the snow. That was good. She didn't have time to make a formal report. She had to get to the machine room and back out before the walker arrived ...
But what was that? From out of nowhere a small shape had appeared on the rope ahead - a tangle, or some imperfection in the cable. At this speed, running into a knot could break her wrists - or even worse, snap the leather of the rig.
Then Deryn realized what it was: the message lizard, still making its plodding way down toward the ship.
"Out of the way, lizarrrrrrd!" she screamed.
At the last moment the beastie heard her - and leapt straight into the air! Deryn whipped past it, spinning herself around to look back. The lizard came down onto the rope, wrapping its sticky feet around the cable and shrieking random warnings as Deryn zipped away.
"Sorry, beastie!" she cried, then spun back toward the airship.
It was coming at her so fast.
She tried to slow herself, letting her legs dangle to catch the air. At least the membrane was squishy and half deflated. The flank was seconds away now, sniffers and riggers scrambling to get out of her way. Deryn let the straps around her wrists unwind ...
At the last second she dropped.
The membrane crumpled around her with a whump. For a moment she was buried in the warm, smothering embrace of the airbeast's skin, breathless and dazed.
She rolled over to face upward, her ears still ringing with the impact, and found herself nose-to-nose with a curious hydrogen sniffer.
"Ow," Deryn told it. "That hurt."
The beastie sniffed her and let out a concerned bark - apparently the impact had popped open a leak.
Hands reached down and pulled her up, setting Deryn onto her feet.
"You all right there, lad?"
"Aye, thanks," she said, looking around for an officer. But none had appeared to demand a report. The riggers were in motion all around her, the crew scattering below. "Is it in sight yet?"
"You mean that contraption?" The rigger turned and looked across the snow. On the horizon a squick of a reflection pulsed in a steady pattern, matching the rhythm of the walker's stride. "They say it's a big one."
"Aye, it is," Deryn said, and headed down.
Dashing across the membrane on shaky legs, she hoped that Alek was still with the eggs. Would he guess what the ringing battle Klaxon meant and try to escape? Or, with the enemy approaching, would some daft officer decide to lock him up again?
The faster she found him, the better.
Spotting a tangle of ratlines draped across the main gondola, Deryn didn't bother using a gangway. She climbed down the ropes, swinging into the gondola through a smashed window. Shards of broken glass tugged at her flight suit, but the suit's thick leather snapped them from the frame, her boots skidding as she landed.
There was no chaos inside, just controlled urgency. A troop of men ran past, carrying small arms. A chorus of command whistles sounded, calling for the hawk tenders to assemble.
But air guns and aeroplane nets against an armored walker? They wouldn't stand a chance.
The machine room was just down the corridor. She headed toward it, then burst through the door at a run.
"Mr. Sharp!" Dr. Barlow said from the darkness. "What's all the fuss out there?"
A moment later Deryn's eyes adjusted - there he was, kneeling by the cargo box.
"Alek!" she cried. "It's your family!"
He stood, letting out a sigh. "As I expected."
"They've sent an emissary?" Dr. Barlow asked.
"They've sent a barking war machine!" Ignoring the boffin's expression, Deryn grabbed Alek's arm and pulled him out the door.
Once she'd dragged him into the corridor, he began to run under his own power. She led him toward the lower deck.
"I thought Volger might take a direct approach," he said as they scrambled down the stairs.
"Speaking of direct, how come you didn't mention that your family had a barking walker?"
"Would you have believed me?"
"I'm still not sure I believe it!"
On the lower deck, Deryn ran for the gondola's main door. But when they reached the gangway, it was already occupied by a line of crewmen carrying heavy crates. The words "high explosives" brought Deryn to a skidding halt.
"Don't want to bump into these fellows. Aerial bombs."
Alek's eyes widened. "What are they going to drop them from?"
"A Huxley, maybe? Just what we need to start that walker of yours shooting!" She pulled him away. "Come on, we'll jump out a window."
At the middies' mess the broken window they'd passed