Masters of the Sky

Chapter 14 New Findings

Gabriel picked up a fancy-looking fountain pen from the desk and fumbled with it. „How much do you know about factions in Iron Shore government?"

"I don't care much for politics." Celia shrugged. "All the government cares about is filling rich people's pockets with even more coins."

Gabriel's mouth quirked into a bitter smile. "You are not wrong. However, some politicians still work on improving people's lives."

"And you are one of those, I assume?"

"Yes, though I don't expect you to take my word for it." He put down the pen and looked at Celia. "There are three main factions on the political scene." He closed his fist and then raised one finger. "First one is Conservatives. It's a band of old fools who believe we can weather whatever comes our way and we don't have to do anything about it. They claim that all the glaciers have already melted, so our situation can't get any worse, so why do anything if we can keep up with our current lifestyle."

"What a load of seagull crap," Celia scoffed.

"I agree. Unfortunately, the faction is comprised of many representatives of the old families, so they have enough votes to thwart any developmental project we're trying to push through. The second one"──he raised another finger──"is the Visionaries. They preach that we should build all our infrastructures further up in the sky, with the end goal being a creation of floating cities."

Celia raised her brow. "Floating cities. They can't even muster proper flying ships of decent size. What makes them think they can lift whole cities to the sky?"

"It's... a complicated topic. The Visionaries are a recent addition to the government and started as a religious sect. They believe the flooding was the punishment from God, which was supposed to wipe out all the sinners and unworthy. Those who remained shall seek to reunite with God by trying to get as close to the sky as possible."

Celia blinked several times. "That's the people sitting in the government? A band of lunatics? It's even worse than I thought."

"Yes, unfortunately. The Visionaries are still a small part of the senate, but they have enough representatives that we have to consider their projects and their votes. Luckily for everyone, the vast majority of the senate is from our faction─the Progressionists." He raised the third finger. "My father, and our leader, firmly believes that we cannot remain here and endlessly raise our cities higher and higher. They will collapse sooner or later. He believes we have to look for a better place to settle."

"Hence, your mission. I still don't get why all the secrecy."

Gabriel laced his fingers together. "Finding a new place to settle doesn't equal crossing the mountains. There are still a few high enough places that prevail over the sea. Most senators believe we should settle there and work on the dam system to prevent more flooding. It's a much cheaper solution than preparing to cross the Thundering Massive and building the whole new fleet of flying ships."

"But it's not exactly a long-term solution, is it? We hope things won't get worse, but we don't know for sure," Celia noted.

"Yes. That's why the governor considers all possible ways out, including venturing to the New World. But the senate rejected the motion when he made an official proposal to fund the expedition. They wouldn't sign putting money into something that might not work."

"And so, this became a secret project." Celia nodded in thought. "After the senate refused to support this, your father did so anyway, ignoring them and probably embezzling the funds to pay for all your ships and crews."

Gabriel smirked. "Well, yes, he did. Don't sound so judgemental, Captain de Visher. You should know how it feels like to push your vision forward even if others don't support it."