Chapter 3: Princess in a Transit Van
The Jacobys' airship held station about twenty metres above what had been a small children’s playground at the edge of town. While there it took Jacoby and Jack nearly 15 minutes to haul the elder man back into the gondola, all the time having to put up with Granny’s sarcastic commentary. Back on board Jacoby surveyed the small airship’s systems, somewhat dismayed at what he found. It’s batteries were near depleted from the sudden manoeuvring that came during their escape, and with the day transitioning to evening, the generating capability of the lightweight solar panels spread over the top of the thermal balloons was much reduced.
The two Jacoby’s poured over a map of the area, the older Jacoby tracing a finger along a dotted line he had marked in felt-tip before they had originally set off. “New Franklin will pass near over the top of us tomorrow morning” he said, explaining how the dotted line represented the planned route of their home habitat. “Best we lay low tonight, then put all our remaining power into gaining height tomorrow. It’ll be close, but should mean we avoid needing begging for a tow” with this he nodded to the short wave radio Jack had dug out of a small storage compartment. Contacting New Franklin for assistance would cost them both reputation and buoyancy.
“I gotta spend the night with you pair?” Granny huffed, but more for the sake of appearances than any genuine disagreement with the plan. Getting back to New Franklin under their own power would save her buoyancy and avoid attention from the administrators, none of which she would count as friends. The head administrator, Faulks, had been on her case for a long time.
“We got some blankets” Jack said, an attempted peace offering after the stressful afternoon.
“Never mind that. I got some whisky” Granny produced a hip flask from the folds of her skirt, uncorking, taking a swig, and offering it to the younger man in one swift movement. “You did ok out there today kid”, high praise from Granny.
“Gee, er, thanks” Jack reached for the flask, but his father was quicker, snatching his own swig then pausing for a second in contemplation.
“Don’t tell you mother” he said after a few seconds, passing the flask to his son.
Granny smiled, then said “So what’s the haul?” she’d been desperate to look in the bin bag that Jacoby had filled at the shop, but he had been gripping it tightly even after being pulled up from the rope below.
Jacoby’s face noticeably brightened “Ah-ha, yes, I thought you’d be interested” briefly enjoying the knowledge over Granny, before placing the bag down and opening it up “Pay day” he said simply, reaching in and grabbing one of the packages inside.
It took Granny a moment to make sense of what she’d just narrowly avoided death by haemorrhage for.
Toilet roll.
She didn’t say anything, but didn’t have to. Her look alone sent Jacoby into an extensive and fast paced justification, “I know, looks crazy, but think about it. When was the last time you got to use some? It just isn’t made in New Franklin, any habitat for that point. Low supply. But everyone can use it, would use it if they could. The Steering Committee will be fighting over it like anything, probably be a bidding war, you know what they’re like, anything to get one up on the other families. So proper high demand. And it is light, no buoyancy detriment. Low supply, high demand, low weight equals pure profit for us three”
Granny frowned deeply, try to find a flaw in the logic. When she couldn’t, rather than admit a man she’d spent a day berating as a nincompoop had made a good point, she simply snatched her hip flask back and took a long pull.
“Nice one Dad” Jack was more forthcoming with praise “Reckon I’ll be able to afford a flier with my share?” he’d long idolised the planes run by the elder children of the steering committee.
“Probably not quite Jack, but maybe a drone like Granny’s. What’d you say Granny, maybe let Jack take one for a spin?” Jacoby said.
Granny was about to rebuke him for being overly familiar, but then bit her lip. The kid was a decent pilot of the family airship, maybe that would transition to her drones. And more drones meant more profit if her new venture went to plan. “Maybe, maybe” she said noncommittally after a while. “But I gotta fix this one first” she held up the drone that had been damaged in the escape from the hemorrhage, eyeing the damaged rotor. She then pulled out the large handbag that had been stowed below the seat and began rooting around, emerging with a small tool box a moment later. “If we’re gonna be stuck here overnight I might as well get a head start on repairs. Save me having to attempt small talk with you lot” and with that she busied herself with the drone. Jack looked towards his Dad who just shrugged in response. Silence fell on the hovering airship, gentle breeze causing it to pull slightly on the anchor rope Jacoby had swung around a rusted children’s swingset.
