The Inexplicables (The Clockwork Century 4)

“I think so. I think that Swakhammer fellow knows, but he got all squirrelly on me when I asked him about it. Anyhow, Huey, you think there’s a chance the captain would give us a lift? It’d be faster hunting if we did it from the air. ” He lifted his eyebrows optimistically as he looked back at Houjin, but with the mask on, Houjin didn’t see it.

“No way. Especially not with the steering gone iffy. And don’t even think about it. ”

Now one eyebrow was held aloft with virtuousness. “Think about what?”

“We’re not going to take the ship without p

ermission, even if we could. Captain Cly and Fang would kill us both. Kill us all, since you probably mean to get Zeke involved. ”

“Oh ye of little faith,” he murmured, quoting Father Harris.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you don’t trust me, do you?”

Huey shook his head. “If I thought you knew anything about flying, I’d be worried. But you don’t. And I won’t help you do it. ”

“You think you’re real smart, don’t you? All sorts of brains, you’ve got—you think you know damn well everything,” Rector said crossly.

He might’ve added more, but the hatch hissed and popped—and this time, from inside the ship, Rector felt his ears pop with it. He abandoned his position beside the oversized captain’s chair.

“Hey, Zeke!”

“Rector, you’re back! I thought you were going to sleep for a week,” Zeke said, hopping up into the ship’s belly and waving at Houjin.

“Well, I didn’t. I hear you were off chasing nurses. ”

“Wasn’t doing no such thing,” Zeke insisted. Because he was wearing a gas mask, Rector couldn’t tell if he was blushing, but it was an easy guess.

“It’s a shame you didn’t bring her with you. I wanted to ask her something. ”

“Something ’bout what?” Zeke asked.

“Something her daddy said that made me wonder. He said she’d tell me all about people disappearing, and now I’m halfway worried about it. ”

Houjin and Zeke looked quickly at each other, and Zeke cleared his throat. “Oh, that. Mr. Swakhammer didn’t mean that people were disappearing from around here. He’s talking about the train. ”

“What train?”

“The Dreadnought, the train Miss Mercy rode out west. It was a big mess, and a bunch of people died. Miss Mercy was one of the survivors, but now she can’t find any of the other folks who got out alive. Ask her about it sometime … or maybe don’t. She gets this look on her face like she’s scareder than she’d tell you. ”

Rector chewed on this new information and decided it might not be pertinent to his task after all, so he let it go. “Fine, then. I can let sleeping dogs lie. So what about you? We’ve got the afternoon to kill, don’t we?”

Houjin interrupted before Rector could lay out his plan. “He wants to steal the Naamah Darling and use it to scout along the wall. ”

“I never said that!” he protested. “I never even wondered it out loud. Your friend here thinks he’s a goddamn mind reader, don’t he?”

Zeke laughed. “You were thinking about it, weren’t you?”

“No. ”

“Liar. And if you think you can fly it by yourself, you’re welcome to give it a shot. It’d be a real shame, though. Here you just got into town, and we’d have to dig you a grave right away. ”

Houjin laughed that time, but Rector scowled. “Fine, you two have your fun. And to think I was going to invite you all to come with me, hunting around the wall. ”

“Hunting for what?” Zeke asked. He sat on the open hatch’s edge and let his feet dangle down.

“Monsters. ”