Justin Stone and the Iris of the Madonna

[joegoda]

by the official Nanowrimo counter.


A small crowd had gathered on the street outside, and they were all looking up. Just above the rooftops hovered a black cigar shaped dirigible. It was about thirty feet long, around ten feet thick, and had a gondola the size of large horse trough hanging below it, hanging by four thick cables. There were two large propellers positioned just ahead of the horizontal tail fins.

"Interesting." Justin stood with his hands on his hips, looking up at the dirigible. "I wonder how they get it to go up?" He lowered his gaze to Jonathan. "I mean, it wouldn't make much sense floating just above the rooftops, would it? It would get tangled in the trees. It wouldn't even be able to go over a small mountain."

"It uses compressed hydrogen, Justin," Jonathan said. "To go down, the hydrogen is replaced with the outside air and the compressed hydrogen is stored into cylinders. To go up, the hydrogen is released into large bags in the belly of the ship."

"It still makes no sense to me, Jonathan." Justin rubbed the side of his nose, pondering. "Wouldn't the gas make the cylinders rise up, too?" Something caught his eye. "Never mind, it's not important." He patted his brother's shoulder. "At least you understand it."

Justin stepped past Jonathan and pushed through the crowd. A few of them recognized him and made way, whispering to their neighbor, 'Look... it's the king'. He made his way down the street a bit and raised his hand in greeting.

"Detective Chanders!" Justin's voice rang over the heads of the small crown. Some of them looked in the direction of his hail. Others of them faded back into the shadows of doorways or the depths of alleyways. "How pleasant to see you again. How is the family?"

Detective Chanders was wearing the same sack coat and derby as the day before. "What's going on here, Mister Stone?"

"Ah, Detective." Justin looked casually around. "If only I knew. If only I knew."

Jonathan drew up behind Justin and touched his sleeve. "Uh, Justin," he sounded urgent. "We really need to go."

Justin nodded to his brother and to the detective he tipped his hat. "My apologies, detective Chanders. I'm afraid my brother and I must be going." He turned and pointed upward at the dirigible. "As you can see, we are testing the... er... prototype of my brother's balloon."

"Dirigible," Jonathan interjected.

"Yes." Jonthan smiled thinly. "His dirigible. We're just about to take it for a spin down to the docks. See what she can do, and all that. Perhaps you'll see us there?"

Chanders, confused, said, "Perhaps I will, Mister Stone. I've got some questions..."

"Then find us at the docks, detective Chanders," Justin tossed over his shoulder. He reached the ladder that trailed from the gondola to the ground and placed his foot on the bottom rung. After waiting for Jonathan to steady it, he mounted the ladder and started to climb. Three rungs up, he turned and called back to the bemused detective. "You might be interested in what you find in the back of the pawn shop there, detective," he said. "I believe what you find will aid you in the solution to poor mister Hauptman's murder."

Jonathan grabbed the rung directly below Justin's foot. "We really have to go, Justin. We just wasted ten minutes." He shook his head. "I hope this thing really moves, or there will be some serious damage at the docks."

"Patience, brother. I'm sure we'll get there in time." Justin voice was confident as he continued his climb. His hand gripped the lip of the gondola. "I have the utmost confidence in you." He climbed across the low edge of the gondola, and straightened his creases. Looking around, he muttered, bemused, "I'm not so sure I have the same confidence in me, though.

Jonathan pulled himself over the lip of the gondola. "What?"

Ignoring Jonathan's question, Justin asked, "Do you think you can... control this device?"

Dusting his pat legs off and standing up, Jonathan approached the large brass control pedestal at the bow of the gondola. He looked around. The gondola was lacking anything for comfort. There was a bench bolted to one side and a simple four legged stool bolted to the deck where the 'helmsman' could sit. It was a very sparse looking area.

"I guess this is the 'bridge'." Jonathan ran his hand through his bushy red hair. "Not very glamorous, but it looks simple enough." He touched a brass lever with a knurled top that was positioned near the bottom of a vertical slot. "Top is marked 'ansteigen', bottom is marked 'niedriger'. That's rise and lower in German. It looks simple enough."

He pointed to another lever that moved left and right in a horizontal slot. The left side was marked 'Hafen' and the right was marked 'Steuerbord'. "Port and starboard." Indicating a dial that had its pointer set at zero and climbed by tens to sixty, he said, "I imagine that is the speed control." He rubbed his chin. "I wonder if this baby can actually do sixty knots."

