Gareth and th Lost Island

by Patrick Mallard

  The little worker robot thought for a few minutes before answering. After running every one of the ship’s systems through its processors, the robot replied, “The ship is powered by a chunk of the original Void Stone that gave the Mascalians their abilities. Since almost all of the systems had to be redesigned to accept the direct Dark Magic coming from it, I think the only system that is not a prototype are the loos. Yes, I believe the crappers are what you would call tried and true technology.”

  Sheldon’s right eyestalk moaned, “We are sooooo going to die.” It pivoted to look at Elizabeth. “Is it too late to switch back to working for you?” it begged.

  “YES!” everyone yelled at once.

  “Just asking,” Sheldon’s right eyestalk pouted.

  The worker robot tapped one of its feet impatiently. “May we go on?” it requested. Gareth gestured for the robot to continue. It led them around the ship, and up a wide cargo ramp set below the bow. “Captain, your aunt firmly believed that one day we would win the Wizards Wars, and designed the Golden Swan class cruisers to be multi-functional. It has a large cargo hold that can be refit for different types of missions. The HMS Glorious Dawn also has extra crew quarters in case it needs to transport large numbers of troops, or just regular passengers,” it told them as it led them inside.

  Just inside the entryway, the group found themselves face to face with a nightmare mixture of magic and machine. The magic skull they had dubbed Chompers was sitting atop a humanoid looking body of blackish brown metal. Folded up along its arms were various blades and other methods of killing. Chompers folded out each weapon one at a time before giving them quick practice swings. His left hand dropped down on a hinge. A three bladed, spinning device popped out, and sliced through the air with a high pitched whine. The spinning blades slid back in the arm, and his hand snapped back into place. A small tube popped out of the right forearm. They heard a click right before a small jet of flame shot of out of the tube. The flame shut off, and the tube dropped back into the arm.

  “Alright, who thought it was good idea to give the homicidal skull a new body?!” Gareth demanded.

  Kevin happily raised his hand. “I found the skull in the wreckage of your old ship. He didn’t have a body anymore so I took him to the manufacturing plant. I let him pick out a new one,” he said.

  DAR-C 254 and RENE 7 both shook their metal heads. “You felt sorry for him so you gave a Mark 5 Guardian Skeleton the body of a Hunter/Killer Assassin unit?” RENE 7 moaned rhetorically.

  “Yeppp,” Kevin replied, still cheerful.

  DAR-C 254 looked down at Sheldon, and muttered, “It’s been nice knowing you three.”

  Chompers advanced on Henry, and stopped right in front of him. A crystal mounted on the neck of the mechanical body flashed as Chompers said something in Chim to Henry. For his part, Henry let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, and slapped the metal monster in front of him affectionately on the shoulder.

  “What just happened?” Elizabeth asked no one in particular.

  Gareth took a moment to reboot his brain before replying, “Apparently, Henry now has the scariest looking Sous-chef on Hadronus.”

  “Oh,” was all Elizabeth managed to say.

  As a group, the crew moved deeper into the ship, and stopped at a “T” shaped intersection. “Captain, you and Engineer Morgana should follow that corridor to the stairs leading to the engine room. I’ll take the others, and show them where their post are,” the worker robot said, pointing to the right.

  “Thank you, um… I’m sorry, I forgot to ask your name,” Gareth stated.

  “That’s quite alright, Captain. They call me Alex,” the worker robot replied.

  Teesh scrunched up her eyebrows as she tried to figure out what the letters A-L-E-X might stand for. When she couldn’t figure it out, she asked, “What does ALEX stand for?”

  The little worker robot raised up its front segment, and put the hands of its first set of limbs at the joint where the first and second segments met. “I stand for Truth, Justice, and the Mascalian way!” Alex said with a mock serious voice. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist. I get asked that question a lot by my fellow Automatons. Truth is, I just liked the name,” it admitted.

  Gareth let Izzy take the lead. He followed her as they raced down the stairs to what would soon become her domain. They opened a door, and strode into a room where Gareth was lucky to identify one piece of equipment in ten. Izzy, on the other hand, was racing from one set of controls to the other. She was able to discern what everything was, except for a rune engraved pillar in the center of the room, and a pedestal, with an impression of a humanoid palm in the top, sitting next to it.

