Here’s the next chapter in my new novel, Trans-Continental: Cannon Belle Run! This is the third book in the Trans-Continental series, which can be read independently of Girl in the Gears and Mississippi Queen if you’re curious.

This book is being written as a serial, published and collected on this site and on Royal Road, if you want to read ahead.

Note: Reality Check, Trans-Continental, and The Multiverse Blues all occur in the same multiverse, in that chronological order.

Chapter Nine – Tin Man

Chapter Ten – Moon Maiden

The Clair de Lune plowed into a stand of trees. I covered my head with my arms and hit the deck as the hardened fabric skin of the airship tore on tree branches. The ship’s frame groaned as we came to an abrupt stop. My body flew forward and caught on the steel door frame and the wind was forced from my lungs. I lay gasping like a freshly caught fish on the deck, which was now tilted. My arm hurt, and I knew there would be a nice bruise to show for it.

Somewhere behind me, Duffy and Dionne groaned. I peered up at them as they helped each other to their feet. Duffy gave me a crooked grin. As she took my hand to pull me up, she said, “Time for a new plan.”

I mirrored her grin. “Yeah? What is it?”

She shrugged. “I was hopin’ you knew. Aren’t you the brains of this outfit?”

I shook my head and pointed at Dionne. “Not me. Maybe she is?”

Dionne’s eyes widened. “You’re joking! I don’t even know where I am!”

Duffy and I laughed.

Dionne stared at us as though we’d gone mad. “What is there to laugh about? Our airship just crashed! We’re hanging in trees! There’s a warship coming for us!”

“Coming for you, honey,” said Duffy with an affected drawl.

Our guest’s hands flew to her reddening face. “You’d just abandon me?”

“Of course we wouldn’t, Miss Sutton,” I said, jabbing an elbow into Duffy’s ribs.

Duffy snorted and shook with laughter.

“How can you joke at a time like this!” Dionne’s face shone with angry tears. “You said it yourself, you don’t even have a plan!”

“Never stopped us before, ma’am,” I said, taking her arm. “Duffy and I have been through worse.”

Duffy took a breath and wiped her eyes. “We have?”

I shrugged. “Sure. Last airship we crashed burst into flames.”

“Right, right. Well, nothin’ for it, then, hey?”

I nodded. “Seems like it.”

Dionne looked from one of us to the other and raised her voice. “Will you please let me in on the plan?”

“The plan is this,” I said, catching Duffy’s eye.

We said in unison, “Run for it!”

“Haven’t we better check on the Captain first?” said Dionne.

“Right. Get your stuff on the way,” said Duffy. “We’re gonna have to hoof it.”

We each grabbed our duffel bag from storage and made our way forward. Levi was missing, the windshield cracked. The hatch was open, and the ladder unrolled down to the floor of the woods below.

“That’s not good,” said Dionne, wiping her index finger on a control lever. She showed us a crimson smudge. “I think he’s hurt!”

“Yeah, that’s not all,” said Duffy holding up a bloody hand as she descended the ladder. “He left a trail.”

The three of us descended the ladder through broken tree branches to the ground below. Leaves and fallen branches littered the ground in a thick blanket. We stood on the edge of a creek, which led to a clearing a short ways away. We each called out Levi’s name, but there was no answer.

“I give,” said Duffy. “Which way?”

I found myself saying, “We can’t just leave him to die.”

Duffy arched an eyebrow and pushed her bowler to the back of her curly head. “Don’t you think he would, if roles were reversed?”

I shrugged. “Maybe. Doesn’t matter. He might be mercenary that way, but that doesn’t mean we have to be.”

Dionne chewed her lip, then said, “Look, he seems like a guy who can take care of himself. He was well enough to climb the ladder, right? We have to get out of here. I, for one, don’t want to be captured by this Friday person.”

I shook my head. “I’m sure you don’t. She’s unpredictable at best, and she’s also self-serving. She’ll find new and interesting uses for you and your technological gear.”

Dionne stiffened, and Duffy drew her revolver and pointed at me.

Well, not at me, but behind me.

