Wearing the helmet and cloak of a guard, I strode without a challenge through the slack defenses around the massive airship. Only once did I even have to pause, when the scarlet-cloaked officer that I’d seen before made his rounds past me. I stood at attention, as I’d seen others do before, and he gave me scarcely a glance as he stalked on his way. I then turned and entered the ship through the stern where the steam engines were located. It was almost frighteningly easy.
A few light globes floated lazily within the ship, throwing rococo shadows off the multi-faceted surfaces of the engines onto the inside wall of the hull. The engines themselves looked powerful enough to drive a mountain into the air. They were s******g new, all polished-bright steel and black iron. But they had been test
