Chapter 35: The Good News Is Late For Duty

…

Link spent the following hour exploring the major areas of the Island Symphony and even checked the Conductor for more dream monsters while Leynne looked for signs of damage to the launch's ballast again. From top to bottom, inside and as much outside as possible, he kept his crew on alert while he wandered the ship so that the moment he found one, he could direct them to attack it. Whatever The Night's intentions were that night, though, it did not seem interested in bothering him or the crew further. He double-checked that The Night was not fooling his newfound ability to see into the dream by looking over everything with and without the goggles. The Night only reaffirmed its presence with that same pair of ugly eyes hovering over his crew's shoulders. Seeing those eyes, unblinking and focused seemingly on him, whenever he looked at his crew gave him the shivers, and removing the goggles did nothing to erase the knowledge that they were there. He could not even begin to imagine how The Night was able to see through so many eyes.

After checking the ship, he dismissed his crew back to their duties and performed a quick check on the compartments where their crew usually worked on the off-chance that The Night was waiting to ambush them. This meant the berth deck and sick bay, the galley, and the engine room. The goggles only revealed The Night's eyes staring back, although he noticed something a little off about Sello. It was a mental note that became lost among the other notes that described his chief engineer as a drunk lunatic. Besides that, his engine crew had yet to comment on any behavior that was not simply Sello being Sello.

Link finally trudged back into the sick bay after about half an hour of searching. His body felt slow, his thoughts sluggish. Over an hour looking at The Night left him feeling beaten and defeated in spite of the lack of action promised to his crew with the alarm he had raised. Geordie had been returned to his bed at the back of the bay. Nester was resting at his desk, although he raised his head and looked over his shoulder once he had heard Link enter.

Link stepped to the bed bearing his forgotten gear and started unbuckling the sword from his back. Nester stood up and asked, "How are you doing, Captain?"

"Tired," Link replied. He paused to carefully remove the sword and place it on the bed. "A little sore."

"What about when you woke up? What happened?"

"Huh?" Link asked, his mind failing to switch gears to follow Nester's question.

"When you woke up," Nester repeated. "You were barely able to breathe. The sound you made… my first thought was it was a death rattle like no other! I thought we'd finally lost you."

"Oh," Link uttered as he unbuckled his gun belt. He heaved a sigh and placed the belt onto the bed next to the sword. "I got hit in the chest with a club or… something. It must have killed me right away because I'd just woken up in the dream, and there it was."

"We'll have to take a look at your chest," Nester said just as footsteps entered the sick bay.

Nester and Link turned to find Leynne waiting in the doorway. "Sohry to intehrupt," he said. "I thought I'd see what kind of damage was done."

"As soon as I can look at it," Nester said.

"What about you?" Leynne asked Nester. "Link infohmed me that you'd been attacked as well. I believe theh was some mention of the inability to use youh legs?"

"You wanna look at my back?" Nester said, his tone a little heated. He removed his white jacket and threw it onto his desk. Then he lifted up the back of his shirt and the top of his tight-fitting, cotton long underwear. "Have a look."

"Hahdly my intention to provoke you, Doctoh," Leynne said as he moved closer.

"Well, I'm feeling damned provoked right now," Nester answered.

The two paused, during which Link had removed his trousers and now stood only wearing his one-piece undersuit. Under any other circumstances, he might have been a little self-conscious. However, he watched as Leynne stood up and said, "I don't undehstand. Theh's hahdly a mahk on you."

"You wanna know why?" Nester asked, his tone still carrying heat.

"Doctor, please," Link spoke up in a calming tone, raising a hand to get his attention. Nester gave him an annoyed look as he began fixing his shirts. "I saw you stumble. You even said so."

"And you think I can diagnose myself just after waking up?" Nester asked.

"Doctoh," Leynne said, "if theh is a logical explanation to it, it won't do to chastise us fuhtheh. It seems to me that we ah in ignorance of youh health."

