Big Damn Project

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Back to Part 053

Cait sounded the departure bell at the tail-end of early morning. She walked through the still Rose — its crew either off on the Prime Meridian or asleep — and stood at the top of the gangplank down to the docks. The sun had risen behind the Prime Meridian, blocked by the ship’s towers of containers, save a few threads that managed to poke out through the haze and smoke of morning on to boats at the docks. Cait stood with her hands on her hips and took in all of this.

Jace walked down the dock, a bag slung over her shoulder, not looking at anything in particular. She started up the gangplank, but froze when she saw Cait waiting. She hesitated, and then proceeded with caution.

“Is everything okay, Captain?” She asked.

“Everything is fine,” Cait said. “I plan to never see this sight again, but that does not mean I do not want to remember it.”

Jace nodded, and Cait turned to let her pass, and then followed her into the Rose.

“It’s an interesting place, sir,” Jace said.

Cait nodded, still following Jace into the guest quarters. “I do not know what to call you,” she said after a moment of careful thought.

“Sir?”

“I do not know by which title to address you. Your position on the Decline is not clear.”

“I don’t like titles,” Jace said. “Call that years of working and living with the people I do, but… If you’re asking my position on the boat, ‘partner’ works best.”

“Partner…” Cait said absently, the working the shock into her spine.

“I own half the boat. I just prefer not to play captain. Though I do prefer to keep an eye on Burian. He gets… ideas.” Jace trailed off, the word ‘ideas’ carrying the weight of experience. “Anyway, ‘Jace’ works fine.”

Cait gave Jace another nod, and left for the bridge. She began to power on the Rose, checking the screens around the helm as she went.

“Captain?”

Jace stood behind her in the hatch of the bridge, watching Cait.

“Yes, Jace?”

“Everything isn’t alright.”

Cait turned back to Jace. “What is wrong?”

“That’s what I’m asking you, sir. It may not be my place, and we’ve only known each other for, well, less than a month, but you’ve treated myself and the people I care about with dignity and grace when you could have dumped us back in the ocean. I feel obliged.”

Cait turned back to the controls. “I am trying to rearrange my crew based on the departure of Helmsman Haari, a man who disappeared from my life thirteen years ago has suddenly reappeared, and the namesake of my boat has appeared in statue form on what could be the biggest pirate stronghold in the world, and oh yes, she is known as ‘the Queen’. I have had a lot to think about in the past few days.” She stopped, staring at the screens as the Rose came to life. “That was uncouth. I apologize.”

Jace took a moment to process all of this. “I may be in over my head.”

“I found the trick is to never let on to that,” Cait said.

“I guess the Rose thing would be hard to explain out of the context of growing up with it.”

“Perhaps,” Cait said. “And perhaps I do not want to know the answer. I preferred my world when it was a little safer, I suppose.” She turned back to the controls.

“We’re not all bad people,” Jace said.

“I never said-”

“It didn’t need to be said, sir.”

Cait turned back to Jace. “I apologize again.”

“No need.” Jace paused. “You do remind me of my mother, of Sally Norton. And that’s not at all a bad thing.”

Cait sighed. “Thank you, then.” She was aware of a tenuous, awkward smile on her muzzle, and she turned back to the controls. When she turned back to check on Jace, she found the pirate stepping out of the way of Billy.

“Jace,” he said.

“Doctor,” Jace replied, and stepped off the bridge.

“That was an interesting exchange,” Cait said after she was sure Jace was out of earshot.

“Just a greeting between colleagues.”

Cait made an interested sound in her throat. “Do I detect interest?”

“Do I detect cram it?”

Cait said nothing, but allowed a small, victorious smile.

“Hey, are we leaving?” Billy asked.

“Yes.”

“Weren’t we waiting for someone?” Billy sat down in the navigator’s seat and made himself comfortable, crossing one leg over the other.

“It appears Burian was wrong-”

Billy snorted.

“-about his lead,” Cait continued slowly. “We have another issue to tackle.”

“Galle.” Billy’s voice lost its playful edge.

“He has not checked in in several days. I cannot locate him on any Relay maps, and coast guards have a triangulated last known position, but nothing else.”

“Do you think-?”

“There are a lot of things I am thinking,” Cait said. “I intend to at least see what we can find in the area.” She fell silent, hands on the controls, and she let her head drop a little.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Billy said. “A simple radio malfunction-”

“I am not worried about Galle.”

Billy sat back, his arms folded over his chest. “Cait…”

“Fine, I am incredibly worried about Galle.” She tensed, kept focused, not turning back to Billy.

“I’m sure he’s fine. He and his plucky band of terrifying warrior clowns are out there. May the gods be favorable on anyone who runs across that circus.”

Tre strode on to the bridge. Cait gave him a quick pat on the arm as he slid past her into the helm’s chair.

“That reminds me,” she said. “Forgive me if you have told me this, as the last time I asked was two years ago, but how are you at the helm?”

