Chapter 96: On the Road Again

…

BANG! BANG BANG! BANG!

WHAM! "What the hell is all the noise!?" Link hollered after throwing open the doors to the boat deck. He had only had enough time to put his trousers and his boots on before he had lost his patience with the sound. "I can't sleep!"

"One pluz one iz three wifout me!" Sello replied from somewhere at the back of the room. BANG! BANG! Link had to move along the front wall to find him sitting on the floor amidst a smaller pile of his scrounged-up junk. He held a frying pan in his hand and—BANG!—was in the process of flattening a length of stove pipe with it. But that last swing was actually a demonstration of Sello's horrible aim as he laid a clean strike on the deck, which might have been the reason he was using a frying pan in the first place. Not that Link would ever dismiss the thought that Sello had simply decided to use the frying pan because was drunk. Amazingly (for Sello), he glanced down at the pipe with a thoughtful look on his face. "Hmm…"

"Sello!" Link snapped.

"Mustard?" Sello responded, looking up.

"Sello, my cabin's right below you," Link said, his tone still heated but a little more relaxed. "If you're going to hammer things out, at least use the table over there." Link pointed to the other side of the room, where Bulif still had her table set out for her usual experiments. She had cleared it, which was why Sello would be fine using it since he could not steal her chemicals again (assuming he had not already done so).

"Table?" Sello asked, glancing around the back of the boat. He had to lean further around the side before he saw the table. Then he nodded. "Dat'll do."

Link had expected Sello to take the pipe and the frying pan to the table. Instead, Sello staggered around the back of the cutter, dropping the frying pan onto the deck. He stepped up to the edge of the table and leaned over to inspect it at eye level. Then he grabbed the two legs near him and attempted to drag it to the other side. But the table was too wide to fit between the rear bulkhead and the boat's hull. Link was about to step over to help Sello turn the table. Sello, however, decided to roll the table on his own. Then he dragged it up the side of the boat's hull, knocking over Biluf's partition and tugging on the spare sails covering the boat. Link cringed, expecting to hear the sails rip. Sello succeeded despite how awkward the ordeal was, but he was now holding the table upside-down. Link was not sure if Sello noticed until Sello, holding the table at about the middle with the end pressed into his stomach, positioned it so that the opposite end of the table floated over the pipe he had been trying to flatten. With a thud, the table fell.

And, in spite of using a piece of furniture, he still missed the pipe. Worse, Sello's grip slipped. He dropped the table on the toes of his boots. However, instead of reacting, he just gave the pipe a confused look. Then he turned to one side and, still not aware that his feet were under the table, tripped. He landed on top of a steel rod with a thud, causing the rod to fling itself upward. The bucket on the end, full of various tools, swung upward as well and slid down the rod on its handle. The swing was enough that the bucket, when reaching the other end of the rod, was in perfect position to bash Sello over the head with a hollow, metallic smack.

Link placed a hand over his eyes and looked up toward the deckhead. "Sello," he asked with exhaustion prevalent in his voice, "are you okay?"

"Loogget me, I'm inna tree," Sello replied in an odd tone of voice, almost as if he was delighted to have been struck over the head with a bucket full of tools. He chuckled and added, "And da cheese'n da moo-dog flew inna da sea."

Link sighed. "I'm never gonna get any sleep…"

…

Irleen giggled at Link as he sat at his desk with his head resting on the surface, staring at the door. "Wow, Link, you look beat," she commented.

"I feel beat," Link replied, turning his head to glance up at her. "Sello woke us up this morning; that's what all that noise was."

"And all the noise after you went up there?" she asked.

"I suggested he could use the table for his work," he said. "He tried to use it in place of a hammer. Then he fell over and took a bucket of tools to the head."

Irleen snorted, earning her an irritated look. She cleared her throat to help steady her voice. "Well, at least he's quiet now," she pointed out.

"Yeah, I'm… not sure how that happened," he told her. "It's completely possible that he killed himself."

"You don't sound very convinced."

Link shrugged. "Well, with as much as he drinks, he should already be dead."

"You don't think he's immortal or something, do you?"

He shrugged again. "It wouldn't surprise me if he was." He paused to think for a moment. "Maybe we should chuck him overboard and see."

