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Deryn snapped to attention with the others, but her glare stayed fixed on Fitzroy He was stronger than her, but in the two tiny bunk rooms that the e

Then Captain Hobbes and Dr Busk entered the er faded It wasn’t often that the master of the Leviathan, much less the ship’s head boffin, addressed the lowly lance with Newkirk

"At ease, gentle you news of war Not today, at least"

Some of the other o Austria-Hungary had finally declared war on Serbia, vowing to avenge their murdered archduke with an invasion A few days later Germany had started up with Russia, which meant that France would be next into the fray War between the Darwinist and Clanker poas spreading like a vicious rumor, and it didn’t see

"You may have noticed London underneath us," the captain continued "An unusual visit, and that’s not the half of it We’ll be setting down in Regent’s Park, near His Majesty’s London Zoo"

Deryn’s eyes widened Flying over London was bad enough, but co to stir the pot for sure And not just for Monkey Luddites Even old Darwin hiot antsy about a thousand-foot airbeast landing on his picnic

The captain crossed to the s and looked down "Regent’s Park is at best a half th A tricky business, but the risk is a necessary one We’re taking aboard an iuest, a member of the zoo’s staff, for transport to Constantinople"

Deryn wondered for a ht Constantinople was in the Ottoman Empire, clear on the other side of Europe, and the Ottomans were Clankers Why in blazes would the Leviathan be headed there now?

The airship had spent the last ht, and dailyhawks They’d even floithin sight of a Ger airship wasn’t scared of any pile of gears and engines

And now they were headed off on a jaunt to Constantinople?

Dr Busk spoke up "Our passenger is a scientist of great renoho’ll be undertaking an io aboard, of a delicate nature It must be treated with the utmost care"

The captain cleared his throat "Mr Rigby and I ht"

Deryn took a slow breath Weightso that’s what this was about

The Leviathan was "aerostatic," Service-speak for being the sa this balance was a fussy business When rain collected topside, water had to be dumped from the ballast holds If the ship expanded in the hot sun, hydrogen had to be vented off And when passengers or extra cargo ca else had to be taken off - usually so more useless than a new nals and navigation scores," the captain was saying "Mr Rigby eigh in on which of you are paying the most attention in lectures And, of course, any entlemen"

He turned and strode fro with him There was a moment of silence as the ht be gone froht, lads," Mr Rigby snapped "You heard the captain We’re about to land on an iround crew in froer is going to need help down there Mr Fitzroy and Mr Sharp, you two are the best with the Huxleys, so you’ll head down first "

As the bosun gave his orders, Deryn looked at the other aze coolly, and she didn’t have to guess what that bu She’d been aboard the Leviathan barely a month, and it was only by freak chance that she was here at all Not much better than a stoay, as far as Fitzroy was concerned

Deryn glared right back at hi about who’d been aboard longest He was looking at airmanship, so he wanted to keep his best men

And that’s exactly what she was, man or not

Maybe all the competition on the Leviathan would serve her well now Thanks to Da’s training, Deryn had always beat the other by would admit that her behavior hadn’t been as rowdy lately, and he’d just co as the landing went brilliantly, there was nothing to worry about at all

Regent’s Park spread out beneath Deryn, its grass thick froroundthe last few civilians out of the landing area A thin line of policeawkers The Leviathan’s shadow lay across the trees, and the air treines’ hu for the intersection of two footpaths, where a local chief constable aiting orders Aat her uniform like the claws of a nervous cat

"We’re ally She didn’t fancy arriving on the ground with a panicked lizard, the captain’s landing orders garbled beyond understanding

Deryn was a bit nervous herself She’d ridden ascenders a half dozen tihed the least of all the hest But that had been on U-boat spotting duty, with the Huxley cabled to the airship This was the first time she’d free-ballooned since her wild ride as a recruit

So far, at least, it had been a textbook descent The airbeast’s extra ballast was bringing it down fast, guided by a pair of gliding wings attached to her rig

Deryn wondered as so i a hundred picnics and risking disaster by landing here in the park, and probably scaring the clart out of every Monkey Luddite in London And all just to get some scientist to Constantinople a bit quicker?

This fellow must be soround was rushing closer, and Deryn let out a slosh of ballast Her descent slowed a squick, the spilled water sparkling in the sun as it cascaded down The hter

"Don’t you worry, beastie," Deryn by had told her to get down fast, with no nonsense She i the descent with his stopwatch, pondering who should be cut from the crew

It didn’t see years of by could see that she’d been born to fly

A crosswind ruffled the Huxley, and as Deryn pulled it back on course, a horrible notion struck her If she were the unlucky , surely they’d stick her on another airship Maybe even the Minotaur, where Jaspert was serving

But the Leviathan felt like part of Deryn now, her first real home since Da’s accident The first place where no one had ever seen her in a skirt, or expected her to mince and curtsy She couldn’t lose her position here just because soroundin the Huxley’s shadow, ready to reach up and grab its tentacles She tipped the gliding wings back to slow the descent, easing the air-beast down into their grasp There was a jolt as they pulled her to a halt, and the e lizard made a squawk

"Constable Winthrop?" it babbled

"Hang on another minute!" she pleaded The lizard by when theShe hoped it wouldn’t start jabbering Message lizards could babble old snatches of conversation when they were nervous You never knehat eround men pulled the Huxley steady and drew it quickly down

She unstrapped herself fro and saluted the chief constable "Midship with the captain’s lizard, sir"

"That was a show to ask the constable to pass this senti the lizard fro ropes and wind speeds, rattling off instructions faster than a dozen signalh he understood half of what the lizard was saying, but Fitzroy would be here soon to help She spotted his ascender landing not far away, and was pleased that she’d beaten him down

The airship’s shadow fell across thean to scramble in all directions This was no tie here; it was Deryn’s job to prepare the boffin’s cargo for loading

She saluted the chief constable again, glanced up at the airship loo overhead, and took off for the zoo at a run

SIXTEEN

His Majesty’s London Zoo was squawking like a bag of budgies on fire Deryn skidded to a halt at the entry gate, stunned by the tuht a troop ofinto the air Past theitated birds, a blizzard of pluiant elephantine stah Deryn’s boots