Tre looked back at Cait, his ears alert.

“You are fine, dear. Do not worry.”

“Is it true, then?” Billy asked. “Have we lost Xiphos?”

“It does seem that way. I have not been able to get ahold of her yet. I would like to be prepared for that eventuality.”

Billy nodded, casting his eyes to a corner of the bridge. “That’s a shame.”

“Indeed,” Cait said. “I felt, however, that this day was to be expected.”

Billy didn’t answer. Tre gave a short sigh through his nose. Cait waited a moment, and then started towards the crew quarters. “Let me know when everyone has checked in,” she said without expecting much of a reply.

On her way to the crew quarters, she found Manni waiting in the reception gallery, her hands held behind her back as she looked over a few paintings that had been hung on the walls. It was hard to imagine from her poise that Manni was only twenty-three, that at twenty she was the ambassador for her newly formed nation. Cait remember Kelly being impressed when he had met Manni years ago. Here Cait got a first-hand look.

Manni turned to Cait when the captain entered.

“Captain,” she said, a hint of a smile allowed from behind her stoic facade. “I heard you were leaving, and I wanted to stop by before you did. I escorted Frankie back. You’ll find her in her cabin, I guess.”

“Thank you. I appreciate it. And thank you for your and your friends’ hospitality,” Cait said. She stuck out her hand and Manni shook it with careful precision, learned, Cait was sure, from her diplomacy circuit.

“It was our pleasure. We missed Xiphos very much. Crash was thrilled to see Xiphos still wore Crash’s old coat.”

“Do you know, Manni, what Xiphos’s intentions are?”

“As in staying?” Manni shrugged. “She and Crash have been keeping to themselves, mostly. They never discussed it with us.”

Cait put her hands on her hips. “We will be here for a bell or two more. If you see her, could you send her our way for an answer?”

“Absolutely.”

Cait bowed a thank you, and then started back to the crew quarters.

“Captain,” Manni called after her.

“Yes?”

Manni stood in the portal, backlit by the morning sun. “If you ever do come back, please find me?”

“Of course. Thank you.”

With that, Manni went on her way.

And so did the answers to her questions about Frankie, Cait realized. She considered chasing after Manni, but her mental checklist shouted at her in her head, and perhaps she could ask Frankie herself, and she thought about Galle, and the course that would have lead him not just to Logan, but into pirate territory and she wondered about Jace, and if Jace could be indicative of all pirates, and that maybe she’s had it wrong.

When she came out of her head she found herself standing above the cargo bay, looking down. She could hear the whispering, as if it had always been there. It waited, watching, she could swear it was watching, and expecting, but what?

“I don’t have time for this now,” she said, and the whispers stopped. She started back to the crew quarters to account for Auburn and Toby.

Xiphos came down the steps from the bridge. Cait stopped and Xiphos, seeing her hesitation, stopped.

“Xiphos,” Cait said, not quite believing it.

“Sir?” Xiphos set a bag down she had been carrying. She watched Cait, who stood still on the other side of the crew quarters.

“I had not expected to see you…”

Xiphos tilted her head. “The departure bell went off, so I came.” Her ears dropped a little. “Were you going to leave without me?”

“Not at all,” Cait said. “There were, however, rumours-”

“Rumors!” Xiphos laughed. “What’ve you told me about rumors?”

Cait smiled. “Hush. So that is it, then? Back to work?”

“Sir,” Xiphos said. “Ready to go. Auburn is in her quarters. Toby, too. In his, I mean. I checked for Tre. Captain Lake has accounted for Jace and Frankie. I don’t know about Billy.”

“He is accounted for. Well,” Cait said, hands on her hips. “Let’s get to it, then.”

“Yes, sir.” Xiphos set her bag inside her quarters and started towards the bridge.

“Helmsman,” Cait said after her.

“Sir?” She stopped and turned around.

“I am glad you have chosen to stay, Xiphos.”

Xiphos’s face flushed, slowly growing a gentle shade of pink. “Thank you, sir.” And she continued up to the bridge.

[g]

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Back to Part 053

Tags: adventure, anthro, Boat Story, fiction, furry, serial, web fiction, weblit

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Back to Part 052 – Forward to Part 054

Three months before

The sea was rolling hard when the Decline of Civilization surfaced. Immediately, Jace was at the hatch, scanning around the boat for where the signal was coming from. In the ebb of a swell, she spotted the flash of a strobe. Gripping the safety bar inside the ship, she called down to Burian, “Starboard side, 45 degrees!”

The Decline turned, and pushed forward over a swell. Jace clipped herself to the ship and stood at the ready to climb down to the life raft. As they came over the swell, she spotted it again, bright yellow and octagonal, riding the side of a swell. The strobe on top pulsed, and she was sure that Burian saw it now. They pushed forward until the were up next to it. Jace was down the side of the boat as soon as they were on top of it, tied it to the Decline, and opened the hatch.

