Barry and Kiona spoke in the kitchen while Hallie laid on the floor and reached into the guts of a cabinet. The sink had been leaking for a couple days, and so Kiona was happy to get it fixed. However, the minor problem sent Barry into a tailspin.

“This ship is a piece of junk. The Craftsman’s Guild doesn’t make ‘em like they used to. Or maybe they just set a bunch of apprentices loose in a scrap yard,” he said while sipping his tea.

“One leaky sink does not a junk ship make,” Kiona replied, trying to lighten the storm clouds over his head.

He sighed. “It’s not just the sink, Kiona. Yesterday, poor Hallie had to go out to the main propeller. The shaft was too loose and so the engines worked overtime for the same amount of thrust. We wanted to make sure everything was in tip-top shape for the long flight today. So Hallie had to grease it up and tighten the bolts. She’s scared to death of heights, poor thing, but she’s the only trained mechanic that’s light enough to be on the harness system.”

Hallie muttered something from the bowels of the cabinet, and Barry paused for a second before continuing on. “Then this morning we realized that the left bank temp gauge was inaccurate, and our spare parts haven’t been organized since they all fell on the floor last month. It took the three of us close to two hours to find that spare thermometer! And then Cale bruised his hand because he dropped our biggest wrench on himself. I swear that boy walks around with his eyes closed half the time! I should apprentice him to someone else!”

Barry brought the mug up to his mouth again, then realized it was empty. He sighed.

“Would you like some more tea?” Kiona asked kindly.

“Yes, thank you.”

He continued monologuing while Kiona started brewing the tea.

“You know, sometimes I feel like this is a sinking ship and my team is running around plugging the holes with their fingers. Someday, we’re going to run out of fingers. I just hope we have the right tools to make it back to Londinium in one piece.”

“Well, this is certainly not the longest trip we’ve ever been on. I think that with your help, the ship will be just fine. And remember, the minute we dock at Londinium, our contracts are over. We can walk away from this ship and not have to worry about it any more.”

Kiona poured their refills and they sipped for a minute. Then she added, “I’m sure someone else would like to hear about your concerns, too.”

Barry stiffened. “I’m not sure that she would. She’d think it’s too much rambling.”

“It’s her ship, she has a right to know. And I don’t think she dislikes you as much as you think she does.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Are you joking?”

“Absolutely not. She needs to understand what’s going on with her ship. You should go tell her now. I don’t think she’s busy.”

“Fine, I guess I can. Hallie, I’ll meet you in the tool room when you’re done.”

Hallie replied as Barry left the room and walked down the gangway to Captain Springett’s office. He knocked on the door, trying to avoid shaking the hinges too much. This door has had loose hinges for two years, but it’s such a low priority that Barry let it be. It’s grown weaker since the last time he knocked on this door. He was here for a different reason then, and significantly more nervous.

“Come in,” Captain Springett calls. Barry remembers the time when he thought he would be able to call her Adelaide, when there was the possibility of being alone together without a desk between them.

Captain Springett realizes who it is, and keeps a professional demeanor. “Ah, Engineer Boysen! Have a seat, would you like a biscuit?”

“No, thank you. I only wanted to stay for a moment. I have some concerns about the integrity of the ship that I thought you might want to know about.”

“Is it the old bolts again? I thought we’d replaced all of them already.”

“No, the bolts are taken care of. It’s really the whole ship that’s gone to pieces. Quaerere is old and tired, the last thing it needed was a trip to Antarctica.”

She sighed, looking past Barry and out the window where the ocean shone in the sunlight. “I know. I’m just praying that we make it back to Londinium before she finally quits on us. You and your team can keep patching up what fails, but just know that the ship will be scrapped as soon as we return.”

“I’m sorry to hear it’ll be scrapped. We’ve spent so much time on this ship, I’m not sure if I could get used to a new one.”

“They all have the same layout, you know.”

“It’s not really that, it’s more… the people that I’ll miss.” Barry tries to catch her eye.

She sighs again. “Barry, if you try to bring this up again…”

“I know. So I won’t. But there’s one more thing that my crew has noticed. All but one of the messenger birds are now inoperational. They must have recently deteriorated.”

Captain Springett froze. “They were all fully functional on my pre-flight inspection. Could all of them really deteriorate in just a few days?”

“I’m not sure. They are an older model, prone to several different issues. I didn’t find anything out of the ordinary when I inspected them.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

She tapped her index finger on the desk and looked out the window again, thinking. “We can’t repair or replace them in Mogadishu…” she said, mostly to herself.

“We’re stopping in Mogadishu?” Barry shuddered.

“Briefly. We have to refuel and then we’ll leave. We’ll be there for two hours at the most. Did you not read the flight plan?”

“I thought I did. But I definitely would have remembered seeing it on the destination list. When were we last there?”

“It must have been about 15 years ago, when we were on the way to Madagascar. Just after we returned, Angleterre was upset about something and Parliament outlawed trade with this part of Africa.”