"Wow, Link. You're being kinda dark tonight, aren't you?"

"Well, it's not like that's the only problem I had today." Link then sat up and slouched into his chair. "I spent most of the day on-deck with Layna stalking me."

"Doesn't she do that anyway?"

Link gave her an exhausted glare. "Yeah, but she at least had the decency to leave me alone while I was on the head. I had to find Dholit just so Dholit could tell her to stop following me everywhere."

"I wouldn't be mad at her for that, Link," Irleen told him in a sympathetic voice. "She's probably just being grateful to you by… letting you know she's always watching… you…" Those final words came out awkward as she realized how creepy the situation actually sounded. "Maybe you can trade her to another ship when we reach Bold Island."

"Irleen," Link tried to snap. Then he added, "It won't work; I already thought of it. On top of not being able to understand that she's being assigned to another ship, she'd just sneak back aboard."

"Well… I suppose you can always wait until she beats up Sello again."

Link shook his head. "If there's one thing I've taught her, it's that I don't like seeing my crew hurt."

"Hmm… well, I'm out of ideas. So, what else happened today?"

"Huh? Oh, uh…" Link had to pause to remember why his day had been miserable. "Oh, yeah! Dholit and Dubbl got into a fight."

"Dholit and… Dubbl," Irleen repeated. "Huh. What happened?"

Link sat up straighter in his chair. "I don't know," he said. "The deck crew was changing shifts, and when Dubbl stepped onto the deck, Dholit made a comment. They started arguing, and then they started wrestling on the deck."

"Really? Any idea what she said?"

He shrugged. "She didn't explain it to me. I was about to run at them from across the deck, but Lwamm and Biluf grabbed them and took them below."

"Well, considering Dholit, she was probably pushing more innuendo around again."

"Probably. So I chased them down to the hold, but they disappeared. I kinda wandered around for a moment, then I heard screaming from the deck below. So I go down there, and I find…" He visibly shivered. "I found Lwamm and Biluf standing in front of Dubbl's cabin, guarding the door. I tried to order them aside, but… well, you know they don't speak Hylian."

Irleen settled on Link's desk, which saved Link the discomfort of having to look up at her. "Yeah, I can see that being a problem."

"Well, I was there for… eh, maybe a minute, and Dubbl just stops screaming. Do you remember that one time when Dubbl attacked me, and then Dholit dragged her off. And then, when they came back, Dubbl was really quiet?"

Irleen paused. "Oh, don't tell me," she said in a horrified tone.

"Yeah, it was kinda like that," Link told her, his tone a little disgusted. "I mean… I want to know what she keeps doing to Dubbl, but… at the same time, I just don't want to know. You know?"

"More than you're willing to believe."

Link sighed. "Yeah, that's… that's more-or-less it. I mean, it doesn't seem like much now, but… I don't know. That seems about average, right?"

"Maybe if it was Dubbl and Leynne arguing."

"That hasn't happened in a while, actually. I'm kinda surprised. I suppose having them work on different shifts helps; they don't see each other enough to start fighting."

"And now that you've said that, the next time anyone fights around here, it's gonna be those two."

Link gave her a strange look. "How do you figure?"

"Well, since I said that, what are the chances now? We know they don't get along, and Dubbl likes to hit anyone she doesn't agree with."

Link shook his head. "I don't think so. That was why I put them on different shifts to begin with. And it's mostly Sello and Leynne working on the cutter. Dubbl might have to fit it with sails later, but—" Link froze mid-sentence. "Oh, crap. They're gonna have to work together."

Irleen giggled at him. "See?"

Link pressed both of his hands to his face and groaned. "Okay," he said after uncovering his mouth. "Okay, maybe they can do it. I mean, they did work together to put together the masts, so they can't hate each other that much. And it only comes to decisions of command anyway."

"Eh, not quite, Link. Remember when we came back from the Ocean Realm? And Leynne had put everyone else in the closet?"

"Okay, now you're just making me worry," Link told her in an annoyed tone. He waved his arms to indicate the end of the discussion. "Let's just see what happens tomorrow. If we're lucky, one will kill the other, and we won't have to worry about it anymore."

