Goliath

TWENTY-ONE

“That will, I trust, be the last of your heroics.” Count Volger said this too softly to make Alek’s head hurt, but the words were brittle and precise.

“There weren’t any heroics. I was only there as a translator.”

“And yet here you are with bandages round your head. Rather tricky translations, I should think.”

“Rather tricky,” said Bovril with a chuckle.

Alek took a drink of water from the glass beside his bed. He was fuzzy on much of what had happened last night. He remembered the airship free-ballooning through the strange calm of the storm, and then the engines roaring to life, lashing the rain into a tempest. Things had gotten complicated after that. He’d fallen and hit his head, then almost drowned in a surge of rainwater.

And Deryn Sharp had kissed him.

“There were important repairs to be done,” he said. “A loose antenna.”

“Ah, yes. What could be more vital than Tesla’s giant flying radio?”

“Is it working?” Alek asked, wanting to change the subject. Thinking about last night made his head spin, though it pleased him to have a secret from Count Volger.

“Apparently. Tesla sits in his laboratory, tapping out messages.” The wildcount drummed his fingers. “Instructions to his assistants in New York, to prepare Goliath for our arrival.”

Bovril began to rap out Morse code on the frame of the bed.

Alek shushed the beast. “Maybe we’ve done some good, then, getting him home so quickly. If he stops the war…”

Hundreds were dying every day. Rescuing Tesla from the wilderness and getting him to America quickly might save thousands of lives. What if something so simple had been Alek’s destiny all along?

“‘If’ is a word that can never be said too loudly.” Volger stood up, looking out at the still cloudy sky. “For example, if you had died last night, the last decade of my life would’ve been altogether wasted.”

“Have a little faith in me, Volger.”

“I have great faith, tempered with vast annoyance.”

Alek smiled weakly, falling back into his pillows. The ship’s engines were still at full-ahead, the stateroom rumbling around him. The world was unsteady.

It wasn’t fair of Deryn, kissing him. She knew the story of how his father had married a woman of lesser station, and all the disasters that had resulted. It had torn Alek’s family apart, and in turn had upset the balance of Europe. His father’s one selfish act of true love had cost more than anyone could count.

The pope’s letter might make Alek the heir to his granduncle’s throne, but it didn’t alter the fact that he’d been rejected by his own family. The slightest mark against him would cast his legitimacy into doubt. Alek couldn’t allow himself to think about a commoner that way. He had a war to stop.

He made a fist and wiped his lips with the back of his hand.

“Great faith,” Bovril repeated. “Vast annoyance.”

Giving the beast a withering look, Volger said, “The captain asked me to mention that he’ll be coming to see you.”

“He must be annoyed as well. He had to risk four men just to rescue me.” Alek closed his eyes and began to rub his temples. “I hope he doesn’t shout.”

“I shouldn’t worry.” Volger began to pace, his footsteps echoing in Alek’s head. “Unlike mine, his annoyance will be well hidden.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Darwinists see you as a link to Tesla. You’re both Clankers, and both of you have switched sides in this war.”

“Tesla doesn’t think much of my political connections.”

“Not to the Austrian government, no. But he sees you as a way to broadcast the news of his weapon.” The man mercifully stopped pacing. “You were famous already, thanks to those ridiculous articles. And soon you will arrive in America on the world’s greatest airship.”

Alek sat up again and stared at Volger, trying to figure out if the man was serious.

“He’s always been a showman. Dr. Barlow told me about his spectacle in Tokyo.” Volger gave a shrug. “It makes sense, I suppose. The best way to keep Goliath from being used is to tell everyone what it can do, and that means creating a sensation. So why not promote his weapon to end the war with you, the boy whose family tragedy started it?”

Alek rubbed his temples again. The pounding was getting worse with every word. First Deryn, now this. “It all sounds quite undignified.”

“You wanted a destiny.”

“Are you saying I should let him put me on display?”

“I’m suggesting, Your Serene Highness, that you get as much sleep as possible over the next few days.” Volger smiled. “Your headaches have only begun.”

The ship’s officers came a few hours later, just when Alek had managed to fall back asleep.

