Polar Opposites

The usual pilot of the Ark was a young skiridian boy named Sparrow.  He was somewhere between a prodigy and an idiot savant and the twins picked him up on one of the islands that clustered around the skiridian mainland.  Sparrow’s age was difficult to guess at, as like all skiridians, he was small with fine features and wide innocent eyes.  The fact that he rarely spoke and seemed to view everything outside piloting with detachment made estimates even more uncertain.  Ajiin suspected him to be either sixteen or seventeen.

Sparrow would have been picked up by a skimmer at some point or another.  His talent at piloting was uncanny and he had spent his time mooning about the docks, watching the skimmers.  The only reason the twins got him first was because he was ignored due to size and race.  But the twins had taken a liking to him, mostly because it was the first time either of them had seen a skiridian before.  The race was humanoid enough, save for the emaciated and birdlike structure, and the wings that spread off their shoulder blades that were larger than their bodies.  The feathers were what caught Langley’s eye.  Then she had seen the boy underneath the wings.

“Right then,” Langley said, coming up behind the small pilot, “Sparrow, you’re relieved for a while.  Go get some sleep.”

He didn’t reply, but hung onto the wheel for a bit longer.  Langley gently put a hand on his shoulder and fairly pried him off.

“C’mon kid, it’s my turn to steer my ship.”

Sparrow’s eyes took on a glassy look and he nodded and turned.  Walked towards the hatch and one of the crew followed him to make sure he remembered to eat this time.

“Right.  Sabreur, you get technical controls.”

Her brother positioned himself at the panel to the right of the helm.  The skimmer was partitioned into four main levels.  The below-decks, where the void rooms, hold, cannon-deck, and pretty much everything else in the ship was located.  The main deck on top of the ship.  The helm, a raised portion off the main deck close to the front of the ship and spanning back towards the engines.  Finally, the top deck on the roof of the helm where the upper portions of the sail were attached and generally used only by the lookout.

At the moment, the lookout was cursing his fate to be out in such frigid weather.  

“We going to drop speed?” he asked.

“Not just yet.  We’ll push it as long as we can before cutting the sails and going to engine power.  Maybe until we reach the ice maze.”

“You going to have Sparrow pilot through it?”

“He’ll have to.  We’ll need to be on-deck to work ‘mancy.  I can keep swapping piloting shifts with him through the icebergs and we’ll cut forward power completely and get to a safe altitude right before entering the maze for a nice, long, nap.”

“Good plan.”

Langley wrapped her hands about the wheel and watched through the glass before her.  The pilot portion of the helm was raised even a bit more than the rest, to allow a full 360 view of the ship through the windows.  Granted, the sails were a bit in the way towards the back diagonals, but the wheel was already exposed as was.  Secondary controls were in-place lower in the ship in case of a firefight and a need to protect the pilot.

“You really think we’re going to find a necromancer?”

Langley didn’t reply – she was watching the iceberg the lookout had sighted.  They posed little traditional threat to skimmers as the ships no longer had to worry about the bottom of the iceberg crashing into the hull of the ship.  After all, the skimmers weren’t even supposed to touch the water.  It was the currents of the poles that made them so dangerous.  Volcanic activity wasn’t uncommon in the ocean around the poles and even in certain places of the landmass.  The warmth from the underground flows was what allowed people to actually live there, although it was a very precarious life as only a skilled pyromancer or terramancer could predict when an explosion would occur.  Those were a little lacking in the outlaw population.

Again, although skimmers weren’t affected by things such as strange currents resulting from volcanic activity, they were suspect to some of the side effects.  Like icebergs suddenly changing course or speed.  While the underside of an iceberg wasn’t a problem, the topside still was.  Another problem of the poles.  Volcanic activity released a lot of various elements – fire, air in the form of gases, and gravities.  The concentration of ‘mancy spewing up from volcanic activity messed with more than just currents; it also messed with the very workings of a skimmer.  Unfortunate captains could find themselves with boilers that overloaded from too much fire ‘mancy in one area, or a skimmer that refused to hover due to a sudden change in gravity ‘mancy.

Thankfully, the first thing the Academy taught was how to see the currents of ‘mancy that flowed about the globe.

“Everything looks normal,” Sabreur said, “No strange readings from the sensors.”

He turned from the controls to regard the ocean around them.  Squinted.  Langley was already watching the currents but both knew that another pair of eyes never hurt.

“We’re coming up on the underworld’s gateway,” Sabreur commented.

“Why do you think we’re at the helm?” Langley replied.

It wasn’t the actual gateway to the underworld, of course.  That was located far out into the eastern sea on an island that had no natural harbor – only cliffs.  This was named years before that particular discovery due to the long undersea rift that spewed out most of the volcanic activity in the area.  No matter when or where a skimmer crossed, it could expect trouble, giving rise to the rumor among the sailor’s that the underworld was located somewhere nearby.  No one ever renamed the area.

“Slow and easy or fast and hard?”

“You know how I prefer to handle things.”  Sabreur cracked his knuckles and Langley chuckled.

“No Sabreur, fire is not an option this time.”

“Wai-wha- that wasn’t what I meant.”

She chuckled again.

“It’s what you’d like though.”

