TractionEra

 Deryn stood at the base of the boarding ramp, momentarily frozen by a feeling she didn't get often. She was nervous, and about an airship. As daft as it might seem, she was more than a little scared. She'd flown aboard countless Darwinist ships of ever shape and size imaginable in her service to the London Zoological Society, but had somehow managed not to fly aboard a single Clanker airship. She looked up at the gondola of the SMS Ferdinand; its the unnatural angular shape, the lack of visible life, and the massive envelope hovering above all making her stomach feel more twisted than an airman's knot. "What's the matter, scared?" Alek jeere