“Is everyone okay?” She asked as she slid inside. She stopped right away. There was only a girl in her mid-teens, pushed up against the far side of the raft, clutching a bag to her chest. The fur on her head was matted and disheveled, her eyes heavy and red. She looked ill, maybe seasick, maybe malnourished. Jace crawled forward, took the girl’s hand, and pulled her towards the opening. The girl didn’t move, bracing herself against the rising and falling of the raft on the swell.

“You’re okay,” Jace said. “But there’s a storm ballooning up a couple miles from here, and you need to get out. You’ll be safe with us.”

The girl shrank a little, her ears flat against her head. Jace wondered if she could tell right away that they weren’t merchants or navy. She gave another tug, and the girl stayed planted. She shrank further, wrapping her hand around a hold-rope on the raft.

And then the lightning struck. It was only a few miles off, but it was bright, lighting up the walls of the raft. The thunder followed, ripping through the air like a sword through metal. The girl shrieked and jumped into Jace’s arms. She had weighed her options. Jace climbed back on to the Decline, pulled the girl on, and helped her down the hatch. She slid back over to the raft, disabled the transponder, and untied it from the Decline. She sealed off the hatch, and the Decline dove as another bolt of lightning struck the water.

The girl sat at the bottom of the hatch, still clutching her bag, shaking fiercely. When they reached a safe depth, Burian set the Decline on auto-pilot, and helped move the girl into the gallery. Jace wrapped a blanket around her, and sat her down on the bench.

“Are you it?” Burian asked, looking the girl over. “Just you?”

She didn’t answer him. She pushed into the corner of the bench and watched Jace and Burian.

“I think she knows,” Jace said, placing her hands on her hips.

“Hmm.” Burian looked at Jace. “And she’s it? There was no other survivors?”

“I don’t think there was a shipwreck,” Jace said.

“You think she jumped ship?”

Jace nodded. “She has a bag with her. I’m willing to bet she has food and water in there. And her belongings. She’s running from something.”

“Hmm.” Burian stretched and looked around the cramped gallery. He inhaled deeply. “How was the surface?”

“Same as it always is,” Jace said.

“Still, nice to get some fresh air.”

“What are we going to do with her, Burian?”

The girl shrieked at ‘Burian.’

“Why don’t you go make something to get her shaking down,” Burian said,” and I’ll go talk to our new friend here?”

“How about I go talk to her, and you make some tea, as I’m not the one that terrifies children?”

“Vetoed!” Burian said, brimming.

Jace sighed and pulled a kettle out of a cabinet. She started to fill it with water as Burian sat down on the bench. The girl tensed.

“Jace seems to think you have a good idea of who we are,” he started. The girl watched him carefully, the blanket pulled tight around her. She was still shaking under it. “I don’t think she’s right, though.”

“You’re pirates,” the girl said, her voice just above a whisper.

“Oh,” Burian said, looking around the cabin. “Okay, so she’s right. Still, you don’t have any thing to worry about.”

“You’re Burian Lake,” the girl said.

“I am,” Burian said.

The girl whimpered.

“You’re safe with us,” Burian said.

“You sank a hundred ships and killed a thousand sailors,” the girl said, her voice shaking.

Burian looked over to Jace, who made herself busy over the tea pot. She grinned wide, looking down at the pot, and mouthed ‘a thousand sailors.’

“All untrue,” Burian said.

“You’ll sell me into slavery,” the girl said.

“Never.”

Jace set the tea service down on the bench in front of the girl. “Burian’s a softie,” she said. “Look at him. Do you think he’d ever want to hurt anyone?”

The girl looked at Burian, who did his best to look harmless, then back up at Jace. She shook her head.

Jace poured the girl a cup of tea. “This will help you feel better.”

The girl took the tea and sipped it carefully, still watching Jace and Burian. Jace poured Burian a cup, and they all three drank together.

“So what are you running from?” Burian asked, after a long moment of silence. The girl nearly choked on her tea.

“I don’t want to go back!” She blurted. “Please don’t take me back.”

Burian drew back. ” It depends.”

The girl shrank again, and swallowed hard.

“If you’re running away because momsie and dadsie won’t let you stay out at night, or make you clean your room, or won’t buy you a car, then you’re headed right back.”

“That’s not it,” the girl said.

“What is it?”

The girl clutched her cup. She didn’t look at either of them. “I can’t… If I do, they’ll… don’t take me back, please!”

“We won’t take you back,” Burian said. “But if you stay with us, you have to work.”

“You mean, stealing?”

“Maybe not. What can you do?”

The girl shrugged.

“Can you cook?”

The girl shook her head.

“Can you clean?”

“Not really.”

“Not even a little?”

“No…”

Burian sat back and looked at Jace. She stood, and disappeared into the starboard side of the ship, where Burian’s quarters were. She knew right away what he wanted.

“We’ll teach you,” Burian said. He stood as well. “I need to go talk to Jace. Stay here, and we’ll back back in a moment.

