Free The Brimstone Network (Brimstone Network Trilogy) by Thomas E. Sniegoski Page A

drop fast, and Stitch was trying to pull up on the yoke to keep their descent controlled. “We’ve lost the left engine,” he growled, looking through his side window at the smoke pouring from the area of the wing where the propeller was no longer turning. “And I think I see the reason why.”
    Bram leaned forward in his seat to see.
    Small batlike creatures congregated around the damaged engine, metal and bits of colored wire hanging from their extra wide mouths as they chewed their latest bite.
    “Gremlins,” Bram whispered, knowing full well the damage the creatures could cause.
    “Pests is what they are,” Stitch grumbled, undoing his safety belt and attempting to extricate himself from the pilot’s seat. “Take the controls,” he ordered.
    Bram did what he was told, taking hold of the steering wheel tightly in his hands. He glanced over through the right side window and glimpsed more of the batlike creatures scurrying along the wing of the plane, moving toward the remaining engine.
    “There’s more of them on the other wing,” Bram announced. “What’re we going to do?”
    “You’re gonna keep us in the air,” Stitch said frombehind him. He could hear the man rummaging through the toolbox from the back.
    “But I can’t … ,” Bram began, turning around in his seat.
    Stitch was standing by the door, a large wrench clutched in one pale hand.
    “You were taught how to fly a plane, am I correct?” he asked the boy.
    “Yes, but I’ve never …”
    “Then put the education to use,” Stitch said. He undid the latch, exposing the inside of the craft to the elements.
    “What are you going to do?” Bram screamed over the roar of the wind.
    Stitch grabbed hold of the door frame. “I’m going outside to see what I can do about our pest problem,” the patchwork man said.
    And with no further thought, he was gone.
    S titch leaped from the doorway, onto the wing of the plane.
    He landed on his stomach, the wind and rain doing everything in its power to knock him from his perch. Digging his fingers into the metal of the wing, Stitch found his hold, crawling across the slick surface toward the pairof creatures now tearing at the metal housing around the propeller.
    He had to make this quick, or they’d soon be completely engineless. Holding tight with one hand, he raised the wrench and brought it down hard upon the surface of the wing. He hoped to scare the beasties, or at least distract them long enough that he could get to them and prevent them from doing any further damage.
    The two gremlins stopped, staring down the wing at him through red, squinted eyes. They hissed, baring nasty teeth that could chew metal like bubble gum.
    “Same to you!” Stitch bellowed over the wind, waving the large, metal wrench like a lure.
    Their eyes bulged as he moved the tool through the air, as though he were waving a steak. The gremlins looked at the engine again, and then back to the wrench in his grasp, trying to decide which appealed to them more.
    Stitch inched closer, striking the wing again with the wrench.
    Both beasties looked up from the damage they’d begun on the engine and growled menacingly. They’d already torn through the protective casing, exposing some of the engine’s inner workings.
    “Wouldn’t you like a bite of this?” he yelled, extending his arm holding the wrench and moving it around enticingly.
    One of the gremlins took the bait, tiny razor-sharp claws sinking into the metal surface of the wing as it skittered closer, toothy mouth opening wide for a sampling.
    There would be no biting.
    Just as its jaws were about to close on the offered prize, Stitch acted. He whacked the monster across the head as hard as he could with the wrench. The blow was fierce, and the creature dropped to the wing in a daze. Stitch pulled himself closer and hit the beast again. Its head now dented and misshapen, the gremlin fell from the wing disappearing in the storm.
    The next one would be more difficult,