  Gareth walked over to the pedestal, and put his hand in the impression. Purple light flowed from his palm and down the sides of the pedestal. The light then broke off into four separate paths that led to four crystals embedded in the walls. A younger looking version of Center’s face took shape near the far wall. “Magical signature of the Mintel family verified, system starting up,” Center said in Mascalian.

  “Speak in Trade, please, we have a multi-species crew,” Gareth ordered.

  “Acknowledged, Captain Mintel,” Center stated in Trade language.

  Gareth smiled, and turned to face Izzy, who was flipping switches and cranking gears to start the engines. She smiled back at him, and then flipped the lever that was supposed to start the charged Aetherium flowing into the lift tubes. Her smile switched to a frown when nothing happened. “I don’t know what’s wrong. It looks like magic powered ships haven’t changed much in 13,000 years. I understand what most of these controls are for. I did everything in the right order,” she muttered to herself.

  “Engineer, I suggest you employ a kinetic displacement to the central column in order to realign the rune arrays,” Center suggested.

  Izzy looked over to Gareth with confusion in her eyes. “What does he want me to do?” she asked.

  “He wants you to realign the rune array with a kinetic displacement,” Gareth echoed. “You know… kick it,” he paraphrased.

  Izzy shrugged her shoulders, and gave the center column a swift kick. Purple energy flowed up the column, along the ceiling, and into various controls around the room. “Good to know some repair techniques stand the test of time,” she chuckled.

  Chapter 32

  Every one of the pirate fleet’s two manned dirigibles were out trying to find a safe path wide enough to get their capital ships through the storm surrounding the mysterious island. The three frigates and the destroyer hung back at the edge of the storm, waiting for their scouts to report back. An observant pirate on the deck of the destroyer raised the alarm when he saw several of the scouts suddenly dive out of the way of something that was causing a large disturbance in the clouds. Eventually, the roiling clouds gave way as a golden ship rose majestically out of the storm.

  Onboard the golden vessel, Pilot looked over his shoulder and said, “Captain of the HMS Glorious Dawn, we will be rising above the clouds any moment now.” Captain Mintel leaned forward in his seat eagerly. The seat was set on a raised platform in the middle of the crystal encased bridge of the HMS Glorious Dawn. Pilot was also sitting, and had gone on for a good ten minutes about how wonderful it was to finally have a seat while steering an airship.

  As the clouds thinned out, they were able to see the small shapes of a dozen or more pirate minnows. Gareth leaned back in his chair, and spoke into a tube that sent his voice to every corner of the ship. “We will be engaging the enemy any minute now. Henry, the minnows are yours. Tralnis and Sheldon, you two use the main gun to take out the frigates. First Officer Morgana, use the Sun gun to disable the destroyer,” he ordered. With a heavy heart Gareth added, “We don’t have enough supplies to take prisoners, so unless we manage to take their ships without destroying them, no quarter is to be given.” He got off of his chair, and stood at the railing behind Pilot so he could have an even better view of the battle that was almost upon them.<
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  Henry had left Chompers in the galley to protect Teesh in case they were somehow boarded. The Chim slid down the ladder to the tail gunner’s seat, and strapped himself in. After flipping a switch that activated the magically enhanced hydraulics, he spun the tail gun around to make sure it was moving on all three axes. Gareth gave his orders, and Henry turned the brass key that armed the tail gun. He waited until the first two man minnow drifted close enough to get a good look at the golden ship. Holding down the trigger, Henry riddled their gas sack with inch wide, metal spheres. He let up on the trigger long enough to spin the tail gun towards the next closest two man dirigible before he also sprayed them with the deadly projectiles. The spheres went through flesh just as easily as they did the resin coated canvas that made up the gas sacks.

  Henry flinched as a bullet ricocheted off of one of the crystal panels surrounding the gun emplacement. Snarling, Henry swung the gun around again, and squeezed the trigger hard enough to make his furry knuckles tremble. His anger made his shot go wide slightly, and glance off of the side of the minnow. While not a killing blow, the shot had an unexpected benefit. As the sphere skipped across the side, it tore through the ropes holding the minnow’s ballast. With their ballast suddenly gone, the minnow shot skyward, completely out of control.

