Chapter 33 - The Kraken Gate
I scanned the sky. Inigo followed my lead, back-pedalling slightly so he could better see beyond the rooftops of the mansion.
‘I can’t see any others,’ he said, rejoining me. ‘If it’s an invasion, it’s a small one.’
‘Airships are vulnerable. Perhaps the main body of the force came down further out, landing their troops at a safe distance.’
Inigo nodded.
‘Can you see the insignia?’ I asked, looking for the emblem of the all-seeing eye. Although the craft was heading towards us, it was angled slightly to the right to counteract cross-wind induced drift, exposing its flank slightly.
‘It’s still too far away.’
I noticed Benjamin standing near the fountain. His men were lining up in front of him, the laggards arriving on the double. Someone had handed him a telescope through which he was looking at the incoming blimp. I marched over and asked if I could borrow it. I expected him to make some snide remark, use the opportunity to belittle me, but he merely handed them over.
‘No markings that I can see,’ he said, craning his head to watch some of his men mount a Cattersly gun on its tripod, an eight barrel monster with a rotary action. I didn’t think much of the position they’d chosen, out in the open.
I buttoned my tunic against the chill evening air and peered through the telescope briefly. Satisfied that I would add little to the sum total of knowledge, I passed it to Inigo who had followed me over. He knew more about these machines than I did.
Benjamin and Banks exchanged a hurried dialogue before dispatching some of the marines to defensive positions.
‘It’s definitely too small to be a dreadnought,’ said Inigo. ‘More like a corvette-class, but the configuration is wrong. There are no gun emplacements on the sides of the gondola and no deflector baffles.’ Military airships were almost always fitted with a protective metal grill running along their vulnerable underbelly.
‘Could it be one of ours?’
‘I prefer that to the the alternative.’
The airship was closer now. I could hear the clatter of the gascom engines, a technology that Emberly had yet to master.
‘What do we do, boss?’ asked Inigo.
I was about to answer when Ankush and Mahkran found us. They’d run most of the way from the hunting lodge as soon as they’d heard the news. Mahkran had his sniper’s rifle and a pistol which he handed to Inigo. Ankush handed me the masher carbine and an over-shoulder holster and bandolier, specially adapted for it.
‘Na-Su said you are growing fond of it.’
I laughed. ‘I hope I don’t need it. If the Nallians get close enough for me to use it, we’ve been overrun.’
‘What’s the plan?’
I looked at the airship again. It had crossed the estate’s boundary wall now and was heading straight for us, losing height as it came. The big rear ailerons twitched, countering turbulence. As it cleared the copse, the soldiers scattered and found cover, all except those manning the Catterlsy gun, and Benjamin who stood with them, a revolver in his hand.
‘Whoever it is, I’m meeting them here. Ankush, you’re with me…Mahkran, please get up the clocktower and cover us from there.’ There was no way that I was going to run and hide while Lieutenant Scott was standing out in the open. The roar of the gascom engines was louder, but the note had dropped as the pilot worked to slow the craft on its final approach. Landing lights flared along its flank, illuminating the pasture below and probing ahead to the lawn where we stood. A hatch opened on the side of the gondola and a man stepped out onto the running board.
‘Hold your fire!’ Benjamin called to his men.
The airship came to a halt, hovering just beyond the ha-ha. A line was dropped to the ground with something heavy attached to the end. The man who’d thrown it rappelled down, holding it steady while two more men appeared and followed him to the ground. Spotlights illuminated them as they worked. They detached what looked to be a man-size screw from the end of the line, then holding it on its end, they used the spokes on the other end to wind it into the ground. Finally, they secured the ship to it using a tether hanging from its nose. The pilot killed the engines. An ethereal silence descended as the ship yawed slightly, its rear stabilising in the downwind position.
Benjamin strode over to the stone bench on the far side of the gravel driveway where he spoke with Captain Banks. Moments later, Banks and two of his men headed for the mooring point to meet the newcomers. They arrived beneath the airship just as its rear was steadied with a couple of long lines looped around nearby trees.
‘Well, they’re not shooting at each other,’ I said to Benjamin, who had returned to his post by the Cattersly. We watched as a conversation took place. The men looked like ants beneath a breeding sow. Someone on the vessel killed the landing lights, leaving only one floodlight and one spotlight illuminating the ground below. A rope ladder unrolled and several more people descended. Then, as we watched Captain Banks make his way back towards us, they began working ropes and pulleys, and a large basket was gradually lowered.
‘It’s Director Harman,’ said Banks.
‘I didn’t know he had an airship.’
‘He doesn’t,’ said Banks. ‘The chancellor loaned it to him.’
Benjamin stood his men down. The Cattersly was disassembled and some of the marines were dispatched to find Rigsby and arrange for a waggon to be brought. Soon we were all standing near the airship, waiting as the basket made another descent. I looked back at the mansion and saw Professor Maddison and Jenniver were coming to join the reception committee.
Harman’s butler, Obermann, was visible first as the basket descended, then the Director’s head came into view . It was obvious that he was in a foul mood.
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