A little way away, in the shrubbery at the entrance to the play area two sets of eyes watched the airship.
Granny had disassembled the rotor housing and prized out the small plastic blades that had been damaged by the glass shard. Further rummages in the handbag had produced some spare parts and an outlandishly sized magnifying glass with a torch crudely stuck to the side of it that Granny proceeded to strap to her head, positioning the lens in front of her eyes. Getting the replacement blades back into the rotor was a fiddly job, and she had to pause from time to time to stretch out her aching fingers, muttering curses as she did so. At one point Jack offered to help - he had been sat fascinatedly watching the old lady at work - but just a glance from her was all he needed to see to keep his assistance to himself.
A bush swayed down at ground level, a couple of branches snapping.
Other than Granny’s head-torch the lights in the gondola were kept dim. Partly to save power (not that a small bulb or two was going to make much difference in their efforts to get back to New Franklin in the morning) but mainly so Jacoby could try and get some sleep. Space was at a premium, but he had wedged himself between the winch and the small storage area at the bow. The rotund man, exhausted from his day’s physical and mental strains, snored loudly as the night drew on, regardless of whatever Granny threw at him to try and get him to stop. For his part, Jack was used to his father’s snores and was also asleep, huddled down one side of the gondola, feet nudging Granny from time to time before they were slapped away.
Just outside the play area tires quietly crunched on pockmarked tarmac.
The first kiss of sunlight on the dawn horizon was visible by the time Granny had put the drone back together. She’d give it a test run once the sun was up more fully, but for now she was satisfied with her work, if not her aged fingers “I’d have had this fully disassembled and back together inside half an hour twenty years ago” she muttered to herself as she achingly rose to her feet. The gondola swayed slightly as she rested her hands on the edge, peering into the lifting gloom around them. Jack was also awake, but was busy playing with the stopwatch, testing his reactions, how quick he could start and stop it, resetting then trying again. “Simple pleasures for simple minds” Granny muttered, but Jack didn’t react.
Too dim to see much of anything else, Granny instead inelegantly busied herself with the piss bucket, best make use now before that slob Jacoby woke. Once done she tipped the bucket out over board, thin stream of liquid splashing on the ground below. She was half tempted to use some of the toilet roll they had obtained the day previous, but need for buoyancy won out of desire for a comfort that had once been taken for granted but now seemed like the height of decadence.
The hum began
Granny didn’t hear the sound to start with, but it quickly changed in pitch and resonance, causing her to look around. Jacoby started to stir, the throbbing pulse of the hum waking him.
“What’s er that?” the older man asked, stretching out as he did so, banging a knuckle on the winch mechanism.
Granny didn’t immediately respond, instead surveying their immediate surroundings. The dawn light was slowly illuminating the playground and surrounding area, but she could see nothing of note. The derelict swings and slide, the old leggy bushes, the road outside with the abandoned Transit van sat there.
Granny squinted.
“Was that van there last night?” she pointed towards the battered looking vehicle thirty metres away.
“Eh?” Jacoby was still half asleep.
The hum shifted up an octave, then back, fluctuating for a while, then buzzing back through a range of notes. The variance and echoes around the playground made it hard to identify the source, but Granny was beginning to suspect that she knew.
The van with the fully inflated tires amidst a row of otherwise rusted hulks slumped low on rotted rubber.
“Go. We need to go” Granny urged, moving to the gondola’s motor housing even though she wasn’t fully sure how it worked.
Jack jumped down next to her “What’s the matter?” But Granny didn’t have time to answer; the van’s side door sliding open, the pneumatic harpoon inside firing, the side of the gondola violently splintering as it was pierced.
“Gah” was all Jacoby managed as the wooden splinters caught him across the midfriff
“DAD!” Jack cried, attempting to get to his fathers side, but held back by Granny’s grip around his wrist.
“Get us out of here NOW!” she cried, dragging him to the motor housing
“But dad!”