“Well, yes.”  He sounded hurt.  “But seriously, I think we take it fast and just skim over the trouble areas.  The Ark’s got enough speed that even if something breaks we’ll be out of the trouble area before things get bad and we can recoup from there.”

“But if we take it slow we can do damage control as we go.  Less risk.”

“How about this?  I head below-deck to the mechanics and we take it between those two extremes.  I’ll do damage control while you skim us through.  Right?”

“Right.  Get all hands on deck.  Make sure Ajiin is there.”

“Right.”

Langley drummed her fingers on the wheel as he ran off to sound the bell and get himself down to the mechanics below-deck.  It wasn’t like she hadn’t encountered strange ‘mancy before.  All skimmers were built to survive even in areas where ‘mancy was completely unfeasible.  The things could float without the skimmer-drives – just not sail and the slightest bit of bad weather or current could capsize or swamp them.  It was enough to make any captain nervous.

“Right,” Langley whispered to herself, “Let’s do it.”

She fished in her pocket for a piece of piano string and wrapped it around her fingers.  

“Dico mandatum legationis – Ajiin - Sabreur,” she intoned evenly.

Particularly experienced ‘mancers didn’t have to use a verbal focus to channel their personal energy or the ‘mancy currents around them.  Langley and Sabreur were not of this class of ‘mancer.

A relay established between Ajiin and her brother, she returned the piano wire to her pocket.

“Ready?” she asked and both individuals replied affirmative, just as if they were in the very same room as her.  “Ajiin, all sails full.  Sabreur, bring engines to half-power.”

The dials spun as the ship picked up speed.  The currents of ‘mancy, visible to Langley’s eyes at the moment, whipped past the ship.  She licked her lips and despite herself, started to grin.

The gateway was starting to form up in front of them.  A mile in width and unending in her sight as to length.  The currents appeared like hazy mist and the faintest streak of color was the only thing to distinguish the traces of fire, gravity, water, and the rest all mixed up in the rolling line that was the gateway.  She tried to remember what she’d learned of it and whether or not it was behaving normally today.  

“Sabreur, you know what it’s supposed to look like?” she finally asked.

“Not a clue!”

“May I add I am so glad you insist on making me part of the relay spell?” Ajiin said, “Witness to you two gleefully anticipating our demise.  Thrilling.”

Ajiin’s cynical comments had become standard relay fare.

“Right.  Hold engines.  Ajiin, get the crew ready to drop sails on either side.”

She tuned him out as he barked out orders to the crew.  Relays were not selective in what they sent back to her.

The bow of the skimmer hit the border of the gateway.  The entire ship lurched, dropping in altitude for a second and then going back to normal height for a moment.  Langley’s arms tensed for a moment to keep the ship going straight.

“Boiler temperature is climbing, making necessary adjustments now.”  Sabreur’s voice was prim and business-like over the relay.  He was in his element.

“There’s a dip in fire in our path,” Langley said, straining to see ahead through the mist of the currents, “so we’ll lose engine efficiency then.  Can you compensate with your own ‘mancy?”

“My dear sister, you just asked me if I can catch things on fire.  What do you think?”

“Right.  Looks like we also…. Ooh.”

“What was that?”  Ajiin’s voice was sharp.  “Langley, what was that ‘ooh’ for?  That is not a good noise with you.”

“Tell the crew to brace themselves,” she beamed, “This is going to get fun.  We’ve got a pocket of gravity up ahead that’s going to drop our boilers but boost the skimmer drives.  We’ll fly our way out of the gateway if I’m right.”

“Oh FUN.”

“Oh HELL.”

More orders from Ajiin to the crew.  Langley laughed, changed her stance to a more stable one, and readied herself.  The gravity zone grew closer.  She grinned.  The bow of the ship touched the first strands of silver-gray mist.

This time, the ship lurched up and didn’t drop back down.  Langley whooped, her arm muscles went taunt with holding the wheel steady, and a second whoop echoed in the relay from her brother, followed immediately after by the verbal focus for some pyromancy.  The ocean dropped away beneath them as altitude soared and the deck tilted around Langley.  She dug in hard with her heels and fought with the wheel, a grim smile on her face.  The creak and groan of metal and wood filled her ears.  Then they were up, over the range of effect for the gateway, and the Ark’s nose titled back down towards the ocean beyond.  They were at the opposite edge of the gateway now and in a couple seconds more would be hitting the water again and be in the clear.

“Divert power to skimmer drive, now!”

“Diverting power.”

There was a swell of the silver-gray mist from below the Ark.  Her descent slowed, but she still hit hard, the water rolling out from beneath with a crash like a cymbal before bouncing back up to normal sailing altitude.

“And revert to normal.”

“Done.  I’m reading some strain on the skimmer drive from that stunt, but it’s nothing we can’t fix upon hitting port.  And she’ll hold until we get there.”

Langley cast a glance behind her at the gateway.

“Really, I don’t see what all the fuss is about,” she said, “That wasn’t so bad.  Fun, almost.”

“Agreed.”

There was a pause.

“Fun.  RIGHT.  Tell that to the five sea, er, air-sick crew members you now have and the first mate who is really starting to regret ever leaving the mercenary business.”

“And just think, we have to go through that a second time.”

Another pause, longer this time.

“Captain, right now I think I’d prefer the zombie penguins.”

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