He slid into his quarters and closed the door behind him.

“Where’s she from?” He asked Jace, who leaned against his desk, her arms folded over her chest.

“I can’t tell. There’s a lot in her accent. A lot of upper class, too, but you wouldn’t know otherwise.”

“You think she’s really running from something?”

“She’s desperate to get away. I’ve heard that tone in other fresh recruits. She’s looking for freedom.”

“Then it’s good we found her,” Burian said, brightening. “Why doesn’t she know how to do anything?”

Jace said, “I don’t think she’s ever had to do anything before.”

“So she’s rich?”

“Very likely.”

“Think there’ll be a reward for taking her home?” Burian brightened.

Jace nodded. “Absolutely…”

Burian tilted his head. “But…?”

“But she’s really scared of going back. Let’s listen to what’s carried on the wind and see if we can figure out what’s going on.”

Burian nodded. “Let’s give her one of the coffins, then. We’ll teach her what she needs to know, like you did with me.”

“Turn her into a pirate?”

“I think she’d make a lousy pirate,” he said, grinning. “But that’s okay.”

Jace nodded.

Back in the gallery, they found the girl, snuggled up in her blanket, still sipping her tea.

“What’s you’re name?” Burian asked, sitting down on the bench.

The girl shrugged.

“You don’t have a name?”

“I do,” the girl said, “but I…”

“Don’t want us to know,” Jace finished for her. The girl nodded.

“That’s fine,” Burian said. “We’ve decided to keep you on board. But you need to understand a few things. First, you listen to us. If we give you orders, you do what we say. We’re never going to steer you into trouble or pain or death, so if we tell you to jump overboard, there’s a reason for it. You’ll be welcome with us for as long as you pull your weight. If you don’t want to stay with us, we’ll be happy to drop you at the next port we visit. Understand so far?”

The girl nodded.

Jace said, “I’ll teach you what you need to know on the boat. We know you don’t want to raid, so you’ll stay here while we do that. But understand that this is our way of life. If you don’t want to be a part of it, we’ll happily let you go. Safely, too. But while we do raid, we need to be ready to take orders. You have a few days to think about what you want to do. We’re going to make a stop at the Prime Meridian, and if you don’t want to help us, we’ll buy you passage on a boat to wherever you want to go.”

The girl said, “I’ll help.”

“That’s the spirit,” Burian said. “Feeling better?”

She nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Good. Jace will go with you to pick one of the bunks. That’ll be yours. You’re one of us now. We’ll be at the Prime Meridian in a few days, and we’ll get you some clothes, too, if you need them.”

The girl nodded.

Burian patted the girl on her head. “Get to sleep. You’ve had a rough few days, I imagine. You’ll need quality rest.”

Jace helped the girl up, and lead her to the port side of the Decline, where the spare bunks were. Burian headed back to the bridge.

“Sir,” the girl said.

Burian turned to find her standing in the middle of the gallery.

“It’s Frankie,” she said.

Burian nodded. “Good choice,” he said.

The girl shrank in to her self, and shuffled off to her bunk.

[g]

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Back to Part 052 – Forward to Part 054

Tags: adventure, anthro, Boat Story, fiction, furry, serial, web fiction, weblit

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Back to Part 051 – Forward to Part 053

Auburn and Toby stood side by side, both staring at the floor, neither speaking as they waited for the next round to start. Burian had just finished with them, spending the span of a bell yelling, pacing around the crew quarters, detailing the stupidity of their actions. Billy stood by, if only to make sure it was a fair fight. And when he was done, he stalked off to the bridge to let Cait know it was her turn.

Lake came back and motioned for the kids to follow him. The short walk to Cait’s office suddenly seemed to be a quick step. Auburn reached down to Toby’s hand, who let her take it but didn’t return her inquisitive squeeze. Cait reviewed documents at her desk, and hardly glanced up when Burian brought the kids in. He left them alone, closing the door behind him.

Toby and Auburn stood in front of Cait’s desk. Auburn dropped Toby’s hand, and they waited.

“Sit down,” Cait said after a moment. The kids sat in the chairs in front of Cait’s desk.

Cait put her paperwork aside and, folding her hands in front of her, she looked hard between Toby and Auburn. “We should not be having this conversation.”

“Captain, I-” Auburn started.

“This is not a time for you to speak, Miss Nash.”

Auburn pulled her mouth shut. She felt her face starting to flush, something she had managed to control with Burian.

“You disobeyed two orders, and in doing so put both your life and the life of Mister Shaw at risk. I do not think I need to tell you this boat has already suffered more loss than one should ever see.”

“Sir,” Auburn said quietly.

“After your work is finished, you will confine yourselves to your rooms — your individual rooms. Your meals will be taken individually starting tomorrow at Morning Shift. Miss Nash, you will be under Helmsman Haari’s supervision. Mister Shaw, you will report to Lieutenant Commander Bourgous.

