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Rector loped toward it, moving swiftly but stopping short of an outright run. Running wouldn’t be dignified, and it would admit by deed that he was scared to be alone in this amazing, ridiculous, unknown place that held so many questions and horrors.
He reached the Naamah Darling’s underside and poked around until he found the main hatch. He was about to yank it down, but then hesitated, and knocked on it like he’d knock on an ordinary door. Something about the captain’s size made Rector unwilling to barge in unannounced.
“Anybody in there?” he asked, directing his question at the smooth hull and feeling silly about it.
A few seconds later, the hatch seam released with the sound of a seal giving way, and Houjin’s mask-covered head appeared. “Rector!” he said. “You’re up again. You want to come inside?”
“Sure, I guess. ”
He stood aside as the hatch opened and a set of steps toppled out. He climbed them as invited, and Houjin pulled the stairs up in his wake, sealing the hatch with a yank of his arm and a shove against a lever.
The craft’s interior was larger than Rector had expected. It had a wide open bridge and two secondary areas, plus a closed door with some kind of prohibitive warning on it. The bridge had several seats bolted into the floor, one of which was quite a bit larger than the others.
He cocked a thumb at it. “Captain’s chair?”
Houjin said, “He had it made special, in San Francisco. A long time ago. ”
“Where’s Zeke?”
“Miss Mercy sent him errand running, but he’ll be back any minute. ”
“You by yourself in here?”
He nodded. “One of the thrusters has been sticky, and we’re having trouble with our sharp lefts. I thought I’d fiddle with it while Zeke was gone. ”
“No luck, huh?”
“No. I think the steam injector’s gone bad. We’ll need a new one pretty soon. Don’t want to fly this thing for long if the steering isn’t great. ” He stared off into space for a moment and said, “I bet we could order one in Tacoma. ”
Rector couldn’t have cared less about the ship’s steering, but he cared a lot about his itching hands, so he brought the subject around without any preamble. “Hey, is there any chance anybody on this ship has a pair of gloves I could borrow? My hands are all et up with this Blight stuff. They itch like hell. ”
Houjin looked around him, saw nothing immediately promising, and then said, “Wait here—let me see if there’s anything left in the lockers. ”
He disappeared through the door that strictly prohibited entry and reappeared with a floppy set of thin leather gloves. “Will these work?”
“Beautifully,” Rector said before he even got them on. “Thanks. You’re all right. ”
“They’re Fang’s extra set. You can put them back when we’re finished for the day, and then we’ll ask around in the Vaults. ”
“That sounds good. ” He worked them over his fingers and found that they were almost too snug, but far better than nothing. “So, let me ask: You’re not on any official business?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re not under captain’s orders, or anything? There’s nothing keeping you here?” Rector prodded, looking around and making a show of being unimpressed, even though he’d never been inside an airship before and was pretty impressed.
“No, not really. What about you?”
“Me? I plan to get to work. ”
“For Yaozu?”
“That’s right,” he confirmed. He stepped up into the bridge and strolled over to the large windscreen, leaning forward to see out into the dirty air that filled the foggy courtyard area within the fort. “He thinks there’s a breach in the wall someplace, and he wants me to find it. ”
Houjin cocked his head to the side. “A breach? Is that where he thinks all the rotters are going?”
“Yeah, he said they’re getting outside. People are starting to talk. ”
“They are?”
