Chapter 30
Over the next three days, Ben and Maya scrubbed the whole airship clean. Getting down on their hands and knees, they wiped every plank of the wooden deck and polished the brass handles until they gleamed. Only the captain’s cabin was out of bounds to them. Captain Reiter spent most of the day inside it, coming out briefly in the morning and evening with the sextant in her hand to check that they were still on course. At such times, she stepped onto the bridge and stared gloomily into the distance, like someone desperately looking for something without knowing what it is they’re looking for. One time, when he was coiling a rope, Ben peeped through a crack in the door and saw Captain Reiter bent over a sheath of yellowing papers, taking notes. When she discovered Ben’s eavesdropp
