work, mister Faren!” the captain called. “I’ll reduce the lift, jump down and help them pull us in!”

Credit to the captain, he was skilled at operating his station. Despite being battered by the winds, the ship slowly lowered in a controlled manner. Faren clambered off the side of the ship and dropped onto the jetty. He rushed over to take his place next to the other two, gripping the rope and trying to find somewhere to dig his heels.

“Heft!” called one of the demons, and Faren pulled with all his might.

“Heft!” Faren pulled again.

“Heft!” The ship became level with the jetty.

“Heft!” A final pull, and the slack in the rope was wrapped around the metal pole. A second rope was used to fasten the ship against another pole further along the jetty.

“Get the supplies off first!” one of the demons shouted. “Quickly!” Faren nodded and with the captain and two others they began getting the cargo off the ship. They formed a line running crates back and forth into the small wooded area that was the island's key feature.

Once they were done, one of the demons turned to the captain and asked, "Do you want to wait until the winds die down?”

“No! I’ll ride it back down!” replied the captain. “See me off!” he clambered back behind the ship’s wheel and gave the signal. The other two demons unwrapped the holding ropes and soon the ship was pulled by the winds away from the island.

“Woohoo!” Faren heard the captain’s cheers and mad laughter as the ship sailed away, soon disappearing below the cloud layer.

“Crazy bastard!” the demon exclaimed. “Can’t say I blame him! Who’d want to be stuck here for months!?” he gestured to Faren. “Come on! Help us get these inside!”

“Inside?” Faren asked. The island was small. There were perhaps two dozen trees. He couldn’t see any sign of a building or structure. His question was answered as his new colleagues opened a rusted door built into a raised mound. Peering in, Faren discovered there was a path and judging by the way it curved, it spiralled down into the island itself.

Eager to get out of the wind and its constant howling he helped the others carry the cargo through the doors and down the spiralling path. Aetherlights lit his way and soon he arrived in a small room where someone was waiting for him.

“You’re the new sensors analyst?” The man puffed on a cigar, his three horns making him look a little like a trident. “Welcome.” He shook Faren’s hand. “I’m your boss for the foreseeable future. Call me Mangs.”

“Uh, yes, Officer Mangs!” Faren recognised the name and gave a quick salute.

“We don’t bother with that shit here,” Mangs said, waving a hand dismissively. “This isn’t a bridge of a ship. Don’t bother with titles, either. Save that for when the upper brass comes knocking.”

“Ah, sure.”

“This is Goren, our steam mechanic.” Mangs gestured to one of the demons. “And this is Ladis, our aethersmith, although we all call him by his family name, Longhall.”

Goren and Longhall took turns shaking his hand. “You’re Faren, right?” Longhall asked with a grin. “It’s been quiet since Urlan left. Must have been a shaky ride to get up here.”

“Sure was,” Faren said. “Thought the damn captain was going to flip the ship.”

“Any captain sailing in these winds has to be mad,” Goren said, shaking his head. “They’ve stopped civilian traffic now. We received the notification only a few minutes ago.”

“No one is leaving the island for a while,” Mangs said, banging on a large metal door. He turned to Faren as someone on the other side moved a series of heavy bolts. “Try not to piss anyone off. Not a lot of space around here. Best we all be friends.”

Before Faren could communicate his agreement, the heavy iron door was thrown open, and he caught sight of a flash of red. That flash of red belonged to a crimson haired woman who darted past him and using her bare hands practically ripped one of the crates apart. The subtle red glow of the woman’s skin clarified Faren’s thoughts.

An aura user. From the north, if the red hair was any indication.

“Gimme!” The woman cheerfully announced as she filtered through the crate.

“Seven hells...” Goren mumbled. Longhall laughed and Mangs rolled his eyes before disappearing through the now-open door.

“Ah, my beloved! My child!” The woman held up a package of rations in the air before clutching it tightly to her chest. Faren saw the black lettering on the package: COFFEE. Wasn’t military coffee the worst? The women recovered and turned to face Faren with a quizzical expression.

“Oh? Finally, a handsome face around here.” The woman put her hand out and Faren shook it while introducing himself. “I’m Finella! A fellow analyst! So, you’ll be taking Urlen’s shift then? Rabbie’s sleeping, but I can kick him awake if you want to meet him.”

“Uh, no. That’s okay,” Faren said. He was a little taken back by the liveliness of the woman. “What made you become an analyst? You’re a warrior, right?” A demon who could manifest even the first aura would have an easy pathway to squad commander or even higher.

“Ha!” Finella put her hands on her hip and threw her hair back dramatically. “Damn right, I am! I used to be Officer Bright. Got me a fancy position on a light-cruiser. Only it turned out...” A forlorn expression appeared on Finella’s face. “It was not to be...”

“What she means to say is she got in a fight with her captain.” Longhall said with a smile on his face. “Who was someone important. A Speaker. Their father was...”

“A highlord,” Finella groaned. “She was so uptight all the time. Thought if I pushed her buttons a little she would open up. Instead, things escalated...” Finella rubbed the back of her head. “Gave her a little tap and now I’m here!”

Faren swallowed. “You struck your superior officer? Why didn’t they hang you?”

“‘Cause while she was beating me black and blue, I made a breakthrough and hit orange! Captain said hanging someone of my talent would be a waste so instead they demoted me and put me here on this island!” Finella leaned in and whispered, “I’m supposed to be training rigorously. If anyone asks, tell them I’m doing that, alright?” She gave Faren a wink and bounced out the room.