“I’ll get to him, but we need to get away, right now” and with this Granny crawled to the stricken Jacoby. Jack paused for a second, but then unhooked the mooring rope and set to driving power through the airship’s systems. Heating elements flicked on in the thermal balloons above them, the rigging creaking as lift increased.
Granny reached Jacoby, the man slumped over by the side of the gondola, chest speckled red through his shirt. Granny was much more comfortable working with the innards of machinery, but was far from squeamish with more fleshy inner workings. Grabbing a nearby blanket she leant on top of Jacoby, putting pressure on the wounds. “WHY AREN’T WE MOVING?” she then demanded of Jack.
“WE’RE STUCK!” the younger man declared. Then after a glance over the side of the gondola “The harpoon, it’s tethered us to the van”
Granny snarled. One hand still putting pressure on Jacoby’s chest she levered herself to look up over the side of the gondola. Jack was right, a rope from the harpoon led all the way back to the van, holding taught. But that was the only thing holding them in place, Granny had seen better thought through stick-ups in her time. She reached into her handbag, Jack flinching slightly as she emerged with a large serrated hunting knife “Your dad never told you to be prepared?” she asked of the younger man as she then leant up and over the side of the gondola, knife in hand.
“I wouldn’t do that”
The voice hung in the air, but not from anyone on board the airship. No, it was from the girl rocking gently on the child’s swing set below them. “Be a shame to waste good rope. Especially after you destroyed a perfectly good shop yesterday” with this she put a leather-booted foot down on the floor to stop the swing and looked up. “Throw down what you took before you foolishly sparked the haemorrhage and we’ll release you”.
“Or you release us and I don’t bury this knife in your skull” Granny had shifted the grip of the knife, holding it by the blade, ready to throw. It wasn’t one of her good throwing knifes, but from a position just a few metres above target she would not miss.
The girl giggled.
Granny frowned. Their persecutor was maybe a three or four years older than Jack but not a hint of the younger man’s fear in Granny’s presence. She stood and twirled around, the lurid pink ball gown that she was wearing fanning out around her. The gown jarred with the leather biker boots and fingerless gloves (the left one holding a small axe), but was in keeping with the delicate tiara and pearl earrings. The scholars back on the habitat said that the ground dwellers lost their mind eventually to loneliness and desperation, hemorrhage never far away. The girl's outfit and demeanor would seem to hint at this.
Granny hefted the knife back, was a shame to have to do this but there was no reasoning with the deranged.
“What do you think of our music?” said the girl, looking from Granny over to the van where as well as the rope emerged the now buzzing hum.
“Never liked modern music, all sounds the same to me”
“No one likes it. Especially the haemorrhages” the girl giggled again.
“Eh?”
The girl skipped away from the swing and began to prance around the other play equipment, jumping and hopping. Even as a moving target, she was easily close enough for Granny to hit. But the old woman didn’t throw her knife, instead trying to make sense of the nagging realisation forming in her head. “Jack” she whispered after a moment, the young man looking across from his prone father. “How long since the hum began?”
“What?”
Granny nodded at the stopwatch dangling from around his neck, the one she could see was still ticking round, the one she had seen him starting and stopping just before the hum started.
Jack reached up to the watch, then peered at the dial, “Er, just coming up to seven minutes”
That girl had been on the ground below them already longer than the entire ground run of Jacoby yesterday, but not even the hint of a haemorrhage forming here. The first syllable of a swear word was coming from Granny’s mouth, before being interrupted by another giggle from groundside. Granny turned to look back out over over the edge of the gondola. “What ARE you?” she demanded.
The girl stopped, turned and looked up at Granny, shielding her eyes from the sun now sat on the top of the horizon. “They call me the Princess” she performed and exaggerated curtsy. “It’s silly, I know, but the end of humanity shouldn't mean an end of glamour, right?” another giggle.
“You can control them? The haemorrhages?”
“Control? No. Delay though”
“With that, that noise?” Granny pointed at the van.
“Uh-huh”
“How, how’d…” Granny’s voice trailed off
“I’ve a question for you” the girl interrupted “Has your precious Steering Committee ever taken you to see the sights of London?”
