The Great Brain Robbery by P. G. Bell

Author:P. G. Bell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

13

HOMEWARD BOUND

The Impossible Postal Express exploded out of the tunnel in a flurry of coupling rods and steam, the shriek of its whistle cutting through the sleeting rain of the Western Fenlands. Suzy had followed Frederick back up to the navigation room, where he paced endlessly, ignoring the landscape that unfurled outside the windows. The Express was running along a raised embankment, surrounded by a flat, almost-featureless expanse of patchy marshland, shining a dull silver beneath the low gray sky. She didn’t think it looked very inviting.

“I don’t believe it!” Frederick said. “After everything they’ve done to me, they go and do this as well!”

“We still don’t really know what ‘this’ is,” Suzy replied, doing her best to sound reasonable. “We’ve only got a milk bottle to connect them to Cloudwright Rayleigh. There could be a perfectly innocent explanation.”

“There won’t be,” he shot back. “I’m sure of it.”

Suzy was inclined to believe him. Now that they had proved that Rayleigh was also on Mr. Brown’s trail, it seemed very suspicious that he should have visited Frederick’s parents’ farm. It certainly sounded like the sort of place you had to make a real effort to find. But what could their connection with Mr. Brown possibly be? The Western Fenlands were a long way from Trollville, and the Janssen farm was a long way from pretty much everywhere.

“Can’t this train go any faster?” said Frederick. He had his face pressed to the window now. “We need to get there before Rayleigh does.”

“You think he’s heading there, too?” asked Suzy.

“He said as much, didn’t he?” Frederick snapped. “He’s still looking for his precious ‘masterpiece.’”

“But he’s in a balloon,” said Suzy. “And we’re in the Express. We’re bound to be faster. And can he even use the tunnels? The balloon wouldn’t fit, would it?”

Frederick rolled his eyes. “He’s hardly going to use the tunnels, is he? He’s going to use the Firmaments. Obviously.”

Suzy scowled. She didn’t much appreciate Frederick’s tone. “And what exactly are the Firmaments, Mr. Expert?”

Frederick gave a disgusted sigh. “I’m still amazed at all the really basic stuff you don’t know. The Firmaments is the name we use for all the Impossible Places based in the sky. Places like the Cloud Continent, where the giants live. Or Propellendorf, the flying city where Cirrus’s parents live.”

“Fine,” she said. “But how do they help Rayleigh get to the Western Fenlands?”

“Because the Firmaments bisect a lot of the other Impossible Places,” said Frederick. “You can move from one to another, if you know the right flight paths.”

“So they’re like the railway tunnels, but in the sky?” she said.

“Sort of. They’re less reliable than the tunnels. Most of the Firmaments move about a lot—nobody knows why—so their connections are always shifting, too. It’s impossible to map them. You just have to navigate by instinct.”

Suzy digested this new information. “So we don’t know for sure that Rayleigh will even be able to make it to the Western Fenlands.”

“He’ll make it,” said Frederick glumly. “The Fenlands have a permanent connection to the Cloud Continent.

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