Page 15

Emily and Anton make their way through the passageways of the ship with Anton giving an animated introduction to the facilities they pass, including the bathrooms, guards’ quarters, and cargo hangars.

“Why do you have a separate guards’ quarters and no guards?” Emily asks as they continue their tour.

“Calypso is a ship sponsored by your family; sometimes we get asked to carry valuable cargo that we aren’t allowed to interfere with. So, we have to keep the guards separate from the crew and closer to the cargo because they don’t trust us.” Anton responds with a tinge of sadness in his voice.

“I see.”

An awkward silence settles over the two of them as Emily starts to understand a little about the Mandrago family’s treatment of their servants.

I guess they only brainwash the commoner mages they bring into the family, but we’re considered members of the family and trusted more than others because of it. It’s no wonder he was cautious when he was first introduced to me if they set guards against him on his own ship.

The silence continues until they reach a heavy metal door with a large wheel in the centre and the word ‘Engines’ etched into the metal. Emily hears a low hum emanating from behind the door. Anton walks up to the door and turns the wheel counterclockwise several times until a loud clang is heard.

“Welcome to Calypso’s heart!” he declares proudly as he pulls the door open.

Emily steps into the room and gasps in surprise. Suspended in the centre of the room is the largest and most complicated steam engine Emily has ever seen. Dozens of pistons and gears are delicately woven together to form a beating heart of power. The hiss of steam and grinding of well-oiled metal play a symphony of life that drowns out Anton’s explanation. Multiple belts move coal through gaps in the walls into several large furnaces feeding the engine, and a large tube extends out of it into the ceiling.

Emily slowly walks forward, enchanted by the massive construct, and reaches out a hand towards it. Her trance is broken as Anton grabs her wrist and pulls her back.

“Woah, careful there! This machine is incredibly delicate and quite dangerous for straying hands. Wouldn’t want you to lose a finger now, would we?” He chuckles but doesn’t release his grip on her wrist as he pulls her back into the hallway and closes the door behind him.

“Sorry, I’ve never seen such a beautiful engine before.” Emily blushes and looks at her feet.

“Haha, it’s all right, no harm no foul. Are you an aspiring mechanic? I haven’t heard of your family doing much engineering work.”

“Yes, my father was a clockmaker before the Mandragos claimed me, and I learned a bit from him,” she answers with a wistful smile, noticing some of the tension in Anton’s shoulders slip away.

“I see! We better hurry to the bridge then. I’m sure you won’t want to miss what comes next.”

He begins walking away from the engine room and Emily casts one last longing glance back before following him.

I need to come back here alone.

On their way back through the ship, they pass a few more core facilities, including the galley and mess hall, but they don’t stop to look at any of them. They soon arrive in an open room with a plethora of dials and gauges, along with several wheels and levers, all surrounding three large seats. The wall in front of them is mostly reinforced glass, allowing for a clear view.

A burly man and a thin scruffy woman are already settled into two of the seats, and Anton moves to sit down in the third. The two crew members turn their heads and cast curious gazes towards Emily.

“This is Emily, our passenger to the capital. These are Tony and Angela my crewmates and copilots during the day,” Anton introduces them as he starts checking the dials around him and adjusting a few levers.

“Nice to meet you both.”

Tony gives a light nod and silently copies Anton.

“Yo!” Angela chirps with an amused smirk as she pulls down a large metal contraption from above her seat, placing it against her face.

“What’s that for?” Emily asks while gesturing towards Angela.

“That’s a periscope. It uses a series of mirrors to allow us to check all our blind spots,” Anton responds without looking away from his controls.

“All clear, they’re asking for the go-ahead to start the track,” Angela chimes in as she moves the periscope away from her face and looks towards Anton.

“Tony, give the signal,” Anton commands as he sits back and grins up at Emily. “You’re gonna love this.”

Tony pulls down on a handle hanging above him, and a loud whistling horn sounds outside the ship.

Emily waits with bated breath as silence falls upon the bridge. Suddenly, a loud grinding whir echoes through the hangar. The wall in front of the ship shakes and slowly splits down the middle to reveal a long winding channel through the building.

“Woah!” Emily gapes at the gigantic sliding door.

“Hehe, we all react like that the first time,” Angela giggles.

The ship shudders, then slides forward as the floor underneath it shifts. Emily looks down through the glass and sees a segmented track tracing its way through the centre of the hallway ahead.

“The track carries ships outside the walls so we don’t have to fly within city limits. Most major cities will have a similar system, with a few smaller ones opting to have their docks outside the city if they can’t afford the large-scale construction,” Anton explains as the ship makes its way through the channel.

After moving a few hundred metres, the narrow channel, only wide enough to fit the ship, opens up into a wide hangar with dozens of similar tracks on the floor. Only a couple of the tracks have a ship on them, some moving into the docks and some moving out. All the ships are facing towards the exit of the hall, where the early morning sun shines through the wide mouth of the hangar.

“Do you have to land the ship backwards?” Emily asks in confusion.

Angela bursts out in laughter, causing Emily to blush as she wonders if she asked a stupid question.

“Quiet you!” Tony growls while glaring at Angela, catching Emily by surprise.