  The out of control minnow raced past the deck of the Glorious Dawn, and gave the sniper a chance to jump onto the enemy vessel. After he managed to collect himself, the sniper looked around. He focused his attention on the huge gun mounted on the fore deck. With a smirk, the sniper shouldered his rifle, and took a bead on the Dwarf sitting in some sort of seat attached to the side of the strange cannon. The sniper was about to fire, when he sensed something large racing towards him. He spun around, and squeezed the trigger. He watched in dread as his shot bounce harmlessly off of the angular armor of a mechanical horror rushing towards him on metal treads.

  Kevin’s red lens had rotated into place, and glowed with an angry inner light. “You will not hurt Kevin’s friend!” he shouted at the pirate. With one swing of his mighty arm, the pirate found himself sailing through empty sky towards the sea below with a crushed ribcage. Kevin rolled up to the guard rail that surrounded the deck, and watched the sniper fall to his death. He rotated his triangular lens cluster to slip on the telescopic lens so he could watch the splash the pirate made. When he was certain the pirate would no longer be a threat to his friend Tralnis, Kevin rotated his red lens back in place, and took up patrolling the deck once again.

  Tralnis barely glanced over to see what Kevin was doing, being too focused on aiming the giant cannon. He never even saw the sniper who had been trying to end his life. When he thought he had the shot lined up, Tralnis squeezed the trigger. He missed, and sent the 20 pound explosive sphere sailing harmlessly off the nearest frigate’s port side.

  “Great shot, Doc! Maybe next time you might want to open your eyes when aiming,” Sheldon’s left eyestalk complained sarcastically, as Sheldon opened the breach to load in another 20 pound explosive.

  “Damn it, Sheldon! I’m a doctor, not an artillery gunner!” Tralnis shouted back in frustration. He felt that odd tingle again as the strange magic took over, and effected one of the pirates helping to load a cannon on the frigate. The pirate holding the cannon ball ready for the next shot suddenly lost his grip, and dropped the iron sphere on the foot of the red shirted pirate next to him. The red shirted pirate hopped on one foot, while he grasped his other injured one with both hands. He managed to hop right in front of the cannon as it was fired. The red shirted pirate had a split second to look down at the gaping hole through his chest before he expired.

  Tralnis adjusted the sights on the cannon, and took aim again. He squeezed the trigger, and sent this sphere slamming into the wooden hull of the frigate just below their cannon. The explosive sphere detonated, and blew the frigate’s cannon completely off of the deck. Bits of wood and steel flew everywhere, causing a great deal of collateral damage. “Hah!” Tralnis crowed as Sheldon readied the main gun for another shot.

  Elizabeth swore when she couldn’t get a clear shot at the destroyer thanks to the frigate in her way. Deciding to do something about it, she dialed the Sun gun to its widest beam, and targeted the pilot of the frigate. The beam did as it was supposed to, and bathed the pilot in a blinding, white light. He stumbled away from his post, and caught the wheel with his belt as he passed it. The frigate slewed to the side, causing its cannon to slide with it as the gunner was firing. The cannon ball slammed into the deck, and flew out the back side of the frigate’s engine room. Black smoke billowed out of the frigate as the propellers spun to a stop.

  Tralnis stroked his beard as he admired Elizabeth’s handiwork. “Come on boys, we can’t let her show us up. Load one of the flammable spheres,” he told Sheldon. The Kwa-Kwa-Ur nodded slightly, and picked up a metal sphere from a stack on the other side of the main gun. After it was loaded, Tralnis took careful aim once again, and squeezed the trigger, firing at the remaining operational frigate. He meant to hit the deck, but struck the gas sack instead. Tralnis and the eyestalks had to look away from the bright explosion as the sphere broke apart, igniting the flammable gas inside the giant sack.

  “Take that you pirate bastar… Aaaah!” Tralnis yelled as the Glorious Dawn was rocked by cannon fire from two of the three cannons aboard the destroyer. The cannon balls struck the metal shield near the front of the starboard side Aetherium tube. “Explosive shells!” Tralnis ordered once the deck quit rolling from side to side.