Nester finished tucking in his undershirt and contemplated tucking in his dress shirt as well. Then he sighed and turned to face Leynne. His voice came out calmer and a little resigned. "Look, I've got a problem with my back," he explained. "Happened a few years ago. I'm not gonna go into details, though."

"The basics will do," Leynne affirmed with a nod.

"Well, the 'basics' is that I had a bad fall," Nester said. "The way I landed caused some of the structure in my lower back to collapse. It's a bad injury, but I usually manage."

"I don't get it," Link said. "You seem to be fine otherwise."

"It doesn't present itself unless I'm doing something I'm not supposed to," Nester told Link over his shoulder. "Like get woken up by my captain suddenly taking his last breath." He turned back to Leynne. "I got surprised, and I stumbled into Geordie's bed. I struck the side…" He paused to point at an area above his left hip. "… and I felt the shift in my back. Then I had to get Geordie on deck, and I felt a muscle spasm in about the same place. And I wasn't thinking straight because we were in the middle of an emergency; I was thinking the same thing as the captain until we finally got up the steps!"

"So, do undehstand cohrectly that youh condition is the culprit behind youh temporary paralysis?" Leynne asked.

"Pieces of my broken vertebrae are lodged in sensitive areas of my spine," Nester said. "Most of the time, I only have to deal with a mild amount of lower back pain. But if I get hit there, or if I start putting strain in that area, the pieces shift and cause the nearby muscles to spasm; it's like being pelted with a bag of rocks. Sometimes, if it's enough, the nerves for my legs are pinched off, and I lose sensation from my hips down."

"Why haven't you mentioned this befoh?" Leynne asked.

"Captain, why don't you sit here on the bed?" Nester said at almost the same time, indicating the bed Link had been using with a hand. Then he returned his attention to Leynne as he said, "Because if I did, you wouldn't hire me."

Leynne blinked in confusion. Then he asked Link, "We wouldn't?"

"Indefinite injury clause," Link said as he tugged one shoulder out of the top of his undersuit. "All of the big companies do it. If a person has an injury that won't heal, something big like a back injury or a crippled arm, the company won't hire, and they dismiss you when you get one."

"They do?" Leynne asked. "Did someone fohget to explain that to Captain Nohth?" For emphasis he drew a diagonal mark across one eye.

"Do you think you can survive telling Captain North that he's out of a job just because he's missing an eye?" Link asked with a grin on his face.

"No," Leynne relented, deigning to grin to himself. "No, I suppose not…"

Link felt Nester prod at his chest and glanced down. Nester's fingers pushed against an oblong patch of purple skin directly over his heart. "How does it look?" Link asked.

"It's ugly," Nester replied. "Every bit as much as that big one on your back, but fresher." He glanced at Link's right shoulder. "What's that one?"

"Oh, this?" Link asked, using his left hand to point. "That came from the library almost a week ago."

"Befoh The Night beheaded you," Leynne added.

"Yeah, well, we had a lot of other things going on when I found it," Link explained. "It hasn't been bothering me much, so I guess I kinda forgot about it."

"What happened?" Nester asked.

"I got thrown through the air and hit the ground hard," Link said. "Fortunately, dislocated shoulders stay in the dream."

Nester prodded at the faint purple stain hiding behind Link's skin. "Well, at least we know you're still able to recover. If this still looked fresh, I'd be worried."

"As it is," Leynne spoke up, "I think The Night has found a new method of tohmenting us."

"It's not just that," Link said as he pulled his undersuit back up.

"Oh?" Leynne asked, raising an eyebrow. "Does this have something to do with that peculiah look you gave me eahlieh?"

Link nodded. "The Night is watching us. I saw it with the goggles."

"We—… wait, you saw it?" Leynne asked.

"The Night has a set of eyes watching all of us," Link said. "That's why Layna can sense someone watching here even when she's below; The Night can follow us wherever we go."

"Great," Nester said as he straightened up. He pressed his hands on his lower back, grunting and stretching out audible pops from his spine. "More good news…"

"You'h cehtain it was The Night?" Leynne asked.

