Bram Möller's Arc

Chapter 51 of 63

Bram slept two hours on the harbormaster's bench and woke to grey light on the window. The delay clock read seven hours gone. Five left. He went outside. Omondi stood at the mast with a mug in his hand, watching the eastern sky. Cora sat on a fuel crate beside him, working at her mechanical owl with a small screwdriver. She had not slept. "Any sign of the hawk?" Bram asked. "Nothing yet," Omondi said. "Six hours by tender is the fair-weather number. Wendell weighs what he weighs. Sigrun will not fly him fast." Bram opened his journal on the crate and checked the wind notes he had made at dusk. A north front had been building over the ridge. If it dropped early, the tender would be pinned at the waystation and Cora would be gone by noon. "Send the owl east," he said to Cora. "I want eyes on that tender. If she is behind schedule, I need to know before the agent does." Cora clicked the plate shut on the owl and set it on her wrist. "Wing joint is stiff. She can fly an hour, maybe two." "One hour east and back. That is all I need." The owl lifted with a hiss of steam and cleared the mast. Cora watched it climb until it was a speck against the cloud. Then she sat down and put her hands under her arms. "He will come," Bram said. "He is a mountain man in a wool coat," Cora said. "He does not fit in a tender." The owl came back inside the hour. It landed hard on the crate and vented a thin whistle. Cora pulled the reading slip from its leg. "Tender four miles east," she read. "Low and slow. Two aboard." Bram went inside to the counter. The agent was already there, folio open, watching the clock on the wall. The harbormaster looked up. "Guardian sighted four miles east," Bram said. "Physician aboard. I am filing arrival notice." The agent's mouth tightened. He said nothing. The tender came in forty minutes later. Wendell climbed down first, slow on the ladder, his wool coat pale against the dark wood. Sigrun followed with a leather bag. Wendell walked straight to the counter and set his broad hand on the witness log. "Wendell Frost," he said. "Second guardian to Cora Springwick. I am here in person, as the writ requires." Sigrun laid her affidavit beside his hand. The harbormaster read both, then the challenge writ, then the delay motion. He took his stamp and pressed it down twice. "Guardianship confirmed," he said. "Indenture claim returns to court matter. Crew member cleared for launch." The agent gathered his folio and left without a word. Bram stepped outside. Cora was already at the mast, untying the north line. The winter circuit lead was still gone, but Cora was crew, and the bag was cleared to fly.