Flight of the Phoenix by Melanie Thompson

pumped throughout the ship.”
    â€œWhat is the composition of the fluid?” Tomlinson screamed.
    â€œThat, my son, is a secret only Tures knows.”
    They moved to examine the engines. The two huge cylindrical machines sat on platforms. Smokestacks shot out the top and through the roof of the ship. Each engine had a turning rod emerging from the back that disappeared through the bulkhead. The spinning rod was shiny with grease and encased in a glass box that protected it and those inside the compartment. “Were you to get caught in the spinning rods, you would be killed,” Father Antonio said. “The power of the engines is so great, and we do not have the ability to stop it from turning the screw fast enough to save you.”
    â€œWhere is the fuel kept?” Tomlinson asked. His heart pounded with excitement as he thought about discovering a fuel concentrated enough to feed a very lightweight motor that would power his flying machine.
    Father Antonio opened one of six chests piled against the wall. Inside, cubes of some kind of organic material, each cube approximately two inches wide, were stacked closely together filling the chest. With his hand shaking, Tomlinson took one of the cubes. It was surprisingly heavy. He sniffed it. The funny chemical smell he’d detected upon entering the compartment came from the cubes. “What is this?”
    Father Antonio shrugged. “I do not know, my son. It is mined in the Mountains of the Moon by minions dedicated to Tures. My mistress discovered this substance at the headwaters of the Nile when she was still a young woman. She was born in Egypt and traveled to the mountains searching for the lost mines of King Solomon with her husband. It was there she found a cave filled with this substance and it was there she met Lazarus. He freed her from her marriage and from all worldly concerns, but she remembered the strange substance when she met Sir Horace. He was building this ship and needed a fuel to power his steam engines.”
    Tomlinson cleared his throat. “What happened to Sir Horace?”
    The tall vampire smiled and his fangs were revealed. “He had a fatal accident and my mistress took over the building of the ship.”
    â€œI believe Africa is our destination,” Tomlinson yelled into Brighthouse’s ear.
    Brighthouse looked stunned. “You can’t be serious. Africa?”
    â€œAbsolutely, my good man, we are headed for the Congo.”
    * * * *
    Bryn woke next to Quinn who still slept. She rose quietly without waking him, washed her face in the tiny basin set cleverly into a wall panel, and raked her fingers through her hair. It was a crazy mess. She was struggling with it when someone scratched on the door. She opened it to a smiling Samantha.
    Bryn stared at Sam for several seconds. Her former lover wore sailors baggy pants shoved into the open tops of slouched black boots. A sash was tied around her waist and a saber casually hung from it. Her white shirt was open at the throat to reveal a gold necklace Bryn had never seen before. Bryn embraced her. “Where did she take you?”
    Sam hushed her, grabbed her hand and led her out of the cabin and into the passageway. Once in the passageway, Sam hugged her again. “I have passed the most wondrous night. Tures is amazing.”
    Bryn frowned. For some reason she was not happy to hear these words out of Sam’s mouth. “How so?” She asked as Sam led her through a maze of narrow passages to a small room filled with crew members who still remained among the living. They were seated at tables eating. Bryn’s stomach growled.
    Sam slipped around the tables; the room was crowded and very small, and found two plates which she filled with slices of cured meat and porridge. Bryn accepted one and they sat in two spaces recently vacated by crew members with leprosy. “Why are all the living crew members diseased?” Bryn