Link nodded. "It couldn't be anything else. I can't see Janni with them on, but if The Night is hiding something, the goggles'll show it."

"I'm almost afraid to ask what the rest of the island looks like," Leynne commented. He watched Nester fall into his desk chair. Then he asked, "So, what have we to do now?"

Link sighed and took a moment to push himself backwards into the bulkhead. "I don't think anything's different," he told Leynne. "Tomorrow, we'll have to send parties to find the last technoworks under the island. We also need to look for the Sorian mystics."

"Then we'h in agreement," Leynne said. He paused to pull out and check his pocket watch. "Do you think it possible to distuhb some moh Obeetans? Bring them into the day so that we might talk to them?"

Link looked over at the other bed where the Dreamweaver's Shield lay with its blank stare focused on the deckhead. "I'm not sure if I can tonight," he said. "I've never tried going back to sleep after I've been killed."

"Do you fohsee any dangeh, Nesteh?" Leynne asked, turning to the doctor slowly falling asleep in the chair.

The sudden focus on him caused him to snap awake again. "Huh, what?" he asked.

"Do you expect any trouble from Link attempting to sleep again?" Leynne asked.

Nester growled out a sigh and ruffled his hair for a moment as he thought. "Hell, I don't know," he replied. "I don't know how this whole dream-real world nutsery is supposed to work. If I did, I wouldn't be sitting here falling asleep." Link and Leynne shared a concerned look as Nester paused. "Well… we know he can go to sleep tomorrow night and be all right, so I suggest you wait. For all we know, he'll just wake into a dead body and finish bleeding out into his chest cavity. Besides, a night where he doesn't die in some horrible way ought to be good for recovery."

"Agreed," Leynne said. "Captain, you may want to remain awake foh tonight."

Link shook his head. "No argument here."

…

Link tried to remain awake as best as he could. He caught himself nodding off almost a dozen times during the night. A few times, he panicked because he thought he had awoken in the dream only to have Cale, Lilly, and Stan turn their attention to him. It came with the added benefit of helping them stay awake as well.

He spent the whole night in the galley. By the time dawn came and the Obeetans returned to their homes, Link felt the toll of skipping a night of sleep much harder than before. His stomach ached with hunger. His head buzzed with inattention and spurts of stupidity as he eventually made his way up to his cabin to look for a clean undersuit. At one point, his mind blanked, and he found himself leaning against the port main-mast staring at the wall of storm away from the island. He did not stir until Biluf tapped him on the shoulder. He subsequently turned around and wandered back into his cabin to get some sleep.

He dreamed that he was standing in the middle of the island, looking up at the tower as it stretched into infinity while a cloud of darkness swirled around the both of them. Link was waiting for something to come out. It felt like every minute he stood there, the worse the creature coming outside would be.

Then he heard a scream and started awake. He lifted his head from his desk once he realized that he could still hear the scream. His body felt heavy as he willed it to push back and rise from the chair. He did not stop to think of whose scream it was or even if one of the deck crew actually had the capacity to scream. He slammed his shoulder into the door, forgetting that it opened inward. He flung it out of the way in frustration and rushed onto the main deck.

He watched the Conductor steer to starboard, the back alight with flames from the engine. Link stared at the launch's transom for a moment while he tried to piece together why he was acting so panicked. Any actual woman screaming would have at least a few pauses for a breath or two. And he knew his Gelto crew exclusively screamed in rage, usually resulting in a whole bar floor being cleared. Link hung his head and arms in relief before standing up straight.

"Captain?" Link looked up as Hunter approached him. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," Link grunted. He stood up straight and wiped a hand across his eyes like he was clawing the sleep off his face. Then he said in a clearer voice, "Yeah, I'm okay."

Hunter grimaced and used a finger to vaguely indicate his own face as he asked, "How's the… eye doing?"

"I barely notice it," Link said. He frowned at Hunter and asked, "What are you doing up? Aren't you still on the night shift?"