“I don’t understand” it was rare for Granny to admit confusion.
“It is a beautiful construction”
“Was” Granny corrected her tense
The girl giggled again in response, but her face then hardened before she said “I see the corruption runs deep. Now, throw down your haul, our time here is not indefinite. And don’t play the hard-lady with your silly knife any more. Anything happens to me, the music stops and we slash your precious balloons” with that threat she tossed the axe from hand to hand. “Let’s see how you cowards from the habitats enjoy life groundside.
“Ok” Granny responded meekly, then “Just let me grab it all” before she sank down into the body of the gondola.
Jack stared at her “You’re just gonna let that bitch hurt my dad then take our stuff?” anger overriding any fear of Granny
“Don’t be simple kiddo, pass me my bag” After a second’s hesitation Jack did as he was told, Granny reaching into it and emerging with a roll of gaffer tape. “Now gimmee my drone” Jack was quicker to comply this time, starting to follow Granny’s plan.
On her own Granny could either cut the harpoon tether, or strike at the Princess, but not both. Assuming their would-be robber was not alone, it would be all too easy for the accomplices to attack the vulnerable balloon which ever option Granny chose.
“Ok, I’m gonna throw the stuff over” Granny shouted to the Princess, and she did. It was just by “stuff” Granny meant a drone with a large hunting knife taped to the top of its central body. With deft control Granny used the drone to quickly slash at the rope before arcing back down in one swift movement to come to a hover with the knife pointed at the younger woman’s throat. Jack was immediately at the controls of the airship, urging power into the balloon heating elements.
“ANYONE MESS WITH MY BALLOON AND YOUR PRINCESS LOSES HER HEAD” the speaker of the drone, turned up to maximum, barked out.
Up in the gondola Granny squinted into the goggles, the drone camera focussed on the Princess’ face. The girl simply smiled back before speaking “You’re not like the others. Come find me when you are ready to set yourself free from the shackles of your airborne abomination”
For half a second Granny’s thumbs rested heavy on the control sticks, a simple push would be all it took to run the blade through the neck of an obviously dangerous criminal. But as hard-faced as Granny was, this was still little more than a child in front of her, a child with technology and knowledge seemingly beyond her years.
“Be seeing you” rattled the drone speaker, before the machine shot up into the sky behind the small airship.
The princess giggled.
The two Jacoby’s poured over a map of the area, the older Jacoby tracing a finger along a dotted line he had marked in felt-tip before they had originally set off. “New Franklin will pass near over the top of us tomorrow morning” he said, explaining how the dotted line represented the planned route of their home habitat. “Best we lay low tonight, then put all our remaining power into gaining height tomorrow. It’ll be close, but should mean we avoid needing begging for a tow” with this he nodded to the short wave radio Jack had dug out of a small storage compartment. Contacting New Franklin for assistance would cost them both reputation and buoyancy.
“I gotta spend the night with you pair?” Granny huffed, but more for the sake of appearances than any genuine disagreement with the plan. Getting back to New Franklin under their own power would save her buoyancy and avoid attention from the administrators, none of which she would count as friends. The head administrator, Faulks, had been on her case for a long time.
“We got some blankets” Jack said, an attempted peace offering after the stressful afternoon.
“Never mind that. I got some whisky” Granny produced a hip flask from the folds of her skirt, uncorking, taking a swig, and offering it to the younger man in one swift movement. “You did ok out there today kid”, high praise from Granny.
“Gee, er, thanks” Jack reached for the flask, but his father was quicker, snatching his own swig then pausing for a second in contemplation.
“Don’t tell you mother” he said after a few seconds, passing the flask to his son.
Granny smiled, then said “So what’s the haul?” she’d been desperate to look in the bin bag that Jacoby had filled at the shop, but he had been gripping it tightly even after being pulled up from the rope below.
Jacoby’s face noticeably brightened “Ah-ha, yes, I thought you’d be interested” briefly enjoying the knowledge over Granny, before placing the bag down and opening it up “Pay day” he said simply, reaching in and grabbing one of the packages inside.
