Where To?

Posted on Wed 19th Feb, 2020 @ 8:29pm by Purulence Addams & Ignatius Collins
Edited on on Tue 8th Jun, 2021 @ 4:40am

839 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Resolution
Location: Hangar Bay 18
Timeline: MD-22, 1000 hours

"So what do you think of her?" Ignatius Collins asked as he all but dragged Purulence Addams over to the Edward-class combination driller and freighter that he had bought. It rested in its docking clamps, as Ignatius had been refitting it for the last several days, getting its interior design the way he wanted it. At last, it was finished, and all the detritus of redesign had been cleared away, leaving a spotless interior. Around them, the immense size of the main docking chamber and the other ships floating inside it dwarfed them and Ignatius' small ship.

"She put me back a ton of credits, and I'll be months paying her off, but I'll be able to get back out into space and start prospecting again, now that she's here," he said. "If the profits are good enough, I'll be able to pay her off sooner. She's a trim little ship, isn't she?"

Purulence blinked and stifled the silent wail of protest that his words had aroused in her. "Is she?" Purulence asked. "I really don't know anything about ships. My specialty is people. Portrait artist. Director of Taste and Class with Darkness Industries, you know. I have no idea if this is an awesome ship or not. To me, it just looks long and mostly rectangular--and polished to a silvery sheen."

"Well, there's only one way for you to find out what she's like," Ignatius replied. He touched a control on his wrist remote, and the side hatch slid open. Ignatius bowed and then gestured grandly toward the entrance. "Après vous, Madame."

Despite herself, his use of French did cause a spark to flutter in Purulence's heart; she was her parents' daughter, after all. How calculated was that phrase? she wondered. Then she rolled her eyes at herself. All the men in the world are not like Henry--thank God. Stop acting like they are. "Mademoiselle," she corrected with a faint grin and stepped into the small freighter.

"Whatever," Ignatius shot back as he followed Purulence inside and secured the hatch. "But I think of you as, 'my lady,' not as 'my little lady.'"

Purulence paused for a moment. "Well, there you've got me, John."

"Huh?"

Purulence giggled. "I'll have to show you my favorite old movie sometime. You've obviously been deprived, all the way up there in Maine."

"I probably have," Ignatius said. "Nothing up there but vampires, ghosts, and the odd werewolf or two."

"You make it sound like the perfect place to hold a Halloween party."

"Halloween does not hold much thrill for me," Ignatius replied. "Come on this way, and I'll show you the bridge."

Purulence fell into step beside Ignatius as they walked. "You wouldn't say that if you'd been at the Halloween party we held here a couple of years ago. There was an actual murder during the seance."

Ignatius blinked. "What?!"

"We didn't know it at the time," Purulence said, "but the spirit was present, and he was very definitely being murdered--stabbed right inside the clavicle. It hurt like you wouldn't believe. We still don't know who killed him--or why."

"You definitely lead an interesting life," Ignatius told her. He gestured toward an open hatchway. "And here we are. Welcome to the bridge of the--I haven't named her yet. Have a look around."

Purulence did so, studying the orderly layout of the navigation touchscreens, the fuel regulation monitors, the shielding controls. "You handle all of this, even the weapons?"

"The weapons are a new thing," Ignatius said with a wry look. "Adam--my partner--insisted I install some kind of defense system. So I have some photon microtorpedoes. They're small and light, but they'll put a hole or two in a pirate's ship if I have to use them."

A sudden look of alarm came over Purulence's face. She pointed at Ignatius. "Swear on the Clavicula Salomonis Regis that you won't tell my father about this ship."

Ignatius blinked again. "Uh--I'm afraid he already knows? He's the one who recommended this weapon system to me."

Purulence winced. "He loves playing pirates."

"I noticed," Ignatius said. "Your mother does, too--or she fakes it very well. I think your Cousin Malice put the fear of Her in him, though, and I'm pretty sure your mother is itching to go back home." He leaned his head to one side and gave Purulence a lopsided smile. "So, shall we take her for a spin?"

"What--right now?" Purulence squeaked.

Ignatius' grin grew broader. "When I asked you father about recommendations for weapons, he asked me if I'd ever be taking you out in my ship. I said yes, I would." Ignatius coughed. "Let me just say that the weapons are very, very good, and the engines are a bit souped up, too."

"And you got an amazingly good deal on them?" Purulence asked with an arch look.

"A gentleman never tells," Ignatius replied and brushed his lips against her ebon hand. "Where to--Mademoiselle?"

 

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