“While I briefly considered removing you from chef duty, Mister Shaw, it did not seem right to punish the entire crew for your actions. On this boat you are responsible for your actions. Neither of you will lose your work, because that is too important. What you have lost is my trust, and it will take much longer to win it back than it did to lose it. Quite frankly, I expected better from both of you. Report to your direct reports for work immediately. Dismissed.”

Cait returned to her paper work, and the kids shuffled out to the bridge. Tre sat at the helm, Xiphos sat in the navigator’s chair, talking expansively about the Prime Meridian. They both looked up at Auburn and Toby. Tre looked Toby over.

“Sir,” Toby said wearily. “I should go start on dinner.”

Tre nodded, and Toby left for the kitchen.

Xiphos led Auburn to the crew quarters. Auburn followed quietly behind. She could feel her face in full blush now, and she knew Xiphos had seen it.

“She doesn’t yell,” Xiphos said. “That’s not her style.”

“No,” Auburn said quietly.

“I hate it when she does that,” Xiphos said. “She just sounds so… disappointed.”

Auburn looked up at Xiphos, surprised at her sudden candor. Xiphos kept her eyes forward. She opened the broom closet.

“Well, get to work,” Xiphos said. “We have guests coming.” And she left Auburn alone to her chores.

—-

Fink was the first to arrive on the Rose. He carried a box of produce with him — from his own garden, he informed. This seemed to cheer Toby up almost immediately, and the two of them disappeared into the kitchen to cook dinner. Xiphos was instantly at Crash’s side as soon as she arrived, still riding out the buzz surrounding her friends. Burian and Jace emerged from their rooms when the noise picked up, and they gathered in the guest quarters, lounging at the tables. Burian helped himself to the bar.

Tre and Billy had started to set the table for dinner when Manni came back with Frankie. Cait joined the crew, and their party was whole.

Cait joined with Billy as he talked to Jace and Burian.

“How was Penny?” Jace asked.

“Hilarious,” Billy said, which made Burian scowl. Cait quietly approved.

Jace cocked her head. “What’d she do this time?”

“Oh, spurning this guy,” he motioned to Burian. “Being generally unimpressed with him.”

Jace cracked a smile and took a sip of her drink. “So, normal then?”

“She was preoccupied,” Burian said, and wandered back to the bar.

Jace watched him for a moment, and then returned to Billy. “Penny has been around long enough that she doesn’t really tolerate, well, people like Burian. Except Burian’s figured out how to get a free pass from her. He always does.”

“It didn’t seem to last too long,” Billy said. “You know, it’s funny. I’ve chased Penny Dreadful before.”

“You should have told her that,” Jace said. “She might’ve liked it.”

Billy nodded. “She was different than I had imagined. When you chase people, you get this image in your head. We only knew her as a pirate and nothing more, so we started to imagine what she was doing. We were kind of scared of her, too.”

“Oh, Penny’s not fearsome unless she’s cornered,” Jace said. “You’ll find most of us are like that.”

Billy nodded. “So are you just part of the clan, or are you actually flesh and blood Norton-Li?”

“I was adopted,” Jace said. “My parents died when their boat sank. It might have been a Kraken attack, but I can’t remember. I was probably five when it happened. Sally Norton found me in a lifeboat and decided to adopt me, and she and Li Jinbao raised me. Well, more that I was raised in the clan, but they were my guardians.”

“Huh,” Billy said. “How was it?”

Jace took another sip of her drink. “I wouldn’t know any different.”

“So why the hell are you hanging out with a mook like Burian? You could be a captain.”

“Hey!” Burian said from the bar.

Jace smiled again. “I captained a boat at seventeen, Doctor. I’ve been raiding since I was twelve. I found that captainship didn’t suit me.” She took another sip of her drink and thought a moment. “And it’s more that he found me,” Jace said, a little quieter than before.

Cait looked away, feeling her ears drop, and she excused herself from the conversation.

Toby and Fink brought out the dinner, and everyone immediately gathered around the table. Toby’s normal fare could be seen, hearty Colony food, lots of greens and generous portions of meat. But Fink’s influence was present, manifesting in seafood dishes that Cait imagined were common on the Prime Meridian. And it was as good a dinner as they had ever had. Excellent, even. As always in these situations, Cait took the time while everyone else was distracted to watch they be happy. Jace and Billy still talked about pirates that he had chased. Toby took his place next to Fink, and entertained Auburn on his other side, who had finally skulled out of her room around the time dinner was being put on the table. Across from them, Xiphos and Crash shared their attention between the food and each other. Tre listened, as he always did. And down at the far end, Manni and Frankie talked to each other with puzzling familiarity.

The night pressed on. Tre helped Toby and Fink clear the table, and they brought out coffee and tea, and pastries from a bakery on the Prime Meridian. Cait stuck around long enough for a cup of tea, and then disappeared on to the bridge. Slowly, one by one, the crew and guests returned to their quarters, or left for their own homes. Fink helped Toby finish the dishes, and then, thanking him for the night, left him alone in the kitchen. Toby started to straighten up before he went to bed. Auburn had already gone, giving him a quick hug and then hiding in her bunk.

