’This is stealing, Nina,’ Scud hisses, as we crouch in the dark, ’stealing is wrong.’

’Since I already own this airship,’ I hiss hack, ’we’re liberating it.’ We are hiding behind a barrier of crates waiting to be loaded onto one of the huge freight liners.

The docks circle the entire floating landmass of New Frisco, magically lifted into the sky by the ancients and their weird technology. As the city expanded, other chunks of land were added, tethered together by bridges.

One day, the ancient’s who inhabited the earth, simply disappeared taking their technology with them. New Frisco continues to out grown the islands of land and now reaches out into the sky itself: a tangle of wooden platforms, supported by an ever increasing throng of helium balloons, connected by swaying walkways and rope bridges.

Other platforms were attached below the first, then still further levels -- the beginnings of the vast slums that turned New Frisco into a multi-layered metropolis, but everything is fringed by the docks – the life-blood of the city.

I never like the docks at night, the whole place creaks and groans as the wooden decks shifted and move in the air currents. Somehow, I never notice either the sound or the movement during the day. At night there were no crowds rushing about their business, no airships drifting in and out, and no clatter of cargo liners loading and unloading. Maybe all that human activity creates the true nature of the docks I love. At night, the docks, dark and silent, are a ghost of their daytime selves.

I cushion myself against my shoulder bag and hear the scrunch of stiff paper. I remember the package, still unopened – later, I promise myself.

Scud quietly lowers more flight bags beside me, ’I can’t believe you didn’t get a licence for the Shonti Bloom. That’s wrong too.’

’If I’d applied for one I wouldn’t have got one, would I. It just needs a little bit of work, that’s all.’

’It’s called an air-worthiness licence for a reason, Nina,’ Scud loves his rules and regulations - it’s not one of his more lovable traits. ’You need to pay more attention to the details, Nina.’

’It’s just a piece of paper. Once we clear New Frisco’s airspace it has no meaning. You need to look at the bigger picture, Scud.’ Even as I say it, I know it’s cruel: Scud is not capable of seeing the bigger picture, it’s one of the limits in his life, but also his greatest strength.

Scud starts to shift about, uneasily – I’ve upset him. Now he needs to concentrate on counting details to regain his equilibrium.

But I’m wrong, he’s actually building up the courage to tick me off, ’No Nina, you pay me to do detail. If you could do detail you wouldn’t need me. I’m good at detail.’ He is so right. ’We make a good team.’ Now I wish I could take back my earlier remarks.

’Not just good, Scud - we’re a great team.’

He thinks about it for a while, ’Yeah, right. Apology accepted.’ He lapses into silence and settles down to wait while I cut through the netting surrounding the dock where the Shonti Bloom is moored.

I’ve sent Fernando and Izzy out scouting the perimeter fence. Now they return.

’Two guards round the north side,’ Fernando reports.

Izzy sneaks in beside him, ’And another two on the south.’

So with the two in front of us that makes at least six police cadets guarding my little airship. A little excessive to just guard the airship, but of course, this is a trap.

I bet McGraw has a few cadets hiding in the shadows too and maybe a couple on the Shonti Bloom herself. That’s what I would do.

Fernando pushes in beside me, ’We need a distraction.’

I hold up the shielded lantern I’m carrying and lift one of the shutters just enough to let out a peek of flame, ’I’m way ahead of you buddy, way ahead.’

’No!’ Izzy and Scud looked horrified. Fernando grins - he’s quicker off the mark. There is one thing everyone in the city fears: fire.

On a wooden structure fire can engulf everything in an instance, so any reaction to fire is fast and decisive. There are public fire extinguishers everywhere in New Frisco and the penalty for not using the closest one to you in an emergency is severe. It is rumoured that some cities even make such miscreants walk the plank.

When I was very little, I once saw a fire get out of control on a residential deck, crackling and roaring as the wind fanned it toward the main city. The Mayor callously ordered the entire deck cut loose. When the whole structure plunged to earth like a blazing fireball, you could hear the screams of those still trapped in their homes – sacrificed for the good of the city. That Mayor was my Mother.

’Not for real,’ I assure my jittery crew, ’it just needs to look real.’

We haul our flight bags and supplies through the fence. Then I instruct my crew to get ready to run, because the distraction wouldn’t last long. ’Anything you can’t carry, leave behind.’ I slip off to plant my decoy.

I find a hut with a window facing the dock. Close enough to the Shonti Bloom for the cadets to think it their duty to deal with the fire, but far enough away to give us enough time to free the airship. I remove the closest fire extinguishers from around the hunt, then force the lock, and set my lamp inside just below the window, unshielded. I am half-way back to the dock and still no one has spotted the flame flickering in the hut window. So I gave them a helping hand, ’Fire. Help! Help! Fire.’

Police cadets sure are disciplined, a credit to their guild. They react instantly, streaming out the gate towards my decoy fire, but remembering to leave one of their number still on guard. As I suspected, two cadets charge out of the Shonti Bloom and a couple of others emerge from the shadows. McGraw isn’t stupid. To be fair, he is both handsome and intelligent, but today he is my adversary.

I slip through the cut netting, pick up my shoulder bag and a kit of supplies that weight a tonne, and stagger towards the Shonti Bloom. I hope by crew are already boarding. Behind me I can hear a confusion of shouting as the cadets search for extinguishers. We have a few more minutes. I love it when a plan comes together.

Suddenly a shape leaps up before me from the gloom.

’Think I’m stupid, do you, Swift? I knew you’d try and steal that wreck – it’s a death trap.’ Jack McGraw.

I don’t stop to argue, or think, I just swing the bag of supplies as hard as I can. I feel it connect with a satisfying thud and McGraw’s silhouette disappears. As determined as I am to retake my airship, I hope I haven’t hurt him too much – he’s just doing his duty, I don’t hate him or anything.

I run on.

I can just make out shadows milling around the airship -- my crew unfastening the mooring ropes – but only because I expect to see them there. I run up the gang-plank and dump by bags inside the gondola, elation fills my gut, and I punched the air. ’Yes.’’ The Shonti Bloom is mine again.

I grab the ship’s wheel as my crew slip quietly in and retract the gang plank.

’We’ll just let her float out on the breeze,’ I instruct. My first order as captain of my own airship – it feels good.

’Scud, get us some power. Fernando, find me some cloud we can use to cover a course change,’ I order. Scud swarms up the ladder at the back of the gondola, which leads into the blimp – the bag of hydrogen gas that holds us aloft -- and Fernando disappears into the map room leaving Izzy and I alone.

’We done it Nina, we got our own airship.’ Izzy looks almost a pleased as I feel. We grin at each other like naughty school children – which in a sense we are.

I feel a formal word or two might be appropriate, ’If my mother were here -’ Crash. The ship slews to starboard and smashes against the end of the dock, knocking me to the floor. A mooring line is snared. Then the back end of the ship crashes against the other side of the dock.

Oops.

Next Chapter: Chapter 4