"Leynne sent some of the day crew on the Conductor," Hunter explained. "They're checking out the western half of the island. He asked me to stay on-duty until they returned."

"You're gonna need to get some sleep, though," Link pointed out. "The shift change is at noon, remember?"

"The lieutenant said they'd be back before then. He just wants to do a quick survey of the area, maybe even talk to at least one of the locals."

"Did they take Irleen along?"

Hunter frowned for a moment. "I think so? I know he didn't wanna leave Chief Twig behind."

"He to—wah, uh…" Link stumbled over his words in the middle of thinking. Then he asked, "Did he go with them?"

Hunter nodded. "He left Chief Dubbl in charge. At least until you woke up."

"Is, uh…" Link began as he checked his pockets. Then he realized that he was not even wearing trousers, having rushed out of his cabin in his undersuit. "Damn. What time is it?"

"Near to nine, I believe," Hunter answered.
"Really?" Link asked, disappointed in the answer.

"I can check with the chief, but that was about what time the lieutenant said it was."

Nearly nine. Leynne had announced the end of The Night's waking period at about six-thirty earlier that morning. No wonder Link felt like he could drift asleep on his feet. He sighed. "All right," he told Hunter. "I'm… gonna get a little more sleep. Wake me about eleven. Or come get me when Leynne gets back; I wanna know what he finds."

Hunter snapped a salute. "Yessir."

…

As tired as Link felt, he just could not fall asleep. He was not sure if it was because he was used to sleeping at night or if the events of last night were just throwing his sleep off. He was not especially concerned about some of the day crew going onto the island with Leynne nor did it bother him that Leynne had left the ship; to be concerned would underestimate his wife's ability to handle a situation. But then, he reminded himself that she was supposed to be pregnant. It was not long after that he realized that, while it had not been a problem that Leynne had left, he felt he had a reason to be worried.

He did not know how long he had been trying to take a nap, but he was certain that his attempts were over once he had worked out that Dubbl being in charge while pregnant was not a good thing. So, he got up and dressed himself for the day already consigned to the thought that he would not be sleeping again until tonight. Just remembering the situation with Dubbl gave him some motivation to wait until The Night woke up. He wanted to be sure to take care of those mines; even as a teenager with no experience with pregnant women, Link knew that Dubbl could succumb to fatal consequences in their current environment. After some careful contemplation, he made the mistake of reminding himself of "Logan" and overwhelmed his thoughts, preventing him from even writing down the date for a log entry.

Kon kon kon.

Link started and slammed his log book closed. "Yes, yes, what?!" he hollered. "C-come in!"

To his surprise, Gold opened the door and leaned in. "Lieutenant's back, Cap'n," he said.

"Thanks," Link said as he stood up. Then he realized something was wrong and quickly said, "Wait wait wait!"

Gold had to open the door again just before closing it to respond. "Yessir?"

"Where's Hunter?" Link asked, holding his hands up in confusion.

Gold twitched his neck and clicked his tongue. "Pukin' 'is guts out on the 'ead."

"Puking?" Link asked as he rounded his desk. "Is he sick?"

Gold shrugged as he opened the door further for Link to step through. "I don't know; he just said he thought it was something he ate."

"What time is it?" Link asked as he followed him out.

"A li'l after eleven."

Link looked up at the sound of the Conductor's engine. He had to step out from under the quarterdeck and turn to see the Conductor's bow peek into view over the poop deck. "Thanks, Gold," Link said as he started toward the nearby port staircase. "Carry on."

"Aye aye."

Link quickly ascended while watching the Conductor disappear beneath the edge of the poop deck. Lwamm and Twali, in their usual defiance of common sense, jumped over the railing down to the quarterdeck, and Link followed them into the boat deck. The Conductor was just settling into its supports, giving Lwamm and Twali the moment they needed to grab the ropes used to secure the boat in the deck. Link waited and watched as the crew went through their paces, not wanting to step into the middle of their work when they appeared to be in the flow of the job. No one even noticed that Link was in the boat deck. Once the boat was secure, Twali and Lwamm finally realized that he stood just inside the door. Even then, for the two Geltoan-only speakers, they only felt the need to give him an acknowledging nod each as they stepped past him.

