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"I hope to wind up in Washington--all the way on the other coast But if I understand it right, you can only get me to the river"

The clerk didn’t ask "Which river?" because everyone knew that the Mississippi here everything stopped She pursed her lips thoughtfully and then said, "That is correct, and you can pick it up at Meh, that far down froa, you can hop a train there, and make it the rest of the way in no ti, but she sed the luleaned enough infor the protuberant buttons in front of her, the brunette woman peered down at her console as she spoke "It won’t be a straight flight, you understand I’h Winston-​Salem, and then down to Charlotte, and then over to Fort Chattanooga" She looked up froy, "Ordinarily I’d send you down through Knoxville instead, but you kno it goes"

"Oh, yes," Mercy said "I kno it goes"

"This’ll add another hour or two to the flight, but it’s safer in the long run, and it won’t cost you any more Here, let ed in readiness behind the counter The clerk braced herself and pressed hard on a lever, using alh a slot between the buttons at her waist level

Mercy traded some money for the ticket, and the clerk pointed toward Row B, Slot Two

The airship yard was laid out much like a train station--at least, that was Mercy’s impression She took a seat near the end of the rohere she could keep an eye on the airship coible that would carry her down to Tennessee It hadn’t yet arrived, but she could gather er ships that came and hile she observed All of them were minimally marked, with names like Papillion, Helena Mine, and Catie James Most had a label across the rear that marked them as CIVILIAN TRANSPORT, to differentiate the to everyone who kept track of such things, travel by air was infinitely safer than travel by train (ith the bandits and rail pirates), and even safer than sihwayions and war zones) But when the Zephyr drifted into Row B, Slot Two, Mercy felt so in her chest clench with anxiety

Itbut the tug and stretch of he, then finally the clack and lock that affixed the great machine to the pipework dock When the claere all fastened and the hull had quit bobbing like a child’s toy in a tub, a sea the hull’s underside cracked and then descended, followed by a folding set of stairs that tumbled down like a dropped accordion

Down these stairs cah, if Mercy had overheard correctly None of thehtened, or otherwise shaken by their experience, though several were visibly relieved to have earth beneath their feet again

Mercy tried to take this as a good sign

The Zephyr’s captain descended last He was short, wide, and younger than she’d expected, and seereeted every new arrival Mercy lingered by the benches with her five fellow passengers-​to-​be as he discussed the hydrogen levels and how they were holding, and how -​off he needed here in Rich duties had been coers and introduced himself with a round of handshakes and a tip of his hat

"Captain Curry Gates, at your service, ladies and gentlemen," he said

Mercy was one of only two ladies present, and the other woed husband Another two passengers had arrived when the airship ca the total number of riders and crew to nine

"It’ll be about two hundred miles to Winston-​Salem, where we’ll stop for more fuel, then another seventy or so to Charlotte, and not quite three hundred a; then on to Atlanta for our final stop Does that sound right to everyone? Check your tickets, andfor The next one on this route won’t be along until to twoequip the work perfor satisfied their personal standards Then they stepped to the side of the ship and behind it, where they began gesturing to so down at the end of the row

Mercy craned her neck and spied the thing they motioned toward the ship

It th of the dock between the rows and was roughly the size of a sine, with a taller, rounder shape confined by riveted bands of reat steel-​crusted loaf of bread, and it ca sound of segmented wheels on a carefully fitted track A series of hoses was toted in a rear compartment, like a caboose The men on the dock unfurled the hoses and locked one end onto the metal canister, one end to soest man present--a tall fellow in an undershirt, with arms like an ape--climbed up to the top of the canister and turned a valve there, which proated marshmallow as it unloaded the canister’s contents into the ship’s tanks

One of Mercy’s fellow passengers leaned toward her and said, "Hydrogen"

She replied, "I know"

"It’s a ard him

He ell dressed, and the details would’ve betrayed his foreign origins even if his voice had not The shoes were a brand and shape Mercy rarely saw; likewise, his suit had a cut that was a few lines distant from contemporary American styles His hair was dark and curly, and his hands were long, soft, and unmarked--they were the hands of a scholar, not a man prone to labor