He looked back at Jasper who was shaking his head vigorously.
Making enemies was not something he wanted to do within the first few minutes of being in charge, but he also couldn’t let the weapon slip from his grasp. Not when they were this close.
“I don’t have a choice,” he whispered to Jasper.
Jasper closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh.
When Jasper’s older, he would understand.
“Ready the forward guns. Fire on my mark.”
The weapons officer flipped several switches and positioned his hand above the launch button. “Ready on your mark, sir.”
“Fire.”
The weapons officer pushed down on the button.
Nothing happened.
The officer double checked his control panel and pushed the button again.
Still nothing happened.
“Two minutes to the entrance,” the spotter called out.
Caleb sprung from the captain’s chair and hovered over the weapons officer. “Why aren’t we firing?”
The officer was frantically flipping switches and turning knobs before pressing the launch button again. “I don’t know sir. The cannons aren’t responding.”
“One minute to the entrance.”
They were going to lose the weapon.
They were going to lose everything.
Unless, they risked everything.
He was at the pilot’s side. “How quickly can this ship be brought to full speed?”
“Within a matter of seconds, sir.”
“So we could get to the entrance before them?”
“No sir, it takes longer to slow down. They would be inside before we came to a full stop.”
“What if we didn’t slow down. Could we reach the entrance before them?”
“Yes, but then we would shoot right on past it.”
“Not if we were pointed directly at the entrance.”
The pilot’s eyes widened in understanding. That told him everything he needed to know.
“Do it.”
The pilot turned to his control panel, his hand trembled as he reached for the throttle. “Yes, sir.”
“There almost at the entrance, sir.”
He stood to his full height and said in his best commanding voice, “That’ll be enough spotter, I have a new job for you. Get above deck and tell everyone to throw anything out of the ship that might be combustible, then strap down and brace for impact. You have thirty seconds.”
“Yes, sir!”
As the spotter dashed out the door, Caleb was back in the captain’s chair.
Jasper was tying himself down into a chair to one side. “You sure you know what you’re doing?”
“I’ve seen my share of airship crashes. As long as we don’t explode, we should live through this.”
An alarm sounded followed by a calm prerecorded voice. “Warning. Collision detected.”
Caleb strapped himself in as best he could and gripped the armrests.
“Okay pilot. Full speed ahead.”
Nelson cherished the days when his rotation schedule placed him guarding the entrance to Chambers in the Northern Territories. He spent so much time underground, his skin was pale and he found it difficult to adjust to the bright sun.
He wore dark goggles, so he could see in the daylight, and a full leather suit, complete with gloves, to protect his skin from the scorching rays of the sun.
Other than the threat of being burnt to a crisp by the fireball in the sky, guarding an entrance to Chambers was relatively simple. They had spread enough rumors topside to keep all but the most daring from even attempting to approach an entrance.
A typical day for Nelson was standing a few feet inside the cave entrance, away from the direct rays of the sun, and making up stories to tell young children around the dinner table about his exploits topside. As far as they were concerned, he was a valiant warrior who kept away all sorts of nasties so they could sleep safely each night.
Today, however, was not looking to be a typical day. For the last twenty minutes, he’d been tracking a small group headed for the entrance. The same entrance he was guarding. Today, his story around the dinner table might have a ring of truth.
They carried a large box that must have been heavy, because they slowed every couple of minutes to hand off the box to someone else in the group. The closer they got, the more often they alternated who was carrying the large box.
When he judged them to be less than a minute away, he pulled the double-barreled flintlock rifle from the gun cabinet. The cobwebs that clung to the barrel attested to how often he needed it. He blew off the cobwebs and dust and did his best to make it look like a serviceable weapon. The truth of the matter was, this gun hadn’t been fired since before he was born, and most likely wouldn’t work even if he tried.