“Ah, sorry kid. It’s the first time anyone’s asked about that, and you caught me off guard,” Angela manages while regaining her breath and wiping tears from her eyes.

“You see those circles on the floor over there,” she says, gesturing towards the edge of the hanger where Emily sees a series of large gears around the end of each track, “those turn around all ships that land, before moving them inside.”

Emily nods her head in understanding while inspecting the complicated mess of gears covering the floor, wondering how long the construction of the docks took with so many large machines integrated.

The ship slowly slides over the centre of one of the gears and comes to a halt. The three pilots begin checking their instruments again and pulling on an assortment of levers and handles.

“Hey kid, come over and look through this,” Angela calls to her while tapping the periscope above her.

Emily cautiously approaches and looks at the large periscope with slight confusion.

“My little apology for being rude,” Angela says after noticing her apprehension. “Put the glass part there to your eyes and rotate the right handle to switch between views. I’d recommend the top view right now and the bottom as we take off.”

Emily follows her instructions and looks through the glass eyepiece, seeing the back side of the ship clearly through it. She flips through the different views until she sees the large balloon above the ship quickly increasing in size.

The volume of the balloon swells as it rises from its resting point on top of the gondola, and a plethora of metal cables come into view holding it down. The balloon grows to its full size within a few minutes, and Emily switches to a view underneath the bridge looking back along the length of the ship.

“Detaching connections now, prepare for lift-off,” Anton announces with glee.

The ship shudders lightly, and Emily sees the metal struts below the ship slowly lift from the floor and fold into hatches on the hull that close behind them. Emily watches in awe as the ship quickly gains altitude and within a few minutes, she sees the entirety of Eimdon city sprawled across the sand behind them.

“Woah!”

“It’s a pretty impressive sight, isn’t it?” Anton asks proudly.

Emily pulls away from the periscope and looks out of the window ahead of her, seeing the vast desert stretch for miles ahead of them.

“It’s incredible!” Emily nods her head in agreement.

“Sure is, kid, I never get bored no matter how many times I see it,” Angela agrees with them, and Tony silently nods his head as well.

“That’s the main spectacle finished though I'm afraid.” Anton turns his seat to look at her. “You’re welcome to stay here and watch the view with us if you want. But if not, feel free to have another look around the ship, just stay away from the engine room.”

“I think I’ll have a wander then return to my room for now.”

“Sure, oh and food will be served at 8am, 12pm and 8pm so be sure to visit the mess hall on time unless you like cold food.”

“Got it, thanks.”

Emily takes one last look through the periscope at the shrinking city, then turns towards the exit while wiping a few tears from her eyes.

Bye Anna, I’ll be back soon.

***

Emily spends the next two days following her routine of Spellweave, meditation and exercise. She meets the other two members of the day crew at mealtimes and spends a bit of time chatting with them all about their travels, but her mind remains on the engine room throughout.

So, at midnight on the second day, she leaves her room. She quietly moves past the crew quarters and quickly makes her way through the narrow passageways of the ship, knowing most of the night crew will be gathered for their midnight meal for the next twenty minutes at least.

The heavy metal door offers no resistance to Emily’s increased strength, and she easily slips into the engine room. She approaches the large throbbing core of the ship, reaching out to touch the humming metal. After placing her hand on a smooth metal sheet, clear of any moving parts, she closes her eyes and follows her instincts, slowly pulling upon her machina reserves and letting the cold electricity flow into the engine.

Emily draws in a sharp breath as she feels a deep connection form between her and the engine. Her senses expand over the large machine as if it were a part of her body, and a detailed image of it forms in her mind. The image of the engine in her head splits apart as she focuses on it, expanding to show every facet and connection inside. Detailed calculations are performed in an instant, telling her everything she could need to know from the exact materials and measurements to the maximum throughput.

Committing the image to memory, she opens her eyes and sees a system message hovering in front of her.

ˉˉˉˉˉ

Machina scan complete!

Blueprint created: Calypso’s Heart

Sub-system unlocked: Blueprints

_____

She blinks away the system message and focuses her gaze on her hand and Calypso’s heart.

I’m currently using a small amount of machina to make a connection with the engine, what if I try pouring more in?

With a single thought, streams of azure-blue electricity shoot along Emily’s arm and quickly spread across Calypso’s heart. The entire ship shudders as the heart beats into overdrive, increasing its output of steam. Emily watches the changes with fascination but quickly feels her mind begin to slow down and ache.

ˉˉˉˉˉ

Skill created: Overdrive (active)

_____

Ignoring the new skill, she quickly stops channelling her machina and then checks her status page.

ˉˉˉˉˉ

[Machina:] 19/345

_____

Seeing the sharp drop after only a few seconds of overdrive, she frowns.

Damn, that’s expensive. Maybe it’s related to how large the machine is. I wasn’t even able to make a connection with the whole ship, only the engine. Also, why do I always stop using mana and machina around 20 points? Is it a mental safety to not fully drain myself?

Emily massages her temples while thinking, trying to relieve the pain, but it’s to no avail. She hears hurried footsteps rushing through the corridor towards her and decides it’s time to leave.

“Well, I’ve got a lot more stuff to look at now,” she mutters to herself with a grin as she pulls out The Clock and presses rewind.