Elves and Clockwork

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Once he had gotten to the mooring staff, Oriske had to stop moving, feeling his palms growing sweaty again. Taking a quick moment to wipe them on his jacket again, he shifted his hands to the outer edge of the supports, turning so he was facing out. Letting out a deep breath, he started swinging again, building momentum until he could finally swing up and over the edge of the rollout bridge, his midsection taking a heavy hit and knocking the wind out of him.

Groaning as he righted himself, he looked down at Tiris before kneeling to offer the bounty hunter his hand. Once Tiris was up, he said, "Find where the Kraken is moored. I'll get a rollout bridge. Also, watch for the soldiers. I don't want to get arrested today." Leaving the bounty hunter, he went down a turn on the mooring staff, finding a supplies closet. Opening it, he examined the contents until a thought came to him. Grinning almost maniacally, he went over to the rollout bridge connected to Erica's Doom.

Kneeling next to it, he pushed the buttons that would pull the bridge back. Waiting until it was rolled up at his feet, he picked it up before walking to where Tiris was. "Bought us some more time."
 
Tiris held a tight grip on Oriske's hand as he helped him up. Only letting go when he deemed the dock sturdy enough. His breath ragged from the tiring swinging and the obvious deadly risk of it. He coiled his hands around his arms, trying to rub the soreness from them. He nodded to the other elf as he heaved himself to his feet. Turning around for a fleeting moment before he saw the less extravagant Kraken. He shook his arms and pulled his coat around himself trying to look more casual. "I don't plan on it either." He replied to the comment of not wanting to be arrested.

He moved quickly as Oriske went the other way. Tiris didn't ask the other elf what he was going to do. But really he didn't care much at the moment. It was obvious he could not get past him to try and sneak on the coveted air ship. He crouched low as some guards started to head his way. Hidden behind a thick pillar he waited till they passed him. He took the moment to quickly move forward.

At the dock nearest the Kraken was a lone guard. Damnit... Now what? Tiris thought to himself as he was spotted. "Halt elf! Let me see your passport." There was no point in running and in this heated moment he only thought of one thing. "Oh certainly... It's here..." He walked to the officer acting like he was looking for his passport. But instead he suddenly cocked his fist back and punched the officer hard in the temples. He was instantly knocked out and Tiris had to grab him to stop him from falling to his death. "Sorry bout that." He muttered as he quickly grabbed the man and drug him to an unoccupied dock. Laying down he'd not be noticeable unless one looked down that dock.

Quickly Tiris straightened himself up and walked back to the dock closest to the Kraken. Looking over he narrowed his eyes at Oriske in annoyance. What was taking him so long?
 
"Got us a bridge," Oriske said, flashing a smile before pushing Tiris out of the way to stand at the edge of the dock. Taking the edge of the rolled-up bridge, he made sure the magnets attached to the dock beneath them, glad that the Kraken's gondola doors were close enough to get the bridge to them. Taking careful aim for the doors, he pushed the buttons in the centers of each side of the cylindrical roll out bridge, sending out the bridge to the doors.

Once the bridge was connected to the ship, Oriske said, "Come on. All it'll take is a strong wind for the bridge to be blown out from beneath us. You're supposed to hook these up right when you dock, and, most of the time, from the ship." Without waiting for Tiris's response, he ran down the bridge, hands barely touching the guardrails on either side. Making it to the doors, he wasn't surprised to see that they weren't locked. Pushing them open, he waited until Tiris was in to pull the bridge back, knowing that they might need it later.

Walking in to the empty gondola, he stood still and listened for several minutes. Not hearing anything, he said, "Good, no one's on board. This'll be easier than I thought, and they won't be able to slap us with a kidnapping charge. C'mon." Taking him up to the flight deck, he frowned at the portrait of the captain that hung next to the door. "Hmm," Oriske said, trying to appear as if he knew what he was talking about, "we'll have to fly at quarter power. This ship was meant for seven people to fly it, not two. That means that we'll be flying all night long. Sitting down in the captain's chair, which sat before the great steering wheel, which looked like the ships which ran on water of old, he said, "I'll get the engines started. I need you to go down to the boiler room and turn on the coal-shoveling automatons."

The Krakenwas a unique type of ship. It was powered by great engines, but it also was kept aloft by helium like most other airships were. However, Oriske was hoping that it would take Tiris a while to turn on the automatons, since it would give him time to find the captain's manual and figure out how to drive this thing. Appearing like an idiot in front of Tiris certainly wouldn't do, and Tiris would probably go running if he learned that Oriske couldn't fly the airship.
 
Tiris was not pleased with how the bridge hung dangerously unattached. "Why are all your solutions dodgy?" He remarked as he watched the roll out bridge wobble in the wind. Never the less he didn't have much choice so he followed Oriske. He groaned as he mentioned something about a strong wind and being blown to their death. He shook his body and looked to the sky for a fleeting moment. When he looked back Oriske was already half way down the bridge. He cursed under his breath as he followed the other elf.

