(Untitled)

[scourgeofpiracy]

It's not the first time he's found himself, in dreams, in a place that's lost to him in reality. That time was in the office that now belongs to Cutler Beckett, but in this dream...

...in this dream, he's aboard the Endeavour, whole and undamaged and there as she'll never be again.

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[merrimanlyon]

The decks of the Endeavour, above and below, would once have been a bustle of activity. Now there is only silence...a vague and hazy sort of silence, the kind that only seems to be there because it is waiting to be filled.

The same sort of silence permeates the captain's well-appointed cabin -- until three brisk knocks on the cabin door break the dreamy, unnatural quiet.

[scourgeofpiracy]

Norrington turns, sharply and surprised, and stares at the door for a moment.

"Come!"

[merrimanlyon]

The door opens, slowly...onto nothing. No one is on the other side.

In the stillness that follows, there is a soft thump -- and then a deep, resonant voice.

'A Regiment for the Sea, by William Bourne of Gravesend.'

Commodore Lyon of the East India Company is standing on the far side of the cabin, near to the great windows where a small bookshelf holds a neat row of books bound in dark leather. He is mostly facing away from Norrington, his attention on the title page of the book that is open in his hands.

'Rather a useful tome, this,' he adds, seemingly addressing Norrington even though he does not look over at the other man. 'Quite possibly the first work on navigation written by an Englishman, back in Queen Elizabeth's day. Still worth reading, for a book written nearly two centuries ago.'

He closes the book, with the soft thump heard once before.

[scourgeofpiracy]

Norrington turns quickly, startled... and yet not entirely surprised.

"Commodore Lyon", he says with a bow. "Yes, many such old books still have useful information."