"Still being dark, Link," she told him, her tone indicating an amused grin behind her words.

Someone knocked at the door. "Maybe this'll be a ray of light for you," Link commented. Then he called, "Come in."

The door opened, and Dholit poked her head in. "Would My Captain like a good-night massage befoah settling down foh the evening pleasuahs?" she asked with a grin.

"Dholit…" Link half-way snapped, finding he did not have the energy to raise his voice further.

"Dholit, stop messing around," Leynne told her as he shoved her from behind.

Dholit, with a hand still on the doorframe, spun into the cabin and stopped to face Link with her arms held out wide as if she was dancing. She turned her head to the door as Leynne stepped inside. "My, Leynne, you don't mind being assehtive, do you?"

Leynne shook his head and adjusted the thin, paper-wrapped package under his arm. "Ah you experiencing some type of dry spell that makes you act insane?" he asked her, annoyed.

"Why, Leynne," she replied, sitting down on Link's footlocker and crossing her legs. "Is this an invitation to end the spell?"

"Dholit…" Irleen sighed.

"What?" Dholit asked. "It was a straight-fohwahd question."

"Did you two need something?" Link asked, sounding a little more irritable than he intended.

"He's mad," Dholit said, immediately standing up. "Let's give it to him tomohrow."

"Dholit…" Leynne said with a warning tone.

"Three people have said your name, Dholit," Irleen said. "It's time to stop joking around."

"Daaaw…" Dholit replied.

"What is it?" Link asked.

"Something we picked up foh you while we weh on libehty on South Sand Island," Leynne replied as he stepped forward and placed the package on the desk. Link gave the flat package, wrapped in brown paper with a simple string, a curious look before he set to unwrapping it.

"Actually, it was Layna's idea," Dholit spoke up. "She said that this pahticulah gahment makes it easiah foh heh to follow you."

"And, considering how populah youh image is to anyone who doesn't like how things have been lately," Leynne added, "we thought it would be appropriate enough."

Link had finally torn away the paper to discover a folded item of clothing inside. Heart beating and eyes wide, he stood up and pulled the garment out to reveal a green tunic. It looked new and clean, just the way his first tunic had looked. The material felt a little thinner as he rubbed it between his fingers, but he nonetheless smiled at Dholit and Leynne. "This is amazing, guys," he told them, the words just a grade lower than his normal volume. "Thanks."

"I've ratheh missed you running about in a green tunic myself," Dholit said, tilting her head as she admired Link pressing the tunic to his chest to check its fit. "Things around heah just haven't felt the same since you left it on Might Island."

"It wasn't easy," Link admitted. "That tunic was given to me by the princess. I still hope I can eventually recover it, but it's nice to have another one." He tugged on it. Then he realized something. "Wait a minute. That old one was a little large for me, but this one looks just right. How'd you know my size?"

"Oh, My Captain," Dholit said. "As someone who has obsehved you foh all this time, would you find it so hahd to believe that I can imagine youh body pehfectly."

"Dholit…" Link, Leynne, and Irleen groaned simultaneously.

Dholit looked around at them, undisturbed by their annoyance. "Despite the innocent spirit with which I said that," she told them with a grin, "I would like to point out that it takes a mind of similah pehvehsion to spot the innuendos within my statements. In essence, I am not the only dihty pehson in this room."

"Maybe not," Leynne said, "but you'h the only one who uses it on a regulah basis."

She wiggled her eyebrows. "Well, I have to use one of my talents daily." Then she folded her arms behind her back and threw out her chest in Leynne's direction. "Even though I'd prefah to multitask."

Link and Leynne blinked at her in confusion. But it was Irleen who said, "Okay, that one went over even my head."

…

~~Day 85 (Command, Day 48)

~~I've often heard other airmen say that the world likes to throw us a day where everything goes bad only to make us appreciate the good it delivers in the end. I didn't think I'd ever live such an extreme day. I was so certain my day would end with me getting no sleep while my crew started to tear each other apart. But then Leynne and Dholit came into my cabin and gave me a present: a new tunic. According to them, the crew just doesn't feel right without me wearing one. And I have to admit that I've missed it. I don't know if I'll ever get my first tunic back, but, somehow, this makes me feel wonderful. I definitely won't let this one get away from me.