It took Granny a moment to make sense of what she’d just narrowly avoided death by haemorrhage for.
Toilet roll.
She didn’t say anything, but didn’t have to. Her look alone sent Jacoby into an extensive and fast paced justification, “I know, looks crazy, but think about it. When was the last time you got to use some? It just isn’t made in New Franklin, any habitat for that point. Low supply. But everyone can use it, would use it if they could. The Steering Committee will be fighting over it like anything, probably be a bidding war, you know what they’re like, anything to get one up on the other families. So proper high demand. And it is light, no buoyancy detriment. Low supply, high demand, low weight equals pure profit for us three”
Granny frowned deeply, try to find a flaw in the logic. When she couldn’t, rather than admit a man she’d spent a day berating as a nincompoop had made a good point, she simply snatched her hip flask back and took a long pull.
“Nice one Dad” Jack was more forthcoming with praise “Reckon I’ll be able to afford a flier with my share?” he’d long idolised the planes run by the elder children of the steering committee.
“Probably not quite Jack, but maybe a drone like Granny’s. What’d you say Granny, maybe let Jack take one for a spin?” Jacoby said.
Granny was about to rebuke him for being overly familiar, but then bit her lip. The kid was a decent pilot of the family airship, maybe that would transition to her drones. And more drones meant more profit if her new venture went to plan. “Maybe, maybe” she said noncommittally after a while. “But I gotta fix this one first” she held up the drone that had been damaged in the escape from the hemorrhage, eyeing the damaged rotor. She then pulled out the large handbag that had been stowed below the seat and began rooting around, emerging with a small tool box a moment later. “If we’re gonna be stuck here overnight I might as well get a head start on repairs. Save me having to attempt small talk with you lot” and with that she busied herself with the drone. Jack looked towards his Dad who just shrugged in response. Silence fell on the hovering airship, gentle breeze causing it to pull slightly on the anchor rope Jacoby had swung around a rusted children’s swingset.
A little way away, in the shrubbery at the entrance to the play area two sets of eyes watched the airship.
Granny had disassembled the rotor housing and prized out the small plastic blades that had been damaged by the glass shard. Further rummages in the handbag had produced some spare parts and an outlandishly sized magnifying glass with a torch crudely stuck to the side of it that Granny proceeded to strap to her head, positioning the lens in front of her eyes. Getting the replacement blades back into the rotor was a fiddly job, and she had to pause from time to time to stretch out her aching fingers, muttering curses as she did so. At one point Jack offered to help - he had been sat fascinatedly watching the old lady at work - but just a glance from her was all he needed to see to keep his assistance to himself.
A bush swayed down at ground level, a couple of branches snapping.
Other than Granny’s head-torch the lights in the gondola were kept dim. Partly to save power (not that a small bulb or two was going to make much difference in their efforts to get back to New Franklin in the morning) but mainly so Jacoby could try and get some sleep. Space was at a premium, but he had wedged himself between the winch and the small storage area at the bow. The rotund man, exhausted from his day’s physical and mental strains, snored loudly as the night drew on, regardless of whatever Granny threw at him to try and get him to stop. For his part, Jack was used to his father’s snores and was also asleep, huddled down one side of the gondola, feet nudging Granny from time to time before they were slapped away.
Just outside the play area tires quietly crunched on pockmarked tarmac.
The first kiss of sunlight on the dawn horizon was visible by the time Granny had put the drone back together. She’d give it a test run once the sun was up more fully, but for now she was satisfied with her work, if not her aged fingers “I’d have had this fully disassembled and back together inside half an hour twenty years ago” she muttered to herself as she achingly rose to her feet. The gondola swayed slightly as she rested her hands on the edge, peering into the lifting gloom around them. Jack was also awake, but was busy playing with the stopwatch, testing his reactions, how quick he could start and stop it, resetting then trying again. “Simple pleasures for simple minds” Granny muttered, but Jack didn’t react.
Too dim to see much of anything else, Granny instead inelegantly busied herself with the piss bucket, best make use now before that slob Jacoby woke. Once done she tipped the bucket out over board, thin stream of liquid splashing on the ground below. She was half tempted to use some of the toilet roll they had obtained the day previous, but need for buoyancy won out of desire for a comfort that had once been taken for granted but now seemed like the height of decadence.
