Trouser Travails - Chapter 3
Never wear anything that panics the cat. ~P.J. O'Rourke
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Yattaran was at the helm and guided the Arcadia into the dry dock of the Death Shadow Base. The docking clamps latched onto the Arcadia and the gantry extended the walkway to the access port in the flank of the Arcadia. Once the Arcadia was secure, he ordered Sabu to power the warship down. The normal deep thrum of the Arcadia lessened and felt almost silent. Kei Commed to the ship's personnel that they were now in dry dock.
Tochiro had bustled off almost immediately, all but running for the walkway of the Arcadia. Eagerly, he went to his station quarters and Commed Emeraldas that he was arrived at the Death Shadow. Her face softened when she saw him come onto her view screen and a smile flirted with the corners of her mouth. He was grinning from ear to ear. "How is it going?" He asked her. "Did you find what we needed?"
She shook her flame colored hair and said, "No, not yet, Tochiro. I hope to contact another person who may have more information sometime tonight." Her face was sad, for this meant that she would be unlikely to come to the base at the same time he was there this time.
His face mirrored her own. "Oh," he said sadly, dropping his face down somewhat. He lifted his face to look at his wife again. "I can check in on Mayu because Harlock is going to be visiting on Earth for a bit."
Emeraldas smiled openly at this, for their daughter was a jewel that they both doted upon. Unfortunately, due to the nature of what they did, visits were not as frequent as either of them would like. Not to mention the dangers inherent in such visits, for it was known who Mayu was related to and she was watched. However, they both felt that she needed to be raised in atmosphere, so they were willing to put her needs ahead of their own. Mayu was boarded at a nice Catholic school in Europe. The grounds were lovely - now - and the caretakers loved the two-year-old Mayu, not caring who her parents were.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Kei Yuki was passionate about surfing. She ran for the indoor sea, board in hand. She had changed into her wetsuit almost immediately and couldn't wait to surf. The smaller wave-maker aboard the Arcadia was okay, but the one on the station was four times as large and she could really catch quite a ride when she wanted.
As she ran, most of the male crew in her path looked admiringly after her. The sight of a nineteen-year-old shapely young woman running with long blonde hair swinging behind her wet-suited form was quite a sight to them. They shook their heads ruefully, well aware that she was off limits. Harlock would have no compunctions about keeping them all in line where she was concerned. He was worse than an over protective older brother with regard to her safety. Fortunately, Kei seemed blithely unaware of either their stares, or the care that surrounded her. She gleefully paddled out to meet the waves and lost herself in them.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Miss Masu carried her favorite cooking pot off of the Arcadia with her. Behind her, Tori-san and Miuu followed. They had each attempted to steal a bottle of Saki from the kitchen and she had scolded them rather severely, brandishing her knives all the while. They listened to her, after all, she was the one who fed them most of the time. So, Miuu carried his favorite stuffed carp toy in his mouth and Tori-san waddled after, biting at the cat's tail every once in a while. Masu sighed. It was going to be a long afternoon with the two pets along.
She finally reached the station's kitchen. It was largely automated, but knew that she liked to do a lot of the cooking herself. "Hello, Miss Masu." A musical automated feminine voice stated. "What would you like to make today?" Masu put her pot on the 24 burner stove and looked around. All of the pots in the rack were spotless and ready. She looked in the cooler. Good, the automated Sou-chef had prepared the vegetables she had wanted. She could have simply told the station what to fix, when to have it ready and for how many people, but she liked preparing the food herself. She pulled the knives and the vegetables out and started preparing the evening meal.
She would relax, later, after everyone was fed. She shooed the two pets out and told them to find someone else to pester for a bit. If they behaved, she would have a treat for them, later. They meekly complied.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Harlock had felt the ship come to rest. He had taken off his Sol Fed uniform, carefully repacked it in the case and put all of his medals and ribbons back in their velvet lined boxes. He put on a pair of worn boot-cut jeans and a red long-sleeved turtleneck. The knee on the left side of the pant was out, he noted. He wondered what it was with him and left knees in his trousers... He packed his CompPad and his usual travel duffle and exited his quarters.
He walked through the Arcadia slowly, oddly reminiscent. He remembered the first time he had walked down this hallway and explored the wonder that was the Arcadia. The first time he had put on the uniform of a pirate. The first time he had become a man of both shadows and light. He exited the Arcadia and went to his study aboard the station.
He looked around at all of the memorabilia from his father, grandfather and great-grandfather. There were antiques there, from Harlock Hall in Heiligenstadt, and some artifacts that he had added since then. His hand-penned logs from the Death Shadow and the Arcadia lined the bookcases, along with the logs of many of his male progenitors. Other leather bound books lined the shelves, family portraits and ship part artifacts.