In his experience, just telling someone he had it was enough to make someone think twice about forcing their way into Chambers. He’d never needed it before, and in fact, he had never removed it from the gun cabinet. Watching the group, as they made their way up the low hill, he was afraid that today would change all that.
Behind the group, a multitude of objects suddenly fell from the sky and hit the ground in plumes of raised dust. He glanced up to see the source of these objects and nearly wet himself.
An airship was headed straight for him.
And it was coming in fast.
Caleb clenched his jaw as he pressed himself back in to the captain’s chair. The view through the front windows showed the widening cavern entrance to Chambers.
It was a large cave opening, but not as large as the airship’s rigid frame.
He yelled out to everyone, and no one in particular, “Hold on!”
The wrenching of metal grated at his ears as he was thrown forward against the straps of his chair. The front windows exploded inward, showering everyone with shards of razor-sharp glass.
It was over in the blink of an eye.
At least it felt like the blink of an eye.
He lifted his head and had no idea how much time had passed. Around him, the rest of the command crew all hung to one side of their seats, still strapped in. He knew they weren’t dead because he could see the slight rise and fall of their chests. There was still life in every one of them. Relief washed over him. His first major command decision hadn’t killed everyone.
The walls of the control room had buckled and pushed everyone closer together, but thankfully, nobody had been crushed to death. Moans coming from outside the command room reassured him that there were more survivors. It was quite possible that everyone had lived.
He sniffed the air, but found no indication that they were burning. The rigid frame of the airship had borne the brunt of the impact. The airship had stopped fast enough that only the front of the gondola was damaged. Everyone else inside was shaken, but safe.
He struggled against the straps, but the sudden impact had bent the lock mechanism and he was stuck. He raked his claws against the tightly woven fabric, shredding the strap in half to escape from the chair.
He fell sideways out of the chair and realized, a moment too late, the airship had come to a rest at a sharp angle to one side.
He stumbled and slammed into a side window that had somehow survived the initial crash, shattering it.
Stunned, and laying on his side, he saw leather boots stepping up into the broken gondola from outside the airship. He heard the click of a flintlock cocking lever lock into position and his eyes focused on the rifle barrel pointed directly at his face.
His view shifted down the long barrel and refocused on the dark goggles of the man aiming the rifle.
He sat up and the man instinctively took a step back while sighting down the barrel of his rifle. At this range, the man could not miss.
After a couple of attempts, Caleb finally found his voice. “Do not let the men with the box into Chambers.”
The man with the dark goggles held the rifle steady. “Ain’t nobody getting in or out of Chambers with what you just did.”
He let his head drop back on to the shattered glass. “Good.”
Goggles looked around at the destroyed airship. “Why did you do that?”
“Inside the box is a weapon. We have to get it away from the men who were carrying it. Can you help?”
Before Goggles could answer, the Tin Man smashed through the door of the command room, saw the rifle pointed at Caleb and swatted at Goggles with a metallic claw. The rifle flew from Goggles’ grip and went one way while he landed on his back in the other direction.
The Tin Man towered over Goggles, one claw raised, when Caleb yelled out. “Don’t!”
The Tin Man paused, his claw poised to come down at any moment and slice Goggles in half.
Caleb was back on his feet and shaking away the dizziness. “What are you doing Tin Man?”
The Tin Man stood stock-still, as only an automaton could. The only indication he was functioning was the crackle of his voice through his front speaker. “He shot down the airship.”
Caleb picked up the rifle and held his hand out to Goggles. “Nobody shot at us. It was my decision to crash the airship.”
He pulled Goggles to his feet and held out his rifle to him. Goggles looked from the rifle to the Tin Man, unsure of what would happen to him if he took the offered rifle.
Caleb smiled carefully, trying not to show too many of his sharp teeth in an effort to calm the man down. “Don’t worry; I won’t let him hurt you.”
The move was so sudden; Caleb almost blinked and missed it.
The Tin Man’s claw scissored right through Goggles’ neck.