The hum began
Granny didn’t hear the sound to start with, but it quickly changed in pitch and resonance, causing her to look around. Jacoby started to stir, the throbbing pulse of the hum waking him.
“What’s er that?” the older man asked, stretching out as he did so, banging a knuckle on the winch mechanism.
Granny didn’t immediately respond, instead surveying their immediate surroundings. The dawn light was slowly illuminating the playground and surrounding area, but she could see nothing of note. The derelict swings and slide, the old leggy bushes, the road outside with the abandoned Transit van sat there.
Granny squinted.
“Was that van there last night?” she pointed towards the battered looking vehicle thirty metres away.
“Eh?” Jacoby was still half asleep.
The hum shifted up an octave, then back, fluctuating for a while, then buzzing back through a range of notes. The variance and echoes around the playground made it hard to identify the source, but Granny was beginning to suspect that she knew.
The van with the fully inflated tires amidst a row of otherwise rusted hulks slumped low on rotted rubber.
“Go. We need to go” Granny urged, moving to the gondola’s motor housing even though she wasn’t fully sure how it worked.
Jack jumped down next to her “What’s the matter?” But Granny didn’t have time to answer; the van’s side door sliding open, the pneumatic harpoon inside firing, the side of the gondola violently splintering as it was pierced.
“Gah” was all Jacoby managed as the wooden splinters caught him across the midfriff
“DAD!” Jack cried, attempting to get to his fathers side, but held back by Granny’s grip around his wrist.
“Get us out of here NOW!” she cried, dragging him to the motor housing
“But dad!”
“I’ll get to him, but we need to get away, right now” and with this Granny crawled to the stricken Jacoby. Jack paused for a second, but then unhooked the mooring rope and set to driving power through the airship’s systems. Heating elements flicked on in the thermal balloons above them, the rigging creaking as lift increased.
Granny reached Jacoby, the man slumped over by the side of the gondola, chest speckled red through his shirt. Granny was much more comfortable working with the innards of machinery, but was far from squeamish with more fleshy inner workings. Grabbing a nearby blanket she leant on top of Jacoby, putting pressure on the wounds. “WHY AREN’T WE MOVING?” she then demanded of Jack.
“WE’RE STUCK!” the younger man declared. Then after a glance over the side of the gondola “The harpoon, it’s tethered us to the van”
Granny snarled. One hand still putting pressure on Jacoby’s chest she levered herself to look up over the side of the gondola. Jack was right, a rope from the harpoon led all the way back to the van, holding taught. But that was the only thing holding them in place, Granny had seen better thought through stick-ups in her time. She reached into her handbag, Jack flinching slightly as she emerged with a large serrated hunting knife “Your dad never told you to be prepared?” she asked of the younger man as she then leant up and over the side of the gondola, knife in hand.
“I wouldn’t do that”
The voice hung in the air, but not from anyone on board the airship. No, it was from the girl rocking gently on the child’s swing set below them. “Be a shame to waste good rope. Especially after you destroyed a perfectly good shop yesterday” with this she put a leather-booted foot down on the floor to stop the swing and looked up. “Throw down what you took before you foolishly sparked the haemorrhage and we’ll release you”.
“Or you release us and I don’t bury this knife in your skull” Granny had shifted the grip of the knife, holding it by the blade, ready to throw. It wasn’t one of her good throwing knifes, but from a position just a few metres above target she would not miss.
The girl giggled.
Granny frowned. Their persecutor was maybe a three or four years older than Jack but not a hint of the younger man’s fear in Granny’s presence. She stood and twirled around, the lurid pink ball gown that she was wearing fanning out around her. The gown jarred with the leather biker boots and fingerless gloves (the left one holding a small axe), but was in keeping with the delicate tiara and pearl earrings. The scholars back on the habitat said that the ground dwellers lost their mind eventually to loneliness and desperation, hemorrhage never far away. The girl's outfit and demeanor would seem to hint at this.