A marine sergeant shook him awake, then snapped to attention with a painful smack of his boot heels against the floor. Dr. Busk took Alek’s pulse, staring at his watch and nodding sagely.

“You appear to be recovering nicely, Prince.”

“Someone should tell my head that.” Alek nodded at the assembled visitors. “Captain, First Officer, Dr. Barlow.”

“Good afternoon, Prince Aleksandar,” the captain said, and the four of them bowed together.

Alek frowned. This all seemed oddly formal, given that he was lying here in his nightshirt. He wished they would go away and let him sleep.

Dr. Barlow’s loris dropped from her shoulder to the floor and crawled under the bed, where Bovril joined it. The two beasts began to mutter snatches of conversation to each other.

“What can I do for you?” Alek asked.

“You’ve already done it, in a manner of speaking.” The captain was beaming, his voice altogether too loud. “Middy Sharp told us how bravely you assisted him last night.”

“Assisted him? Dylan made the repairs. I only fell and hit my head, from what I can recall.”

The officers all laughed at this, loudly enough to make Alek wince, but Dr. Barlow’s expression remained serious.

“Without you, Alek, Mr. Sharp would have been un-tethered on the spine.” She looked out the window. “In gale conditions nothing is more dangerous than working topside alone.”

“Yes, I make excellent deadweight.”

“Most amusing, Your Majesty,” said Captain Hobbes. “But this modesty is falling on deaf ears, I’m afraid.”

“I only did what any member of the crew would have done.”

“Exactly.” The captain nodded vigorously. “But you are not a member of this crew, and yet you performed heroically. A copy of Mr. Sharp’s report has already been dispatched to the Admiralty.”

“The Admiralty?” Alek sat up straighter. “That seems a bit… excessive.”

“Not at all. Reports of heroism are sent to London as a matter of course.” He clicked his heels together and made a small bow. “But whatever they decide, you have my personal thanks.”

The officers made their good-byes then, but the lady boffin remained behind, snapping her fingers for her loris. The beast seemed reluctant to come out from beneath the bed, where Bovril was babbling the names of German radio parts.

“Excuse me, Dr. Barlow,” Alek asked. “But what was that all about?”

“You really don’t know? How charming.” She gave up on her loris and sat down on the end of the bed. “I think the captain means to give you a medal.”

Alek felt his jaw drop open. A week ago it would have overjoyed him to be made one of the crew, much less decorated as an airman. But Volger’s warnings were still fresh in his aching head.

“To what purpose?” he asked. “And don’t tell me it’s in recognition of my heroism. What does the captain want from me?”

The lady boffin sighed. “So jaded for one so young.”

“Jaded, heh,” came a small voice from beneath the bed.

“Don’t be tiresome, Dr. Barlow. The captain already knows I’ll help Mr. Tesla’s cause. Why must he bribe me with medals?”

She looked out the window at the boiling clouds. “Perhaps he fears you’ll change your mind.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because someone might convince you that Mr. Tesla is a fraud.”

“Ah.” Alek remembered Deryn’s words in Tokyo. “And might that someone be you?”

“We shall see.” Dr. Barlow reached down and snapped her fingers again, and finally her beast emerged. She lifted it onto her shoulder. “I am a scientist, Alek. I do not deal in surmise. But when I have proof, I’ll let you know.”

“It was awful, being at war with you,” said the loris on her shoulder.

Alek stared at it, recalling when he’d said the words to Deryn in Japan. Had Bovril recounted that entire conversation to the other loris? The thought of all their secrets being traded between the creatures was most unsettling.

Dr. Barlow shook her head. “Pay no attention. These two beasts were clearly damaged in their eggs. Years wasted, all thanks to one bumpy landing in the Alps.” She reached out to straighten Alek’s bandages. “And speaking of bumps, do get some sleep, or you shall wind up as simpleminded as they.”

After she left, Bovril emerged from beneath the bed. It crawled up onto Alek’s stomach, chuckling to itself.

“What’s got you amused?” he asked.

The creature turned to Alek, suddenly wearing a serious look.

“Fell from the sky,” it said.