~~If we're to trust what people said about the journey from South Sand Island to Bold Island, we should be there in at least three more days. We've had to run on the engine for most of the day; the winds still won't cooperate, but they at least gave us a good push away from South Sand Island.

~~Work is proceeding on the cutter, so we should have a usable launch soon. I think Leynne said that Sello was still working on the engine, although I'm surprised that he's doing it so quietly now. I hope he stays quiet; I need the sleep.

…

Whump! BAM BAM! CRSH! BAM! Whump! BAM! Crack!

WHAM! "WHAT IN THE HELL!?" Link screamed into the boat deck, angry that, for the second morning in a row, noise against the deckhead of his cabin had awoken him. This time, he figured that it could not have been just Sello, as Sello had not even made that much sound on his own. And he was right.

Because it was Sello, Leynne, and Dubbl. And the three of them were lying on the deck amid spare parts, tools, and torn pieces of fabric from the spare sail that used to cover the cutter.

The lack of covering on the cutter had been justified; they had flipped the cutter over in order to gain access to the boat's weather deck. As for the fact that the sail had been torn to pieces, well… that actually appeared to have been Sello's doing, seeing as how his lower half was wrapped in part of the sail with his hands bound to his sides as well. Leynne and Dubbl did not look as if they had any sort of involvement with that situation since Leynne was straddling Dubbl with her wrists restrained in his hands. Dubbl was holding a small mallet which seemed to have a spot of blood on one of its blunt surfaces. All three of them had frozen in place when Link had startled them. And, now that Link was looking at all three of their faces, he saw that Leynne's right eye appeared to be swelling again while a line of blood was tricking across Sello's forehead.

Link's anger subsided for the moment, leaving him stymied by the sight before him. What was he to make of this? His first thoughts were that Dubbl and Leynne had gotten into another argument which had escalated once again. But then… Sello was the only one who was overtly bleeding. And why was he wrapped in the sail?

Finally, unable to fully comprehend the situation, he asked in a genuinely perplexed tone, "What is… Just what were you guys doing?"

"Link," Leynne spoke up first. "I should wahn you that appearances may be a little deceiving."

Link's anger returned with vengeance, and he responded in a heated tone, "I don't care. Stand up, all three of you."

"Problems, My Captain?" Link turned around just as Dholit and Biluf stepped off the stairs to the quarterdeck and approached him.

"Where's Layna?" Link asked.

Dholit pointed to Link's right shoulder. "She's rig—"

"Gah!" Link shouted when he discovered Layna standing over his right shoulder. He turned back to Dholit and hissed, "Would you tell her to stop doing that!?"

Dholit grinned and told Layna, "'Fizhuban 'anw yathiyb 'axiltin,' to My Captain coynagthya'ak." Layna's response was a flustered look.

Link did not see the exchange. Instead, he had turned back to Leynne, Dubbl, and Sello to find them standing in a row. Well, two of them were standing; Sello was swaying in place, probably due to a combination of intoxication and being unable to free himself from the sail. "Now," he told them, "who wants to be the first to explain?"

Sello ripped a hand free and saluted, nearly clobbering Dubbl with his elbow in the process. "Lunchbox," he said in a serious tone, his voice absent of its usual slur. "The fruit of my tushie doth hath flown into the river of blueberry waffle paste to dress finely the composite steam of early veganism. However, I am a lizard, so, before the sweet doors of yellow whoopee give cries of immediate lactation, three spare wheels must die in the most stoutly cereal that ever forded a sea lemon. The cheese shan't endeavor to nettle my clockwise hammer, for you slake to become one of a brotherhood of goblin egg spankers. Just so I can pestle my longitude, very small shimmers do not grabble against the floorboards that I cannot yolk. Be they a Stalfos consigned to whacking a loogie with a bra, I spackle twenty folds of bananas to drill beyond the green of spunk. Rah rah rah."

All four present that were capable of speaking the Hylian language were understandably surprised. After a long silence, Dholit asked, "Did… we just witness Sello have a sobeh moment?"