Justin took a seat on the bench and looked around. "I do not see a safety belt, Jonathan." His brother was busy at the controls. Justin rapped his cane on the bottom of the gondola. "Jonathan!"

"What is it, Justin?" Jonathan turned, irritated. "I'm trying to figure out how to turn this thing on."

Justin indicated the bench on which he sat. "There is no safety belt here." He pulled an expectant look onto his face. "How will I be safe? I need a safety belt, if you are to go any speed at all. You know that."

Jonathan sighed. He looked around and saw a coil of rope shoved under the bench, next to a box marked with the word 'Sprengstoff' - Explosive. He walked over to where Justin sat, bent down and picked up the rope. He tied one end to a lower bench support and handed the rest of the rope to Justin.

"Here," he said. "Tie this around yourself with a mountaineer's knot and fix it to that block next to you." He turned away. "I wonder if I can just..."

"Jonathan," Justin said, as he secured himself.

Jonathan whirled, counted to two because he didn't feel he could afford ten, and then quietly asked, "Yes?"

Justin smiled wanly. "Thank you. I know fully well how much of a trouble I can be."

Jonathan's frustration faded. "You're welcome, Justin. You are my only brother, and the way I figure it, we're pretty even, okay?"

"All right." Justin settled on the bench, stowed his hat underneath it and adjusted his sleeves. "I just wanted you to know that your efforts do not go unnoticed." He pulled a pocket watch out of his vest and checked it. "Now, tick tock, Jonathan. We have evil doers to stop!" He smiled wickedly at his brother. "I have the utmost faith in you."

Jonathan returned Justin's smile and turned back to the brass panel. He saw that there was a keyhole but no key. "I guess a lock is a lock," he muttered as he shrugged. He opened the pouch on his belt and pulled out his lock pick. He adjusted it a bit to fit, inserted it, and turned it. He was rewarded with a strong 'thrum' and the rhythmic swish-swish as the propellers began to turn.

"Huh," he said wonderingly. "That was easy."

"Do you need this?" A voice yelled from outside the gondola. Marion's face peered over the edge and he was holding the satchel out with one hand. He tossed it onto the deck of the gondola and crawled aboard, followed by Milky.

"What are you doing here?" Jonathan asked, yelling over the sound of the propellers.

"We wasn't gonna stay behind," Marion said. "Not with all those coppers around. They make me nervous."

"Besides," Milky said, defiantly. "You paid us a..." He scrunched his face in remembrance. "A retainer. They pinched your thingy, and we're gonna help you get it back."

"Welcome aboard, gentlemen," Justin said. "I do hope you brought your safety belt, as there does not seem to be any to spare."

"What's he talking about?" Marion asked, confused.

"Just sit down and hang on," Jonathan said. Not waiting to see if the boys had found a seat, he pushed the elevation control halfway to the 'ansteigen' setting. The dirigible bucked gently in the light wind and rose higher. The rooftops, once very near, fell below them. With a small joyous whoop of surprise, he twisted the speed control over to sixty and waited to see what would happen next.

What happened was a loud whoosh of sound from the propellers and the dirigible shot forward. The motion was enough to throw Jonathan off his feet and he hung onto the control panel to keep his balance.

"Holy cow!" He yelled. He laughed with glee and slapped his thigh. "This puppy moves!" He glanced over his shoulder to see that the two boys had been bowled over and were sitting in a pile at the very back of the gondola. Justin was as Jonathan had expected. He had the frozen rictus of pure terror on his face and his eyes were tightly closed. There were tears leaking from the corners.

"Just hang on, Justin," he whispered, knowing that even if he had been right next to his brother and was yelling in Justin's ear, he would have gotten no response.

He had grown used to his brother's odd near catatonic reaction to traveling at a high rate of speed. What did constantly amaze him was how readily Justin pushed to go along. He once asked his brother to explain, and Justin shrugged noncommittally. "It is simply a fear of mine, Jonathan. It is something to be overcome or to be ignored, especially when it is required to do so."

"I'm going to follow the road to the docks," he yelled.

