02-07-2014, 04:01 AM
"Err... well, I thought I'd repaired her. She shouldn't be able to malfunction like this. But sometimes she... decides I need to go somewhere. That's how it seems, at least. I suppose I'll have to take the autopilot apart again and try to find the problem. Perhaps you can help... but we can't do it until we stop." Crispin smiled apologetically, and winced at Ethan's understandable anger. "I... think the destination this time is somewhere in the Atlantic."
He had just finished cutting Ethan free when the airship picked up speed. He took the jolt with the grace of one long-accustomed to the airship's foibles, and led the way up a compact but elegantly constructed spiral stair to the ship's neat galley. We must be out of London... "I've not heard of Whittards... I got this in Ceylon. It's quite good, though."
Winters busied himself in the tiny kitchen as he spoke, putting a kettle over the fire and assembling a tray with all the trappings of a Victorian high tea. The last plate of thin sandwiches was placed on the tray just as the kettle began to sing, and Ethan's host poured the hot water into the waiting teapot. "The dining room is to the left. I'll bring the tray if you don't mind opening the door."
The dining room was filled with light from the banks of windows on three sides, giving a spectacular view of the landscape slipping by below. Aside from the windows it was a rather bare room. The room could have seated a dozen or more people comfortably, but the table-- while certainly as elegant and well-made as the rest of the ship's furnishings-- was barely large enough for four, and only if they were friends. Three of the chairs sat against the windowless wall, while the one at the table seemed to speak eloquently of its owner's loneliness.
Crispin seemed oblivious to any furnishing strangeness, setting the tray on the table with a flourish. He put one of the chairs in place for Ethan, and went to his own to pour tea into the delicate porcelain cups. "Come, sit. Best not to stand on formality-- I always add too much cream and sugar when I pour for others, anyway."
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