Marcus stood next to the jumper box, staring at the dimly lit ground where the fuel heater lay in pieces. Next to him, Maximilian, who just dropped it, stood frozen and wide-eyed.

  "W... what do I do?" Maximilian whispered, then swallowed hard.

  "What's going on? Get that thing hooked up now!" Amurad dismounted his horse and limped toward the Adder that the mechanics were readying to fuel.

  Marcus peeked over the wagon for a moment with a grimace and then crouched down again. "Just get it back together, quickly." He spoke with a hushed tone, motioning toward the ground. Then he reached up and started to pull the hose out from the bottom of the metal jump box frame, it uncoiled from around his arm as he reached in.

  The Adder was a bulbous-framed bipedal upright, with three broad toes on each cylindrical foot. Layne already climbed a quarter of the way up the machine's left leg on the rungs attached to the limb and reached down, beckoning for Marcus to hand the hose up.

  "I'll hook it up, pass it this way." Layne stretched his arm.

  Marcus stepped on the first rung of the upright's leg and pulled himself up with his free hand toward his friend to hand off the line. The moment Layne took hold of the hose and hoisted it over his shoulder, he hurled himself upwards, toward a connector on the underside of the hull above the legs. In moments, the hose was connected, and he stood on the third-to-top rung, waiting.

  After jumping from the upright's leg, Marcus readied to throw himself on his hands and knees to help Maximilian but found Amurad on fast approach. The barbarian leader came wide around the wagon and readied to ascend the ladder on the bent leg, toward the open cockpit hatch on the underside of the main hull.

  "What do we do?" Simon whispered from behind Marcus.

  Marcus looked at the closed control panel of the jump box. The outside temperature would cause the fuel to become gelatinous and bind once it stopped pumping from the jump box. Whatever was pushed into the engine would ignite from the pressure, but once the line was disconnected, there was little chance the fuel pumps inside the machine would be able to draw enough goop to keep the engine running. The upright would lurch into motion and stall shortly after disconnecting from the jump box.

  “Just run it, we don't have any choice." Marcus spoked hushed and spun his finger in a circle while motioning toward the jump box panel.

  With a resounding click, Layne connected the hose to the fuel connector on the underside of the main hull. "Good to go."

  Amurad pushed past Marcus and Simon and began to climb up. "Let's go, move it!" He shouted over his shoulder after a few rungs.

  Simon slid open a panel on the back side of the box which revealed three levers and four push buttons to the right of them aligned vertically. He swallowed hard and looked at Marcus one more time, who returned his gaze with a reassuring nod.

  Layne gave a thumbs up. Then he was pushed aside by Amurad and dangled by one arm and the toe of his shoe on two rungs.

  With a deep breath, Simon reached for the left-most lever and pushed it from down to up. The rumbling jump box roared to life and began to plume smoke from a small pipe near the front of the wagon. Then after pressing the buttons sequentially, he pulled the other two levers simultaneously.

  The machine sputtered. Then it started to chug and vibrate. Marcus winced but resisted the urge to see what Amurad was doing.

  Simon, with sharp jabs, poked at each of the buttons frantically until the jump box stopped rumbling. Then he pulled back on the levers until the chaotic shaking eased and a steady stream of smoke resumed pouring out from the exhaust. He stopped touching the controls and stepped back, then dropped his arms and stared at Marcus.

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  That was as much as they could pump with the fuel being so cold. Marcus leaned forward and checked it over. The machine was barely at 60% power. Hopefully the Adder itself wasn't too cold or it wouldn't start.

  Marcus puffed his chest and clenched his teeth. Then he gave a thumbs up to his best friend.

  Layne had recovered from nearly being tossed from the ladder and gave him a nod. "Primed!" He leaned toward the open hatch.

  A deep hiss emitted from the backside of the Adder's bulbous hull and twin opposing smokestacks positioned at the rear. Then the machine jolted and rumbled.

  It didn't start.

