It was not unheard of for cloud banks like this to come into fruition quickly, but amongst the crew there was that nagging feeling that perhaps the cloud bank was a maelstrom snake trapping them and preparing to strike. It was said the snakes killed purely for fun and as a show of power to potential mates. This was just hearsay, as there were very few people who survived a maelstrom snake attack, but it did not stop everyone from spreading old wives tales about the kings of this sky.
Laurence ignored all of it once he began hearing contradictory statements, he just focused on what he could know - the arrays. From the moment he woke up to the moment he went to bed he studied the arrays on the ship, learning more and more. As he looked at each of the arrays he began to realise there were parts of their construction that linked seemingly unrelated arrays together.
He delved more into the study of arrays while looking at the Book of Creation and slowly came to the realisation that the twenty arrays written inside were the foundations for making any and all arrays. Combining the basic array networks in different ways always gave a result, but it varied on the order Laurence placed the arrays and which he gave the most access to the battery. He realised that, depending on his upper limit on how many arrays that he used on a single item, there was possibly billions and billions of different arrays. Discovering this made him more excited than almost any other thing he had come across in his journey so far.
In the blink of an eye, three fog covered days went by, without Laurence’s notice. Normally he would be training or looking at something in his Book, but instead he studied, asked questions of Sleepy, and recorded his discoveries in the Absolution Codex. Finally, on the fourth day, he stopped analysing arrays. He had gained a thorough understanding of the most basic arrays and came to realise that for every single array possible there were at least eight variants depending on the battery used, multiplying the potential amount of arrays possible.
He was elated at the learning he had made during the time he had spent inside the engine of the ship, but when he finally left it he realised that he was the only person who felt that way. There was a sense of trepidation at the fact that they had been traveling for four days through this cloud and there was no end in sight. The navigation array told the crew that they were still going in the right direction but they could not see it. It also told them that they weren't alone in the fog. It was getting closer every day, and no one knew what to make of it. There was a chance that it could just be another ship, but the chance was slim. Just in case, Sleepy had been situated within the engine, ready to add another battery to the propulsion array if they needed to get out at speed.
Jonas tried to lighten the mood with the occasional broadcast of what had been going on in the ship that day, but it was not helping as much as he might like. There was something out in the clouds with the crew, and they knew it was coming for them. The days ticked by and the little blip on the navigation panel continued to get closer. It was like whatever it was knew exactly how fast the ship was going and was flying just faster, so it would catch up, but not in any hurry. This lethargic stalking made the crew of sky pilots more and more erratic. They were not yet at each other's throats, but the ship was split into three distinct factions. They either believed the captain made the right choice, the wrong choice, or that everyone was going to die and it was pointless to argue. The crew would often argue over it, but it was soon clear that less and less of them supported the captain.
On the eighth day the pilot saw their stalker for the first time. It was about a meter and a half wide, light blue and at least twenty meters long. He could not see it clearly but knew one thing without a doubt. This stalker was fast.
The nine men and women of the ‘kill it’ faction clamoured at the information they had been given by the pilot. At less than two meters in width meant that if one of the two cannon arrays on the ship hit the beast, then it would be torn in half. That was assuming the beast was either less powerful than a Saint or that they could hit it. There was a third concern that no one was voicing, that this beast did not fit the descriptions of the maelstrom snake. The dreaded ruler of the sky in this floor was well known to bring storms, lightning and high winds, not clouds and fog.
If no one knew what kind of creature it was, then there was no way for anyone to tell how the beast would react if they tried to shoot at it. If they failed to kill it then they could cause more harm to their lifeline than the creature originally would have. It was for that reason alone that the neutrals began to swing back around to joining the captain's side. The neutrals belief that they were going to die did not mean they were suicidal, but rather that they had no faith that either of the options was the better course. They had sat on the fence since the day the navigators had first seen the beast, but now they had begun slowly shifting their support back to Jonas.
The only reason the division had even happened was because Yannis, the first mate of the ship, had directly opposed the choice. He had opposed Jonas’ choice so vehemently that he had formed the faction dedicated to killing the beast. People muttered about him having other motives to being such a dissident, but no one would ever directly say anything. He was a strong man, even if his battle scars had made him less than beautiful.
Jonas’ support swelled with the addition of the former neutrals and generally speaking the ship settled down, but there was still a level of distrust between the two groups. It was a miasma that filed the inside of the ship and made it as hard to function as the fog on the outside. Neither side would willingly back down, but the captain being on the larger side kept things civil.
All was well until two days after the neutrals joined Jonas. The creature had increased in its passes of the ship, still not touching it, but coming close several times. Each pass would rattle the airship and the crew inside, then they would feel nothing for the next few hours. It was like the creature was playing with the lives of the crew, and Yannis’ faction became both increasingly distressed and increasingly desperate. As the moon rose, and the sky darkened, dissent was truly in the air.
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