“I remember that, but what changed? Why are we allowed access now?”

“Honestly, I have no clue. I was too busy being flustered about this last trip. But while we’re refueling, we will have to watch out. I’ve heard reports of pirates causing artificial sandstorms in order to steal our cargo.”

“But we don’t have any cargo.”

“Well, they don’t know that. I think we’ll be fine. Like I said, it’s just a couple hours and we’ll be on our way again.”

They sat in silence for a minute, both looking out the window at the waves far below. Then Barry spoke up. “Do you remember that trip?”

“What, the Madagascar trip?”

“Yes.”

“Sometimes I think about watching the sunsets from the lounge. That was when Tess taught us that game, what was it called?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Me neither, but it was so fun.”

“We should teach these new recruits some games. Liven up the evenings.”

“Well, we could. But what’s the point?” Adelaide crossed her legs at the knees, still looking out the window.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m going to retire as soon as we return to Londinium. Why should I train these recruits to my standards when I’m about to leave the industry? They’ll have to learn new routines when they join a new ship anyway.”

“You’re retiring?” Barry’s voice quavered slightly.

Adelaide paused, studying his reaction. “I thought you knew.”

“I thought maybe, but now that I know it’s true… Quaerere won’t be the same.”

“Oh, yes it will. Don’t worry, you’ll get a nice captain and the queen can send you on some new trips. It’ll be fine.”

“A new captain wouldn’t be bad - but it wouldn’t be you.”

She whirled to face him and slammed both her hands on her desk. “Are you really going to bring that up again? After what I told you?”

“Adelaide, it’s been months. This is going to be our last trip! Is it really too difficult to imagine us together?”

“I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again. I cannot get into a relationship with anyone on this ship. The Guild would never allow me to captain an airship again.”

“But if this is your last trip, what does it matter?” Barry watched as Adelaide thought about it. Her face barely betrayed her emotions, but it was enough to reveal what he wanted to know.

Finally she said, “Engineer, you are dismissed.”

Barry left the office and walked to the tool room. It was a small space that acted as a buffer between the gangway and the engine bay. There was a wall of drawers, each filled with tools or spare parts. Barry had written a list on the opposite wall of things to fix, which meandered from ceiling to floor. He grimaced as he got a charcoal and rewrote ‘captain’s office door hinges’ near the middle of the list. It’d been almost completely rubbed off from the engineer’s traffic through the room.

Meanwhile, Adelaide poured Kiona a cup of tea. They both sat on a little settee in Adelaide’s office, and Kiona leaned closer as her friend described the conversation she just had with Barry.

“But what if he was right? This is your last trip; what could the Guild do, fire you?”

“Kiona, beginning a relationship with him is an abuse of power. As his superior, there can be no romantic overtones in our working relationship. I don’t understand how you can let your feelings about this override the logistics. Sure, my job wouldn’t be on the line, but his could be. And it’s not fair to ask him to choose between me and the occupation that he loves.”

“I understand that. But how do you feel about him, versus what you think about him?”

Adelaide thought for a minute about how to translate her feelings into words. “I really care about him. We’ve been friends for years, but I’m just not sure if and when I’d want to go further.”

“So let’s just continue as normal, and who knows? Maybe something will change, and you’ll love him more, and both of you can retire to your cottage by the sea.”

“Maybe,” Adelaide replied. “Someday.”

Later that evening, after discussing the leaky sink with Barry, Hallie sat on her bunk in a rare moment of downtime. She writes in her notebook:

Chimney sweep

Gutter cleaner

Dishwasher

Line cook

Janitor

Plumber

Maintenance head

Apprentice mechanic

Junior engineer

I’ve officially crossed “Junior Engineer” off my list. After my near-death experience yesterday, fixing the propeller, I need to find a new profession. After almost 15 years of working, you’d think I would have found a career by now. Nope. No job has been worth years of my life - at least so far.

I liked being the head of maintenance at that private school. But when you-know-who broke up with me, I knew it was my time to go. I packed my bags and left that very same night. By the next day, I had travelled halfway across the country and started training as a mechanic.

It’s not the constant motion of the ship that bothers me. And I can deal with the bland meals, the mediocre company.

It’s the long list that keeps me up at all hours of the night. The long list of items that need fixed. In our tool room, Barry keeps a running list charcoaled on the wall. Every time I suit up, I read the words and imagine the amount of labor needed. Every morning when I wake up, I mentally look at the list and decide what needs tinkered on that day.

The Quaerere has more problems than the list, though. When (not if) emergencies pop up, they take precedence over The List. Just in the past two days, I’ve repaired the propeller and had my first plumbing experience with the kitchen sink. Both of those tasks took almost all day.

I’m tired of holding this scrap heap together with homemade bolts. I’m tired of fixing other people’s problems. I’m tired of being a mechanic.

The minute we land in Londinium, I’m getting off this ship and never looking back. I’m ready for a change.