Chapter 17: Ryan
Ryan looked out around the deck. Ponies whimpered in pain, others huddled in small groups, flush with victory but also overwhelmed by the crash. There was so much to do, and the pressure mounting to get it done. He looked like their leader, but that didn't mean he knew how to lead them.
Then again, who could? Blake had always been in charge, but that was over a hobby! They were supposed to brave forbidden places, not fight for their lives. Not kill people.
"Jordan, you're hurt. You go with the injured. Kaelynn, can you move well enough to treat them? I think they might've got an artery on that pony back there. The others just got bumped around when we hit. Hopefully no concussion."
"Yes," she said, her voice barely audible through the mask. "But I don't know for how long. Holding myself up with two legs is exhausting, and it's getting dry already. Ryan, can you get my first aid kit from below?"
He nodded, then scampered off to obey. At least it wouldn't be hard to find their stuff. Besides, helping her would pay its own dividends in the satisfaction and gratitude she felt when he returned. Ryan clambered through the toppled Bright Hawk, hooves sliding slightly on the floor as he did so.
The interior was mostly dark—mercifully there were no other fires down here, just water and a dead bird. He stepped gingerly around the corpse, doing everything he could not to look in those lifeless eyes. He had to climb up through the door. Ryan resisted the temptation to return to normal, where the faint cracks of light would've been more than enough for him to see everything. Blake's night vision was okay, at least good enough that he could see the shape of their bags scattered everywhere.
He fished around for a moment, then found the heavy first-aid pouch. More than once he'd wondered if they should ditch the stupid thing during their hike across the desert. Apparently their endurance had paid off.
Ryan hurried back up to the top floor, dodging the bloody water and making his slow way up onto the deck. Well some of it was deck—some of the ponies rested on the sand now, sheltered against the side of the ship. He dropped the kit onto the ground in front of Kaelynn. "This?"
She nodded, but didn't say anything else. Blake nudged him. "You'll have to let someone else help her with the injured. Galena says she needs at least two more strong ponies to help get the floatstone working again."
The griffon nodded darkly. "If she's intact, that should get us back up into the sky. If not, the floatstone will fly without us, leaving us stranded. But unless any of you is a shipwright, there's no way to find out."
Blake nodded grimly. "I don't think we have much time to find out." He retreated from them a few steps, raising his voice. "We need to get airborne! I'd like some ponies to help tear down the mast the rest of the way, and gather up the sail. We might need the cloth for other purposes, maybe the wood too. But if we rise with them hanging precariously like that, they might come crashing through the deck. I'd also like some of you to help Kaelynn—the fish here. She knows first aid, but she's a fish. I'm going below to get us floating again!"
To Ryan's surprise, they actually listened. Maybe it was just that Blake was the one who led their escape, or maybe it was how confident he sounded. Either way, there was no argument. The survivors split into groups, and didn't seem to need much direction from there. These creatures weren't helpless.
Galena led them to the lowest level of the Bright Hawk, where heavy iron chains wrapped around a strange box studded with crystal and wrapped in wire. She circled around it several times, prodding at it with a claw. Finally she turned, addressing Blake.
"One of my comrades thought they'd make sure their ship was waiting for them—there's an emergency lever on the helm—disconnects the floatstone for a rapid descent. See the chains there? We have to tighten all four of them at the same time. Once those wires line up with the crystal on the floor, we'll yank back up."
Ryan followed her words, eyeing the wire set into the deck before them. It was as thick around as her claws, though what could be powering it, he couldn't even imagine. "I'm a little shaky on the physics of this thing. You have a way to generate hundreds of tons of negative mass, and you can turn it off? The energies required..."
The griffon squawked loudly in his face, loud enough that he fell abruptly silent. "I don't know a feather about how it works, changeling! We stole it, just like everything on the ship! Do you want to be here when they get back for revenge, or not?"
Ryan retreated, but didn't argue. This bird probably wasn't the one to ask about the finer points of how their world and its technology worked, anyway. Maybe when they'd overcome the shock, some of the ponies on the deck could.
"Ryan, make sure everyone is on the deck. I don't know how long they'll have once we start moving."
"Not long," Galena said. "Probably for the best."
He nodded, turning back the way he'd come. Should he resent being bossed around like that? Maybe not—the others had already started moving, grunting as they settled heavy chains into a set of four pulleys. Ryan looked like his friend, but he'd learned during the fight that he wasn't as strong. Stronger than he'd been before, maybe. But no "dragon-horse". I wonder if I could turn into a freaky fire-ghost like he did. We might need that again if another ship attacks.
He made it back to the deck, passing the message on to the beleaguered ponies. A few shifted off the sand, resting on the railing firmly atop the ship. But most had already been keeping close to the fallen ship, so they didn't have far to move.
"I could use a strong volunteer or two," he said. He pointed to a big pony, lurking near the fallen prow. "Hey, could you help us?"
The pony nodded, hurrying over. "I don't have much to offer, Kirin."
"You're stronger than me, I promise," he answered. "That's all we need right now."
Getting someone else's help didn’t mean Ryan got to watch—there were four pulleys, each with their own crank that needed to be operated. The others had to stop multiple times, waiting for him to grunt and struggle with it. With each click, they lifted the crystal-studded box back into the air, until eventually it was suspended near the center of the ship.
He felt the jerk as it settled into place, heard the sudden strain at all four chains. They weren't made of links as thick as his limbs just for show—this thing had to lift the whole ship.
Lift it did. They tilted violently to the side, so suddenly that he toppled sideways and slid. Most of the cargo was tied down, thankfully—or else he'd probably have been crushed to death by the weight of boxes and crates. Well, mostly empty boxes and crates. The Bright Hawk had been a slaver, after all.
Ryan held still, as wood groaned and creaked. But Galena didn't seem to worry. She stood after only a few seconds, shaking out her wings. "Not dead yet," she said. "Guess that's a point to you, dragon pony. But we're not safe just because we're floating."
Ryan lay by the crank, breathing heavily. He barely noticed as Blake passed him, patting him on the shoulder. "Catch your breath," he said. "But we'll probably need your skills. Ever sailed before?"
"Didn't you do boy scouts?" he countered. "I've never been on a ship that didn't make me puke."
"Oh yeah, guess I did." Blake shrugged one shoulder. "Either way, I was thinking a propeller or something. We've got a hold full of shit, some of it has to fly."
Ryan glared after him. The pony followed, leaving Ryan alone. Just the way he wanted.
Dear Journal,
Technically it's a new day, so this doesn't count as a continued entry from before.
We did it, journal. Lived through the fight. Those pirates did not have a clue what we were capable of. Thought we were going to cower before their threats and wait to be ransomed by some princess—we threw two bodies overboard. The rest flew away, probably to haunt us later. But today we won. Worry about the consequences later.
Actually we're worrying about them now. Three big things:
1. Ship is busted
2. Kaelynn
3. Have to get to safety before the pirates get friends
We're doing our best to fix all of them in turn. The Bright Hawk had another set of smaller sails, and that still works. That's how we're flying now. Not fast enough that any proper ship couldn't catch up with us, though. Mount Aris is still the destination. Don't have the captain's charts, since those burned with the captain's quarters and the captain himself—but we can see the ocean far away, so we're sailing that way. Mostly directly into the wind, which means lots of diagonals back and forth. Tacking, I guess it's called.
Water tank survived, so that's good news. Bad news: seapony machine broke. All those fancy filters and craziness going on, and it's a pile of rubble now. Pretty shit. Even worse, water tank wasn't really meant to be opened or swam in. The Bright Hawk is pretty fancy, all things considered. She has plumbing. But without the life support machine's guts working, Kaelynn has to float in a shallow tub of water. We lost so much in the crash that she didn't risk filling it all the way. We'll just have to filter it and keep changing it out.
But she was so dried out by the time she climbed in that she didn't complain. Poor fish. Maybe she's right about the one who got the worst. Everyone thinks I'm a disgusting bug, but at least I don't live in fear of drowning. It's starvation instead, much slower! But Kaelynn will probably be fine, if we can solve the third problem.
Speed. The pirates have a friendly port not far from Klugetown. Galena used to be one of them—she says they've probably already reached it by now. If we don't make it to 'hippogriff skies' before they manage to raise a crew to come after us, then we'll be in big trouble.
We have to do something, but despite having some incredible magic that lets them lift a ship into the air and fly around, they still use their sails. Most of the other ships back in Klugetown looked the way you'd expected—lighter than air dirigibles, with a gasbag and everything. But not her. She flies around breaking physics and not giving a damn what you have to say about it.
But the second, smaller sail isn't big enough. We still have the old mast, but she's completely broken off, dominating the deck. We'll need a crane to get her back on, or that's what we thought.
Plan is pretty insane, but no less insane than anything else we've done so far. There are two unicorns in the ponies they captured. Working together, they think they can hold the mast up for long enough that the rest of us can reattach it. There's some wood glue aboard, and we'll be using all of it. We have nails and planks too, for what it's worth.
Plan is gluing the split, unicorns lift the mast, we nail it in place, let the glue set.
I wouldn't believe it was possible, except that they're doing it all the time. They can lift things through the air, just by looking at them. I'm not the only one to see the obvious connection with the ship, I'm sure. Galena says I'm right, this ship was stolen from a pony shipyard somewhere. Guess that makes about as much sense as anything.
Someone has the talent to build these portals, right? If they can cross between worlds, maybe that also means other powers, like levitating around.
The strangest part of all that is that they seem insistent that Blake can do it too—and me, but I'm just copying. When he said he didn't know how, they reacted like he was a kid who said he couldn't use a bike.
They're afraid of us. They know people died getting free, and every one of them seems pretty upset about it. They're not the only ones. But what were we supposed to do, stay, and let them enslave us? Let them kill Jordan? Hell no.
Bastards had it coming. I don't know much about slave camps and gulags, but I'm sure they're not humane places to work. We probably saved all these ponies' lives by staging that escape.
We'll have to deal with the consequences when we get to Mount Aris. It's just a matter of getting there before we get caught. Otherwise, the birds will get their revenge.
Galena has been pretty clear with the gruesome form that will take, if they get their claws on us. There's blood on the deck, she says. Now it's war.
Our plan isn't to fight them yet, just to get to safety. I'm still trying to process all this information, but we've learned a little bit. The hippogriffs act in ways we can expect. They still hang pirates, apparently. So hopefully that means we'll be safe long enough to find the portal and get back to Earth.
Guess I'll have to visit a gun-shop before we come back this way.
If we have more time before we get there, I'd like to make progress on a harness for Kaelynn. She's proved that she needs minimal external life support, if it comes to that. So we should be able to reduce the complexity. She just needs a pair of back legs to hold up most of her weight, legs she can drag around to stay mobile.
Don't tell her, but we probably won't have time. Getting the mast fixed is gonna be hell, and even if we do we still won't be able to use the sails properly. Apparently it needs a 'mending spell' before we can rely on it again.
But it seems possible. There is a way out of this.
I'm not getting left for dead in the desert somewhere, chained to a rock. I'm getting home. We'll get all these ponies home while we're at it.
Maybe if I copy Jordan they'll answer more of my questions...
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It’s a bit of an impediment.
And our intrepid heroes learn more of the world they’ve found themselves in, this time without setting any of it on fire! Now it’s a race to Mount Aris and a live demonstration of applied telekinesis. We’ll see if either of the horned explorers pick anything up.
Is 'drowning' really the right term here? Drowning typically refers to suffocation caused by aspiration of water or other liquids.
Fish don't drown in air; the air doesn't block gas exchange. Fish suffocate in air because their gills dry out, collapse and lose most of their surface area.
I know it's a minor thing, but it's come up so often that it's starting to bug me. I've just never heard of drowning used in the context of aquatic creatures suffocating in air.
The pirates will be running the red flag. Don't know how far Hippogriff skies are but even when they reach it they won't be relaxing there until they see the navy. It's gonna be a tense for a few days that for sure.
Gotta keep up those title drops!
It's magic...
There is someone who can help you. Though would you want him to?
Pirates must have beaten them down a bit to get this sort of response. Ponies do fight when cornered. Their kingdoms and people aren't really any softer than any other part of the world.
Galena may have to jump ship soon. I don't think Mt. Aris would really consider her enslavement more than her former career as a pirate. Laws don't usual work that way so she's probably still in danger when the ship reaches safety. She's between a rock and a hard place.
It's probably easier to ask Jordan to talk to them if he has the time.
things are looking up, well as of now that is.
10723367
And the Winged ones really should learn about the wonders of flight and clouds...
I wonder if Bats can weaponise clouds the way pegasi do?
10723439
Well, gasses (air) and liquids (water) are both fluids, if that matters any, and both behave pretty much the same once you take density and such into account...
And really, is there any real functional difference anyways? Either way, dead from not getting oxygen is is dead from not getting oxygen.
well here's hoping they make it to Aris safely.
What they needed was someone at least familiar with Larry Niven's Tales of Known Space, Ringworld, and especially the Man-Kzin Wars. Those have some good survival lessons, especially for those who have lost their natural human aggressive tendencies through years of politically sanctioned propaganda brainwashing that stood in for their education system.
10723749
They might be functionally the same in terms of their effect on the victim, but drowning in this context seems like such an unnecessarily uncommon word for the phenomenon that it can be distracting for the reader. A minor one, but a distraction nonetheless.
10724958
I will have to disagree. I don't think any of our Intrepid heroes are Scholars enough to think of suffocating as not something distinctly different from drowning in the air.
When I hear a character say kellyanne is at risk of drowning. My mind's eye goes to what happens when you drown in water, your mouth is wide open, and you're not getting any Oxygen, like a fish with their mouth wide open, and not getting any Oxygen out of the water. The fish is therefore drowning in the air.
This was one of the first visuals that Kellyanne demonstrated when she got out of the water, and she couldn't breathe, her mouth was wide open, and she was suffocating.
Well, it could have been a more successful escape, but it could have also have been a far, far less successful one.
That will build a lot of goodwill of some important people.
10726039
Wait, differentiating between drowning and suffocating is considered scholarly now? I would've thought that conflating the two based on a technicality is the nerdier position.
I find this reasoning even stranger.
Classifying the affliction based on the victim's actions doesn't seem quite right. By that logic, a person choking on food could also be considered 'drowning', since their mouth is wide open and they're not getting oxygen.
Poor Ryan.