“So what do you think?” A voice came from the door. Toby turned around, and found Xiphos waiting, her arms folded over her chest. She looked relaxed, happy, and Toby was glad she wasn’t in a fighting mood.

“He’s nice,” Toby said, following Xiphos’s train of thought.

“He is. He’s always nice. It’s hard not to like him.”

“Yeah,” Toby said. He started to put some silverware in a drawer.

“You want me to ask him out for you?” Xiphos said.

“What?”

“You two’d be really cute together, is all.”

“No,” Toby said. “I’m okay.”

“Aww. You sure? We could get an apartment on the Prime Meridian together and everything, and you two could cook every night.” Xiphos looked content with that thought.

“Uhm… I’m not interested?” Toby said. “And also I kind of have a girlfriend.”

Xiphos shrugged. “It was a thought.”

“Wait,” Toby said. “Are you staying on the Prime Meridian?”

“I gotta go. Crash is waiting.” She picked up a duffel bag at her feet and turned to leave. “Let me know if you change your mind.”

Toby stood alone in the kitchen, not sure about how he should be feeling. He finished his work, turned off the kitchen lights, and shuffled off to bed.

—-

Kimble was waiting for Logan outside the conference room that Eaton Fyfe had claimed as his office. She met Logan with a half-terrified, half-amused smile that stopped her captain in her tracks.

“What now?” Logan said, eyeing the door to the conference room.

Kimble shrugged. “Does it really matter? The boss is upset, the boss is making us feel it.”

Logan groaned and rubbed the bridge of her nose with her fingers. “I just got done dealing with the liaison. Now this.”

“How’s the liaison?” Kimble asked.

Logan just shook her head. She pushed the door open and entered Fyfe’s realm.

“How long have you known about this shit?” Fyfe shouted as soon as Logan entered the room. Though she had tried to steel herself to the assault, it still hit her hard. Fyfe stood at the end of the room, his hands planted firmly on the conference table. He hunched over a piece of paper, no doubt a report delivered to him at his request. His ears were slicked back, which meant the bad news has already been reported to him.

“Almost as long as you have,” Logan said. She edged up to the table, toeing the line of a safe but respectful distance, just as the other crew around the table had. Closest to Fyfe were his new prizes, Patel and Tami. Tami seemed to be holding her own, hands behind her back, watching Fyfe with more interest than fear. Patel looked sick.

“Horseshit!”

The crew around the table flinched.

“This is unacceptable in the worst way, Vu,” Fyfe continued. “I’ve ended people for less.”

“We’re working on it,” Logan said, tripping over her words. “It’s a new problem, and we need to consider the right action to take-”

“Considering is not doing,” Fyfe said, still shouting. “Go fucking fix it.”

The room cleared out, Logan taking it upon herself to be the last to leave. Fyfe stared down at his report. Logan backed out of the room.

Kimble fell into step next to Logan. “His highness sounded well,” she said.

Logan grunted. “How close are they?”

“Oh, close,” Kimble said.

“Fuck.”

Kimble only looked delighted in Logan’s language use, but held her tongue.

“Okay. Okay. We’ll figure out something,” Logan said, tired and distant. “And I’d appreciate it if you took this seriously, dammit.”

“Sir.”

They turned a corner, and found Tami waiting for them.

“Don’t you have work to do?” Logan growled.

“I know how to fix it,” Tami said evenly, looking right at Logan. Kimble looked over at the captain, checking her reaction.

“What?”

“I know what we need to do.”

Logan cocked her head at Tami. “Go on…”

“I want to talk to Fyfe about it.”

“I’m your captain,” Logan started, color rushing into her face.

“And I can help you, but to help I need to talk to Fyfe.”

Logan stared hard at Tami. “You can tell me.”

Tami considered this, her eyes flicking over Logan. Very slowly, she turned and started to walk away.

“OKAY, fine!” Logan said. “We’ll go.”

Fyfe sat at the table, looking over the report again when Logan entered. His ears dropped instantly, and he stared hard at her over the rim of his glasses. Tami followed.

“Vu, either you’re the fastest fixer in the world, or I’m about to be bombarded with incompetence. And since I’ve never seen you move so fast as a sea turtle, I’m going to guess it’s the latter. And now I have to wonder why you’ve chosen to waste my time when there are better things to be done.”

Logan swallowed hard and looked over to Tami. The fox stepped forward.

“I know how to fix it. We need your resources,” Tami said.

Fyfe looked up at Tami, his ears leveling out. “What did you have in mind?”

