Emilie & the Hollow World - By Martha Wells Page 0,30
by Kenar, Oswin, and the other crewmen. Kenar moved away immediately to the railing, knotting his fists on it and looking across at the island. Lord Engal cleared his throat. He was sweating in the damp air, and had pulled his shirt collar open. He said, “There's no sign of violence, but there's no sign they took any of the supplies they would need to leave the ship for any length of time.” He frowned at the island, the men still searching the top of the bluff. “Hmm. A closer look at the airship's landing site may tell us more.” He focused on Miss Marlende and said, “We'll find them. Obviously they had a compelling reason to leave this spot, even if it isn't obvious to us.”
Miss Marlende nodded tightly. “We took too long to get here.”
Lord Engal's brows lowered, but he kept a hold on his temper. He said, “I apologize for the delay, but I assure you-”
“No, not you.” Her voice was thick with the effort to control her emotion. “I should have acted more quickly. As soon as Kenar arrived with the news of what had happened, I should have...had plans already in place, I should have...” She shook her head, and turned away.
Emilie unobtrusively pressed her sleeve to her eyes. It was obviously taking a great deal for Miss Marlende not to give way, and she didn't want to add to the burden by succumbing to sympathetic and completely useless tears herself. She wasn't sure if Miss Marlende wanted to be comforted, or how to go about it, or if the attempt would just make things worse. Kenar, still standing at the rail and lost in his own grim thoughts, clearly wanted to be left alone.
Lord Engal seemed to be facing a similar dilemma. He hesitated, then finally said gruffly, “Not much opportunity to plan for this sort of eventuality, when one had no idea what Dr. Marlende was going to discover, if anything. Seems to me we've all been simply doing our best with what little we know.” He cleared his throat. “Now let's have a better look at this landing site and see what it tells us.”
Miss Marlende pressed a hand to her temple for a moment, then said, in a steadier voice, “Yes, of course.”
They went up the dirt-cut steps to the top of the bluff. It was warmer up there than down by the water, and Emilie was glad she was wearing one of Miss Marlende's lighter cotton shirts. The large grassy clearing looked bare of clues at first, but as soon as Kenar and the others began to point things out, Emilie could see the signs that a great many people had been here.
There were footmarks in the dirt, tufts of grass that had been ripped up, divots in the ground and spots of flattened vegetation where large heavy things had rested. Back under the shade of the trees, they found a rock hearth where someone had made a campfire, places where food garbage had been buried, a dropped handkerchief stained with engine oil, a wrench that had been accidentally kicked into a bush. Oswin pointed out that there was only a little rust on it, which it couldn't have been there for more than a few days.
They could see the marks on the nearby palm trees where heavy ropes had been tied, that must have been the anchor lines for the airship. And there was a big square spot in the dirt where Kenar said the main cabin had rested, when Dr. Marlende had lowered the craft all the way down to try to repair the aetheric engine. “It looks as if they moved it, at least twice,” Oswin said, poking at a tuft with the toe of his boot. He looked at Kenar inquiringly.
Kenar spread a hand, shaking his head. “They may have. When Jerom and I left, Dr. Marlende still hadn't given up on the idea that he could fix the engine himself.”
“It was only the aetheric engine that was damaged, correct?” Oswin said. “Not the smaller oil-fueled engine that would allow the airship to maneuver.”
Kenar nodded, glancing at Miss Marlende. “But Dr. Marlende didn't want to move the airship too far without the aetheric engine. He was afraid he would run out of fuel for the other one. That's why we took the balloon to the aetheric air current on the Lathi.”
“And obviously the ship returned here safely,” Lord Engal muttered, walking past them. “We need to