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19. The Captain and The Engineer: The Newest Crewmate
Cormack Owle-Mysterious posted a photo:
Once Vincent walked out the door, Damien sighed and turned forward on the bench to face Aiden. “Well that was a fun end to lunch,” Aiden muttered sarcastically as he poured himself some more mead. As he reached over to pour some for Damien, Damien stopped him with a slight smile.
“No thank you, I’m good. I have business to take care of. You enjoy the rest, Aiden.”
Aiden returned the slight smile and nodded, setting the pitcher down. There wasn’t much left in there anyway. “Alright. Thank you.” Damien began to get up from the bench and saw himself out after a final nod to Aiden.
Once he was gone, Aiden decided to stick around a little longer and think about the incident with that duo who had shown up. Was it really true? he wondered. He knew it really wasn’t his business but that duo coming in like that made it his business; sort of. He was worried about Vincent and wanted to help him through this but he knew Vincent enough to know that the man just wanted to be left alone to sort through his thoughts.
It was about fifteen minutes later that Aiden finished up at the tavern and made his way back to the docks to clean up. Sure, it wasn’t a big mess he’d made but he wanted it to be completely presentable for tomorrow when that company owner came to see the ship and finalize everything with Vincent. With such an important contract, Aiden wanted to do his part to help. If nothing else it would keep his mind off of Vincent, he hoped.
That afternoon, not only did he make sure that the living space and cargo bay was clean, he also took it upon himself to sweep and mop the entire deck all on his own! He even went through and got most the worst of the grime off the pipes! It was well after dark when Aiden finished and finally would able to relax and bathe. He was looking forward to seeing Vincent’s surprised face tomorrow when he saw how clean it all was!
The next afternoon shortly after two o’clock, Damien was making his way up to the airship docks with a clean, fresh shirt in hand. He wanted to get there a little early and settle in before prepping the ship Vincent’s guest. Feeling pretty good and confident, Damien grinned to himself as he strode up the gangplank as he began to joke, “Alright Aiden, time get off your ass and start…” He trailed off as he glanced around and saw that everything was in order on deck as if it had just been cleaned yesterday.
Damien began to head towards the trap door that led to downstairs so he could put his nicer shirt away for later. As he climbed the to the deck with the trap door, his eyes fell upon Aiden sitting with his back facing him on a crate, tools spread out on the crate next to him as he seemed to be working on something. Seeing that he was dressed in only his breeches, it was clear he wasn’t ready to start cleaning. With a slight smirk, his eyes fell upon the object in Aiden’s hands. “Still working on that thing?”
Damien remembered that not long after Aiden became a crew member, Aiden had returned from a market at one of the towns with a lantern, saying he liked the design and that it would be perfect for an invention he had in mind. Now, a few weeks later, Aiden seemed to working on the final touches.
Aiden reached up and wiped a little bit of sweat from his brow and grinned over at Damien. “Actually, believe it or not, its done!” he explained excitedly, turning the lantern over in his hand. “Want to put your shirt up and come see?” Damien thought about it for a second then shrugged. “Sure. Give me a moment.” He strode past Aiden and made his way down through the trap door and stairs.
Aiden turned his attention back to the lantern in his hand, the legs curled up like a spider. With any luck, it would work! He set it down on the legs then began to pack up his tools and closed it all up so that Damien had a place to sit when he came back. Prior to arriving at the capital, his invention had been making a slow progress. Now that he had free time and had been trying to keep himself as busy as possible, he had plenty of time to devote to finishing his project.
Down below deck, Damien peeked into the boiler room before heading into the cargo room where he bunked with Aiden while aboard the Leon’s Claw. Sure enough, Aiden had cleaned this place spotless! Feeling annoyed with Aiden on principle, Damien hung up his shirt and began to make his way back up to the top deck. Now he had nothing to do while he waited except keep Aiden company. He wasn’t sure how to feel about that but the lantern did pique his curiosity so why not indulge him?
Up on the deck in the same spot, Aiden bit his lower lip as he waited eagerly for Damien to come join him. It felt like forever, but Damien finaly emerged from below deck! Aiden grinned eagerly at him and gestured for him to take a seat adjacent to him. Damien chuckled and took a seat, his gaze turning towards the lantern with curled up legs. “Alright, so tell me about it.”
“Okay! So obviously its a lantern but see the legs and how they are curled up?”
“Yes.”
“Watch this!” Aiden cleared his throat, “Pete, activate!”
Damien’s eyes were watching as Aiden gave his command. To his surprise, a moment later there was a flickering of light before it caught and remained on. The legs began to make small clicking sounds as the joints moved and shifted so that it was stood on its feet looking so very spider-like!
