Miss Alice Lovelady's First Omnibus of her Inexplicable Adventures by Sadie Swift

Author:Sadie Swift
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, adventure, short stories, lesbian, victorian, steampunk, alternate history
Publisher: Sadie Swift

Five

Sir Percival reached into one of his pockets and brought out a pair of leather and brass goggles. Why he always had some pairs handy was a mystery to me; probably some obscure childhood incident. I smiled my thanks and wiped the tears caused by fright and the cold wind from my face before putting them on.

A gunshot sounded and a piece of the metal surface around the hatch burst upwards. We both jumped backwards away from the hatch and Sir Percival quickly put his own goggles on. They were shooting at us! But what about the balloons above? Were they so desperate to kill us that they didn’t care if they hit them?

“The propellers, Sir Percival!” I cried, indicating above us and trying to make myself heard against their noise and the wind. If we stopped the propellers then the airship couldn’t go anywhere. Unfortunately It also meant that we’d need to climb higher. Sir Percival also looked upwards, his white hair blowing wildly around his head, but it was now not able to get in his eyes.

Another shot from below quite dramatically focused our thoughts and we headed for the closest metal ladder up into the balloon and engine section of the ship.

I fought the knowledge that the only thing preventing me falling to my death far below was human ingenuity. Cold air swirled around me again as I made sure to grip the railing around the ladder and headed upwards, with Sir Percival following behind.

The ladder ended on a metal catwalk that led underneath the balloons and had further short ladders leading up into the long metal containers where the engines were housed. To my dismay I saw there was a crewman in blue overalls attending to one of the propellers. It would only be a matter of moments before he turned and saw us. There was no chance he’d believe we were part of the crew or the Russian royal family. Perhaps if we disabled the propellers on the side furthest from him?

Unfortunately he chose that moment to turn round. Spying us he gave a surprised shout. With no further ado I ran towards the closest propellers. With a quick apology for what I was about to do to such a life-saving device I leant over and thrust my umbrella deep into its workings, letting go before my hand was ripped off.

With the sound of a squealing pig the propeller ground to halt and the airship tipped alarmingly to one side. If Sir Percival hadn’t already been holding onto the rail and grabbed me we’d’ve been dashed down to the top of the airship or flung overboard!

The crewman wasn’t so lucky and gave another surprised cry before he landed heavily upon the rail surrounding the recessed area below and ceased moving.

The airship swung back the other way and we held on while it continued to pendulum. It’s forward motion was now arrested but the other propellers could be put to use to make up for the damaged one.

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