Starfinder

UNDERWAY

SKYHIGH STOOD ON THE Avatar’s carriage deck, last in a line of forty crewmen. Chest out, his helmet tucked under his arm, he kept his eyes fixed on his commander at the window, and upon the Reach dead ahead.

Promptly at dawn, the Avatar had risen five hundred feet above Calio. Untethered from her giant mooring post, she had levitated soundlessly into the air, so gently that Skyhigh would never have known they were moving if he hadn’t been looking out a window. Now he could see dragonflies flapping noisily around the city, patrolling the skies.

Throughout the night Skyhigh had waited aboard the airship, watching workmen load her holds with crates marked DANGER and fill her billowing envelope with lifting gas. They fueled her engines, oiled her guns, polished her brass, and tightened the millions of bolts in her superstructure, yet her mission remained a mystery.

Commander Erich Donnar stood before his crew, outlined by the morning light against the window. He held his hands clasped behind him, slapping his gloves together as he paced, his blue eyes as calm as the sea. The first man ever to captain an airship, Donnar was more than just Rendor’s friend; he was the perfect choice to command the Avatar. With one eyebrow cocked higher than the other, he searched the sky until Rendor strode across the deck.

“Attention!” he called, bringing the crew back to life.

Skyhigh stared straight ahead, watching Rendor from the corner of his eye.

“The Avatar stands ready, sir,” Donnar reported. “Prepared to depart on your order.”

Rendor nodded at the news. “At ease, everyone.”

At last Skyhigh looked directly at him. In his dark coat, his silver hair slicked back, he was much the same as he’d been in his office—determined and supremely confident. The chain of his watch dangled across his belly. He had even placed a snow-white flower in his lapel.

“Good morning,” he said to the men. “We’re about to embark on the mission of a lifetime. Most men never get a chance like this, so consider yourselves lucky. We’re going to do something that’s been forbidden to humanity since the start of time. We’re going there…” He pointed toward the misty horizon. “Through the Reach.”

A murmur stirred through the crew. Skyhigh’s stomach did a somersault.

“The Avatar is the greatest, most powerful airship ever built,” Rendor continued. “You’ve all had time to study her; you all know what she can do. But the things on the other side of that fog out there are going to put her and you to the test!” The Governor glowered at the men, then broke into a mysterious grin. “And if you’re thinking I’m just some crazy old man, just you wait.”

Some of the crew glanced at Donnar for reassurance. Donnar just nodded.

“Now,” said Rendor, “here’s what you need to know…”

Skyhigh leaned in.

“Three days ago, a thirteen-year-old boy named Moth left Calio and crossed through the Reach. He has an object of great value with him. Our mission is to get it back. We’re going to find him and the object, and we’re not coming home until we do.”

Rendor gestured to Donnar to speak. “Commander.”

“We’ll be traveling low and slow,” Donnar told the crew. “We’ve taken on as much hidrenium as we can carry, but once it’s gone we’ll be stuck. That means no high speed climbs and no wasting fuel. We’ll be traveling in daylight only—no night flying. And there’ll be no friendlies to help us, either.”

Skyhigh couldn’t believe no one had mentioned Fiona yet. He raised his hand.

“Yes?”

“Question,” said Skyhigh. “We’re looking for a girl, too, aren’t we?” His eyes landed on Rendor. “Aren’t we, Governor?”

“Yes,” replied Rendor. His jaw tightened. “My granddaughter Fiona is with the boy. You all know that already.”

Again Skyhigh put up his hand.

“What?” snapped Donnar.

“I’m wondering, sir—just what exactly are we going up against?”

The crew waited anxiously for an answer.

“Things that fly, Captain Coralin,” said Rendor. “Now, all of you—do your job.”

Commander Donnar barked an order for the Avatar to depart. Up ahead, the Reach loomed and rolled, looking like it went on forever.

Like it would swallow the Avatar alive.