His piano stood in the corner of the room, ready for his hands to caress the keys. He thought about going to play when the door burst open, and both Tori-san and Miuu tumbled into the room. Tori-san had Miuu's fish in his beak and was flapping his wings while running on foot away from Miuu. The cat was angry and spitting as he chased Tori-san.
The bird ran behind Harlock to hide, grasping his calves for balance. Harlock hadn't been expecting the maneuver and almost fell over. He strengthened his core and kept his feet for the moment. However, the two rascals weren't done, yet. They circled him and the angry cat swiped at the bird between his legs, snagging his jeans and a portion of his inner thigh in the process. Harlock let out a howl of pain, dropping his duffle in the process. It landed on Tori-san, which caused the bird to spit out the toy fish. Miuu sprang upon it in delight and then carried it off to the stuffed chair on the side of the desk to sit with his prize between his front paws. Tori-san scrambled out from under the duffle and held onto Harlock's legs, crying piteously. Harlock held his injured leg and noted that he was bleeding through his pants. Great, he thought, another pair of pants bites the dust!
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
On Earth, a man with a beard but no mustache, dressed in black pants and a medium blue shirt with sturdy work boots on his feet and a straw hat with a black band along the crown, rode behind his horse who was plodding along with the plow. Behind him, a young boy dressed in the same manner, carried a seed bag and dropped the seeds into the ground and another slightly older boy behind him scooped the earth back into place. The day was a beautiful one, clear blue skies and fluffy white clouds under a properly yellow sun.
All had been restored to rightness; Jakob Schulte smiled as he worked. It was interesting he thought, that God had chosen Harlock to be the instrument of restoration. His widowed mother insisted that they bless the pirate each day. He had need of that, indeed, the shadows clouding Franz's heart and soul were deep and painful to him, Jakob thought. He idly wondered if they would ever see Harlock again. They had written back and forth to each other, but they hadn't heard back from him recently.
"Jakob!" His wife's voice called to him across the fields. "The barn Com is making noise. What shall I do?" He calmly stopped the horse's progress and got off of the plow's perch. "Children, go to your mother and help her with the chickens." The children ran off to their mother, Rachel Schulte, to do her bidding.
He walked to the barn with the horse and picked up the Com set. "Ya?" He said as he carefully held the Com close to his ear. He heard noise like someone was talking but couldn't tell exactly what was being said. He realized that he was holding it upside down and flipped the device, dropped it, and then picked it up and put it into the right position. "Ya?" He said again.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Harlock waited until the second "Ya" to continue. He guessed that Jakob had dropped the Com and also figured that he hadn't heard a word he had said to him, so he began anew. "Hello Jakob," he said.
"Herr Harlock!" Jakob said with surprise. "Thou art in town?"
"No, not yet." Harlock replied. "But I am nearby and wish to visit if I may."
"When might we expect thee?" Jakob asked.
"Soon," said Harlock. "Within a day or so."
"Ya, I shall inform Mother thee visits." Jakob replied. He carefully pushed the red button Harlock had told him to push within 15 seconds of talking so as to not have a trace on the connection. Very proud of himself, he returned the device to its "base" making certain the little green light showed through as Harlock had taught him.
Technology was not something he or his people valued, but they had decided to keep contact with Harlock, and the compromise had been to keep the Com in the barn. There was no technology anywhere else on the farm other than in the barn. Electricity went to the barn for the cow milking machines, but that was the extent of "modern" technology anywhere on the farm.
After putting Ebenezer in the paddock, he left the barn and then returned to the main house. Rachel would need to know to prepare a room for their guest and his mother would want to know so that she could make chocolate chip cookies. He smiled. Who knew that something as simple as a cookie could make someone like Harlock happy! He picked out three eggs from the nests of the hens in the henhouse, amid their squawking, to take to his mother knowing that she would need them.
Harlock was satisfied that Jakob had done the Com link cut in a timely fashion. Now, he had to go to Doc Mallory and have his leg attended to. He hobbled to the door, a bloodied handkerchief tied around his thigh. He wondered if his tetanus vaccine was up to date. He left the squabbling pets behind him.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Thea looked at Harlock sitting in the chair with his arms crossed, a closed face, and a bandaged leg. She sighed. How did he do it? He was constantly getting injured. She came over to him and gently sat beside him. "What happened?'
He looked at her from under his mass of hair. "The bird and the cat used me in their game as a tree. I lost." He said tersely.
She tried not to grin. Nothing like Tori-san and Miuu to get Harlock outside of his comfort zone. "Let me see," she said. He got up and lowered his pants for her to see the wounds on the inner thigh. He had gotten slashed, she saw. She patted the exam table for him to hop up onto it and he complied, albeit reluctantly. A few minutes later, she had him disinfected, bandaged, vaccinated and on his way. She gave him a pair of scrub pants to wear while the jeans were washed. As usual, all pants not made specifically for him were always too short. She refrained from any comments while he was there, knowing it would wound his pride. Thea giggled after he left; Harlock was down to no pants, now!
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO