Busted!

Previously  after arriving in Reykjavik to retrieve a secret package from one of Her Majesty's Aetherwave Stations, the sledge and its two sleeping Marine passengers was stolen. The Marines have still not been found when Watkins takes the recovered sledge out to an extinct volcano that British Intelligence uses as a base. Picking up the package Watkins heads back to Reykjavik.

Enjoy part VI.

You can start from the beginning of this story here.

Keep your sightglass full, your firebox trimmed, and your water iced.
KJ

Ice and Clockwork

A serial story from The Airship's Messdeck.

Part VI
  by Kevin Jepson

The steam sledge grinds its way back through the icy night towards the lights of the docking field. The Francis has been moved out of the hangar and is tied firmly to the docking tower. She is floodlit by lights and looks like a great snowy whale against the dark arctic sky. The Auroras can be seen flickering their greens and reds far above.

The sledge had stopped on the outskirts of Reykjavik to get more coal and water and then had skirted the city so as not to arouse any more "interest" than necessary.

"Well I wonder where them Bullocks have got off to. I'll take a strip off them good an proper if I find them." Watkins checks the power gauges on the containment box. The box buzzes slightly to the touch but otherwise it could be any wooden shipping crate.

The sledge pulls up to the entrance of the docking field and Watkins hands the appropriate pages over to the watchman at the entrance. There are a couple of British soldiers there too, and they take a quick look through the sledge.

The corporal in charge asks "Sorry to be a bother Sir, but we still haven't found your Marines. It is like they just vanished in the snow. Checked every pub in the city and no sign of them. The Major asked me to tell you that they will be charged with theft if they are found and to make sure they do not leave Iceland."

"Ah, I'll keep that in mind Corporal. We will be leaving shortly I imagine. Good hunting!"

"Thank you Sir, safe flight."

The sledge moves towards the Francis and parks far enough away that there is no chance of sparks or hot cinders igniting any leaking hydrogen. A couple of the ground crew come up and help Watkins manhandle the package out of the sledge onto the ground.

Watkins goes to the driver and pays him for the trip, plus some extra for the inconvenience of having his sledge stolen. "Thank you for all your help driver."

"You're welcome Sir, is pleasure driving you." The sledge trundles its way off into the darkness in a glowing cloud of steam lit by the lights of the field.

"Right, lets get this aboard shall we."

They load the package onto a cargo sledge and drag it over to the cargo bay of the Francis.
She is floating some 10' or so above the field so they will have to use the cargo hoist.
The cargo door is open and the hoist is rigged ready to winch the package up. Watkins can see two of the Francis' crew, bundled up against the cold ready to load the package.

After checking the power and re-checking the cargo hoist straps, Watkins gives the order to hoist away. Once the package is moved into the hold he dismisses the ground crew and climbs up the ladder to supervise the stowage and connection of the power to the ship's systems.
As he enters the cargo hold it takes a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dimmer light, the main hatch has been closed so the bright floodlight of the docking field is cut off.

There is a stamping of boots and the two crewman snap to attention and salute.

"Good evening Sir!" Cpl Cooke and private Fraser are standing ramrod straight beside the package with their hoods thrown back.

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It is obvious that they have something to tell him, but unfortunately they are both grinning like school boys caught sneaking out of the girls dormitory and Watkins is not amused.

"Christ! What the hell were you thinking! Where the hell have you bastards been hiding?" The two Marines don't stop grinning which infuriates Watkins even more. Not waiting for an answer he proceeds to berate the two using many of the same terms that he had been subjected to by Major Woolsley-Hampton, MBE. That does it and the two Marines turn stoney faced under the raking.

Watkins realizes he is being unreasonable and stops his rant. "Well, yes hmmm... What do you have to say for yourselves, report!"

Cooke glances at Fraser who is looking straight ahead like he is under inspection.

"Um. Sir we didn't steal the sledge Sir, but we have news Sir!"

"Never mind that what the hell happened Corporal? Start at the beginning."

"But... Aye Sir. We were waiting in the sledge as you asked and the driver went off to get some coal and food. It was warm and we got kind of sleepy, since we were not sure how long you would be we thought we would have a bit of a lie in. That was all. Next thing I know Fraser is shaking me awake and it is bloody cold and black as pitch in the sledge. We were way out of town on the side of the road, the boiler was stone cold, were the cold that woke us."

"Your asking me to believe you slept while the sledge was driven out of town."

"I know that sounds crazy Sir, but it's true. Must have been given something to keep us asleep, maybe a gas or something. Found this note pinned to the seat beside me Sir."

Cooke hands Watkins a paper with a message written on it. Watkins looks at it closely the characters are rough.

It says Спи спокойно красных мундирах .

"It's in Russian!"

"Aye Sir. Couldn't read it so just stuck it in my pocket. Sweep translated it for us when we got back Sir, it says 'Sleep well Red Coats!' bastard must have been riding inside the sledge with us Sir."

"Ah, creating an incident, why didn't you report this to the authorities then?"

Cooke looks a bit sheepish and glances again at Fraser who is just as stoney faced as before, "Ah I wanted too Sir, we talked about it but Fraser said there was no way they would believe us and it wouldn't be worth taking a chance on not being handed over to the locals."

"Private Fraser explain!"

Fraser, still staring straight ahead says "Sir! I figured first thing that would happen when they started to look for us would be that they would get our records Sir, would look bad after my stay in the brig at Scapa Sir."

"Hmmm yeah, that did come up as it happens, carry on."

Fraser continues "Also Sir, I have visited some far off locales and I find the local garrisons are more than happy to grab any Marine found adrift and add them to the local detachment, on pain of being hung for desertion Sir. That is AFTER their ship has left while they are cooling their heels in the local gaol."

"Ah." Watkins recalls the change in the Major once he found out who had trained the Marines.
"Probably not an unreasonable conclusion there too. Carry on, what happened once you got back to the ship?"

Cooke continues on with "Well Sir, we figured the best approach would be to get back to the Francis and explain to the captain what happened. When we approached the docking field it was crawling with local police, we had to wait out in the snow for most of the morning till we seen Sweep being lowered out of her snug in her box. Taking a chance we walked over to her as if we were ground handlers. She was surprised to see us and told us the Captain had been asked to hand us over if we came back to the ship. She told us to clear off, but just then one of the local peelers came over so she ordered us to help her across to the terminal. Once there I found some ground handlers coats and we started acting like we belonged Sir. Then we just came aboard when we brought sweep back to her Snug."

"How did the Captain react?"

"He were fed up with the locals and the officious Consulate people Sir. I think he agreed with Sarge and was not going to lose his Marines to the local detachment so let us stay. That's when Sweep got the news Sir!"

Cooke is fidgeting and even Fraser is starting to smile.

"News? What news."

The two are now grinning again.

"They have been found Sir! Miss BB... er Lieutenant Buckert and Max and Lieutenant Baleva and Mr Simpson and all Sir. They found the Argo wrecked on the coast of Norway and they are bringing them all back. They'll be in London on Sunday Sir!"

Part VII is here.