Oh how romantic, PJ and Tag on deck. *snort*
On deck, by the rail. The Etherium is still parked on the desert on the planet. PJ & Tag are talking, along with anyone else who joins in."Oh, aye," she laughed. "Birds around here are plentiful, but most don't fly much. They're fat and just flap from tree to tree--hardly any come out in the desert, here, where the ship's parked
( Read more... )
"You don't know them, then," she said flatly.
He shook his head, and turned to her, his eyes narrowing. "I was a bit more worried 'bout you knowin' 'em," he muttered.
PJ smiled and patted him on the back, which gained her a satisfactory leap forward from Shin-sin-fa. After the indignity of his balking at her touch, he gave her a withering look and yanked his coat down to smooth it out before he stalked off toward the hold.
"Where are you going?" Patches asked, her eyebrows arching. She'd thought the cat would have been leaping about calling for men to arm themselves and scuttling up the mainmast by now to be the first to start chucking knives at the strange crew.
He yelled something she couldn't understand in an exotic tongue and trounced off in a hurry. She had the feeling she'd been thoroughly insulted, and grinned. It seemed Scrap had made his way back to deck, for even now he was stomping about in the air speaking in helium-pitched Felinese mockery at her.
"Well, we'll go and grab the rest of the crew that aren't in the hold, if he's not planning on it," she snorted.
It had been Jamie's idea (of course) for them to take advantage of being on the ground and play at camping. Iden was rather taken with the idea, and after his suave personality had set its course, the others had followed effortlessly. PJ, who was sick of the planet and only wanted to lay on a good hard deck and faintly feel the buzz of the circuits below, had instructed them where to find a fishing pond.
Jamie had set off to teach everyone who had never gone fishing how to fish. Shin-sin-fa had very obviously wanted to go--especially as he had bragged derisively that he could catch many more fish than anyone--but was held back by his need to watch PJ at all times.
At any rate, most of the crew were toasting marshmallows over closer to the trees, and probably telling ghost stories. Even the captain had been convinced he ought to attend. PJ had sailed with his kind before, and she knew he had probably stuffed his marshmallow with insects. She'd even tried it once. She was willing to try it again, but she didn't think they'd have time after she warned them about the approaching vessel. If they could hear it over the fire's crackling and their own chewing, she would be surprised.
She and Scrap set off.
Reply
Well, if they took Flint's ship, they'd get the map; there wasn't really another way around that, other than burying it here with the Etherium's crew's bodies. He shuddered. But what he could do was at least prevent them from getting to use it, and that he would do.
I'm disobeying again, he thought grimly. I'm turning into a regular loose cannon. I don't know what's gotten into my head, but it'll get the better of me soon, I shouldn't wonder.
Shin-sin-fa had a habit of making secret places in his spare time; he'd already put four in the rafters in the hold and two in the walls. The ones in the walls were easier to find, but also they held larger objects. Shin-sin-fa took the map from Flint's desk and sneaked into the hold, feeling guilty and panicked. It would be mere minutes before that other ship arrived.
He had just stowed the map in the wall of one of the store rooms and was crouched there on the floor, dusting off his hands, when he heard someone come in. He looked around and saw Artemis. He was just about to make an excuse and slip out... until he saw the huge Felinese-eating bug on the side of Artemis' head, that is.
Reply
Leave a comment