[g]

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Back to Part 051 – Forward to Part 053

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Auburn pulled Toby by the hand down the central avenue of the Prime Meridian. She scanned along the edges of the thoroughfare, looking at the alleys between shops. Toby took time to look around, spotting several produce stands, and he tried to steer Auburn towards them with little effect. She pushed forward, a wild, plotting grin across her face. She suddenly ducked into an alley, darting across the thick crowds around them. Toby struggled to keep up, knocking into people Auburn had so easily missed.

The alley was narrower, with less people, though it felt just as crowded. Toby trotted to catch up to Auburn, still hand in hand. “Where are we going?”

“I want to see something,” Auburn said.

They wound through the crowd, following the sharp turns of the narrow street, dictated by the placement of the towers of shipping containers around them. Again, Auburn scanned the edges of the alley, and again she made a sharp turn down an even narrower passage. Light was having trouble making it down the narrow canyon they navigated, and they walked in a perpetual shadow. They passed a small indent in the shipping containers, and Auburn stopped. She backed up, and motioned to it.

The indent surrounded a staircase that descended into the Prime Meridian. It twisted around a corner, lit by a string of lights that followed the stairs down. Just above the stairs, hastily painted on the walls were the words “The Hold.”

Auburn looked over at Toby. “You wanna?” She was almost bouncing with excitement.

“We really shouldn’t,” Toby said. He eyed the stairway. “Captain Lake said not to go down there.”

“He said that because it’s awesome down there,” Auburn said. She pulled at Toby, trying to move forward, but Toby planted himself firm where he stood.

Auburn sighed. “Nothing will happen to us.” She stepped forward and kissed Toby on the cheek. “I’ll be with you.”

Toby sagged a little, dropping his eyes away from Auburn. He lifted his hand, the hand Auburn held, and pointed to the staircase. Auburn brightened. They carefully descended the narrow stairs together. Just below the twist the steps reached floor, and the two of them stepped off into the Hold.

It was dark, their surroundings lit only by the light seeping down from the staircase, and from stalls that lined the narrow passages that jutted out around them. They were met by what looked like a closed pub, complete with stained-glassed windows and a weathered sign. Toby could make out what looked like graffiti on the walls, each tag pointing to different directions. A lantern outside the door to the pub provided light, and little else.

Auburn picked a direction and they started walking, still hand in hand. The trash underfoot was considerably worse than above deck, and even Auburn could pick up the sticky smell of the trash mixing with water and whatever else had been spilled. The passage grew darker, the pathway twisting away from the stairs much more organically than above deck. It was as if these shops and stalls and residences had been built into the hold, rather than out of cargo containers. Light was growing sparse, save a few lanterns here and there. Though the lanterns were strung along a chain up and down the passage, only a few seemed to be working at all.

The stalls grew less and less frequent, and Auburn started to notice what appeared to be a produce stand also had a large selection of guns along the back wall. The owner stared out at her, and she pretended not to have noticed anything out of the ordinary.

Within another moment the stalls disappeared entirely, the passage narrowed, and now they were walking down a hallway, doors to cramped residences on either side. Some doors had been pulled open, revealing their world inside. Auburn glanced into one to see what looked like a pirate clan, colors, insignia, all standing around a table, a plastic bag resting in the middle. She couldn’t see what was inside. Next door, an old lady mended clothing under the green tinge of a florescent light. A pirate pushed past Toby and Auburn, a paper bag in hand, and he entered the apartment of the woman. He set down the bag, speaking to her in a language neither Toby nor Auburn understood. The woman appraised the pirate a moment, and then reached into the bag. She pulled out milk, tea, some apples, a nice chunk of bread. And then, setting these things aside, she handed the pirate a pair of pants. He looked them over and, seeming pleased, they cheerfully talked together over tea.

Toby and Auburn pushed on. Auburn noticed Toby’s ears rapidly scanning around them. “What?” She said. “What is it?”

Toby glanced up at her. “Nothing. I thought I heard something.”

Up ahead, the passage reached an intersection, lit by a shaft of light that reached down from above decks. They stopped under the light and looked around, and then Auburn chose another passage. Toby planted again, refusing to move from that spot.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“I smell blood,” Toby said quietly.

“Where?” She huddled close to him, trusting his stronger senses.

“Everywhere,” he whimpered.

“Let’s go back.”

Toby stayed planted. He eyed the passage they had just been down, and when Auburn followed his gaze, she thought she could make out the shape of a person, but her eyes were too weak to be sure. Toby squeezed her hand, and she squeezed back.

The hair on Auburn’s neck stood on end, and before she could turn around a hand covered her mouth.

They were pulled down a passage and around a corner, where their assailant let go. Auburn immediately spun around and threw a punch, but their assailant easily deflected it.

“Stop,” the assailant said, and Auburn recognized the voice. “Are you insane? You were told to stay out of here. Twice, I believe.”

“Uhm…” Auburn said, dropping her eyes away from Jace. Toby stood by, shaking. Jace grabbed both of them by the shoulder and, looking around the corner first, she pushed them out, towards and exit. She quickly located a set of stairs and pushed the two teens up the steps. At the top they all squinted against the sun for a moment, and then Jace started to pushed them back towards the great avenue in the center of the Prime Meridian.