Sello dropped his hand and put on a stupid grin. "I win," he told them.

"Ladies Above, I hope not," Leynne replied. "He makes moh sense when he's drunk."

Link shook his head. "What about you two?" he snapped, pointing at Leynne and Dubbl.

"Misunde'standing," Dubbl said, raising her hands in innocence. Link eyed the mallet still in her hands until she realized that she still held it. She threw it over her shoulder, leaving it to bash against the cutter's deck somewhere. "Big, big misunde'standing."

"Wasn't placing you two on different shifts enough?" Link asked.

Dubbl shared a confused look with Leynne. Then Leynne said, "Wait. You… You thought we weh fighting again?"

"You weren't?"

Both of them sighed in relief. "No, no, that wasn't it," Leynne said. "I mean, maybe it was the end result, but the story behind it is fah less antagonistic."

Link crossed his arms. "I'm listening," he said, not aware that Dholit, followed by a curious Layna and Biluf, had mimicked the pose behind his back.

"Well, this was afteh we flipped the boat oveh," Leynne explained. "Dubbl and I weh discussing the idea of a collapsible mast so that the boat could be stohed again without concehn foh damage to the mast from the Island Symphony's regulah transit through the Sky Lines. What we had not realized was that Sello was trapped between the sail and the hull while we weh talking. When we finally noticed, we cut him out.

"Well, Sello reached out and…" Leynne trailed off and glanced aside at Dubbl. In response, Dubbl crossed her arms as if to protect her chest and spun on her heel to face away from Link. "Well… ah, he-he grabbed Dubbl. She picked up the nearest thing and struck Sello across the head—I assuh you, she was only defending hehself. Both stahted to get unruly, so I tried to stop Dubbl since Sello had gotten himself tangled in the sail." He shrugged. "Sohry foh the noise. I imagine you'h angry because we woke you up."

"I'm a tuna fork," Sello added, nodding his head.

Link pointed to his own right eye. "And the black eye?" he asked.

"Do I have one?" Leynne asked, feeling around his right eye. "Oh. It feels like I do. Don't wohry; it's completely unrelated. I was looking through some of the items Sello had laid out, and something—I think it was a metal ball of sohts—it hit me in the face."

"My liver," Sello said.

"Lohakwan," Dubbl hissed at him in annoyance.

"Is that what happened, Dubbl?" Link asked.

Dubbl turned around. "I not hit Leynne," she asserted. "I hit dlunk stubid man."

Link sighed and shook his head. "Look…" he said. "Guys, just remember that my cabin's right under you, okay? I'm letting it slide for now. But the next time a ruckus like this starts, the people involved, innocent or not, are going straight to Dholit."

Dubbl's eyes widened. "Y-yes, Kyabtin," she said.

Leynne caught the evil glee in Dholit's smile and told Link, maintaining an even tone, "Undehstood."

…

~~Day 86 (Command, Day 49)

~~My crew seems to be developing new ways of bothering each other as we continue on. It's a wonder no one's died on this ship yet.

~~We're still running on the engine toward Bold Island. This is probably one of the few times we'll ever need to rely on Sello's engine alone, so it'll be interesting to see how it actually moves the ship.

~~Speaking of Sello's engine, it appears he managed to build and fit an engine into the cutter (which, in keeping with the ship's name, we've renamed the Conductor because no one can remember its first name) in just two days. It looks impressive, but neither Leynne nor I can figure out how it's supposed to work. I decided to wait until we reach Bold Island before trying it; I'd rather not have an incident on our hands without there being a large island for us to crash onto if we need it. Leynne has managed to put most of the mounting frame for the technoworks-based ballast system in place. Once he finishes it in the morning, Irleen says that she might be able to help us waken the technoworks and figure out how to control them. Leynne said his plan involves using sliding shutters to expose the technoworks blocks so that they can take in what they need from Goron poop.

~~That last sentence is going to stick with me for a while.

…

"Can you heah it?" Leynne asked as he slowly pulled backwards on the lever.

The boat's response was a low, subtle grind from somewhere under the Conductor's weather deck, a sound probably only audible for as long as the boat was under the deck. Link nodded. "Yeah," he replied. "That's the shutters?"