Leynne led the shore party, composed of Line, Cale, Brandon, Dholit, and Botu, from behind the Conductor and stopped them immediately upon seeing Link approach them. Irleen revealed herself a split-second later as she descended over the side of the launch. For a moment, Link thought Leynne looked a little stunned. Then he blinked the expression into a calm frown as he addressed Link, "Captain."

"How was your trip to the west side?" Link asked.

"Not as infohmative as we'd hoped," Leynne admitted with a sigh.

"But we do know wheah the local Sorians went," Irleen spoke up in Cale's accent.

"Good or bad?" Link asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"Kinda depends on your definition of 'good' and 'bad'," Brandon commented.

"That may be," Leynne said, giving a half-weary, half-annoyed glance over his shoulder. Then, to Link, he continued, "But it's infohmation nonetheless. And Ihleen believes theh's some measuh of promise to it."

"So, spill," Link told him. "What'd you find?"

"We saw that one of those smoke trails was neah wheah we tied up the Conductoh," Irleen said, "so we investigated. When we got theah, none of this crew could communicate except myself; the Obeetan we found only spoke Sorian."

Link put on a smile. "Sounds like good news to me," he told Brandon. Brandon only shrugged in response.

"Uhfohtunately, ouh visit offehed very little afteh that," Leynne said. "We cihcled the area foh a few minutes befoh retuhning. Theh wasn't any sign of buried structuhs."

"Well, you looked at the map down in the technoworks," Link told Irleen. "There wasn't an entrance anywhere around that?"

"It isn't that easy, Link," Irleen answered. "Sometimes the entrance isn't actually paht of the technowohks."

"It may take some time, Link," Leynne said. "We might also have to consideh the idea that the entrance may be in the toweh."

Link frowned and glanced over his shoulder out the doors behind him. "Janni told me that she knows what the last technoworks is like," he told his crew. "So I might be able to get its location from her. What about the Sorian? Did they have anything to tell you?"

"Well…" Irleen trailed off, fluttering slowly to one side.

"Well what?" Link asked, confused.

Cale cleared his throat. "Admittedly, my knowledge of Sorian is rathah limited," he said. "Howevah, I had the distinct impression that the convahsation between… eh, whoevah that was… and Ihleen did not go pahticulahly well."

"Not very… together?" Link asked, interlacing his fingers to help illustrate his assumption.

"Unfohtunately," Irleen admitted. "I'm afraid I had the feeling that, although we talked to each othah, we had two very different convahsations."

"Unless 'powdered windows' had something to do with all this," Line spoke up.

Link took a moment to try to fit the comment into context. Then he asked, "What?"

"Ouh deah Cale was hopelessly trying to provide running translation of the convahsation," Dholit said, shooting a smug look in Cale's direction. "But what is a broken mind to translate to besides gibberish?"

"Which, really, was much moah coherent than what I had to listen to," Irleen spoke up.

"Sooo… we at least have some Sorians to talk to, right?" Link asked.

"Given that some of them ah woken foh the daylight, yes," Leynne said.

"I don't know that we may get much from them," Irleen quickly added. "The Night has been feeding on them foh yeahs longah than the Hylians."

Link nodded. "So maybe I'll wake up a dozen or so," he said. "Whatever it takes. These mystics must have had a plan."

"Excuse me, Ca—"

"YIKES!" Link hollered, jumping forward.

He spun around to find Flower waiting behind him, half a grin on his face in bemusement of his captain's surprise. "Sorry, Captain," he said. "Didn't mean to sneak up on you."

"I let him," Line told the rest of the group. "What's your guys' excuse?" Brandon hissed at him to be quiet.

"What is it, Mister Flower?" Link asked after a sigh to relieve his fright.

"Nester wanted to talk to you and the lieutenant," Flower replied. "He said it's about Hunter."

Link felt the warmth drain from his face.