The shock of surprise was frozen on Goggles face as his head dropped from his body and rolled away across the floor. His body, now headless, buckled and collapsed to the floor.
The Tin Man swung around and pinned Caleb to the wall by his neck, the sharp blades of the claw shearing off bits of fur. The color of the Tin Man’s single unblinking eye glowed a soft amber. “I do not take orders from anyone.”
Caleb’s mouth went dry as he watched the blood from the decapitated guard drip down the edge of the Tin Man’s claw. The monstrous automaton leaned in close. “Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you right now.”
He struggled to come up with some form of answer, but another voice broke the silence.
“What’s going on?”
Still holding Caleb against the side of the airship hull, the Tin Man twisted his torso to see the new intruder.
Dorothy stood in the doorway with a puzzled expression on her face. “What are you doing to Caleb?”
It almost sounded like the Tin Man was amused at some private joke by the tone in his voice. “The question you should be asking yourself is, what was Caleb planning to do with us?”
If Dorothy’s expression looked puzzled before, it was even more so now. “What are you talking about?”
The Tin Man’s grip tightened on his neck as he spoke. “Who sent us on this expedition to locate and bring back the world’s most destructive weapon ever created?”
Dorothy still looked confused. “The Southern Marshal.”
“Wrong! Nero sent us out here. And who did he hand select to lead us?”
The Tin Man twisted back to stare at Caleb with that unblinking amber eye. “Nero is not to be trusted. You are not to be trusted.”
He gripped the claw around his neck with both hands, lifting himself up to relieve some of the strain on his spine. “I was selected because I’m the chosen hybrid leader, not because of Nero.”
The Tin Man did a very strange thing.
He laughed.
“All of the information we have on this weapon, its origin, its purpose, what it can do, everything we know, comes from a single source. Nero. His loyalty was always in question. And since your loyalty is aligned to him, your loyalty is in question. And you do not have the best track record.”
He struggled against the claw as it tightened around his throat. “I’m not doing this for Nero. I’m not even doing this for the hybrids.”
“Then why are you here?”
“I’m here for her. I’m here to help Dorothy.”
The claw relaxed slightly and he coughed as he gasped for breath.
The Tin Man did not release him, but eased up the pressure on his throat a little more. “Explain.”
“Nero and the Southern Marshal, they asked me to help. I was going to say no until I found out Dorothy was going coming along. I came to protect her.”
“And you’ve been doing such a wonderful job. You expect me to believe you have no interest in the weapon?”
He could barely shake his head, it was pressed so tightly against the bulkhead of the airship. “No. I’m only here because of her.”
“If she were no longer part of the equation, would you still want the weapon?”
“No.”
The claw tightened around his throat. “I don’t believe you.”
“It’s true.”
“Prove it.”
“I don’t know how to prove it.”
The unblinking amber eye came within inches of his face. “I do.”
The Tin Man pointed his other arm at Dorothy. The claw shot out, trailing a rusted chain. She did not have time to react before the claw clamped on her head, covering her face. The Tin Man yanked his arm backward and the unmistakable sound of Dorothy’s neck splintering as it shattered from the twisting force echoed in Caleb’s ears.
It took him a moment to realize the person screaming was him.
“Nooooo!”
The Tin Man retracted his claw from the lifeless Dorothy.
“Dorothy is no longer part of the equation. Do not follow me. I will not spare your life again.”
He released Caleb and used his claws to tear through the side of the airship, and then he was gone.
Caleb stumbled across the uneven floor and picked up Dorothy, cradling her in his arms. Her head flopped awkwardly to one side, her eyes staring off into the blank space.
He slowly swiped his fingers across her face and shut her eyelids to let her sleep one last time. He cradled her head in one hand and held her close. Everything he had done to keep her safe. Everyone he tried to protect her from. But the one she needed protection from the most, had been by their side the whole time.
From outside he heard the reports of gunfire followed by screaming. And then silence.