Emilie & the Hollow World by Martha Wells Page B

passed, whoever built that must have had a fleet of ships.”
    Lord Engal followed Kenar to the chart table. “Yes, of course, but it must have been abandoned for a century or more, long enough for the sea to shift.”
    “Unless it was built in the sea originally,” Emilie said. If there were creatures here as strange as the Sargasso people, she didn't think mermen who lived half underwater and half above it were too far beyond the realm of possibility.
    The others hadn't heard, but Miss Marlende stopped and stared at her for a moment. Long enough for Emilie to realize she had possibly said something very stupid. But Miss Marlende just pointed at her and said, “Keep that in mind.”
    Tracing routes on the map, Kenar was saying, “One of the reasons we wanted to explore in this region is because so little was known about it. We know a great deal about far-flung areas of our world because of traders passing along maps and information. But no maps exist of this place, as far as we know. Except this one, which we were drawing up as we went along.”
    “You hadn't explored in this direction?” Lord Engal tapped a spot on the map.
    “Due east from this island? Not yet. Dr. Marlende hadn't ventured that way either. But we did see signs of ancient occupation, the remnants of very old buildings, similar to the flooded city we surfaced near. That was here, here, and here.” Kenar marked the points on the map. “Nothing we saw was anywhere near as large or as extensive as that city. But if these people once spread throughout this area, there may still be remnants of them living now.”
    Lord Engal nodded thoughtfully. “The question is: why would Dr. Marlende accompany these people? Could they have promised him help with the airship? Their old city was nearly right atop an aetheric fissure; they may have had their own knowledge of aetheric engines.”
    “That might be true,” Miss Marlende said. “If the Cirathi weren't missing. There might have been a reason for my father to leave with these hypothetical people, but not the Cirathi.”
    “Yes.” Kenar frowned down at the map, still lost in thought. “My people wouldn't have abandoned their ship. Not unless it was a choice between that and death.”
    Which really, Emilie thought, is what we all thought as soon as we saw the empty island. She just hoped they were all still alive, wherever they were.
     
     
     
    After some discussion, they decided to tow the Cirathi ship behind them. Rigging this up took some time, but the sailing ship was light compared to the Sovereign 's bulk, and it didn't seem to slow their pace. Emilie thought it seemed optimistic, too, implying that they were going to find the missing crews. They also topped off the Sovereign 's water supply from the freshwater spring on the island, refilled the casks aboard the Cirathi ship, and replenished the food stores with some fruit and wild melons that Kenar said were good to eat.
    The Sovereign turned east, following the tiny traces of aether. They had to go slowly, to give Captain Belden and Lord Engal time to adjust the navigator.
    Steaming down a wide channel between scattered islands, they had come some distance by the time the Dark Wanderer started to move over the sun. These islands were different from the others, flat and low, with wide beaches, green reeds growing thickly out into the water, and shorter brushier trees. Up on the second deck, Miss Marlende lowered her spyglass and said to Kenar and Emilie, “Does this channel look man-made to you?”
    Emilie nodded. From up here, she could see how the shape of the islands lining the channel seemed oddly regular. They might have been naturally sculpted by the water to look that way, but still, it was strange. “It does. It looks like a big canal, like someone chopped out whatever was in the middle and left the edges.” The light wind moved the reeds, and the air smelled of sun and sand and a little like the jasmine toilet water her aunt had been