“Tada!” Aiden exclaimed, extending his arm out as he beamed at the spider-like lantern. “Meet Pete the Spider Lantern!” Damien couldn’t help himself as he leaned in to inspect the little machine.
“Pete…the Spider Lantern?”
“Yep! I was going to call him Peter but the voice recognition worked best with just the one syllable so…”
“So its voice activated?”
“Uh huh! Watch! Pete, stay.”
As Aiden stood and began to walk away, Pete stayed there on the crate, unmoving. A few feet away, Aiden turned around and commanded, “Pete, come!” Damien watched with fascination as the lantern obediently began to obey. Pete managed to climb its way safely down the crate using the tips of his legs to dig into the wood to keep itself steady. Then he began to walk along the floorboards directly to Aiden before stopping beside him. Aiden grinned at Damien’s impressed face then and began to walk idly along the deck. As he did, the small lantern began to walk alongside him almost as if it were a pet. Together, they walked back to the crate where Damien sat.
“I gotta admit that is pretty neat,” Damien admitted as Aiden reached down and slid his finger through the ring at the top of the lantern. “Isn’t it?! You’re such a good lantern, aren’t you?” Aiden cooed at his lantern. Damien was shocked to see Pete’s light flicker out just once then back on as if responding before its legs reached out to wrap around Aiden’s arm. Once secured, it climbed its way up under his arm, up his back and then to his shoulder and perched itself there. Aiden smiled and further explained, “He has a very basic system but he knows his name which is also the activation for his commands, can communicate with his light- OH! Like before, remember? One blink means ‘Yes’ or ‘Okay’ or just a general positive response, you know? And two blinks of the light is ‘No’ or negative response-‘
“So it IS an AI*! It’s not just some dumb bucket of bolts after all.”
“No, he’s not dumb at all-“
Aiden cut himself off as on his shoulder, Pete’s light flickered twice then turned a full 90 degrees to the right as if deliberately looking away from Damien. Aiden blinked and felt just as surprised as Damien who stared and at the lantern. Aiden cleared his throat as he glanced towards Damien, stating, “I think you hurt his feelings.” Damien and Aiden stared at each other for several seconds before Aiden broke the silence.
“As I said, he has a pretty basic system. But somehow he developed a small bit of a personality during the programming stage.” Aiden glanced towards Pete and smiled slightly as he gave a small shrug. Damien chuckled and said, “Is that so? Well that is certainly very interesting. My apologies, Pete.” It took several seconds but Pete finally turned back and flickered his light once indicating a positive response. Aiden grinned then went to sit down on the crate as Damien chuckled once more, “Well that’s promising. How is this even possible?”
Aiden situated more comfortably on the crate and beamed as he explained, “Well believe it or not, his core is powered by a tiny piece of Fulgora’s* Eye!” Damien’s eyes and mouth widened in surprise but Aiden continued right on before Damien could interrupt him. “I know, rare find and NOT cheap! But the day after we arrived here in the capital, I found a vendor who was selling some and I barely had enough to purchase a tiny, tiny piece about the size of a pinhead! I mean, heck, self sustaining energy?! It is perfect to keep Pete going! I couldn’t pass it up! So unless I deactivate him he’ll just keep going until the end of time!”
Fulgora’s Eye was a well known but very rare substance of self sustaining energy which resembled lightning moving around its core. There was so much Aiden could have used that piece for so Damien was a little astounded that Aiden would spend so much just so he could have a mobile lantern. But if Aiden was going to blow his savings on something like that then at least he was happy with it, Damien thought. As Aiden continued to explain how Fulgora’s Eye worked for Pete, Damien began to tune Aiden out but gave an occasional “Mhm” and “Uh huh.” As he watched the lantern, it seemed almost alive as it perched there on Aiden’s shoulder. Why did he have a feeling it was somehow staring at him?
As time passed, Aiden had begun practicing with Pete to make sure there were no glitches in his system. Damien kept himself occupied by watching and helping Aiden come up with challenges for Pete such climbing to certain parts of the ship. Every time, Pete was able to find Aiden again even if he hid from the lantern. Aiden revealed sheepishly to Damien that he had a type of homing beacon clipped inside his pocket so that Pete would always know where he was.
Soon, it was time for Vincent to arrive and Aiden was excited to show off Pete! Vincent had told Aiden he’d be at the ship around three o’clock. However, three o’clock came and went and by the time it was thirty minutes past the hour, Aiden was feeling anxious. He could tell Damien was as well cause he caught the man glancing down the docks.
“Should one of us go check on him, Damien?”
“If anyone’s going, it would have to be you. I need to be here for when Mason arrives. Its possible he just got held up but he’ll be here for the meeting, I’m sure. He’s been striving to get this contract for months! If you want to go, then go ahead, but he’ll be here.”
“Okay, I’ll wait.”
