Dreyfuss did the tattoo, and then knocked on the hatchway, causing Jock to open it up. "let's leave this open until we get ready to go off again, Jock."
"Aye Sir. Sir, would a bit of shore leave be alright?"
"Hmmm. I honestly don't know how long Miss Emma will let us stay here at home this time, Jock; I'd say six to twelve hours would be all I could spare you for. I could do the conning and the engine room, or at least thats how I set the ship up originally, but these days, I don't know. No, I think twelve hours is all I can muster for free time right now. will that be sufficient?"
"Yes Sir. Er, sir, how many people would ye be willing to take on as new crew?"
"probably no more than five or ten, Jock. We have to go by weight as well as numbers; if we get too fat, we can't fly!" HE said, chuckling slightly, which Jock apparently echoed sincerely.
"Also, I don't particularly care whether they are male or female, as long as they pull their share, have some military experience (but new folk are welcome as well), and can stand being part of a shore party to handle whatever we come up against -- and I do mean 'whatever,' Jock.
Jock smiled, "Aye sir, I do understand, and I might be able to find three or five that'll be all ye ask for."
"Well, by all means, bring them along if you find 'em. If we get those marines they keep making noises about, we might actually get a full crew complement! Also, bring anybody who wants to join the Boheme, they could probably use some regular crew as well, adn both ships can accept people who've never flown or fought before, although a couple of veterans, at least, would be nice."
"Aye, Commodore, sir." well, I'll gather me things and change into me good uniform, and be off, then."
"As you will, Jock. Oh, if you see Miss Angel or Mr. Cain coming on board, tell them how to get to Sickbay, will you? They're going to explain this world to a couple of passengers we rescued, 'back there.' And, good hunting, Jock."
"Aye, Commodore."
Dreyfuss continued through the gundeck, and arrived at sickbay to find Leyton cleaning up and Shai sitting on the edge of Brian's bed, holding hands. The two certainly seemed enamored of one another.
"Good Show, Leyton." Dreyfuss said to the Tall fellow. by the way, your suspicions are probably correct. I'm a Whitefire Technomant; now, don't scoff," he said, warningly, "there's a school for young folks with a talent like mine, run by Professor Patrick O'Landry, a former Boheme crewmember and a comrade-in-arms of mine, and Professor Jennifer Sheehan-O'Landry, his newlywed wife, also a practitioner -- and both sanctioned by the Catholic church, which also funds their school; one of my nieces is a first-year student there." he said proudly.
"Unlike many of the 'Talented,' so to speak, people you'll meet around London, Mr. Leyton, I'm not ashamed of my ability, being Texian; The non-British holdings in America tend to be that way; My Uncle Caractacus was a Magicus Practus in Louisiana and Provincia Tejas before relations got so strained between the two just before the Texian revolution. Got pretty wealthy doing it too. What I need from you, Mr. Leyton, is just what you've been doing, here, and also the benefit of your scientific outlook and experience, as well as your experience and knowledge of the Thaumaturgical -- including that trick you did with the doctor's bag, from what I hear."
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to debrief and warn our guests before the arrival of a couple of our more magical organizational members. You might want to be a fly on the wall, so to speak, as well; it may open your eyes a bit more to what's actually the magical reality hereabouts."
HE turned to the bed where Brian lay, and strolled over, making a conscious effort to be as nonthreatening as possible.
Mr. O'Landry, Miss Shai, a couple of people are going to be coming over in just a few minutes from the other ship, The Boheme. I must warn you beforehand that they may seem very familiar by sight, but I assure you, they are not of your world; those are the reasons, in fact, why they were chosen for the impending meeting.
"How can I put this...We all, apparently, have what that cable cutting bastard Captain Bl--!" he sighed. "Your pardon, my friends. Captain Black, or rather the one from this world, and I, have some unfinished business; he's dead here, but not by my hand, which rankles somewhat, since he shot down my first command, whilst I was thrown clear. I'll explain all of that later, if you like. Anyway. We all have doppelgangers in other dimensions, and these are a couple of such."
"One looks like your Cordelia, and one, well, lets say he looks , but also doesn't look, like you, Brian. I hope my telling you this doesn't cause you undue grief, but the you of this dimension was a very evil, very resilient, and very cruel dark magic user; he was, in fact, what many call a "blood magus"; that is, he used blood in his magic, consumed blood and took from the consumed blood the spirits of the people from whom he drank the blood, to add to his army of souls, whose lives he used, and used up, in battle and in his daily life --er, that is, if I understand the whole thing properly, which I often feel is not something I want to do," he said, with a sour twist of his mouth.
"That is all pertinent, because Cain (that's the person's name, by the way), is-- well, actually, he's a construct; a being who inhabits a mechanical body built by the other Brian's younger brother, Patrick O'Landry, -- who in fact is a very good, definitely NOT evil, and Benevolent person-- in any case, built by Patrick as a vessel to hold all of the good things of his brother when he became ill, and rejected and pushed those things out of his soul.
Cain is, therefore, a very righteous and very noble person -- and while I doubt that he initially hated the other Brian (he's just too inherently good for that), he did learn to hate him for what Brian kept trying to do to him, and for what Brian did to people that he knew, or that he half-remembered, from the few memories that passed along in the process of the "pushing out." well, that's about all there is to tell. Ah, there they are now!" he said, as he heard Angel knock and call out as only she could do. He opened the door for them, and stood by, in case anything untoward might happen upon the event of Cain meeting Brian2.