“You idiots,” Jace said.

Auburn started to say something, but Jace cut her off.

“No, you deserve that. You think when Burian Lake say to stay away from something he’s joking?”

“I was curious,” Auburn said quietly.

Jace made an uninterested sound in her throat. “You two are lucky. A pretty boy like Toby would have been quickly sold into slavery, probably after they tested the merchandise first.”

Auburn let out a little laugh at Toby’s horrified expression. Jace eyed the human, and then said, “They probably would have just killed you.”

Auburn fell silent. Jace pushed on. The three of them didn’t say anything back to the avenue.

—-

“Well,” Burian said, leaving the shipping container that served as an office. “I hate to say it, but Penny Dreadful was a bust.”

“Where are we going now?” Cait asked, trying to leave their failure behind them.

“Jace wanted to meet us at the Queen.” Burian said. “She went chasing after something, but I don’t know what.”

They started down a set of steps that looked like they had been welded on to the walkways around the shipping container quite recently. They were a few levels up, still surrounded by containers, but it gave them a better idea of how the Prime Meridian was put together. That is, one tower, one layer at a time. Walkways twisted in weird angles, bolted or welded to other walkways at best — Cait did see a spare plank bridge a gap between two walkways — installed after their usefulness was recognized. The wires that hung over the avenue had climbed their way up, tacked to the sides of containers. Water pipes could be seen in a few places, though Cait noticed catchment basins at the top of a lot of towers, too, about as randomly as there were potted trees.

“‘Treasure-hunter’ is a word that gets thrown around a lot today,” Billy said, half amused.

Burian scowled. “It’s not treasure-hunting when you know it’s something big.”

Billy shrugged. “Anyway, what could she do without the map?”

“I was hoping she had heard something.”

“You’d have better luck with the Information Traders. You know, before you killed most of them.”

Burian spun around. “Whoa! Hang on. I didn’t kill anyone.”

“But you did claim it,” Cait said absently, still looking at their surroundings as they moved.

“Yes, and that’s it.” He started to move down the steps again. “I’ve roughed them up a couple of times, sure. I’ve got to keep up appearances. But killing a fine source of information is counterproductive. And if I recall, I was nowhere near the murders I took credit for.”

Cait didn’t respond. A couple of trees stood sentry on a ridge of containers, and she was trying to work out why. A park, maybe?

Billy thought a moment. “Still, it’s fun to watch the Great Burian Lake be dismissed outright.”

Lake fumed a little. “I’m sorry for wasting your time,” he said curtly.

“Whose time is being wasted?” Cait said, still paying more attention to their surroundings. “We are waiting, if I remember right.” They touched down on the deck of the Prime Meridian, and started towards the avenue. Burian led them through the crowd, turning them towards the looming, monolithic control house that stood towards the aft of the ship.

Billy sidled up next to Cait. “You seem to be enjoying yourself.”

Cait gave a small nod. “This is an interesting world.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” Burian said.

There was a statue ahead where the containers moved to the side; Cait couldn’t tell if the statue had been there first, or was placed afterwards. People gathered around it, something of a meeting point, and it was the first time Cait noticed kids on the Prime Meridian. It had never struck her that families would be here, and yet…

Jace waited at the base of the statue, still holding Auburn and Toby by the shoulders. She made eye contact with Burian. Toby and Auburn stared at the ground.

“I found these two in the Hold,” Jace said. Burian grew grim, but he looked over at Cait in deference.

“Take them back to the Rose,” she said. “We will deal with them there. Billy, go with her. I do not think Tre would open the door without you.”

Billy nodded, and he and Jace escorted the kids back to the Rose. Cait leaned on the base of the statue and took a moment. Burian joined her, arms folded over his chest. He looked a nothing in particular.

Cait looked around again. “You live here?” She asked Burian.

“I live on the Decline,” Burian said. “My ship is my home, just as the Rose is yours.”

“It is an interesting place,” Cait said.

“I’m pretty fond of it.”

“So where is this Queen at which we were supposed to meet?”

Burian looked over at Cait, wearing a playful smirk that took Cait back further than she wanted. “Really?”

“What? Am I missing something?”

Burian offered her his hand. “May I?”

“Burian Lake,” Cait said. “He who has always pretended to be a gentleman.” She placed her hand in his, and he led her to the edge of the little square, up against crates. He turned her around, facing the statue again.

“There,” he said.

Cait looked up at the statue. They had come from behind, so Cait hadn’t gotten a good look, just a tail and the back of a head. It took Cait a moment to register, but when her mind finally came around, she felt her jaw drop. Looking down the street with a composed, determined stare, stood a statue of Rose Molyneux.

“So,” Burian said. “The Queen.”

[g]

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Back to Part 050 – Forward to Part 052

Tags: adventure, anthro, Boat Story, fiction, furry, serial, web fiction, weblit