“All units to battle stations!” Gorman yelled into the microphone. She could hear his amplified voice booming in other parts of the Lord Pangloth. She could hear sirens and alarm bells as well.
“But what’s another Sky Lord doing in our territory?” cried the Prince.
Gorman ignored him. He was again watching the intruder through his binoculars. “That’s not the Lord Matamoros, that’s for certain.”
The Lord Matamoros, Jan knew, was the Sky Lord whose territory lay immediately to the south of the Lord Pangloth’s.
“Why aren’t we turning, Gorman?” demanded the Prince. “Turn and attack the intruder!”
Gorman lowered his binoculars and looked at Caspar. “I advise caution, sire. The intruder has the advantage on us, and from the way it was bearing down on us it has some definite plan of attack in mind.”
“So why don’t we just attack it?” cried the Prince in exasperation. “Gorman, I command you to turn and attack the intruder!”
Jan saw a muscle twitch in Gorman’s cheek and anticipated a repeat of the events a week ago. But Gorman maintained his self-control and said carefully, “Sire, just how do you suggest we attack the intruder?”
The Prince looked blank. “Why, we simply close in on him and open…. ” He didn’t continue. Awareness had dawned in his eyes.
Gorman nodded. “Exactly. His lasers would stop our every shell and bullet.”
“But … but …” protested Caspar as he grappled with the problem. Gorman waited patiently. When it was clear that no illuminating shaft of wisdom would be forthcoming from the Prince he said, “There is nothing we can do to cause the intruder damage.”
Jan, who never spoke in the control room unless spoken to first, decided that the unusual circumstances warranted her breaking of the rule. “Chief Engineer,” she said, “just as we can’t hit the intruder with bullets or shells neither can he hit us.”
Caspar whirled in her direction. “Hah!” he cried. “The amazon is right! We have nothing to be afraid of!” He turned back to Gorman. “So what reason do we have to run?”
Gorman looked at Jan briefly before answering the Prince. “Possibly no reason at all. But from the confidence of his approach I feel it wise to give him the benefit of the doubt. He may have developed a means unknown to us of attacking another Sky Lord.”
They all turned to watch the intruder, which was now to the rear of the Lord Pangloth. It was turning to give chase and Jan saw that its bright colours extended all the way along its side. She also saw that it had a huge red circle painted on its tail fin.
“The Perfumed Breeze,” murmured Gorman.
“You know its name?” asked the Prince sharply. “Where is it from? What’s its territory?”
“It’s one of the Sky Lords of the Orient. In the Far East. It’s come a long way.”
“But why?” demanded the Prince.
Gorman shrugged. “Whatever the reason I think we can safely assume it is unconnected with any feeling of goodwill towards us.”
“Sir, the intruder is gaining on us!” announced one of the Engineers.
“I’m not surprised,” said Gorman. “With Cell Seven only partially inflated we’re a lot slower than him.” He glanced around at the clear blue sky. “Not even any cloud for us to hide in. …”
“What can we do?” asked the Prince.
“We can’t outrun him so we’re going to have to out-manoeuvre him,” said Gorman. “Helmsmen, hard to starboard!”
And so began a game of aerial cat-and-mouse that was to last for nearly five hours. But despite all of Gorman’s skills the outcome of the dual became apparent early on—all he could really do was delay the inevitable. …
During the five-hour period several of the higher-ranking Aristos came down to the control room, including Lady Jane and Prince Magid. Lady Jane took in the situation very quickly and, after asking Gorman a couple of brief, terse questions, stood silently beside Jan, her expression grim. Prince Magid, however, like Caspar, pestered Gorman with useless questions and suggestions.
Finally, at half-past three in the afternoon, the Perfumed Breeze was flying alongside the Lord Pangloth less than five hundred feet away. The intruder was close enough for the many people crowding her decks and upper hull to be clearly visible. But so far there was no sign of any overt aggression from the other airship.
“Can’t we open fire on them?” asked the Prince wistfully. “I know it would be a waste of time but at least it would be a gesture.”
“A gesture they might consider to be provocative,” said Gorman. “Not to mention a waste of valuable ammunition.”
“I agree,” said Lady Jane quietly. “Let’s wait and see what they want with us.”
“Now what?” muttered Gorman with a frown. The Perfumed Breeze was picking up speed and pulling ahead of the Lord Pangloth. Then, in what seemed to be an act of madness, the other airship started to cut in front of the Pangloth. There were cries of alarm in the control room. “We’re going to collide … !” screamed someone.
“Full reverse!” cried Gorman. “Quickly!”
The thrusters roared, but the gap between the Pangloth and the other airship that now lay immediately across its bow continued to shrink at a frightening rate. Jan and Lady Jane clutched each other. Jan shut her eyes and waited for the impact. It didn’t come. She heard Lady Jane give a long sigh.
Jan looked and saw that the hull of the other airship was still a couple of hundred feet away. Then it began to slowly recede as the screaming thrusters pushed the Lord Pangloth into reverse. But then Jan saw people leaping from the other airship, from almost every deck. They were suspended from what appeared to be large, triangular-shaped pieces of brightly coloured material.
Gorman snatched up the microphone. “All rifle units, open fire at approaching targets! Open fire!”
The air between the two Sky Lords was rapidly becoming filled with the brightly coloured, fluttering triangles and their black-clad passengers. There were hundreds of them.
“What kind of parachutes are they?” cried Caspar. “They don’t fall, they float!”
“They’re not floating—they’re gliding,” said Gorman.” It’s what I feared. The masters or master of the Perfumed Breeze has devised a method for attacking another Sky Lord. Our laser defences won’t work against them. …”
As the attackers drew closer several of them were hit by rifle bullets and fell, screaming, from their gliders, which went corkscrewing through the air out of control. But the majority of them flew on unscathed and were soon out of sight to those in the control room as they headed for landing sites on the upper hull.
Then came a wave of larger gliders. These each had two people suspended beneath them, precariously perched on a wire cradle and gripping a bar which obviously controlled the glider’s direction.
Jan thought she saw something glinting behind a couple of the approaching, larger gliders—like the strand of a spider’s web caught by the sun. Gorman had noticed it too. “Helmsmen, take us down, fast. …”
But as the Lord Pangloth started to descend, so did the intruder, keeping an exact pace. Gorman slammed his fist into his other palm with anger and frustration, then he turned to one of his men and said, “Pryce, go topside and check on the situation! Quickly, we must know what’s going on!”