“New and interesting. Technological. Unpredictable,” said the syrupy voice I least wanted to hear. “Why, I think you must be talking about me. I’m touched, really.”

I heard the crunch of sticks and leaves underfoot, and I turned to see Friday, along with two men in gas masks and leather flight suits—Knobbers—each carrying shotguns, pointed in our direction.

I put my hands out in front of me, because I hadn’t had the foresight to arm myself like Duffy had. “Look, Friday. No one needs to get shot here today. I’m sure we can work something out.”

Friday stared at me like she might examine a small animal she planned to dissect. “Are you? Are you sure? Because you’re in my way, and that isn’t a good place to be.”

“Aw come on!” cried Duffy. “Wasn’t the Juggernaut cool?”

Friday’s left eye twitched, but she remained fixed on me. “Quite. Unexpected. But it is a thing of the past. Your companion there represents the future. A wide open future, and I intend to seize it for myself.”

Duffy said, “For the Empire, don’cha mean?”

“Hmm. Ostensibly so. And they will certainly gain from my studies. But no, this is for me. Now, get out of the way, or my men will gun you down.”

The Knobbers braced their shotguns and took aim at my head.

I stood up straighter, summoning old battlefield courage and all the stage presence I could manage. “If you gun me down, Friday, you risk injuring your prize. Or damaging her precious gear. And Duffy’s a crack shot. If your men kill me, I don’t give you good odds of walking away from this in one piece. You personally. We have nothing against your Knobbers. As I said, perhaps we can work something out, but not if you try to do this unilaterally. You will not get what you want.”

Friday’s eyes flicked from me to Dionne and back. “I will not be denied. You are nothing, girl. Nothing but an annoyance.”

She raised a hand and opened her mouth to speak.

I gritted my teeth and hoped Duffy would think of something.

BLAM!

The very leaves between Friday and myself rose up and a stocky form held a smoking rifle.

Friday fell over backwards into the leaves, her breath leaving her in a gust.

Levi!

In the confusion, I dove for the ground and the Knobbers’ shots went wild, the blast of their shotguns passing over my head.

Another shot rang out from behind me, and the Knobber on my left clutched his shoulder and fell to his knees.

“Drop it if you wanna live!” cried Levi, shaking off the leaves as he aimed his rifle at the remaining Knobber. The man let go of his shotgun and threw himself over Friday’s inert body protectively.

I cried, “Captain Levi! We thought—”

“I know what ya thought. I was right here. I appreciate ya wantin’ ta find me, but best take the others’ advice and skedaddle.”

“You’re hurt—” I began.

“Just cut up a little from the crash. You need to run for it. Take the lady someplace safer. Anyplace is safer’n here!”

I turned to see Duffy and Dionne picking themselves up once again. Duffy said, “And you’re comin’ with us, hey!”

“No time fer that. I gotta watch these miscreants while you make good your escape. An’ the Captain goes down with the ship, right? I can’t crawl back to New Orleans without the Clair de Lune, the Queen would have my head!”

I started again, “But where—”

“Follow the crick that way. On the way down, I spied a rail line maybe a mile away.” Levi gestured with the barrel of his rifle. “Go on, git!”

There didn’t seem to be anything else to say, so I gave him a little salute of thanks, and let Duffy drag me, along with Dionne, along the creek.

“I can’t believe he killed Friday!” I said as we hustled along a creekside trail.

“I can,” said Duffy. “Levi doesn’t mess around.”

“Clearly,” said Dionne, struggling to keep up. “But I thought I saw her breathing, as we left.”

I glanced back over my shoulder, feeling a target between my shoulder blades. Could even Friday survive a direct shot to her chest? I decided to focus on getting away before I could think about that any more.

Once we reached the clearing, I peered up into the sky, but didn’t see the Kansan warship. Just a couple of greasy black columns of smoke, trailing off to the east. “I sure hope Thomas and Goldie are okay.”

“You kidding? No one fights a Juggernaut and wins, especially with an old veteran like Thomas at the helm,” said Duffy.

