The next morning Lady Sally lay slumped in an armchair in her Chinese, silk dressing gown embroidered with dragons, somewhat worse for wear. Her uncle's vodka had left her with a throbbing head, yet her maid insisted on clumping around in a huff. She couldn't imagine why.
"Did we really blow up the monument?"
"You certainly did," confirmed Victoria in a tone of reproof.
Lady Sally smiled as her memory of the event returned through the vodka induced haze.
"Well, Victoria, there's no point one being a
Mistress of the Air
if one cannot have adventures, and besides, it was a daring escapade and a magnificent explosion... one of my finest, I think."
"Yes, madam, of course, madam," replied her maid, not terribly convincingly.
"And where are our anarchist comrades now?"
"The captain dropped them in a village in the forests where their comrades are living in a commune. If you recall, you invited them to join the airship's party, but they said you were far too dangerous for them... and they are anarchists, madam."
"I don't know what they're fussing over. It was just a little explosion... and nobody got hurt."
As if her maid's grumblings weren't enough whilst in this fragile state, Lady Sally now had cook on the warpath.
"Milady, I can't put up with this no more."
"What, the explosions?"
"No milady. Your explosions is your business. I mean the food going missing. The kitchens, that's my business."
"Can't this wait cook. As you can see I'm not at my best this morning."
"Not when cold chicken legs goes missing, milady... and currant scones... and bottles of ale. I tell you there's a thief on board. Now, I don't want to cast no aspersions, milady, but there's some strange characters on this airship."
"'T was ever thus, cook, as you well know. But why would anyone want to steal food? Everybody's fed perfectly adequately, even if my gentlemen are made to eat off the floor as humiliation, they're hardly left to starve."
"I'm just saying what I've seen, milady. I know where every ounce of sugar is in that kitchen, and I knows when things go missing."
"Well, just keep an eye on the situation cook, maybe one of the rigger-men wanted a snack in the middle of the night. Now, to more pressing matters, do you have a good remedy for a hangover?"
"Ah, so now you needs mi advice."
"Yes cook, but I'd rather not have it served with recriminations."
"You needs raw eggs... raw eggs and Worcester sauce, that'll do the trick. I'll get you some."
Cook stormed off triumphantly.
Lady Sally was restless. She fancied some amusement but with the minimum input from herself. She could set the automation sex doll off and see what havoc she could cause, but there was another option... one of her dastardly devices.
She summoned up the effort to put her make up on and get dressed. She put on one of her many corsets, this particular one with scarlet panels and black ribbons, over a black silk blouse, and matching-coloured skirt. She enlisted Victoria's help in lacing up the corset to cheer her up. Lady Sally knew her maid too well, knew she loved to handle her wardrobe and help her get dressed. There was many a time Lady Sally had caught her maid trying on her undergarments, for which she had to be reprimanded. Helping her get dressed might take Victoria out of her reproachful frame of mind following the business with the anarchists.