Granny hefted the knife back, was a shame to have to do this but there was no reasoning with the deranged.
“What do you think of our music?” said the girl, looking from Granny over to the van where as well as the rope emerged the now buzzing hum.
“Never liked modern music, all sounds the same to me”
“No one likes it. Especially the haemorrhages” the girl giggled again.
“Eh?”
The girl skipped away from the swing and began to prance around the other play equipment, jumping and hopping. Even as a moving target, she was easily close enough for Granny to hit. But the old woman didn’t throw her knife, instead trying to make sense of the nagging realisation forming in her head. “Jack” she whispered after a moment, the young man looking across from his prone father. “How long since the hum began?”
“What?”
Granny nodded at the stopwatch dangling from around his neck, the one she could see was still ticking round, the one she had seen him starting and stopping just before the hum started.
Jack reached up to the watch, then peered at the dial, “Er, just coming up to seven minutes”
That girl had been on the ground below them already longer than the entire ground run of Jacoby yesterday, but not even the hint of a haemorrhage forming here. The first syllable of a swear word was coming from Granny’s mouth, before being interrupted by another giggle from groundside. Granny turned to look back out over over the edge of the gondola. “What ARE you?” she demanded.
The girl stopped, turned and looked up at Granny, shielding her eyes from the sun now sat on the top of the horizon. “They call me the Princess” she performed and exaggerated curtsy. “It’s silly, I know, but the end of humanity shouldn't mean an end of glamour, right?” another giggle.
“You can control them? The haemorrhages?”
“Control? No. Delay though”
“With that, that noise?” Granny pointed at the van.
“Uh-huh”
“How, how’d…” Granny’s voice trailed off
“I’ve a question for you” the girl interrupted “Has your precious Steering Committee ever taken you to see the sights of London?”
“I don’t understand” it was rare for Granny to admit confusion.
“It is a beautiful construction”
“Was” Granny corrected her tense
The girl giggled again in response, but her face then hardened before she said “I see the corruption runs deep. Now, throw down your haul, our time here is not indefinite. And don’t play the hard-lady with your silly knife any more. Anything happens to me, the music stops and we slash your precious balloons” with that threat she tossed the axe from hand to hand. “Let’s see how you cowards from the habitats enjoy life groundside.
“Ok” Granny responded meekly, then “Just let me grab it all” before she sank down into the body of the gondola.
Jack stared at her “You’re just gonna let that bitch hurt my dad then take our stuff?” anger overriding any fear of Granny
“Don’t be simple kiddo, pass me my bag” After a second’s hesitation Jack did as he was told, Granny reaching into it and emerging with a roll of gaffer tape. “Now gimmee my drone” Jack was quicker to comply this time, starting to follow Granny’s plan.
On her own Granny could either cut the harpoon tether, or strike at the Princess, but not both. Assuming their would-be robber was not alone, it would be all too easy for the accomplices to attack the vulnerable balloon which ever option Granny chose.
“Ok, I’m gonna throw the stuff over” Granny shouted to the Princess, and she did. It was just by “stuff” Granny meant a drone with a large hunting knife taped to the top of its central body. With deft control Granny used the drone to quickly slash at the rope before arcing back down in one swift movement to come to a hover with the knife pointed at the younger woman’s throat. Jack was immediately at the controls of the airship, urging power into the balloon heating elements.
“ANYONE MESS WITH MY BALLOON AND YOUR PRINCESS LOSES HER HEAD” the speaker of the drone, turned up to maximum, barked out.
Up in the gondola Granny squinted into the goggles, the drone camera focussed on the Princess’ face. The girl simply smiled back before speaking “You’re not like the others. Come find me when you are ready to set yourself free from the shackles of your airborne abomination”
For half a second Granny’s thumbs rested heavy on the control sticks, a simple push would be all it took to run the blade through the neck of an obviously dangerous criminal. But as hard-faced as Granny was, this was still little more than a child in front of her, a child with technology and knowledge seemingly beyond her years.
“Be seeing you” rattled the drone speaker, before the machine shot up into the sky behind the small airship.
The princess giggled.
x
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