"Yeah," Leynne replied. "What do you think?"

Link nodded. "You think that's useful for telling whether the shutters are working right or not?"

"It'll have to be. I used metal wiring to get all three shuttehs to respond as one. I would've prefehred to use something moh rigid, but Sello's 'engine' got in the way."

"The engine?" Link asked. "Where is it?"

Leynne stepped backwards to the boat's transom and pointed out on either side. "From what I've found, the engine takes up almost three-quahtehs of the reah half. He also has some kind of structuring pieces in the front." He indicated the stairs down into the deckhouse. "I couldn't even get below the deck. I had to cut a hole in the bow just so I could install the fohwahd shutteh."

"So you did decide to use only three."

"I didn't have much choice. I couldn't access eitheh side of the bow thanks to Ding-Dong, so the next best thing I could figuh out was placing one central to the fah end of the bow. I can only hope that, once we place the technowohks inside, the engine is heavy enough to offset the difference in lifting fohce. Othehwise, we've only made a stupidly-elaborate catapult." Then he shrugged. "Although, considering Sello, I'm suhprised we haven't already."

Link nodded. "It'll work," he said. "Somehow… it just feels right."

"Oi, Cap'n," Lawrence asked as his head popped up from behind the transom. "Yah noticed this 'ole down 'ere?"

Link turned around. "Hole? What hole?"

Lawrence tapped something on the transom, creating a thin, metallic sound. "Righ' 'ere."

Link placed his hands on the transom and looked over the side as Leynne said, "Paht of Sello's wohk, ostensibly. Theh's similah structural modifications to the fohwahd end as well, though I can't imagine why. If anything, the hull is compromised and no longeh appropriately smooth."

"Well, I don' think this boa'll be seein' any lakes, Chief," Lawrence said.

"You don't know much about physics and laws of motion, do you, Misteh Lawrence?" Leynne asked as Link gestured to Dubbl.

"Doub' if I could even spell tha' firs' word," Lawrence replied. He chuckled. "Tha' second one sounds like somethin' yah experience in bed."

"You have got to be kidding," Irleen said as she rose from the deck below. "Are you taking entendre classes from Dholit?"

"Nope," Lawrence said with a grunt as he hauled one of the technoworks cubes onto the transom. "No, tha' was all me."

"Oh, great…"

"Are you about ready for a performance?" Link asked her with a grin.

"Link!"

Link blinked at her, his smile fading. "What? What'd I say?"

"Huh? Oh…" She slowly descended before bouncing up to eye-level with Link. "Sorry, forgot who I was talking to. Yeah, I think I can do this. As long as we aren't doing it in the middle of the night."

Link gave an exhausted sigh. "I said I was sorry…"

Leynne took the block from Lawrence and examined it. "This is almost clean," he remarked. "How'd you get the rock off?"

"Helo made a snack o' i'," Lawrence said. "We knew yah'd need 'em clean, so 'e wen' a' 'em."

"He didn't bite into any of the technoworks, did he?" Irleen asked, sounding alarmed.

"I think the technoworks turning red would've surprised him," Link commented.

"Well, they didn'," Lawrence said as he hauled another one onto the transom. "Ate righ' 'round 'em." He rested his arms on the transom for a moment. "Since I'm talkin' t' yah both, I go' a question. Anyone find a crate o' Chief Din'-Don's booze?"

Link exchanged a look with Leynne. "I beg youh pahdon?" Leynne asked Lawrence.

"The chief. Sello. One o' 'is crates is missin'. I noticed i' this mornin'."

"When did it go missing?" Link asked.

"I don' know," Lawrence said with a shrug. "I stepped ou' t' visi' the 'ead, an' when I go' back, one was missin'."

Leynne placed the second block on top of the first. "Has Sello said anything?" he asked. Lawrence shook his head. "Well, I know we bought him a few different varieties. What went missing?"

"Dunno," Lawrence said before he turned around to accept another cube from Dubbl. He nearly dropped it over the transom, forcing Link to catch it before it fell on his foot. "Sorry, Cap'n. All I know is i' wasn' even open."