Faren looked after her for a moment before turning back to Longhall and Goren. “Interesting colleagues,” he said with a raised eyebrow.

“You get used to her,” Longhall said, shrugging. “Come on, let’s get you settled in.” Faren was led through the door, and as he took in the room beyond he couldn’t help but exclaim in awe. “Biggest one you’ve seen?” Longhall asked.

“Yes. This must be bigger than one on a battleship.” Faren said, leaning over the walkway and looking down at the enormous aetherscope. Its bulbous silvery structure made it appear stationary but he knew enough to know about the heavy and complex moving parts inside. “What’s the diameter?”

“Minus fifteen.”

“Classic lift-engine.” Finella pulled a chair alongside Faren and opened another logbook. “We might be able to match it to a known engine brand. What’s the magnitude?”

“It’s, whoa! It spiked!” For a moment, the line on the screens burst into life before settling back down to baseline. “Where’s it gone?” He looked down over the aethermap which was now devoid of any telltale peaks.

“Zoom out, let’s see if we can find it.” Finella said and Faren played with the controls until the aethermap now displayed a piece of the south a hundred klicks across.

No peak could be seen.

“You said it peaked?” Mangs said, appearing beside him. “Finella, get me that readout.” Something in his tone changed the atmosphere to something less playful. Finella obediently fetched the paper readout the metal arm had scratched. She passed it to Mangs, who laid it over the desk.

“There!” Mangs exclaimed, pointing at a section of the readout where the arm had inked a suddenly rise of magnitude before settling down.

“Is it...” Finella began before trailing off. Faren felt himself swallow. He had seen diagrams of a readout that looked exactly like this in the training manuals.

“A catastrophic aether reaction. Their lift engine blew.” Mangs said with a grim expression. “There might be survivors. I’ll call it in! Finella-” Mangs was cut off as a siren burst into life. Red aetherlights began flashing and the lines on the screens went wild.

“What the fuck!” Finella yelled. “What’s that shit!?”

“H-hang on!” Mangs yelled back over the noise. He scrambled to a wall and pressed a red button, silencing the sirens.

“I didn’t know we had fucking sirens!?” Finella exclaimed, rubbing her ears. A moment later, Goren, Longhall and another demon Faren assumed was Rabbie appeared at the door.

“Mangs!” Rabbie yelled, pushing through the group and reading the readout on the paper. The demon looked up at his superior officer with wide eyes. “Is it...”

“Looks like it,” Mangs grunted. “You got the key?”

“Yeah, yeah! Here!” Rabbie produced a key and threw it to Mangs. After catching it, Mangs produced a second key from his person and walked over to a wall safe. With the two keys inserted Mangs turned them both at the same time and opened the safe from which he pulled out a small blue book.

He pulled a chair against the control desk and began to flip through the book with a grim expression. “Rabbie, magnitude?”

“It’s... one-” Rabbie shook his head. “Christ. One-hundred and five. Is that possible?”

“Pattern?”

“Type C.”

“Does it flare at the end?”

“No.”

Faren desperately wanted to ask what was going on but decided to keep his mouth shut. While Gorden and Longhall seemed to join him in a pensive silence, Finella had other thoughts.

“Mangs!” she hissed, “what the fuck’s going on? What were those sirens?”

“They’re set to go off when the aetherfield reports an event of magnitude eighty or higher,” Mangs explained as he flipped through the blue book. “Finella, what’s the typical magnitude of a First Word?”

“Sixty-five. Maybe seventy if Spoken by a talented Speaker.”

“And a Second Word?”

“Umm...” Finella stumbled.

“Eighty-five,” Faren said. “Is that why the alarm was set to eighty?”

“That’s right,” Mangs answered. “Rabbie, frequency?”

“Eight point two, high.”

“Pitch?”

“Ah... shit,” Rabbie mumbled. “Sorry, Mangs. It’s far into the blue. Thirty-six.”

“Blue?” Finella said, her voice taking on an element of nervousness. “Does that mean...”

“A possible human Second Word.” Mangs grumbled. “On our territory.” For a moment, everyone was silent and the only noise that could be heard was the scratching of both Mang’s pencil and the metal arm recording the aetherfield.

“It’s weird,” Mangs said while tapping his pencil against the blue book. “The closest match is Asclepius. The Second Word of divinity. But this is strange. The pattern matches, as does pitch, but the frequency suggests it was Spoken like it was a demon word. It’s like it was Spoken by a...” Mangs shook his head. “Nevermind. I need to report this. Finella, Rabbie? Log everything. Faren stand by.” Mangs stood up, turning towards Goren and Longhall. “Double check the aetherscope and the stability of the steam. Make sure it’s operating right.”

“Mangs.” Faren couldn’t help himself. “The magnitude was one-hundred and five?” Mangs didn’t reply, instead giving a slight sharp nod.

“The scale is logarithmic. A typical Second Word is eighty-five. So this Word is a hundred times more powerful than average?”

“... That’s right.” Mangs locked eyes with Faren, an indescribable expression on his face.

“Could it be... a Third Word? The Empress?”

“No.” Mangs shook his head. “Even this doesn’t come close to a Third Word.”

Faren swallowed nervously. “What’s... the magnitude?”

“That information is on a need-to-know-basis.” Mangs said pointedly. “But... Third Word or not...” He looked over the group, taking in their drained faces and eyes of worry.

“The war is about to get a whole lot more ugly.”