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Dr Barloas tucking a black veil under her bowler, like a boffin at a funeral "My grandfather fabricated one of these species I wanted to taste his handiwork"

Her grandfather? Dr Barlow had to be even younger than she looked

"You seem surprised, Mr Sharp The honey is edible, is it not?"

"Aye, by makes all usup his face, and Newkirk had looked ready to spew But the taste was as good as any natural honey, really

Deryn drew her rigging knife and reached out to the expanse of hexagonal co a bit of honey onto its blade She offered the knife to Dr Barloho loaded a fingertip, then reached under her veil to place it between her lips

"Hmm Just like honey"

"Water, mostly," Deryn said "With a few squicks of carbon for flavor"

Dr Barlow nodded "A very sound analysis, Mr Sharp But you’re frowning"

"Pardon randfather was a Darwinist? He must have been one of the first"

Dr Barlow smiled "He was indeed And he had rather a fascination with bees, especially how they connected cats and clover"

"Cats, ma’am?"

"And clover, yes He noticed that red clover flowers abundantly near towns but only thinly in the wild" Dr Barlow rubbed her finger along the knife for another taste "You see, in England most cats live in towns - and cats eat mice These same mice, Mr Sharp, attack the nests of bees for their honey And red clover cannot groithout bees to pollinate it Do you follow?"

Deryn raised an eyebrow "Um, I’m not sure, ma’am"

"But it’s very simple Near towns there areinwebs of such relations You’re frowning again, Mr Sharp"

"It’s just thathe sounds like a rather eccentric gentleman"

"Some think so" Dr Barlow chuckled "But at tis that others do not You must sharpen your razor very well"

Deryn sed "My razor, ma’am?"

The lady boffin reached out to hold Deryn by her chin "Both sides of your face are equally sh your shave?"

As Dr Barloaited for an answer, the buzzing of the hives roared in Deryn’s head, and the ay seemed to tilt beneath her feet She’d been such a ninny to muck about with razors This was how she’d always been caught out in lies -complicated

"II’m not sure what you mean, ma’am"

"How old are you, Mr Sharp?"

Deryn blinked She couldn’t speak

"With a face that smooth, not sixteen," Dr Barlow continued "Perhaps fourteen? Or younger?"

A squick of hope began to trickle through Deryn Had the lady boffin guessed the wrong secret? She decided to tell the truth: "Barely fifteen,a shrug "Well, I’m sure you’re not the first boy to co Your secret is safe with randfather’s true realization was this: If you remove one element - the cats, the mice, the bees, the flowers - the entire web is disrupted An archduke and his wife arepiece can be very bad for the puzzle, whether in the natural world, or politics, or here in the belly of an airship You seem like a fine crewman, Mr Sharp I’d hate to lose you"

Deryn nodded slowly, trying to take all of this in "I’reement with that, ma’am"

"Besides " A hint of a s your little secret makes it easier, should I wish to tell you some of mine"

Before Deryn had a chance to wonder what that couldover the roar of the hives

"Do you hear that, eneral alarm?" Dr Barlow nodded sadly "I’m afraid so It would appear that Britain and Germany are finally at war"

TWENTY

The Klaxon was ringing in triplets, the signal for an aerial attack

"I have to run, ma’am," Deryn said quickly "Can you make it back to your cabin alone?"

"I’d think not, Mr Sharp I shall be with o"

"But - butthis is an alert," Deryn sputtered "You can’t go to the machine room!"

Dr Barlow took Tazza’s leash froulations, young ers are supposed to stay - "

"And midshipmen are supposed to be sixteen years old" Dr Barloaved her hand "Don’t you have soet to?"

Deryn let out a pained growl, but gave up in disgust and turned away She’d done her best - the lady boffin could hang herself out the s if she wanted

As Deryn ran back toward the ondola, the aluminum ay tre the passageways of the ship She dodged past a squad ofhalfway through for a peek outside

The icy wind between gondola and airbeast ruines - the angry snarl of Clanker technology A winged shape caught a flash of ht in the distance, an Iron Cross painted on its tail

The Gerh after all

Deryn dropped the rest of the way down, landing hard enough to bang her teeth together The middies’ battle station was topside with the bats, so she’d need a flight suit to keep fro Deryn’s suit was back in her cabin, but the riggers always had spares hanging in their bunk rooen sniffers, looking for a suit with a pair of gloves stuffed into the pockets There wasn’t tiheadedness had delayed her long enough

As she buttoned the coverall up to her neck, Deryn felt dizzy for a moment The rush of battle had come too soon after the shock of Dr Barlow’s near discovery The lady boffin had promised not to tell, but she didn’t know the whole story - not yet With those sharp eyes of hers, she’d have to guess the truth eventually

Deryn took a deep breath and shook her head clear This wasn’t the time to fret about secrets The as finally here

She gave her safety line a yank to test its strength, then headed for the rigging hatches