Marion crab-walked on his hands and feet up to where Jonathan stood. He pulled himself upright, holding on to the near edge of the gondola. Looking forward at the scenery rushing below them, he yelled in Jonathan's ear, "She really moves, doesn't she, Ratman?"

Jonathan jerked his head to look at Marion, not expecting anyone nearby, to say the least speaking to him. After a moment, he nodded and turned back to look forward. "Yes. Yes, she does." He looked back to Marion. "And call me Jonathan or Jon, okay? Rat was a long, long time ago."

Marion nodded and looked back to where Milky sat. The other boy had crossed to sit next to Justin. Milky had pulled himself close to Justin and had a hand wrapped about Justin's 'safety belt'.

"I think Milky likes this about as much as the king does," he observed to Jonathan.

"Who?" Jonathan gave a confused look to Marion. "The king?" He saw where the boy was looking. "Is that what they call Justin on the street?"

"Yeah," Marion nodded. "The poor parts, anyway." He scanned the distance. The road the dirigible was following curved off to the left, following the shape of the lake. "You know, you'd get to the docks faster if you cut across land. It's not like you're stuck on the ground."

Jonathan nodded. "I was going to change to cross country once I got up some speed." He pulled the lever toward starboard, and the dirigible shuddered and turned a bit to the left. "Nifty, huh?"

The light wind off the lake was pushing against the dirigible, and Jonathan found he had to keep a constant hand on the controls. As the wind would push them too far left, he would move the lever back a bit toward the Port setting. "It's just like tacking a sailboat," he said to Marion. "Want to try your hand at it?"

"What?" Marion showed surprise. "Me? Fly this thing?" He screwed his face up, tossed a mental coin and said, "Sure!"

"Okay," Jonathan said. "It's not that hard." He pointed to the elevation control lever. "This is up and down. Don't touch it, okay?" Indicating the speed control, he also admonished Marion to not touch that, either. "Now this is the one that turns the ship left, called starboard or right, called port. It's easy to remember. Port and right have the same number of letters, okay?"

Marion nodded. "Seems easy enough."

Jonathan nodded in return. "That's what I said. If the ship seems to be drifting too far to the left, move the lever to the right, like this." He made the adjustment and the ship moved to the right. "If the ship drifts too far to the right..."

"Move the lever back toward starboard." Marion nodded, smiling. "Really, it doesn't take a genius."

Jonathan stepped back, grinning. "I guess it doesn't, at that. Okay, Captain Marion, it's all yours. I want to go check something out. You see anything of my automobile, you call out, okay?"

"Okay, Rat..., uh, Jon." Marion took Jonathan's place at the control pedestal. "I'll keep my eyes peeled."

Jonathan left Marion and moved to the bench where Justin and Milky sat. He looked at the boy, who wasn't as bad off as Justin was. Milky's eyes were closed, and his teeth were chattering, but at least he was aware of his surroundings. Jonathan put his hand on the boy's shoulder, and Milky's eyes opened and looked up at him.

"You all right?" Jonathan asked.

"I thought," the boy said as he nodded, "that I'd come over here and keep the king company." Milky looked askance at Justin, who was still sitting frozen with a death's head smile on his face. "I guess I'm not the only one who's a bit... scared."

Jonathan also glanced at his brother, and nodded at the boy. "I guess you're not. I'll tell you a secret, though."

The boy gave a tight smile. "What's that?"

Jonathan twitched his head at Justin and said, "He says that fear is just a thing to be overcome or ignored. What do you say?"

Milky glanced at Justin, sitting white knuckled and bound up in rope. He nodded as he looked back at Jonathan. "I'd guess I'd have to agree with him. I been scared... lots! And, well, here I am, anyways." That tight smile widened, just a bit. "Guess he's not all that different from me, then, huh?"

Jonathan gave a gentle laugh. "No, I guess he's really not."

He crouched down and reached under the bench to pull out the box that was marked 'Explosive'. It was a simple wooden crate, and the top to it wasn't even nailed on. He pulled the top off and lay it to the side and whistled.

Milky looked into the box and asked, "What're those?"

"These, my boy," Jonathan said, "are bombs. Magnesium bombs, I believe."

"Bombs?" Milky's eyes grew large and he had forgotten to be frightened. "Really? Bombs?"

"Really," Jonathan said. "As in to blow things up, so be careful."

