Revenge of the Mad Scientist (Book One: Airship Adventure Chronicles) by Lara Nance

a hired hand, saving every coin he could to be able to buy his own ship. Gambit wasn’t brand new, but since he bought her three years ago he'd spent all his profits from cargo runs to fix her up. Then when he met Sam after he lost his own ship, the savvy engineer had made additional modifications that made her one very fast vessel. Gambit , his one and only girl.
    He cursed their misfortune in losing a fortune of silk cargo belonging to Baron von Setter a few months ago as a result of a pirate attack. Because they hadn’t had money for insurance the Baron was owed the price of the cargo. So far they hadn’t raised it and the Baron was running out of patience, threatening to take Gambit if they didn’t deliver. Rett was desperate. He knew it would tear his heart out if he lost her.
    Darby worked off to the side, attaching a pulley mechanism to a gangplank on one of the crafts. On the bench beside him an odd contraption like a large music box with a complex mass of turning wheels produced the tinkling sweet sound of an old waltz.
    “Hey, Darby. We’ve got the money for the regulator and the helium fill.” Rett walked forward.
    The older man looked up from his work and grunted, a short, fat cigar drooping from his lips. “It’ll have to be coin, I don’t hold with those gold and silver slips they use in the big cities.”
    “Good, that’s what we have.” Rett counted out the twenty gold pieces and handed them over to the hanger owner.
    “Alright, then. Here’s your replacement.” Darby walked to a work table at the side of the room and took the heavy bronze regulator out of a box. “Been waitin’ for you to come back all evening.”
    “Thanks for staying. We’ll get this installed and then fill up the tank so we can get out of your way.” Rett handed the piece to Sam who lowered their gangplank and hurried aboard.
    “You planning to head out tonight?” The older man squinted at him through a cloud of cigar smoke.
    “Yes, as soon as possible. I have a cargo in Eagle’s Peak that should have been picked up yesterday, but we got blown off course by that storm.”
    “Well, there’s another storm on the way, so be careful. Had a dog-sled runner from the south in this morning and he said the storm is supposed to hit just about dawn.”
    “Damn.” Rett looked up at his beloved Gambit . He hated to risk her in another storm, but they had to get out of here before the trappers figured out they escaped the bar. And that cargo wouldn’t wait on them forever.
    He ran up the gangplank and found Sam in the engine room using his mechanical hand instead of a wrench to take off the old, faulty regulator.
    “We need to hurry,” he said.
    Sam gave him a disgruntled look.
    “I know, I always say that.” Rett grinned. “But seriously. We don’t want to be snowed in here with the bad boys of winter on our heels.” He pulled off his helmet and ran a hand through sandy blonde hair that hung down to his neck. “Darby says a storm is coming. We need to make Eagle’s Peak by dawn or we’re in big trouble.”
    “Well then, pick up a wrench and make yourself useful,” Sam said. “Start loosening the bolts on the new one so I can slip it on as soon as this one is off.”
    Thirty minutes later, the new regulator was in place, and Darby had filled their helium tank and given them a new load of coal.
    “I’ll open the hatch,” Darby called as he pulled the rope to raise their gangplank. “Let me know when to release the tethers.”
    The older man stumped over to the side of the building and rotated a large wheel. The chains of the mechanism clanged as the hanger hatch above them slid open.
    “Let’s get this bird in the air,” Rett called. He ran back to the raised aft deck and stood ready at the piloting station. Sam used a lever to open the helium tank that would bring their inflatable back to the concentration needed to rise in these frigid temperatures.
    “Let ‘er fly,” Rett yelled down to Darby and he