  The destroyer’s captain smirked as the golden ship looked like it was turning to run from them. “We’ve got them now, men!” he shouted triumphantly. His excitement was quickly doused when he realized their enemy had only turned part way, and now had their side facing them. “Oh shit!” the pirate captain swore when he saw both of the strange ship’s guns were pivoting to face them. “Fire all cannons, damn your eyes, fire!” he ordered, panic flooding into his voice. As a rule, pirates usually only picked on targets that were much weaker than them. They always shied away from anything resembling a fair fight, and this ship looked like it just might be up to the challenge and then some.

  While the pirate crew hurried to reload their cannons, Tralnis and Elizabeth let loose with theirs. Wood shattering in a line along the deck showed Henry was getting in on the act as well. The main gun shot an explosive round into the wheel house, while Elizabeth traced a needle thin line of white hot light across the gears linking the destroyer’s four propellers to their steam boiler. The heated gears seized, causing the propellers to grind to a halt. The wheel house blew apart as the explosive round hit. The surviving pirates frantically looked around for anything white to wave as a sign of surrender.

  Gareth sat back down in the captain’s chair, and sighed in relief. He picked up the all ship speaking tube again. “All guns standby while we approach the destroyer and the frigate. Kevin, DAR-C, RENE, and Izzy, join me on deck. We’ll serve as the boarding party to accept their surrender,” he said.

  Twenty minutes later, the damaged frigate and destroyer were moored together. Both of the captured crews were standing on the deck of the destroyer. The pirates scrambled to get as far away from the mechanical beings as possible when the boarding party from the HMS Glorious Dawn strode across the reinforced gangplank.

  “Who is the ranking officer here?” Gareth called out, flanked by Kevin on one side and DAR-C 254 on the other. Kevin was wearing his angry lens to look extra intimidating.

  One pirate hesitantly raised his hand, and answered, “Um… you are, sir?”

  Gareth shook his head. “No, I mean who speaks for you as your leader?” he rephrased.

  The same pirate shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t rightly know, sir. Most of the officers were in the wheelhouse when you went and blew it up. The remaining officer is our cook, and no one listens to that scaly prick none,” he replied.

  “Regardless, he’s still your senior officer. Bring him forward,” Gareth ordered.
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  There was a scuffle at the back of the crowd of pirates. The crowd parted, and a familiar looking Scaled One was shoved to the front. Egite took one look at Izzy, and made a beeline for her.

  Kevin shot forward, and clotheslined the Scaled One with an outstretched arm. The hulking robot bent over, and lifted the gasping reptile up by the front of his filthy apron. Kevin turned his head to look at Gareth, waiting for orders. With a jerk of his own head towards the side of the ship, Gareth indicated what Kevin should do. Kevin rolled over to the edge of the deck, and tossed the trash overboard. His actions were met with cheers from the crew of the destroyer.

  “Yeah, we pretty much had the same reaction when Egite got kicked off of our ship,” Izzy told the pirates.

  Gareth slowly looked across the crowd of pirates. “I’m going to give you lot three options. The first is remain on this ship until we tow it into the air space of a country not so fond of pirates. The second is to line up, and join your Scaled One friend in the ocean. The third option is to quit your pirating ways, and agree to become farmers on the island below us. If you choose the latter, I guarantee your safety, and nicer homes than you’ve ever lived in before,” he offered.

  The pirate who had somehow found himself as speaker for the conquered looked incredibly relieved. “I’m pretty sure I speak for all of us when I say that being a farmer sounds mighty good, sir,” he stated to murmured agreement from the now ex-pirates.

  Chapter 33

  A month after the ex-pirates had been settled into a tiny fraction of the empty homes in Mascal, Captain Mintel stood at the head of a long table in the galley of the HMS Glorious Dawn to address his crew. Elizabeth sat on his right, while Izzy sat on his left. Tralnis, Pilot, Alex, and DAR-C sat on the side Izzy was on. Henry, Teesh, Sheldon, and RENE sat near Elizabeth. Kevin took up the space at the foot of the table.

  “Let me start out by saying thank you all for coming to this meeting,” Gareth said. “In discussing with First Officer Morgana how the old Glorious Dawn was run, I learned that issues having major ramifications for the ship and the crew would normally be brought to a vote. I plan on following her example, and put forward something I would like to do. Something that will most likely end up with the Island Republic of Draconia putting a price on our heads,” he told them. Gareth wasn’t prepared for the crew of the previous Glorious Dawn to start laughing.