“Huh. It wasn’t me. Should we… double check?”
“It might be prudent.” She climbed the rigging to inspect the burner and fuel tank. “This is curious. I have not seen a burner configured like this… there is a clock affixed to it.”
“A clock?” I didn’t immediately make the connection.
“Mister… Thistlewood.” Sephi’s voice chilled, every delightful wisp of emotion evaporating. “I suspect this may be sabotage.”
“Let me look.”
I climbed the rigging next to her to find a metal box the size of a book. Inside, a clock face, a web of little levers, springs, and clockwork. “A time bomb? But I don’t see any explosives.”
“It is affixed to… Oh dear.”
“The fuel tank.”
“I am afraid it is rather more dire. It has pierced the tank in several places. If we attempt to remove it, the tank will leak.”
I completed the thought. “…spilling fuel all over the basket.”
“That is why they did not wish me…” She closed her eyes as a look of physical pain washed over her. “Mister…Theo.This is all my fault. They were after me, and I have brought—”
“Stop.We’ll figure it out later. First we have to…” I glanced down. It was a mistake. “Oooh, that’s a long way down.”
A picturesque view from the security of the basket turned terrifying while dangling from the rigging.
“Let’s land first, then see if we can do something about that mechanism without incinerating ourselves in the process.”
“A sound proposal.” She yanked the vent flap.
“Could we stop the clock?” I traced the array of fine levers and cables with an index finger, my other arm looped in a death grip through the rigging.
She glanced at me. “I regret that disarming bombs is a second-year class.”
I snorted. I needed it.
The scenery below drew closer, yet far too slowly for my tastes. How long did we have? A minute? An hour. It was presumably set to go off sometime during the voyage.
“When we land, we will have to tie off the mooring lines.” She clenched the basket railing. “Without our weight, the balloon will again ascend.”
I tied loops in the lines.
Details of the wilderness came into focus, individual twigs, stones… “Are we going to land before wehit that lake?”
She bit her lip. “I do not believe so.” She released the vent flap, and tugged the burner control. “It will not ignite. Further sabotage?”
“Uuugh. As if crash landing in a forest full of monsters isn’t bad enough, we find the one place…” I punched my palm in frustration. “This trip has been a bit of a disaster, hasn’t it?”
“It hasn’t beenallbad.” She tipped her head. “The company was pleasant.”
I smiled. “Not was.Will be.We’ll get out of this. The lake is too small to support large predators, and we’ll hit close to the far shore… can you get out of your armor in a hurry?”
“If this is a proposal, your timing leavesmuchto be desired.”
I grumbled.
She lifted an eyebrow.
“I meant that swimming in armor would be…” My voice trailed off. “And you knew exactly what I meant.”