"Foh all we know," Leynne said as Link passed him the third cube, "that idiot found somewheh to hide it all. My best guess would be the generatoh room. It isn't exactly a high-traffic area."

Link snapped his fingers. "Maybe that's why Sello cut open the front of the hull," he said. "Maybe part of his engine uses a wind generator."

Tunk. "Ow! Damn…" Leynne growled as he stepped away from the boat's wheel.

"Yah okay there, Chief?" Lawrence asked.

Leynne huffed and rubbed his knee. "I hit this damn handle. I've been striking my knee against it all mohning. The damn thing's locked in place." He turned and glanced down at a T-shaped handle protruding from a round, metal plate crudely nailed into the side of the pilot's station. The handle was made of polished wood (which looked like it came from the top of someone's walking cane) with a metal button protruding from one end. "I'd break it off foh tuhning my knee into powdeh if I knew what it did."

"Hey, Dubbl," Link called over the side. "Hold onto that fourth one; we might not be needing it."

"Yes, Kyabtin," Dubbl replied.

"Misteh Lawrence, theh ah a numbeh of tools and spah pahts down on this side," Leynne said, pointing to the port corner of the boat. "They'h in a bag. Would you retrieve them foh me?"

"Sure, Chief," Lawrence said, already descending.

"What's that for?" Link asked.

"I didn't anticipate the rock missing," Leynne responded as he stepped around the pilot's station. "I need to make some adjustments so the technowohks can fit; I didn't know Misteh Helo was going to eat the rock. Shall I wait foh you to activate them befoh installation?"

"Only if you want to fly up after it," Irleen replied.

"Chahming," Leynne said with a sneer. He had to double back to retrieve a large, leather bag from Lawrence, which forced him to tuck the technoworks block under one arm. "I'll be a moment." He stepped around the deckhouse and strode to the bow.

Link glanced around at the deck. "Are you sure the music from the blues harp will make it to all three blocks at the same time?" he asked Irleen.

"I couldn't see why not," Irleen replied. "If you're so worried about it, you could probably try playing under the deck."

Link shrugged. "We'll see."

Link, Lawrence, and Irleen chatted for a while as Leynne mounted the technoworks under the Conductor's deck. Then, when it came time to turn them on, Irleen read the blues harp as she had done before. Her directions were interesting: while Link was playing, Leynne had to stand in the pilot's station and hold the shutters' control lever to the close position until he was signaled. Then Leynne had to shift the lever to its full-open position, wait for another signal, and then push the lever back to closed. Link decided to stand at the top of the blocked-off deckhouse, hoping that the position would ensure that all three blocks could hear him. After he played the note to wake the technoworks up, he waited until Lawrence and Dubbl checked that all of the blocks had responded. Amazingly enough, all three were responding, so Link began.

The piece Link played sounded like a soft tune until Irleen told him to pause before beginning the second part. After Leynne had opened the shutters, she told him to play the next part, which lit up on the instrument's emeralds. Link was a little surprised by the faster pace of the second part, especially when it came to the end where he had to jump between two notes rapidly. He had to play it twice before the blues harp gave him the third part, at which Irleen told Leynne to return the shutters to their closed positions. The final piece also showed up on the emeralds and was not as difficult to play.

At the end, the emeralds stopped glowing. "Okay," Irleen said. "Now we get to see if it works."

"Leynne?" Link said as he turned and stepped back behind the pilot's station.

"Okay," Leynne called out. "Loosen the lines; we'll take this slowly."

The boat shifted slightly when the ropes holding it to the deck slacked a bit. Leynne then slowly pulled back on the control lever. At first, it seemed like nothing was going to happen. Link started glancing around, wondering if the boat would tip over and fall before it got off the deck. Then the boat shifted again, and Link flung his arms out to help keep his balance. He watched the back of the cabin as the ship steadily rose until Link was looking at the poop deck from one side. As well as Cale's shoes.

Link looked up to find Cale's astonished face watching him. Link grinned and said, "It flies."

…

~~Day 87 (Command, Day 50)

~~The Conductor flies. And now that we know that it can fly on the technoworks, Dubbl and Leynne are going to fit it with a short sail so that it can be turned. We haven't tried using Sello's engine yet, and, really, I'm a little afraid to. We still don't know what kind of engine he made for it, but I have this strange feeling that it's something we've never dealt with before. Which seems appropriate enough; that was the same problem we had with Sello.

