A Ship Against the Pulse

Brask had one hand inside the lift-crystal housing when the *Morrowfin* gave a sideways lurch.

“Hold that,” he said.

Orra braced her boots against the deck and caught the housing cover before it could swing into his fingers. The ship settled, but the crystal behind the open casing kept a faint, uneven glow. Each pulse of it made the brass fittings tick.

“We’re still outside the cloudbank,” Orra said.

“Which is where I’d like us to remain until the ship stops pretending it’s a bell.” Brask tightened a clamp with his wrench. “The casing’s sound. The crystal isn’t happy.”

Vey stood at the helm, watching the bank ahead. They had retreated far enough that the immense curved shape was hidden again. The cloudbank looked as it had before: pale, luminous, and impossible to judge for depth. Orra could still feel the ship’s last shudder in the soles of her feet.

Nima had spent the retreat hunched over the astrolabe, following the pulse’s pattern through its shifting points of light. She straightened now, rubbing a streak of soot from her cheek.

“It isn’t a constant field,” she said. “The crystals flare only when the reply arrives. There’s a clear interval before it, then a short interval after.”

“Can you keep it off the ship?” Vey asked.

“Not yet. I can make a barrier that might redirect some of it. If I try to hold one continuously, it’ll pull too much from the crystals.” Nima turned the astrolabe toward the cloudbank. “But if we time it to the pulse, and don’t face the structure directly…”

“Then we get to be struck from the side instead?” Brask asked.

“Possibly less of the ship gets struck,” Nima said. “That’s different.”

Orra looked at the main lift rigging. The *Morrowfin*’s enchanted sails could take some of the load, but the ship had relied on the crystals during the last approach. A full sail trim would slow them and leave less control for Vey. Still, a broadside approach would put the hull between the crystals and the source. The ship’s iron ribs had survived worse than a bright flash.

“Bring the lee sail down a third,” Orra said. “We’ll carry the weight there instead of asking the crystals to do all of it. Then turn broadside as we cross the bank. If the pulse hits, it hits the ribs before the housings.”

Vey glanced back at her. “And if the sail takes the whole load?”

“Then we’ll know before we’re close enough to lose the ship.”

He held her gaze for a moment, weighing the risk. Then he nodded to Brask. “Rig it.”