"You gonna lock pick- oh... They just... Left it open..." He said as Oriske pulled the bridge up and just opened the doors. Seemed rather fool hardy in his opinion to just leave your house air ship unlocked. But someones loss was now their gain, or life line as it were. He followed Oriske, looking at him as he spoke. "I could just say you kidnapped me." He snarked back. He listened to Oriske's plan, and in fact assumed the elf knew just how to fly the beast at hand. "You say that like I know what buttons to push..." He retorted as he turned to leave the room.

Tiris in fact had not the slightest clue as to where the boiler room was but it only made sense that it was in the back of the ship. It also helped that there were a few signs pointing the way. "Damn thief has me dangling near death like a fish on a line... How the hell did I get into this?!" He complained to himself aloud as he entered a big room. The boiler room was a huge room, much larger than he anticipated. Filled with pipes, hissing with steam, smelling of coal and dotted with more gauges than he could shake a stick at.

It was over whelming but he remembered that Oriske said something about a coal-shoveling automatons. So he moved through the mass towards the coal. He stared a long time before looking around to find a speaker on the wall. Since he didn't know what to push he clicked the 'talk' button on the speaker. "Hey Oriske... What the hell am I turning on? There's like ten buttons in front of me..."
 
Oriske had been able to find the captain's manual fairly easily. It had been placed on the table towards the back of the flight deck, where a great map of the world lay among compasses and sextants. Taking it back to the captain's chair, he pulled it open to the first page, skimming through a chapter that detailed the Kraken's airship model. After coming to a chapter that explained how to actually turn on the ship, Tiris's voice echoed through the flight deck.

Listening to him, Oriske dog-eared the page he was on before searching through the book for a chapter on the boiler room. "Ahhh," he said, trying to stall him. Finally finding a page on how to power the coal-shoveling automatons, he continued, "Should be a yellow button. That'll have them begin to work..." Realizing that he would probably have a few minutes until Tiris got back, he turned off the communications system before returning to the book, bright eyes scanning the words quickly.
 
"The yellow button... Which one? Theres two!" He shouted back over the com. But when there was only silence Tiris grew more agitated. "Oriske! You hear me? Hey! ..." The bounty hunter grumbled as he shoved himself away from the com on the wall. Did Oriske turn the speaker on his end off? If so, why? Perhaps he was being attacked. It made him worry deeply and he started to panic a little. If the thief was being killed how was he supposed to get off the ship? How was he supposed to get paid?

"Fifty-fifty shot..." His finger bounced between the two before he pushed the one on the right. Much to his relief it grumbled to life. The water boiler kicked on and steam hissed through the pipes. Pushing the pistons and turning gears that awoke the buckets of the coal-shoveling automaton. Soon the machine was slowly dumping coal into a hot furnace that powered the engines of the great air ship. Satisfied he nodded and darted to the bridge.

His mind raced with what he was to find. Oriske arrested or killed. Either way he pulled the six shooter at his side and checked to make sure the barrel was loaded. A flick of his wrist and the barrel clicked closed as he continued to jog. His weapon aimed he burst in the room, brandishing the gun with purpose. But there was only Oriske, with a book in his lap. He lowered the gun and stared at the other elf. "Why didn't you answer... Is that a manual!?" He said abruptly.
 
Not answering Tiris's question, Oriske instead asked "Did you get the automatons working?" Glancing down at the manual, then back up at the various dials positioned on the dashboard behind the master wheel, he nodded to himself when he saw one of the dials' needles moving. "Good...so, if I..." he muttered to himself, almost completely ignoring Tiris.

After a minute, he got off of the captain's chair, going towards one of the stations used for flight. Luckily, the captain of the Kraken was forgetful and had labeled most of the dials and buttons. Finding the one for the engines, he looked over a multitude of buttons and levers, about to push them all before seeing the floor-mounted lever labeled 'Engines'. Pulling it, he could immediately feel the vibrations beneath his boots, followed by the hum or the engines.

Returning to the book, he read how to turn the engines to quarter power as he watched the ground becoming slower as the great airship ascended.
 
No one was in the room but Oriske, calmly looking at a book. The bounty hunter stomped forward and peered closer, still holding his gun as he looked down. "You... Did you turn off the com speaker?!" He boomed loudly as the other elf simply ignored him. Oh was Tiris boiling at this point. "You bastard! I thought you were being attacked!" He yelled as he shoved the gun back into its holster. He walked to Oriske as the other man left the chair to check a few more things.


He snatched the book from Oriske as the air ship started to ascend, giving it a look through. "You-I-Bloody hell Oriske! You told me you cloud fly this thing!" He bellowed, shoving the book back at the other man. "You conniving bastard! You got me on some forsaken air ship flying off into god knows where… And you don't know how to fly it!" Oh how every muscle in his body ached to punch Oriske at this point. He even raised his clenched fist to do so. But the dire realization hit him. He didn't know how to fly this thing either.
 
Silently taking the brunt of Tiris's words, Oriske simply answered, when he had finished, "Well, do you know how to fly it?" Seeing the expression on his face, Oriske nodded once before taking the book back. "At least I can read," he said, chuckling at his own wit. "So sit over there," he pointed to ome of the stations, "and do what I tell you."

Sitting back down in the captain's chair, he started reading again, before saying to the bounty hunter, "We need to drop the ballast...at this rate, someone'll notice before we're gone, and stop us...It should be the lever to the right of the station left to you. Think you can manage that?"
 
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