C.B. Ash's Blog: Scribbled Notes, page 10

Episode 31

“What?” Duchess Von Ferrin glanced around in alarm. Only herself and Captain Hunter were visible in the room.

The captain’s smile was brittle and cold. From inside his coat, he withdrew an eight-by-four-inch brass-trimmed wooden box. It was an opti-telegraphic. Its small quartz stone glowed a cheerful pale white to show the device was broadcasting.

Von Ferrin was on her feet in an instant, her knuckles were white with anger. She glared at the captain. “You deceitful swine! You had a working...

Episode 30

On the other side of the Britannia, the Duchess Julia Maria Von Ferrin opened her stateroom door to find Captain Anthony Hunter standing there.

“Why, Captain, what a nice surprise.” The duchess’ voice was smooth. Her practiced smile was the correct amount of warm deserved for an unexpected visitor. It also did not reach her eyes. A look of calculating concern crossed her expression. But it passed quickly out of sight. “I wasn’t expecting you to visit. I’m afraid Archibald isn’t here for you t...

Episode 29

Bullets rang off the metal deck plates while Wycliffe and Senhorita Salgado raced for shelter. Gouts of steam and smoke, thick in the air, chased their heels as they ran. Between the blur of barrels, grime-covered metal tanks and stained metal flooring, the women used wooden shelves heavy with boxes to give them sparse cover from their assassin. Over the echo of gunfire, they heard some of the Britannia’s maintenance crew call for help as they ran to safety.

Wycliffe skidded to a stop behind...

Episode 28

Moira Wycliffe bolted through the doorway. She skirted around two of Britannia’s crew and came to a quick stop. Adonia Salgado was two steps behind her.

The Britannia was large, so large it was easy to become lost. The number of passengers, and the crew to support them compounded the problem. This made their search for one particular porter all the more complicated. The ladies stood in an intersection of two busy corridors used for the ship’s crew.

“There!” Wycliffe pointed at a particular ma...

Episode 27

“I thought you said the workshop was empty?” Dr. Hunter snapped while he raced alongside Lieutenant Mason to the door.

“It is! Or at least it was!” the first officer’s retort was sharp. “I checked the bloody room myself! The door does open into the room, but there isn’t anything he could use to brace the door! He should be alone in there!”

“No! Get back! Get them away!” Seaman Boyle screamed from within the room.

They skidded to a stop just as Seaman Miles Taylor, the younger of the two guard...

Episode 26

It was late morning, and the Britannia hummed with activity. Repairs to the engine progressed with the slow certainty born of a determined work crew. Parts and workers traversed the narrow boarding bridge between the Brass Griffin and the passenger liner. It was a thin lifeline that allowed the transfer of parts and skill to heal the Britannia’s ugly wounds.

Along the rails of both upper and lower promenade, passengers loitered to watch and gossip on the activity. Those of the lower class en...

Episode 25

A single deck up from amidships, Captain Hunter stood with his hands on his hips and scowled at the ready room. Normally, it was a common room that connected the officers’ cabins with a steel reinforced door to the main deck. Since space was in short supply aboard the Griffin, officers often stored all manner of items there.

The intent was to locate the odd map, journal, or log book at a moment’s notice when needed; it was an unwritten rule that the room be kept in proper order. But, the sto...

Episode 24

The doctor and the first mate rushed through the office door. Across the room, the missing fifth sailor they had been searching for stood behind the purser’s desk. The small panel in the wall that normally concealed the vault lock stood open; a brass Autonoma Arachnae Extractor spider was perched on top of the combination dial. The small device chittered and whirred while it worried manically at the combination lock, attempting to discern the correct combination.

“You! Step away from there a...

Episode 23

The mid-morning crew shift aboard the Britannia had turned the hallways into a hum of activity. While Moira Wycliffe and Adonia Salgado were busy with their interview, Lieutenant Greg Mason navigated between sailors either heading to, or coming from, their duty shift. The first officer ignored the first three doors he came across, and stopped in front of the fourth. A plain undecorated door, entirely unremarkable save for the brass plate affixed to the wall next to it. The plate read, “Purser...