~~We're still moving on the engine, but, if the estimated distance between South Sand Island and Bold Island is correct, we could be there by tomorrow evening at the earliest. We should still have fuel to keep the ship aloft even if we can't refuel at Bold Island, and, if it comes to it, we should be able to return to South Sand Island to get some more if we can't get the Sky Lines back.

~~I'd like to think that I'm prepared for whatever we find on Bold Island. Irleen knows what Cunimincus sent there, and we know how to control the technoworks. Nothing can surprise me.

…

Ban ban ban!

"Ūuuuuuh," Irleen groaned. Then, when she woke up enough, she snapped loud enough to startle Link, "Tān nūc háta!?"

"Yah!" Link shouted, scrambling to throw off his sheets. "What!? What's going on!?"

"Kīt hì cìnupa!" Irleen shouted.

"Captain, it's Dholit," a female voice said from beyond the cabin door.

Link could hear the urgency in her voice and stood up from the bed. "What is it? Is something wrong?" he called. "Is it trouble?"

"Well, not quite," she replied. "But… you should come out heah and see this."

Link was already pulling his trousers on, which allowed Irleen to ask clearly, "What did she say?"

"She needs me to look at something," he replied. He paused to pull his shirt on. "It sounded important."

"It was Dholit, wasn't it?" Irleen asked. "Because I'm gonna be even madder if she's in heat."

"I don't think it's anything like that," Link said as he pulled on his boots. "I'll be right back."

Link stepped out into an early morning with the sun hidden somewhere beyond the port side of the ship, casting the sky a golden color from his left. Dholit, wordless, led him across the deck with a brisk pace. Link could not immediately see anything which would cause a problem. But as he started thinking a little clearer, he realized that he was following Dholit. "Dholit, isn't it early for you to be on-duty?" he asked.

"I was planning to sneak into youh bed when Lwamm called attention to me," she replied over her shoulder.

"You were what?" Link asked, waking into surprise as they stepped up onto the forecastle.

"A'oy, Cap'n," Gold greeted him, although it was without the jovial tone he preferred to use.

"What's going on?" Link asked him.

"Well, we're 'ere," Gold said, indicating the bow with a hand. "And the Gelto are spooked."

"Kyabtin," Dubbl said as she approached him from the bow. She handed Link a duoscope. "You look. Please."

Link's glance went from Dubbl to Gold to Dholit. Then he accepted the duoscope and stepped around Dubbl. When he descended onto the beakhead, he saw Lwamm already lying on the net connected to the bowsprit. He got to his knees and crawled out onto the opposite side.

The movement caused Lwamm to look up and over the bowsprit at him. "Nway naddhoysonak 'inoy, Kyabtin," she told him, her voice sounding grave.

After glancing at her, Link looked through the net. The island was closer than he had expected, close enough that he could see vessels in the air around the port. At first, he thought the crew's uneasiness was caused by the blockade, which Link had been expecting and had even warned most of the deck crew about. Still, he felt it a good idea to look around anyway and put the duoscope over his eyes. As expected, none of the vessels around the island or pulled in the port sported black flags. It kept with what Cale and Lilly had told him about the port turning Skyrider ships away, although he did not necessarily doubt that the Skyriders would not try to disguise themselves to get by. Just to keep himself busy, he looked across the island for signs of a group wearing black tunics, a laughable thought since even the duoscope could not see that far.

Then he felt his heart slam into his chest, and his spine crawled. One thing Link had never seen until waking in Whittleton was a dead tree. But even from here, he recognized the twisted, graying forms of leafless trees in between some of the buildings. His eyes fell over the eastern edge of the island, where he had seen forests growing. Grey was all his eyes met. The whole island, save for a few spots of color in the town itself, had dyed itself drab and uninviting. He saw more streets than people wandering about, almost as if the island had been abandoned, and he was not sure it was the early hours of the morning which had caused the island to look like that. His gut told him that more had happened here.

He was prepared to repair the technoworks if he needed. But he was not prepared to see a dying island.