Bram Möller's Arc

Chapter 4 of 63

Bram folded the paper strip into his jacket and turned back to the bar. The keeper was wiping a glass with a rag that had seen better winters. Bram set the strip on the counter and smoothed it flat so the man could read the shaking numbers. "Dawn window," Bram said. "Two hours. I need the mast cleared and the ground hands on the line by first light." The keeper did not look at the paper. He looked at Bram. "No launches from my mast before the depot opens the route. Depot's closed the pass. That means closed." "The pass is closed to blind flight. I have a read now." "You have a scrap of paper from a broken owl." The keeper set the glass down. "Two pilots didn't come back yesterday. I'm not sending a third off my roof so his widow can shout at me in spring." Bram put both hands on the bar. "My envelope is patched. If I sit here through the day it will freeze solid on your mast and I'll never lift it. Dawn is the only window." "Then you should have landed somewhere else." A chair scraped at the stove. A woman stood up from the bench behind it. Bram had not seen her come in. Red hair cut short, engineer's jacket, gloves cut at the fingers. Dr. Cassandra Vex. The woman who had bolted the illegal coil to his gasbag two days ago and taken half his fee in coin. She walked to the bar without hurrying. She dropped a small brass shape onto the counter between Bram and the keeper. A coiled serpent, hollow, vents at the mouth. Steam ghosted from its jaw in the warm air. "Fog cutter," she said to the keeper. "Runs off a hand pump. Clears the mast rime in about ten minutes. I'll work it myself. Your hands don't have to touch his line." The keeper stared at her. "You. Here." "Weather held me too," she said. She did not look at Bram. "I want the other half of my fee. He can't pay me from a mast in your yard." The keeper's jaw worked. Bram waited. The room had gone quiet behind them. "Off my roof by sunrise," the keeper said. "You crash, it's on her, not the inn." "Agreed," Vex said. The keeper walked away down the bar. Vex finally turned to Bram. Her eyes were flat. "You still owe me. And that envelope will not take a second hard climb. So when you go over the pass, you go straight through. No circling. No second try." Bram picked up the brass serpent. It was warm. "Why help me?" "Because I'm not getting paid by a dead man." She sat back down by the stove. "Sleep if you can. I'll wake you before light."