Bram Möller's Arc

Chapter 41 of 63

Bram left the harbormaster's office with the stamp fresh on his page and the indenture notice heavy in his pocket. Outside, the wind had shifted west. He walked toward the courier bag with Cora and Omondi following. The next harbor was six hours out, and he needed to know if he could fuel there before he committed the crew to the leg. Omondi caught up first, wiping snow off his glasses and nearly tripping on a coil of rope. "Fuel reserve at the next harbor is thin this week. I heard it from the tender pilot. We should send word ahead." "I'll do better than that," Bram said. He pulled the worn journal from his jacket and turned to the harbor's page. He'd flown this stop a dozen times. The harbormaster there ran a tight ledger and would not sell a drop without a valid crew sheet on file. "I'll wire the sheet. If he holds a tank for us, we go. If not, we route around." Cora set the mechanical owl on a crate and rewound its spring while she listened. She was quieter than she'd been at the depot loft. She kept touching her pocket where Bram had folded the indenture notice back into her hand an hour ago. Bram sent the wire from the harbor office. He listed his bid number, his aircraft, and his crew: Dr. Kamau Omondi and Cora Springwick. He paid for a reply. The reply came back in twenty minutes. The clerk read it aloud. Fuel available. Crew sheet flagged. Springwick indenture on record. No sale until cleared. Cora looked at the floor. Omondi opened his mouth and closed it. Bram unfolded the notice on the counter. Below the clockmaker's claim, in the margin, Wendell Frost's signature sat as second guardian. The witness log copy was clipped behind it. He asked the clerk for a fresh wire form. He wrote it short. Indenture converted to court matter. Second guardian signed. Witness log filed at depot. Copies at every harbor on the north line. Confirm receipt. He paid again and waited. Vex came in stamping snow off her boots and read over his shoulder without speaking. The reply took forty minutes. Court matter noted. Sale approved on arrival. Tank held four hours. Bram folded both wires into the journal and closed it. "Four hours," he said. "We launch inside the hour or we lose it." Omondi was already moving for the field. Cora picked up the owl and followed, faster now. Outside, Bram stopped at the mooring pin and looked west. The clockmaker would hear about the wire before morning. The court matter would follow them harbor to harbor now, one wire ahead at every stop. But the tank was his, and the lead was his, and the bag would fly.