Free The Scar by China Miéville Page B

long time he receded, sinking slowly toward the horizon. Nothing was visible in the direction the aeronaut was headed.
    “His ship must be twenty miles away or more,” said Johannes. “It’ll take him at least an hour to reach it.”
    The captain was yelling at the crew, organizing them into units and arming them, stationing them around the ship’s edge. They fingered their rifles nervously, staring across the slowly moving sea.
    Cumbershum trotted up toward the congregated passengers and ordered them back to their cabins or to the mess. His tone was curt.
    “The
Terpsichoria
is more than a match for any pirate, and that scout could easily see that,” he said. “But until we’re back behind the Fins, the captain insists that you remain out of the way of the crew.
Now,
please.”

    Bellis sat for a long while with her letter in her pocket. She smoked and drank water and tea in the half-empty mess. At first the air was tense, but after an hour fear had dissipated somewhat. She began to read.
    And then there were muffled shouts and the vibration of running feet. Bellis spilled her dregs and ran with the other passengers to the window.
    Racing toward them out of the sea were a handful of dark shapes.
    Squat little ironclad scouts.
    “They’re lunatics!” hissed Dr. Mollificatt. “There’s, what, five of them? They can’t take us!”
    A shattering boom sounded from the deck of the
Terpsichoria
, and the sea yards in front of the leading boat exploded in a huge crater of steam and water.
    “That’s a warning shot,” someone said. “But they’re not turning.”
    The little craft drove on through the violent spray, hurtling suicidally toward the big iron ship. There was the sound of more running from above, more shouted orders.
    “This is going to be hideous,” grimaced Dr. Mollificatt, and as he spoke the
Terpsichoria
yawed violently with the grind of metal on metal.

    In the hold, Tanner Sack fell violently across his neighbor. There was a massed shout of fear. As the Remade smacked into each other, scabs and infected flesh broke open. There were shrieks of pain.
    Penned in the dark, the prisoners felt the ship uprooted suddenly from the sea.
    “
What’s happening?”
they screamed toward the hatches. “
What’s going on? Help us!
”
    They stumbled and kicked and clawed their way to the bars, crushing each other against the iron. There were more screams, and louder panic.
    Tanner Sack shouted with his fellows.
    No one came to them.

    The ship reeled as if it had been punched. Bellis was hurled against the window. Passengers were scattering, screaming or shouting, getting to their feet with terror in their eyes, throwing spilled chairs and stools out of the way.
    “What in
Jabber’s name
was that?” Johannes shouted. Someone nearby was praying.
    Bellis stumbled with the others out onto the deck. The little armored boats were still plowing toward the
Terpsichoria
on the port side, but looming from nowhere on the
starboard
side, where no one had been looking, tight and flush against the ship, was a massive black submersible.
    It was more than a hundred feet long, striated with pipes, studded with segmented metal fins. Seawater still streamed from it, from the seams between its rivets and the ridges below its portholes.
    Bellis gaped at the baleful-looking thing. Sailors and officers were shouting in confusion, running from rail to rail, trying to regroup.
    Two hatches on the top of the submersible began to rise.
    “
You!”
From the deck, Cumbershum pointed at the passengers. “
Inside
,
now!
”
    Bellis retreated into the corridor.
    Jabber help me oh dear
gods
oh spit and shit,
she thought in a confused stream. She stared wildly about and heard passengers running pointlessly from place to place.
    Then suddenly she remembered the little cupboard, from where she could see the deck.

    Outside, beyond the thin wall, she could hear shouts and gunshots. Frantically, she cleared the shelf in front of the