The Tip of the Iceberg

Sartoma said, "The rope has snagged under the gondola. There is no magic that Solbert and I possess that would allow us to view it, or safely untangle it."

Astra looked longingly across the dark sea. If only there was a place to land! She could not safely go back into the aeriel stream with the gondola tilted at this angle. And how much longer could she go on without the aid of that invisible current?

"Talk to the others." Astra requested. "We need some ideas."

Checkers, Fred, and Jan each had an idea. "I can get to the snag by flying, if I could just get started," she offered. "And I might be healed well enough to do that as well. The darkness will not be that much of a problem. I can see well enough at night to make out the rope. If there is any slack in the rope, I will be able to land safely. My problem will be that if untangling the snag requires a lot of force, I will not have much strength or leverage."

Fred then offered, "I can give you a start. I can loft you out of the balloon, and you can then glide. That way you will not put a strain on your wings. I do not see how we are going to help as far as pulling on the rope goes, however. Someone would have to climb down the gondola, and that is too risky."

Jan then spoke up. Perhaps he was being tested. He would help in any case, because as a sailor, knots and climbing rigging were one thing that he was very good at doing. "There is not much light, but if you can give me enough rope, I can use some hitches to form a short ladder that should be enough to get me down to the snag. I may need Charlotte's help to know what I am doing in this murk, but I will pull at anything with all my might if that will put the ship on an even keel."

The rest of the group ignored Jan's mistake with Checkers' name, and eagerly started. Astra descended to a point a few paces above the sea, to give the repairmen a chance of survival if they fell into the water. Fred held Checkers under her belly with one hand, and lazily lofted her out of the balloon. Her wings caught a current, and she circled around the balloon before falling out of sight, below the gondola. She caught part of the guy rope with a leg, and then clasped it with her left hand. She poked and prodded at the snag, untangling a few layers of it. The rope started to slide a bit. Checkers fluttered off, and then saw that the remaining part of the snag had caught again. About 30 degrees now. she thought. Still not quite good enough for the river of air. There was not much slack in the rope, but she managed to wedge a boot in between the bottom of the gondola and the rope. How is it staying attached? It should be free. Then she saw the problem. A knot had worked its way into the rope, and it was now stuck in between the bottom rim and the floor of the gondola. Checkers tried to pull it out with her right hand, but it was stuck fast.

Now Jan had completed a golden ladder long enough to reach the bottom of the gondola. He climbed down, and Checkers pointed out the location of the knot. He climbed back up, and said, "I need a knife. And move the ladder about 3 paces to my right. I will cut the knot out."

Fred had a knife, and handed it to him. Sartoma objected. "We will not be able to reach the guy wire if we need to."

"Can you spare a hand's length of rope? That is all it will cost when I finish splicing it."

Sartoma agreed to let him try.

Jan descended the ladder quickly. He then cut the rope past the knotted end. Jan now called Checkers over. "Charlotte, did you ever make a long splice when you were alive?"

"I am still alive, I think. But no, I do not know how to do it."

Checkers said that she could, and started to follow Jan's directions. Within ten minutes, the end of the rope was spliced above the knot. Checkers then spread her wings and pushed off, circling around the balloon and soaring. She landed in the gondola. Suddenly the gondola lurched forward. Within a minute, Jan and the golden ladder were back in the gondola.

Jan handed Fred the knife. Sartoma then said, "Astra is getting tired. She needs a place to land, and we are not going to be able to make the Black Capes. Does anyone have any ideas?"

They all thought, and Jan replied, "You know, I would normally go out of my way not to see them, but it sounds like you need an iceberg."

1. "A what?" asked Fred.

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