The Firebird Chapter 1

 

Chapter 1

The sky over the Sea of Japan was stormy as the airship Undefeatable approached the silhouette in the distance. The waves, five thousand feet below, crested with the fury of the god of water. Rain buffeted the Undefeatable, sending slick trails of moisture down the ship’s silver grey sides.

Commander Alrond Pershing stood at the ship’s helm, looking out at the silhouette.

“We’re approaching the Hindenburg.” One of the deck officers, a young man named Fellows, saluted. “It has not initiated contact with us yet.”

“Maintain radio silence.” Pershing turned his back to the panoramic window. “I’m going to prepare the team.” He left the bridge and traveled the ship’s spine to the staging area where four British Special Aerial Forces soldiers stood, readying their equipment for the coming battle.

Pershing saluted. “We know what to expect. There will be an I-Sprite aboard. We do not yet know its true allegiance but it may try to repel us. Stay sharp!”

“Sir!” The team saluted back.

The Undefeatable came closer and closer. There was no chance the Hindenburg had not seen the Undefeatable. An impact rocked the ship, causing it to lilt.

“They’re firing their main cannons!” The intercom crackled. “We’re pulling in closer. Prepare to fire the bridge cannon!”

The ship reverberated as the cannons on the side, containing the bridge for boarding, fired them across the gap between the Undefeatable and the Hindenburg.

When the shields opened to allow the five men through, Pershing admired the sheer size of the ship before him. It was at least ten times as large as the Undefeatable. He ran across the bridge with his entry package and applied it to the hull of the Hindenburg. The explosion tore through the metal walls and allowed entry into the ship’s corridors.

Two German soldiers opened fire on the special forces members as they entered the ship. All five took cover behind a stack of crates.

Pershing looked at his I-Sprite scanner. “It’s this way.” He popped his head over the crates and shot both Germans in two seconds. They hit the ground at the same instant.

“Go, go!” Pershing pushed his way into the ship’s interior. When they reached an intersection, Pershing immediately turned to the right, heading into the bowls of the ship. There was no more resistance. They came to a single sealed door with no windows that was deep within this ship’s interior.

Pershing applied the explosive material to the door. Backing away, he detonated it, sending shrapnel flying across the corridor. Right after the smoke cleared Pershing and his team entered the room, spreading out in order to clear it.

In the room was a single person laying on a bed reading a book by lantern light. He looked up and raised an eyebrow.

“British special forces?” He closed his book. “Why have they sent such peons to greet me?” He got out of his bed, nonchalantly stretching. “In any case, I don’t like the look of your faces.” He snapped his fingers and three of the special forces members turned into ducks. The three ducks began quacking, running in circles.

“The hell?” Pershing took an involuntary step back. “What did you do?”

“I assume you know what an I-sprite is.” The man snapped his fingers and the walls turned into watermelons, which collapsed in a heap, leaving the room open to the four corridors surrounding it. At least a dozen Germans were caught in transit, all of them surprised at the sudden windfall of watermelons. The man snapped his fingers again and all the Germans turned into watercress. “You are looking for me, aren’t you?”

Pershing gritted his teeth. “I know you can do whatever you want to me. I came here with an offer. Join the British and you’ll get what you want.”

“Want?” The man laughed. “I can get whatever I want.” He snapped his fingers and a gigantic pile of gold appeared in the room. “Is this enough?”

The Hindenburg began to list. Pershing’s eyes flew open. “That gold must weigh a hundred tons! You’ll sink this ship!”

The man chuckled. “I’m here because I want to be. Obviously. If you can entertain me more than Mr. H himself, I’ll join your side.” He chuckled. “But wait. You can’t. You’re too straight-laced for that.” He snapped his fingers one last time and disappeared.

“Oh hell.”

The Hindenburg crashed into the water in that instant and the whole superstructure was torn to pieces. Pershing did not survive, but one German crew member, who happened to have caught a glimpse of the gigantic pile of gold, managed to survive in the frigid waters. When he was rescued a week later he told the tale of a ship that had gone down thanks to the gold in its hull.

And thus was born the legend of the Hindenburg.

No one ever mentioned the man who had created the pile of gold.

 

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August passed the photograph across the table. “The Hindenburg. Are you sure this is the right ship?”

“It is, yes.” The bearded, well-built man on the other side of the ship took the photograph and slipped it into his pocket. “I heard tell of a man who knows exactly where the Hindenburg went down.”

“Then can’t you tell me?”

The man chuckled. “It’s gonna cost you. One hundred dollars.”

August sighed. “A steep price.”

“That gold is worth several fortunes.”

August cringed, and handed the man a hundred dollars. The man winked, pocketed the money, and leaned in to whisper. “There’s a man. Dex Pershing. His father was on the ship when it went down. Something about the whole operation feels fishy to me. Why would the Hindenburg, the biggest ship in the Germans’ fleet, go down in a storm when it had that much gold on it? Something’s strange.”

“So you’re telling me this man, Dex, could know what’s going on?”

“You got it, pal.” The man leaned back. “And that’s it. I’ll give you his address.” The man wrote on the back of an envelope and handed it to August. “Thanks for the change.” He stood up and left the restaurant, swaggering as he walked.

