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hurried after him.
    As they moved up through the ship, she noticed lengths of copper tubing running along the bulkheads, like metal veins. From studying airship schematics, she understood that the tubes carried ether from the batteries mounted throughout the ship. The ether was an accidental, but important, byproduct created as the batteries transformed Christopher’s energy into the means to power the ship. He wasn’t merely the ship’s power source, but also its way of staying aloft.
    The first time she’d met a Man O’ War, she had been leaving a debriefing at Admiralty headquarters. Captain Daniel Kerrick had been walking in just as she was exiting Admiral Porter’s office. Even though she was difficult to rattle, she’d been awed at the size of Captain Kerrick, and how he seemed to radiate barely leashed power.
    Since then, she’d encountered others of the man-machine hybrids. There was always an element of danger surrounding these men, a sense of the uncanny. After all, they weren’t ordinary men, but men who had telumium implants grafted to their bodies, who had strength and sensory capability far beyond that of normal humans. They commanded and fueled airships. Difficult not to think of them as monstrous.
    But she had met those other Man O’ Wars only after they had undergone their transformations. She had known Christopher, in every possible way, when he had been simply a man.
    Though Christopher had never been simply anything.
    Don’t think about that now. Don’t think about what you walked away from. All that matters is the mission.
    She repeated this over and over as she followed him and his astonishingly wide shoulders through the ship. Curious crewmen appeared, giving her respectful salutes and murmurs as she passed. But they weren’t curious simply because of her gender or her role as an operative. She could see their speculation. Wondering what her relationship with the captain was, or had been. Shipboard gossip moved faster than a hurricane.
    The crew would have quite a lot to talk about. Yet this far behind enemy lines, she just hoped the force of the past didn’t tear her or Christopher’s ship to pieces.

 
    Chapter Three
     
    S HE TRAILED AFTER Christopher until they reached the navigator’s room. Charts, maps, and equipment covered every available surface. The young lieutenant saluted as they entered. Like everyone else on the ship, he barely hid his inquisitiveness at her appearance.
    “Your findings, Mr. Herbert,” Christopher said without preamble.
    The navigator snapped to attention. He pointed to a section of the map spread on the table before him. “We should find a safe pocket here, sir. It’s far from towns of any real size, and the mountains should keep us screened from the enemy.”
    “There’s a military installation in that area,” she said. “Five hundred troops, and they’ve got ether cannons, so you wouldn’t be safe from bombardment. However,” she continued, pointing to a different stretch of mountains, “this region is all but uninhabited, and what populace does live there are poor peasants with no access to telegraph lines. If my airship were damaged and I needed someplace to drop anchor for repairs, that’s where I would go.”
    Mr. Herbert glanced at Christopher, uncertain.
    “Your intelligence is reliable?” Christopher asked.
    “Of course. I gathered it.”
    The corner of his mouth threatened to curve upward. Once, long ago, when they had been watching the night sky from the warmth of his bed, he had confessed that he found her confidence enthralling.
    Not maddening? she had asked. The night had been cold, especially with the balcony doors thrown open to better see the stars, and she and Christopher had snuggled together beneath a fur blanket taken from a captured Russian ship.
    D’you think I joined the Navy because I want an uncomplicated life? It’s challenge that I want. And challenge you give me.
    Ready for another challenge? She had rolled