Captain Wyndham sprang into action. He had no idea what caused such a catastrophic engine failure, but he knew what had to be done. The next minutes were critical because
The Corseted Domme
was hurtling to the ground, and an explosion bigger than any Lady Sally had experienced, not to mention a fiery death.
He picked up the speaker funnel and barked instructions to the rigger-men, who were already on their feet, alarmed at the rapid descent. Clarissa jammed the elevators as hard as she could to level the airship's trajectory. If they could halt the descent even for a few moments, there might be hope for them.
The airship stabilised, hitting a more level trajectory. The captain stared anxiously outside the windows, praying the rigger-men had got to their stations in good time. At the rear end of the airship, beyond the tail on the upper side of its frame, he saw what he hoped; a series of parachutes billowing in the wind. This was the airship's emergency braking system in the event of such a catastrophe. Captain Wyndham gave a wry smile, all the new technology; steam, aether and electricity, but what might save them were big pieces of material and rope.
They weren't safe yet. It was a dangerous operation to bring an airship of these dimensions down in a controlled way with no engines. The parachutes slowed them, and the airship had levelled off, but they still had to undertake the tricky manoeuvre of landing safely without a mooring mast. It was every airship pilot's nightmare. The situation was at least stable, and he could spare a few minutes to explain to Lady Sally what was happening. He put Clarissa in charge of the controls, leaving her with one of the rigger-men, who was under instruction to fetch him at the first sign of any changes in their flight pattern. He headed back along the gondola.
The sight that confronted him was chaotic. The positioning of the whipping bench was such that the unfortunate protagonist tied to it, which was the duke, was facing the rear of the airship. So, when it veered sharply downwards, the angle of trajectory pinned the rubber phallus on the automaton deep into his arse, and there it was well and truly stuck. Lady Sally, who had been at the other end of the bench having her strap-on sucked, went flying. She was now slumped in a heap against the viewing window, a massive black cock sticking out from her waist. Victoria was reduced to jelly, wailing that they were all about to die.
"Well, I hope you have an explanation for your poor steering, captain," scolded Lady Sally.
A faint smile came across his lips. Given her undignified predicament, he was hardly expecting praise.
"The engines have cut out, madam. All of them, which is exceptional. You might expect one engine to develop a fault but not four, and for all of them to fail is strange."
The captain stepped over to Lady Sally and offered a hand, pulling her onto her feet.
"What does that mean, captain?" she asked.
"We have to make a forced landing, with no engines, and no mooring mast."
"Is it dangerous?"