  Amurad began hollering but the echo inside the hull coupled with the roaring jump box made him impossible to understand. But he probably wasn't saying anything good.

  Simon stood frozen, staring at the open hatch.

  Marcus brushed past him and looked over the throttle settings and then slowed the pump rate. Then he grabbed the rubber fuel hose and squeezed. It felt like thick manure plopping out from a linen sack. With Maximilian still feeling around on the ground, there was no chance the heater was going to be in one piece in time.

  "Hey." Marcus called out to Simon.

  The mechanic jolted and turned to gaze at Marcus.

  "Feed me a lot of slack." Marcus pointed at the hose as he continued to unravel it from the jump box.

  Simon blinked and then nodded, taking over unraveling the hose.

  "When I say so, reverse the pump." Marcus jumped up on the box and started pulling the excess slack with him toward the exhaust. When he reached it, he whistled. "Good enough."

  Simon stopped feeding him slack and stood at the ready on the controls.

  In a wide ring, Marcus wrapped the hose around his arm hovering near the exhaust, careful to not let the rubber touch the bellowing, hot metal pipe. He continued to squeeze near the part of the hose that led up to the hull until he felt the fuel loosen from the heat. "Reverse."

  The hose jostled and the jump box began pulling fuel back from the Adder. The hose suddenly shifted, and Marcus pivoted quickly to protect it, throwing his free arm into the gap between the bulky hose and the glowing red exhaust. As the thick goop turned back to liquid, air caused more violent shaking in the line, and it pushed Marcus's free arm into the burning pipe.

  He yelped and slid away, catching a momentary blast of sooty exhaust straight to the face before getting the fuel line closer to the heat and his head away from the plume. Marcus coughed and gasped for air, shaking his head. "Pump it in, full power!" He sputtered.

  Simon threw all levers to max, and the jump box rumbled.

  What little Marcus could feel inside the hose was the rush of liquid fuel. "Go!" He called up to Layne.

  "Primed!" Layne shouted into the open hatch.

  The Adder rumbled and puffed soot from both of its exhausts, but it didn't start.

  "Reverse, we flooded it." Marcus called to Simon.

  The rush of fuel came back through the line and then stopped as the line was pulling air from the intakes. Marcus nodded to Simon, who looked mortified.

  In the distance, another volley of musket fire rang out. The enemy was almost upon the camp.

  "Alright, give it half, we wet her lips, let's give the ol' girl a soft start." Marcus called to Simon.

  This time, fuel and air mixed in the hose as it rushed up to the machine.

  "Good." Marcus called up to Layne, wincing as the heat from the exhaust started to scorch his arm.

  "Primed!" Layne hollered into the hatch.

  A deep rumble filled the forest clearing as a pillar of steam and soot exploded into the air from the Adder's twin exhausts. Then the scream of its massive engine suddenly spurred it from a squatting lean into standing up proper.

  Layne wasted no time and scrambled down the leg, leaping from above shoulder height and rolling back toward safety near the jump box.

  "Cut it, cut it." Marcus motioned with his fingers across his neck at Simon.

  The roar of the engine suddenly detached the fuel hose from the hull of the Upright. Marcus stood upon the jump box and started pulling the hose ring up and away from the exhaust.

  Layne recovered from his hasty retreat and yanked at the loose hose with desperate grasps to get it away from the Adder, sure to lurch into motion soon enough. Ekkehard rushed to help get the hose stowed while Simon carefully shut down the jump box using the controls.

  Another volley of musket fire rang out. It sounded like it went off right behind them, followed closely by whirs of something moving fast over their heads.

  Marcus turned around to see a silhouetted grouping of musket men standing in the field not far from the rocky outcrop.

  Aside from a lone fighter, the rest of Amurad's entourage was wiped out. Likewise, the mechanic's handlers were also dead.

  The blare of a horn indicated the shadowy musket men were readying to charge down Marcus and his crew.

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