Demise of an Airshipman
Iron Noir (Steampunk crime fiction)
Captain Falcongetter’s brassbound mahogany prosthetics clanked on
deck, hissing manfully, as his smoke-smudged, diversely augmented crew hauled the signalling investigators’ royal blue air-launch alongside then secured the telescoping gangplank. ‘Greetings, Officers.’
Boarding, beardless Lieutenant Bullwrench casually touched his tricorn with a braid-edged linen glove. He reserved formal salutes for captains of naval airships, not disreputable merchantmen like the Bolstered Bulwark. ‘Captain, you’re missing your First Mate, Jasper Inchfirkin?’
‘How-’
‘Identifying documents among his… remains. You might say he gate-crashed yesterday’s Royal Garden Party, Sir. Evidently, from a not inconsiderable height not unadjacent to your then cruising altitude- established by Greenwich Observatory. You alone were seen overhead.’
Falcongetter sighed: ‘Jasper was… liaising… with Honoria Aspersion of the Cloudpiercing Sorority, aboard her own craft, far higher. Need I explain Terminal Velocity? He’d have attained maximum falling speed long before passing us.’
‘Hmm. Accident? Suicide? Or… lover’s quarrel?’
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