First Mate Harding stood upon the bow of the steamboat Chasm Citizen, watching the huge iron boom slowly sink below the mirror-like surface of the harbor. The flags from the tower indicated that they were cleared to enter into the port, but that they should expect an intercept with the port inspector.


    He''s going to want a sweetener, Harding thought.


    Technically, the cargo wasn''t illegal. However, if the press found out that King Edwin Aden had ordered hundreds of religious idols and banners from the Theocracy of the Lawgiver, there would be hell to pay, both for the King and for the crew of the Chasm Citizen. But the harbor inspectors had become relatively easy to bribe, ever since the King came to power and slashed their wages.


    "Half power ahead!" the captain cried.


    "Half power ahead!" the pilot repeated.


    The ship''s bell rang out, filling the air with its shrill cry. The steam engine whistled and whirred, and ever so slowly the steamboat accelerated toward the port. The sky above was clear and blue, with only a few long trails of white mist in that wintery air beyond even the spires. Directly ahead, the two great promontories of White Chasm rose to either side of the harbor, high overhead like the bows of two vast warships. Harding always thought that his hometown was somewhat impractical. After all, who sees a pair of opposing cliffs and imagines buildings cut into the walls and bridges spanning every inch of the available space?


    The bright green and indigo lights on the bow of the inspector''s ship flashed in his vision as the other craft aligned with the Chasm Citizen. More bells rang out as the two craft drew closer together.


    "What is that?" the captain bellowed.


    Harding turned to see the captain standing behind the guardrail by the cabin. He was pointing high up into the sky, in the direction of the city. Harding followed this line to the very apex of White Chasm, where the two escarpments met. There was a shining golden orb, glowing like the light of dawn, bobbing about in between the bridges and the arches and the gantries, sailing on some unseen river of air.


    The captain marched forward with his spyglass in hand, his gaze transfixed by the strange light. Meanwhile the harbor inspector''s boat was closing the distance rapidly, but the crew of the other boat seemed to have noticed the light as well, because they were slowing down and turning away.


    "What do you see?" the captain asked as he handed the spyglass off to Harding.


    It was somewhat difficult to look at directly. It was not as bad as looking directly into the sun, but it still took some time for his vision to adjust. The light had a strange crystalline rainbow sheen to it, somewhere between copper and gold, and in the very center there was a dark pair of arches, like the wings of a seagull. Narrowly dodging a bridge, the thing pitched up and the full shape of it came into view. Indeed, it looked like some type of massive bird, featuring a long boom on the rear ending with a pair of smaller wings and a fishtail.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    "I think it''s some type of kite," Harding said.


    "A kite? Ah, fair point. Let me take another look." The captain snatched the spyglass. "Father Winter, you''re right! That''s some sort of glowing kite. I wonder what those rich bastards up in the fjord have come up with now? Bah!"


    The captain stomped off toward the cabin, but Harding continued to watch the thing as it cleared the last of the bridges and soared out over the harbor. After a few moments of watching, Harding began to suspect that the thing was headed straight for him.


    "Captain!" he cried. "Captain, that thing is going to hit us!"


    "It might come close," the captain agreed. "Quarter speed, hard to life-ward."


    "Quarter speed, hard to life-ward!" the pilot repeated.


    As the flying thing came closer, Harding began to make out the shape of a man strapped to the bottom. The kite itself was not glowing, instead, the man''s skin appeared to be the source of that golden light. It was just ahead, floating gently down over the water, when Harding began to make out the ship''s rigging that lashed the man in place. Even before the hapless man hit the water Harding was already kicking off his boots.


    "Captain!" he cried. "Give me your knife!"


    The wooden kite thing banked slightly, which caused one wing to strike the water. The whole affair reeled over and broke apart, spraying chunks of shattered wood out across the water just ahead. The poor man began splashing erratically as he sank.


    By the time the captain drew his blade and handed it to Harding, he had already doffed his shirt and socks. As the boat swung around toward the shattered kite, Harding doffed his trousers and leapt, naked, into the icy water. His long exposure to the sea prevented his body from going into shock as he plunged into the darkness in search of the man. An arm reached out and grasped his leg, far below the surface of the water, in the inky darkness. However, that light was still glowing strong, and Harding was able to swim down with his knife, eyes open, and ravage the expert rigging that held the man fast.


    The fellow was still awake when they both burst into the fresh light of the surface. The boy gasped, and his skin was no longer glowing at all. Little bits of wood floated around them, and the drab orange hull of the Chasm Citizen loomed overhead, blocking sight of the city. The pilot had done a good job of positioning the steamboat. The captain threw a lifesaver overboard, which Harding expertly caught with one arm.


    "Up we go boy," Harding said. "Easy now."


    The captain and the pilot worked together to pull the two men up onto the deck.


    "She spoke to me," the boy said. He was shivering then, either from cold or from excitement, Harding could not say.


    "Alright boy," Harding said, "if you don''t want to freeze to death, I recommend taking your clothes off. We got plenty of dry clothes on board."


    "She spoke to me," the boy repeated. "She said I needed to inspire them. She said it was a command."


    The inspector''s boat pulled up alongside the Chasm Citizen, and the inspector, clad in black and red, called out, "Permission to board, captain?"


    "Permission granted!" the captain replied.


    The inspector glanced at Harding, who stood dripping on the deck, naked as the day he was born, and said dryly, "my inspection isn''t going to be quite so thorough, sir."