Chapter One

The sun danced through a dusty oval window on a rusty old ship. The rays made their way quickly to Frances Griswold’s face. It nudged her awake forcing her from her slumber and yanking her out of her horrible nightmares. Drool dripped from her open mouth and made its way from her pouty lips to the white piece of parchment below her. She slowly opened her heavy eye lids as the light of the morning greeted her ever so gently.

Her ears heard nothing but the soft wisps of wind swirling around the nearly empty cabin. Her twin bed had brown sheets tugged neatly across the mattress. Books about air ships, mechanics, steam powered machines and engineering lay on the cracking wooden floor. Over her head, machines spun and clanked loudly. A bright light was left on from the night before, the steam powering it running out and fogged up her window. The rest of the room seemed lonely, empty. As if Frances barely spent any time in her quarters.

She grumbled something to herself as she lifted her head off the cherry wood desk on which she so carelessly fell asleep on. Her hands came to her face to lazily rub the sleep from her blue eyes. They were still remembering the weight of the nightmares even though her brain couldn’t recall most of the details. Frances looked down to her desk as her brain started to recall what she was doing there the night before.

The piece of parchment bore the beginnings of new plans but now they were smeared by her slapdash drooling. Her tool belt lay on the cluttered desk. Each tool gleamed in the morning sun. Her name was etched into her first tool ever obtained, her wrench. Papers and folders made up most of her mess.

Damn it, she thought. She gingerly placed the plans into a manila folder labeled in surprisingly girly cursive, future projects. It’s going to have to wait for now. If I don’t get to my post soon I’ll never hear the end of it. I sometimes really hate being the lead mechanic around here.

Her legs didn’t seem to listen to her brain’s signals to move. Frances let out a long sigh and forced herself up out of her timber chair. Her feet moved heavily across the floor of the cabin and her golden tail and long blonde hair swayed slowly behind her. It didn’t take her long to notice she was still in the same clothes as the night before.

Oil stained her white work shirt and her black suspenders. There was a small tuff of oil on her brown work pants. The only parts of her clean were her boots wrapped in dark brown spats. She placed a hand on her head to check for her brass goggles. Once she was sure they were secure on her head she made her glasses weren’t crooked like they always were when she woke up in such a state. She took one last look at her cabin before she reluctantly closed the heavy wooden door.

Her legs dragged as if her whole body was made out of pure lead. She made her way across the airship to her post where her fellow mechanics would be waiting for her. Her hand trembled as she placed it on the brass doorknob. She turned it at a snail's pace and took a step into the boiler room of the ship. A head came swinging down from the top rafters of the wooden ship to greet her. A happy voice called out “Good morning Francy!”

Frances knew the voice belonged to Erastus Canning, her second in command in the gear works. His smiling face was nearly covered by the thick black facial hair he allowed to grow on his face. His hair was greased back into a pony tail and a wrench was held tightly in his beefy hand. He dressed much like she did and much of the others did. It was comfortable attire smeared in oil. His legs were wrapped around the main rafter in the boiler room. She was surprised he could hold himself up. Frances sighed and pushed him out of the way so she could enter the room.

“Morning Erastus,” she greeted grumpily. “Why do you have to be so cheerful this time of day anyway?”

Erastus swung his limber body down from the rafter and landed on the floor with a loud bang. He took out the white cloth from his back pocket to wipe the oil off his wrench and he turned around quickly to face her. “Because it’s another fine day here on the good airship,” he replied. “Why are you always so grumpy?”

Frances shook her head and turned her attention to the large brass gears that were turning the inner mechanics of the ship. Her eyes then shifted to the coal that was being shoveled into the main firebox by a small framed honey haired girl whom she knew as Allie Wickham. “Because it’s another fine day here on the good airship,” she repeated what he had said with a sigh.

Allie’s dark blonde hair frizzed slightly under the amount of steam coming from the burning firebox. She was dressed in a tight trench coat that was wrapped around her small waist with a brown belt. Her legs covered in black lace leggings and her boots came to her knee. She kept them polished at all times and seemed rather out of place in the boiler room.

She stopped for a moment to catch her breath and she leaned her small body on the shovel. “Hey there Frances,” she greeted in her heavily accented voice. It was small but large at the same time. Most people on the ship paid the most attention to Allie when she spoke even if she was only third in command also known as the First Mate. She saw herself as the left hand woman.

“What are you doing here Allie? Where is Jepth?” Frances asked. “Isn’t he the one whose supposed to be here doing the grunt work?”

“Always a pleasure my dear Frances,” Allie laughed. “He’s doing some maintenance top side so I decided to help out down here. I hope it’s not a problem Miss Griswold.”

“No, I’m just surprised,” she said with a shrug of her wide shoulders. Allie wiped some sweat from her brow and to wipe away the fog that had formed on her brass goggles. She turned her back and continued to work away on keeping the coal burning. Frances turned her head to Erastus. “We should fix those gears over there,” she said with a point. “They haven’t been working as well as they should and if that gives out we won’t be in the air much longer.”

“I’m at your command my dear Frances,” he said with a slight bow and a grin. His bushy black tail waved to her. She merely laughed as she rolled her eyes. She took him by his gloved hand and led him over so they could start their work.