August caught sight of a beautiful young girl with white blonde hair looking at him as if she had heard the conversation. When August’s eyes met hers, she looked away.

August shrugged at the encounter and stood up, paying the bill. He left the restaurant a minute later and stepped out onto the streets of New York. Ever since the invention of sub-hydrogen, the skies had been filled with airships. August even had an airship of his own: the Firebird. It was a C-class, a little small, but he imagined it would be enough to start out on an adventure with. All he needed was a crew. He knew a few people, but it was a long shot.

He walked on foot to the tenement where Dex Pershing was supposed to reside. Halfway through the walk the white-blonde-haired girl he had seen in the restaurant stepped in front of him.

“You’re looking for an airship crew, aren’t you?” The girl put her hands on her hips.

“I don’t hire kids.”

“Kids?” The girl crossed her arms. “I turned eighteen last month. I just got my commercial zeppelin pilot’s license.”

“I don’t think I need a newbie on my crew.” August tried to walk past her.

The girl stepped in front of him again. “My name is June. I’m a zeppelin pilot. I’ll work for you for a share of the treasure.”

That stopped August. “You heard about the Hindenburg?”

“Who hasn’t?”

August sighed, putting his hand to his forehead. “Most people just think it’s an urban legend. Do you know how hard I had to search to find someone who even knew something about it?”

“That gross ugly guy?”

“Yes. Him. He was the only contact I could find after scouring the newspapers and the records. He was working with a Japanese newspaper when it happened and was near the scene with the people who were looking in to it.”

“Shoot.” June frowned. “That sure is a tenuous connection.” Her smile returned. “Trust me! I can fly a zeppelin better than most people my age!”

“You’re eighteen.”

“So?” June’s lips turned up into a pout.

August sighed. “Okay. You can be my pilot if you prove to me that you won’t steer my airship into a building.” He crossed his arms. “Meet me tomorrow at the airship docks. Dock twenty-seven.”

June appeared elated. “Of course! I won’t let you down!” She skipped away, down the street.

August sighed, and returned to his original mission. Ten minutes later he found the tenement and entered. Dex’s apartment was on the fifth floor.

August knocked on the door. There was no response. August knocked again. This time the door opened a crack and someone looked through—wearing welding goggles.

“I’m not subscribing to your damn newspaper.” The person, who August assumed was Dex, tried to close the door.

August shoved his foot into the crack. “Ow.” He then used his hands as leverage to pry it open enough to see Dex’s face. “I’m not here to sell you anything. You’re Dex Pershing, right? I need to know about the Hindenburg.”

The door opened a little bit more. “Yes? The Hindenburg? What do you need to know about it?”

“I was directed to you. By someone who knows. I’m looking for the Hindenburg’s lost secret.”

“Not the treasure?”

“Not the treasure.” August was able to open the door a bit more. “I’m looking for reasons.”

“Reasons, reasons.” Dex closed the door, unlocked the chain, and then opened it all the way. “Come in, come in.”

The room was an utter mess. In one corner stood a conspicuous machine full of levers and dials, reminiscent of the command module of a zeppelin. It hissed steam through several pipes, filling the room with moisture. The rest of the room was covered in zeppelin artifacts. Model zeppelins, at least a dozen of them, hung from the ceiling. Blueprints were stretched out across a large center table.

Dex puttered up to the complex machine and placed a teacup beneath a spout. “Tea?”

“Is that what that machine does?” August walked up to it and looked at the dizzying array od controls.

“Yes, yes. It gets tea to just the way I want it.” Dex handed August the full cup.

August sipped the tea. “This certainly is good.”

Dex bobbed his head. “Of course. Of course it’s good.” He walked over to the table and started poring over the blueprints. “What do you think happened aboard that ship?”

“What? I don’t know. I just think it’s a mystery that needs to be solved.”

Dex clucked his tongue. “No, no. There’s a deeper reason. My father. He was not an idiot. His mission was super secret and he never told me anything about it before he died. I’ve spent my entire life since then trying to find out about what happened. Legend says that the Hindenburg was overladen with the gold and sunk because of that. But why didn’t it sink right away? How did it get to where it sunk with that much gold aboard? I tell you, something is fishy.” Dex pattered over to the machine again and made himself a cup of tea. “Hm, m. Needs a little tweaking.” He took out a wrench and began adjusting bolts. “This much, this much. Maybe sweet? Maybe a little bitter? More umami for sure.”

“What else do you know?” August watched Dex tinker with the machine.

Dex shook his head, sending his messy hair flying back and forth. “Nothing. All I have is the letter my father sent me before he went on the mission.”

“Letter? Can I see it?”

“No. I don’t trust you yet.”

“One thing.” August crossed his arms. “You’re good with zeppelins, right? Do you want to join my crew?”

“Looking for the Hindenburg, right?” Dex lifted his head from inside the machine. “Sure, sure. When do we leave?”

August, surprised, tilted his head. “Two days from now.”

“Good.” Dex rubbed his nose. “It’s about time I did something.”