only chance to stay hidden." He pointed at the charred remains across the snow. "We got one of them, after all."
"Yes, bravo," Volger said, acid in his voice. "I witnessed your brilliant strategy of standing in front of its guns."
Alek took a slow breath. "Count Volger, you will kindly keep a civil tone."
"You abandon your post, you ignore your own safety, and now this!" Volger pointed at the broken walker, his hand quivering with anger and disgust. "And you're telling me to be civil? Don't you realize that the Germans will be back soon, and you've left us with no way to escape!"
"It was a risk I was willing to take."
Volger's voice dropped. "It's one thing to risk yourself, Alek, but what about the lives of your men? What do you think will happen to them when the Germans come?"
Alek glanced at the spot where Klopp had been standing, but the other three men had found work for themselves out of sight.
"Klopp says we can repair the walker."
"I may be a cavalry officer, Alek, but I can see that this machine won't stand on its own."
"No. But the Darwinists can pull us upright, once they reinflate the airship."
"Forget your new friends," Volger said bitterly. "After this last attack their ship is beyond repair."
"But the zeppelins hardly touched it."
"Only because they wanted to capture the airbeast alive," Count Volger said. "So they focused their fire on the mechaniks. From what I've overheard, the engines are shot to pieces - impossible to fix."
Alek peered at the giant black shape splayed across the snow, the birds whirling overhead. "But they're reinflating the ship. They must be planning something."
"That's why I'm here," Volger said. "They're going up without engines, like a hot-air balloon. An east wind will carry them over France. It should work, as long as that wind arrives before the Germans do."
Alek looked at the Stormwalker, despairing. Maybe they could still pull the walker upright ... but the Leviathan would never have enough control to set the walker on its feet.
Volger took a step closer, the anger fading from his face. Suddenly he looked exhausted. "It's up to you to decide, Alek, if you want to surrender."
"Surrender?" Alek said. "But the Germans would hang me."
"No - to the Darwinists. Tell them who and what you are, and I'm sure they'll take you with them. You'll be a prisoner, but you'll be safe. Perhaps they'll win this war. And then, if you've been obedient, they might install you on the throne of Austria-Hungary, a friendly puppet emperor to keep the peace."
Alek took a step backward in the snow. Volger couldn't be saying this. It was one thing to stay hidden - no one expected a fifteen-year-old to fight on the front lines. But surrendering to the enemy?
He'd be remembered as a traitor for all time.
"There must be another choice."
"Of course. You can stay here and fight when the Germans come. And die with the rest of us."
Alek shook his head. It made no sense, Volger talking like this. The man always had a strategy, some plan to bend the world to his will. He couldn't be giving up.
"You needn't decide yet, Alek," Volger said. "We have a day or so before the Germans return. You might have a long life in front of you, if you surrender." He shrugged again. "But I'm done with giving you advice."
With that, the man turned and walked away.
THIRTY-FOUR
Alek took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
Dylan opened it, frowning when he saw Alek.
"You look barking awful."
"I've come to see Dr. Barlow," Alek said.
The young airman opened the door of the machine room wider. "She'll be back soon. But she's in a foul mood, I'm afraid."
"I know about your engine trouble," Alek said. He'd decided not to hide that Count Volger had been spying on them. For his plan to work he and the Darwinists had to trust each other.
Dylan pointed at the box of mysterious eggs. "Aye, and on top of the engines, that barking idiot Newkirk didn't keep these warm enough last night. But it's all my fault, of course, as far as the boffin is concerned."
Alek looked down at the box - only three eggs were left.
"That's too bad."
"The mission's stuffed anyway." Dylan pulled a thermometer from the box and checked it. "With no engines we'll be lucky to make it back to France."
"That's what I've come about," Alek said. "Our walker's also finished."
"Are you sure?" Dylan gestured at the drawers that filled the