***

Music played top side. The sounds of violins and drums filled the air. Frances raised an eyebrow at the sounds of women’s voices flowing to her ears. Jepth Fuzzey was dancing with Judith Canning while a small robot cleaned the deck floor. Frances shook her head and made her way over to the pair.

“Are you really going to allow a robot to do your work?” she asked.

Judith smiled sweetly at her while Jepth dipped her. “We needed to have some fun after the morning we had with our propellers,” she said sweetly. Judith had a mane of flowing red hair tied back into a braid which was nothing like her brother’s oily black hair. Her goggles were also made of brass with used gears covering them, her own touch.

Her hair matched the bushy tail that swayed behind her. Its tip was sprayed white. A small jacket covered the white oiled stained shirt. A large belt held up shorts and leggings torn from years of abuse lined her well toned legs. Her boots were rugged and mangled covered in new cloth spats she had sewed herself.

Jepth’s blond hair was a complete shaggy mess. His goggles were perched on his head almost unnoticed under the amount of hair on his head. He wore a brown shirt and on top that, a black vest decorated with old gears that shined under the hot sun. His pants were dark brown and his boots came half way up his leg. A small ray gun was tucked away under a huge belt that kept his pants up.

“What happened up here? Allie told me that Jepth was working up here but I wasn’t sure on what,” Frances said.

“There was a jam,” he replied. He led Judith and Frances over to the rusted brass propeller that helped keep the airship in the sky. He pointed upwards at it and took out his wrench. Frances jumped at the sight. It was something she had never seen before. His wrench was bent faintly to the left. “This was the result when I tried to get that small little gear back into place. Who would have guessed? Anyway, it’s fixed now thanks to Judy.”

“Oh stop it Jepth,” she said modestly. “We both managed to figure it out and after some oil and elbow grease; it works good as new now!”

Frances nodded her head with a smile. There were only a few times when the propellers failed and most of those times she was the called to fix it every one of those times. She became frustrated at the fact that she was the only one able to fix it so she passed on her knowledge to Erastus who in turn passed it on to Judith. Jepth wasn’t too familiar with the parts of the ship because he was the last of the mechanics to join the crew.

Frances was just glad to see one of her mechanics was able to teach him without her even asking to. However, she was wondering why Allie would send him to fix something he wasn’t sure of. Of course, it was plausible that Allie had no idea that he didn’t know since she herself knew very little about the inner workings of the ship. Sometimes, Frances wondered if Allie even understood how the ship was able to stay in the air.

The small robot beeped to say it had completed its task. The small robot whose name was S.P.A.R.E. (Steam Powered Alloy Robot Engineer) stood about three foot five and was humanoid in appearance. He was made out of brass and his eyes resembled Jepth when his goggles were over his eyes. On his back were his main power source, a storage container of water and a small place for a flame to be placed. Frances had built him three years ago when the ship was short staffed. His main purpose was the help her with repairs but now that the crew has grown; he had been demoted to mop duty not that he seemed to mind.

“Spare seems to want some more work,” Judith said with a slight giggle. “You know, the inner toilets do need some cleaning.” She took Spare’s controls and began to lead him in the direction of the toilets. “I’ll see you two later. If we don’t work, Sophia might have our hides.” Judith had a slight sway to her as she walked away from them. Once she disappeared Frances turned her heel to leave as well but Jepth grabbed her by her white greasy button up shirt.

“Do you think I should tell Judy how I feel about her?” he asked suddenly. Frances raised an eyebrow at him. His dorky grin would only indicate that he was completely serious in his crush on Judith Canning. Frances had to think before she could answer him truthfully.

I’m not so sure her brother would want someone like you after his sister, she thought. But it can’t be helped. Feelings live in all of us and if we don’t act on them they continue to be just feelings.  

She sighed and gave him a crooked frown. “You do know that Erastus isn’t keen on his sister seeing anyone especially someone of our crew,” she said. Jepth was about to say something but Frances held her hand up to silence him. “However, feelings are something that dwells in all of our hearts and if we don’t get them out there then there is nothing more than a grown man chasing a little redheaded girl. Right?”

He smiled at her brightly but it slowly ran away from his face. A sad expression came in its place. “But what if she doesn’t feel the same way about me?” he asked suddenly. He turned his lanky body around and looked over the railing of the ship. A sigh escaped his lips and was carried away by the rushing wind around them.

Frances adjusted her brass glasses and leaned her own body on the railing next to him. “How are you going to know unless you ask her? Judith would want you to be honest. You have to know for sure if not all you are going to do is chase something that might or might not be there. Would you want that?”

Jepth’s blue eyes seemed lost in thought as they peered off into the even bluer skies. A cloud passed through them and a shiver ran up their spines and with a laugh he said, “I guess I couldn’t live with myself. Thanks Frances.”

“Any time,” she said as she cleaned her glasses on a piece of cloth. “You should do it tonight after we eat our dinner. I’m sure it would be a great time to get her alone.”

“That’s a great idea! I’m going to do it,” he said. With that, he picked himself off the railing and ran down the steep stairs away from Frances’ sight. She turned her head from his disappearing figure and fixed her eyes on the puffy clouds surrounding the ship.

Now if there was only a way for me to listen to my advice, she thought hopelessly.