A Cloud Cities Novella
Maragi learns the ropes as a mast «monkey» aboard her father’s heavily-mortgaged airship, climbing its glacial hull six thousands meters over the poisoned Earth’s surface. She hopes to navigate the endless sky, humanity’s last refuge, but must face the scorn of crewmen who resent her presence. Little do they know the worse fate waiting a motherless girl in the straight-laced, rigid Cloud society. Then, a fragile secret left by clandestine passengers forces a hard choice on her. Is saving it worth losing everything she cares about?
A short and sweet aero-punk SF novella, published in the May-June 2024 issue of Asimov’s.
Cargo Mad Bundle, Victorian Cluster, Year 766 after the Lift
A puff of moist, glacial air hit Maragi’s face when her father wrestled open the Mad Bundle’s forward hatch.
1
The eternal howl of the high-altitude winds joined the groan of straining gears that echoed in the piloting cabin. Even with the hatch closed, silence was impossible to find between the creaking of the taut cables keeping hull and banana-shaped balloon united, the coarse whispers of the sails, and the deep-throated murmur of the twin propellers pushing the ship forward.
The dial thermometer affixed to the steel rail around the hatch indicated either minus 23 or minus 28 Celsius degrees. The frosted dial glass hid part of the last numeral. As the thin altimeter needle hovered past the 6,000 meters mark, Maragi reckoned the actual temperature outside the ship would be closer to -28 C, taking the wind factor into account.
LIRE LA SUITEThe sun had not risen yet, so the dangerous UV rays that had sprinkled the young girl’s cheeks with a smattering of brown spots (on one careless outing) would not further damage her skin. But the powerful furnace was laying in wait under a violet sea of velvety clouds that stretched like lazy waves under an indigo sky.
REGROUPER
116 p.
978-1-990824-19-7 paperback
978-1-990824-20-3 ebook
