Steampunk Plot bunny

A balloon drifted lazily overhead the city of Masaan. A figure in the basket below lounged against the wicker railing with the confidence of a veteran navy man. He looked down every now and then to the thermos clenched between his bare hands, shook it a little, and would take a small sip. This he would spit upon the houses below. A long rubber tube snaked down from the center of the basket, attached to what looked like a large phonograph horn on a wooden box. From the horn, a tinny voice was heard.

“Angel, you still up there?” The aeronaut sighed, and moved to the horn, wincing as he knelt down, gingerly rubbing his right knee.

“No, Monk, I decided to jump out of the balloon flying three hundred feet in the air, because it would be less painful than freezing to death up here. What do you need?” He heard the man down on the ground snicker and he took another sip of the bitter drink in the thermos. This he spat directly below the balloon, hoping it would fall on the man.

Monk started speaking again, “Hey! That one almost hit me, just about thirty feet off. Anyway, I was just checking in, making sure a sniper did not get you.”

The man in the balloon groaned. “Thank you once again for reminding me that I have the most dangerous job in our little group. All it takes is one over-zealous glick with a twitchy trigger finger to shoot me out of the sky. Balloons aren’t meant to take gunfire. Speaking of which, remind me again why the godsbedamned balloon is red?”

The ground man did not even hesitate. “It was on sale. Now come on Angel, report in, has the navy mobilized yet?”

The aeronaut grumbled. “Don’t call me Angel okay? It was funny the first time, but it’s just gotten to be an annoyance. No one is going to hear us, you can’t tap a vertical blower.”

The man named Monk smiled, “Hey, I just think it’s a funny code name for someone whose last name is Sin Less and rides around in the sky. But I will call you Jack if you want me to.”

The ballooner retorted peevishly, “Look, my name is Jackson Cin’ess. Call me Jack or Jackson. But quit it with the stupid religious jokes, Monk!” This outburst rose to a shout and was followed shortly by a loud crack from the direction of the palace and whizzing sound by the ear of Jackson. He fell backwards into the basket and swore violently into the blower. “Get me down, you sonofabitch! Get me the hell out of the sky!”

The voice came back through the blower calmly, as the ground man smiled. “Oh, calm down you git, you know the nobles target shoot at night around this time, that was probably just a shot that went wide. But seriously now, any Navy ships?”

Jackson peeked cautiously over the edge of the basket, but, finding that there were no more gunshots, he looked through his binoculars. There were several large masses floating in the air on the other side of town, but no movement towards his location. He called down this information to the Monk, and relaxed back in his basket. “What is taking Toggle and Switch so long?”