And so they waited silently, both Aiden and Damien’s anxiety rising as four o’clock drew nearer and nearer yet Vincent didn’t arrive. Finally at ten minutes til five, Damien sighed and said, “We should get ready. If nothing else, we can at least look presentable.” Aiden nodded and silently began to head downstairs, Pete following him as he went. Damien watched Aiden descend down below deck and once he was alone, his attention returned to the docks one last time. He inhaled deeply and slowly let it out then followed behind Aiden so he could change his shirt.
At the top of the hour, Mr. Mason and his adult son from Mason Gears & Bolts arrived. Damien smiled warmly and stood upon the gang plank and welcomed them aboard as Aiden stood off to the side, Pete perched upon his shoulder. “Good evening, Mr. Mason and Mr. Mason. I am Damien O’Connor, First Mate on Leon’s Claw. Here’s Aiden Anderson, our engineer.”
Mr. Mason looked at the two of them then turned his attention to Damien. “Good to meet you both, but I was expecting to meet with Captain Vincent Dubois.” Damien put on his usual charming smile, eyes softening with understanding as he explained, “I understand but the captain is unfortunately running a bit behind. I haven’t received word from him but I expect him any time now. Please come aboard. Would you like anything to drink?” Mr. Mason didn’t look happy about this and his older son gave a sigh as they made their way aboard the ship. Mr. Mason shook Damien’s hand but declined, “Thank you but we will wait until the captain arrives.”
The next fifteen minutes was awkwardly silent between the four men as they waited for Vincent. Mr. Mason was more and more unimpressed. The captain had been persistent and yet very professional when they’d met before but now that the day was here to finalize everything, Vincent was nowhere to be found.
“Look,” Mr. Mason explained to Damien and Aiden, “I’m sorry. I understand circumstances happen but I have a company to run and if the captain isn’t here in the next fifteen minutes, I will take my business elsewhere.” “I understand, Mr. Mason,” Damien responded apologetically as Aiden sighed softly.
Fifteen minutes passed and Mr. Mason and his son both stood, Aiden and Damien doing so as well as Damien apologized, “I am so sorry for wasting your time, Mr. Mason and Mr. Mason.” Mr. Mason quirked his mouth and shrugged. “Its unfortunate. I hope your captain is well. Good evening, gentlemen.” The two men turned to take their leave.
Once they were out of earshot, Aiden turned to look at Damien and exclaimed, “You know as well as I do he’s more punctual than this! I’m going to his flat!” Damien barely had a chance to process what Aiden said before Aiden set Pete down and began to run down the gang plank, the little pattering sounds of Pete’s legs running and quickly beside him. Damien watched Aiden go, his gaze following him and the little lantern with a slight frown on his lips.
Aiden ran all the way to Vincent’s flat, adrenaline pumping through his veins. There were no candles lit from what he could see in the window but he knocked anyway in hopes Vincent was simply napping. Licking his lips, Aiden knocked heavily on the door. “Vincent! You home?!” He waited another thirty seconds then knocked again. There was no answer. Maybe by now Vincent had made it to the ship or sent some sort of message. Maybe on the way back he could go check the hospital as well!
“Pete, come!”
The hospital wasn’t far away but upon arrival, Aiden was greeted with the unfortunate news that Vincent Dubois was not there. Together, Pete and Aiden ran all the way back to the Leon’s Claw where Damien stood on deck with a scowl. “No luck?” he guessed as Aiden trudged along the gang plank and shook his head as he tried to catch his breath. “What was your first clue? He’s not at the hospital either! I checked!” Aiden growled breathlessly. Damien huffed at him but still reached out and offered his water bag for Aiden to take a drink. Aiden took it gratefully with a quiet “Thanks” before chugging down some of the water. He’d been running since he’d left!
“So what happens now?”
Damien sighed and looked off towards the left where the setting sun began to set behind the mountains. “I’m not sure what’s going on, Aiden. All we can do is wait.” Aiden wanted to protest but with Vincent not home or at the hospital, Damien was right. It was all they could do.
***
Vocabulary:
*AI: Artificial Intelligence
*Fulgora: a Roman Goddess of lightning
To read the rest of the story, here’s the album link:
www.flickr.com/photos/153660805@N05/albums/72157717075565127
The backdrop is taken at Second Life at Victorian London – Time Portal on the rooftops!
You can check out this AMAZING roleplay-type parcel and even rent from there! Its so realistic! Seriously! The details here are incredible!
***Please note this is a BOY LOVE (BL/yaoi/gay) series. It is a slow burn and rated PG13!***
***
Special thank you to Vin Aydin Raven-Mysterious for collaborating with me on this series and co-starring as The Captain!
And thank you to Logan Owle for starring as Damien!
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