In the box were a dozen round objects, about the size of a large man's fist. Each of them had a windup key embedded in them. Jonathan pulled one out of the box and handed it to Milky. "You can hold it, but do not, I repeat, do not turn that key, okay?"

"It's heavy!" Milky hefted it.

"We have had experience with those," Justin's voice was weak and tired, but his eyes were open. "Do please, be very careful with them." He reached out his hand to pat the boy's shoulder gently. "And yes, I do appreciate you sitting with me, young man. What is your name?"

Shyly, "Fred, sir. But most folks just call me Milky, because of my eyes."

"Than I shall call you Milky, as well." Justin smiled weakly at the boy, and the boy beamed a great wide smile back. "Thank you, Milky, for making my... ailment... seem less lonely."

"Awww," the boy stammered, embarrassed, "heck."

"Heck, indeed," Justin said, nodding. He turned bloodshot eyes to Jonathan. "How is our progress?"

"I don't know, Justin." Jonathan turned to the bow of the ship, where Marion stood. "Hey!" he yelled. "Marion! See anything?"

"I dunno," Marion yelled back. "I see a dot that might be them. It might be a horse." He leaned a bit forward, over the pedestal. "I dunno," he repeated.

Jonathan turned his attention back to Justin and Milky. "I have to take a look." To Milky, he said, "You're in charge of the bombs, okay? Do not let anything happen to them."

Milky nodded and swallowed, his eyes growing wide. "Okay!"

Jonathan touched Justin's knee. "You going to be all right?"

Justin nodded and smiled wanly. "Yes, thank you. I do believe having this young man here has a... calming effect on me. I'll be all right, Jonathan." He waved a gloved hand. "Go catch up to the 'Bad guys'." His eyes widened. "Wait for a moment, please." He reached into an inner pocket and took out his opera glasses. "You may have a use for these." He passed the glasses to Jonathan.

Jonathan nodded. He stood and walked back to the bow to stand next to Marion. "What say you, Captain? Horse or not."

"Captain?" Marion snorted. "Not likely." He stretched out his hand and pointed forward. "See that little dot? It's moving pretty fast, but we're catching up."

Jonathan looked to where Marion was pointing. There was a tiny dot, moving on the road far ahead, throwing plumes of dust in its wake. Jonathan knew it was the automobile, simply from the speed, but he handed the opera glasses to Marion. "Here," he said. "Take a look through these, tell me what you see."

Marion took the glasses and looked at the suspiciously. "You get these from a girl or something?"

"Don't let my brother hear you say that," Jonathan warned. "You might find yourself flying home. Without a balloon."

Marion snorted again, and put the glasses to his eyes. "It's all fuzzy," he complained.

Jonathan showed him how to adjust the glasses using the tiny dial on the top of them. Marion again put the glasses to his eyes and adjusted them as he was shown.

"Hey!" he exclaimed. "These things are great!" He took the glasses away from his eyes, looked at Jonathan and nodded. "Yeah, it's them. I'd recognize that giant bald head anywhere. Besides, it's hard to miss your automobile."

He tried to pass the glasses back to Jonathan, but Jonathan refused them. "Keep 'em, kiddo. You never know when they might come in handy." Jonathan winked. "Besides, Justin can always buy a new pair."

The dirigible was quickly catching up to the speeding automobile. The distinctive wooden boattail slowly resolved itself, and although the dirigible was still a ways behind it, Jonathan could make out the tiny figures of four men crowded into the vehicle.

Jonathan looked back to where Justin sat, and was amazed to find that he and Milky where having a quiet conversation. "Justin!" he yelled. Justin looked up, a bit irritated that his conversation had been interrupted. Jonathan cupped his hands around his mouth, "What's the time?"

Justin raised his eyebrows for a moment, and then nodded. He pulled his pocket watch from his vest pocket and consulted it. "A quarter after, Jonathan!"

Jonathan shook his head negatively. "No!" he yelled. "How long has it been?"

Justin squinted at his brother, then nodded and raised his finger to signal understanding. He looked at his watch again and yelled back, "About twenty minutes, more or less!"

"Let's hope it less rather than more," Jonathan grumbled. "Thank you!" Justin nodded and turned back to his conversation with Milky.

Turning forward again, he could plainly make out the vehicle below them. "Now that we've caught them, what are we going to do with them?"