The Children of the Sky

Oops. Where is Giske? She wouldn’t be in the middle of all this unless she was carrying a knife. Ravna glanced quickly around. There—Giske was almost thirty meters away, arguing with Bili Yngva.

Now Nevil stepped back and his voice became more public: “Please. Give us a few minutes. We have to get the airships safely landed.” He looked into the sky at the farther airship, just now making a turn at the far end of its circuit. “I’ll land the one with our friends first. The other is just a backup flier.” He delivered this disappointment so casually that people scarcely seemed to notice. Could you really get all the missing on one of these airships?

Nevil touched his ear, like some player in an ancient drama. In addition to what he had stolen, he must be getting radios from Tycoon. With the orbiter for a relay, he had better comms than the Domain. Nevil looked around, then gave a go-ahead wave. Most of the Denier Children ran out into the marshy flats by the river’s outer curve. Ah, there was Del Ronsndot in the lead, waving an arm in a wide circle. The other Children spread out. One of the airships was coming toward them.

The ship’s buzzing rose to a whine. Its bow dipped till the long airform hung foreshortened, descending to earth. All conversation stopped. This was a little like what you might see in civilization—only there, the ship would be a solid mass, perhaps one hundred thousand tonnes, a vehicle that could navigate solar systems.

By the time the first craft had dropped lines and Del’s crew had pounded down anchor spikes, the second airship was descending to land a hundred meters behind. Ravna noticed that Benky was shifting his troops around, inconspicuously setting up fields of fire.

At that point, almost everyone surged forward onto the marshy ground. Benky looked outraged; some of his own troops had joined the crowd. Here in the middle of nowhere, a couple of dozen humans and some packs were doing a good job of imitating a mob. Jefri—who was already at the first airship—got some of the troops into a circle around the ship’s main hatch. Wilm Linden had made it to the front with his camera.

Flenser scrambled down from the river rocks. He let Ravna help with White Tips and his wheelbarrow. They made slow progress across the marsh. Ritl hung back with them. Maybe she realized that she was likely to get trampled if she rushed into the crowd.

Everyone made way for Nevil. As he walked by Jefri, words passed between the two, but Ravna was too far away to hear. She glanced at Flenser, who was watching the exchange too. “Couldn’t hear it,” he said.

Maybe Nevil’s expression had darkened at Jefri’s words. But then he grinned at Jef, and seemed to say something encouraging. He turned back to crowd, all smiles. Powers, even improvising, he was doing as well as back at the New Meeting Place.

“Friends,” he shouted, his voice thin in the breeze. “Friends. Please stay a little back. I’m not sure of the order our loved ones will come out—” but he was waving Elspa to come forward.

Ravna and Flenser had reached the back of the crowd. Ravna tried to see around or over those ahead of her. Ritl wasn’t helping. She was running around between Ravna’s legs, complaining, presumably because she couldn’t see a thing. Except for the fact that she was making trouble, this was very unlike Ritl. Why wasn’t she flanking the mob, or worming her through the Children to get a front row view?

Wilm Linden held the Domain camera high over his head, scanning across the crowd. Then he turned back to the sealed hatch. “You’re getting Wilm’s video?” Ravna said to her relay link.

“Yup,” Scrup’s voice came back, and a second later Woodcarver confirmed: “Ravna, I’m keeping your audio private to Scrupilo and myself. We’ve got Wilm’s transmission showing in Oobii’s meeting place—as well as the video the Deniers are sending through the orbiter. We’re hanging on Nevil’s every word.” She gobbled a mild obscenity.

Ravna grinned but didn’t reply. Beside her, Flenser had made a Tinish pyramid of himself and now had a pair of eyes with a clear view. Benky stayed close to ground; she noticed he had three packs watching away from the main event.

Both airships had shut down their engines. Nevil was into a pregnant pause. The moment captured Ravna as much as anyone. Down by her ankles, even Ritl had fallen silent. The loudest sound was the breeze whistling up the valley.

Behind the port, there was a squeaking sound, the hatch wheel being turned. Ravna stepped to one side, finally got a sliver of a good view. The hull section swung out, dropping the main stairway down.

“So what’s inside?” Flenser hissed at her.

“It’s too dark for me to see,” said Ravna. The entrance was in the shadow of the overhanging hull.

Woodcarver’s voice came over the link. “Oobii did something with the image. There’s at least a singleton crouched at the top of the stairs.”