The smoke told another story, but I let her have the point. “He didn’t have to fight for us, but he did. I wonder why.”

“Honor, I suppose,” said Dionne. “He seemed to know right from wrong in a world of grays, and thankfully for us, we fell on the side he saw as right.”

“Against his own government?” I asked, glancing back at Dionne.

She shrugged, her face grim. “I don’t think right and wrong depend on whose government you serve. Maybe that’s why he retired? Whatever the reason, we’re free because of him. We just need to make it count.”

Duffy stopped and turned to face her. “Make it count? Just how do you mean?”

Dionne shook her head and faced her with a touch of pink reaching her cheeks. “I mean, we need to get to California, to my friends, and not let the warring nations here have an edge because of me. It’s not my place to tip the scales, and it scares me to imagine what I know being misused. Like that tornado machine you mentioned.”

I wiped some sweat from my forehead and took a breath. “That tornado machine made all the difference. New Orleans would have been overrun by Dixie if not for that technology. Your technology.”

She nodded. “And while that was a good outcome, since your Queen hasn’t used it for anything but defense, it could have gone differently. What if Dixie or the Empire got hold of that and used it as a weapon, hmm? What if someone like Friday used it to level New Orleans instead?”

“Friday’s the one who gave it to us,” said Duffy.

Before Dionne could reply, I jumped in and said, “But it only happened because she used to be Queen of New Orleans herself. And I believe she didn’t want to see her son, the current Queen, get captured or killed by the invaders.”

“They sure wouldn’t have taken kindly to us,” said Duffy.

“But you see my point?” asked Dionne. “It was only luck that it turned out for the best. I carry even more dangerous technology with me.”

“Then why did you come here,” I asked. “Why not stay in California? Why put us all in danger?”

“And exactly what is it in your duffel bag?” added Duffy, pointing by jutting her chin.

Dionne’s eyes took on a hunted look, and she seemed to shrink a little under our questioning. “I wasn’t in California. I was in, well, another place. I needed to get back from there, to someone I love, somewhere safe. Only, the technology isn’t perfected, it takes a lot of power to make holes in reality like that. It wasn’t exact, and I fear some other presence, or force, made that the only place it could work at that time. Maybe if I’d been more patient, or poured more energy into it—but it is what it is. All things considered, I’m lucky to be alive!”

I nodded, but didn’t say anything.

She continued, “I’m really sorry I got you two mixed up in this, and I wouldn’t blame you if you left me to my own devices. But it’s bigger than me. It’s bigger than us. The stakes are too high.”

“I got a look through the hole you stepped through,” I said. “It looked desolate as hell, like, well I don’t think I should say what it looked like.”

Duffy looked at me strangely. “What did it look like?”

Before I could answer, Dionne blurted out, “The Moon! I was on the Moon.”

Duffy and I stared at her, then looked at each other and started to laugh.

“You’re laughing again! This isn’t funny! I was on a base on the Moon. Well, I had to go far out onto the lunar plain before I could—would you please stop laughing!”

“I don’t know which is worse, that you’re telling us such a whopper,” said Duffy, “or that I think I believe you. But no one’s on the Moon. No one ever has been, hey?”

I gasped for breath, and managed to say, “No one ever could! Could they?”

Dionne shook her head. “Not in this world, no. Not so far. But it is possible! It happened in another, well, possibility. That world was one where people live on the Moon.”

Duffy drew a deep breath and touched Dionne on the arm. “So you’re sayin’ you’re from the Moon?”

She shook her head. “No, I’m saying I stepped through from there. I originated on Earth. It’s hard to explain, but I followed my love there, but I got stuck after he went to your California.”

I wanted to ask her more. I needed to know more. If she could step from one world to another, that was more powerful than an electric tornado. My mind reeled with the possibilities.

I would have asked her a dozen questions, maybe a hundred, but just then I heard a train whistle.

“Come on, Moon Maiden,” said Duffy. “That’s our ride.”

“Where will it take us?”

I replied for Duffy. “Destination anywhere. Away from here. We’ll figure out what comes next when we get aboard!”