Peacemaker

Начало книги

In a cave on a hillsideabove Dawson, whale-oil lamps spat and guttered, creating dancingshadows against the wooden frame of a ship, an airship. Still in the earlieststages of construction, it was perched on a row of wooden bracesstretching the length of the earthen chamber.

Kali McAlister bent over a sawhorse, sweatdribbling from her temples as she concentrated on cutting thelumber she had laboriously ported from town on a sledge draggedbehind her self-automated bicycle. When she had first imaginedbuilding an airship, she had dreamed of designing the engine,crafting clever weapons systems, and-of course! — flying the finishedcraft. Dreams of hours upon hours of measuring and cutting woodhadn’t come a-calling in her mind. As the bandages on her fingersattested, she didn’t have an aptitude for carpentry.

Ding!

Kali froze midway through a cut and staredat the row of bells laid on the muddy cave floor near the exit. Atiny hammer flicked against the third bell, resulting in a secondding.

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