Episode 8: Ship Shape

Malcolm Malibu Brand and Cameron Scott had been advised to head in another direction from Jack’s locale, the hopes to cover more territory to see what their surroundings had to offer. As far as the eye could see it was desert with high cliffs and deep ravines that were loaded with ships, planes, cars, semi-trailers, you name it if it could be driven it was out there in junkyard hell. Salvage yard hopefully! If there had been other survivors in that sea of neglect, they were obviously long gone. The question remained, was there truly anything to salvage here outside of metal? Car seats maybe for comfort around camp. Trinkets at best was presumed.

Ignoring tech at the moment they had their eye on and old wooden ship well over half covered by a dune of sand. Only the hood ornament as Cameron called it was sticking up enough to reveal its location. The neck had a carved Dragon exterior. Armed with guns they carried a large nap sack and their favorite shovels. Malcolm the soldier seemed more prepared than Cam. He liked to be ready for anything. Smart man!

The trek was over two miles away and the lifelessness of the area felt intimidating in itself. Almost as if something could spring out at any second. Their usual banter was minor, withheld out of security that they might hear something and have time to react. If and only if there was life of any kind, they didn’t want to alarm it by their goofing off. Reaching the site, they stopped on the outer rim of the dune and admired the ship’s ornate bow that was still revealed. The stern of the ship had less sand, so they chose to start there.

With a whisper Cameron opts to say, “What era do you think we’re looking at here?”

“Dunno. Doesn’t look Viking from what little I know, but it seems too large from what little I recall watching Ragnar Lothbrok and Bjorn Ironside. Sole exposure to that history lesson that’s for sure.”

Nodding to each other at any further lack of shared knowledge they discovered toppled rigging for sails. The clothe of any sails long decayed had blown away, perhaps salvaged by another. With sand so thick there was no footprints to be had, their own disappearing quickly.

Applying his boot to discard sand from the timber Malcolm discovered carvings in it. He pointed down at the etchings for Cameron to garner a look. The pilot then knelt down for a closer look brushing what sand and debris away what he could. It resembled Chinese but he wasn’t certain.

“Mandarin?” He guessed. “Like you I’d just go with Asian. I’m no translator.”

Shrugging Malcolm improvised utilizing a fountain pen and a tiny notepad he had in his back pocket to draw the markings as best as he could. He would let James look it over and make a confirmation of what it might say. Those aliens did have translator tech to do the hard work for them. Of course, as smart as that kid was, he probably knew every human language ever written. Pretty close!

Moving on they took to shoveling out a section that would allow them entry into the ship’s galley. It took them over an hour to sift away just enough to feel safe about going in. Once satisfied they would be safely secure Cameron took the first risk and lowered himself slowly using a thick wooden beam to hug his way into the depths of the galley. Thankfully it wasn’t rotted. Obviously, no termites! Malcolm remained topside just in case some form of rescue was needed. He did have the flare gun.

Dark and dry within, Cam flickered a headset flashlight around and found dozens of skeletons. The denizens were chained together and likely died together. He lifted the tiny crucifix around his neck and kissed it as a prayer to the deceased. Not to mention his own salvation.

One body attracted his attention due to the armor left behind on the skeletal remains. Cameron chose to remove the chest plate and chainmail tossing it up to Malcolm to inspect. “Sorry Buddy! Just looking for identity.” He then continued his search. A sword was found that had been sheathed for ages. Attempting to remove the blade it slid forth with ease and found it surprisingly well-preserved. The hilt was ornate with a Dragon inlay wrapping the handle. “I’ll honor this for you Pal. It doesn’t deserve to lay out here and rot.” He would keep this for himself he puckered.

A bag of coins was also confiscated from another armored fellow, they too were well preserved. Hardly any tarnish! The bag itself made of leather was severely tattered though, so Cam just stuffed it carefully into his pants pocket for safe keeping. “Jingle all the way!” Locating a large well designed storage chest partially submerged in sand he took time to dig it free. Once in his possession he rubbed his hands together in thought, “Bigger treasure here I come. Not that I have anywhere to spend it.”

A simple boot kick disabled the rusted lock open. Slowly lifting the lid as if expecting something to leap out at him he chuckled over his nerves. “Oh, look! A best seller!”, he discovered a sizeable hard bound book with leather wrapping it as if protecting the volume. Even the leather had chiseled markings in whatever language owned it. Confined within the chest as it was preserved from decay, unwrapped he noted that gold hinges kept the pages intact. The paper seemed different than the average, definitely kept dry and almost as if new. “Damn good shape.” Though the bound book was locked closed, he couldn’t immediately examine its content. He would wait and let the kid examine it, stuffing it into his small backpack for safe keeping.

Outside of those objects all that was really left was a rack of spears that were crumbling. He did procure one of the blades tossing everything back up to Malcolm to look over. Before climbing back up the plank so to speak, something glinting in the filtered sunlight caught his eye halting his ascent. “More treasure? Lucky me! This might make up the next ten years of lost paychecks the Army owes me.” Busting open a decaying wall he discovered a gold amulet with a large Ruby embedded within it. “Well, hello beautiful. Now who stowed you away in the slave area?” He whispered. “My precious!” He made a Gollum impersonation for laughs. “I hope that doesn’t come back to haunt me.” As if reacting to his words the dusty Ruby seemed to sparkle more, however he really didn’t notice that fact. Dangling it in front of his face from its tarnished chain he frowns.

“Now why aren’t you in some treasure chest? You look too damn expensive to be hidden inside a wall of chained bodies.” Stepping around skeletons Cam gave up with a puzzled look and bagged it up with the book. “Finders’ keepers! Boozers’ weepers!” He took a nip of vodka from his flask. Convinced there was nothing more in the galley he climbed back up, Malcolm’s hand meeting his for the final extraction.

“Not much of a haul. Slave ship I’m thinking. A whole lot of skeletons chained together. I figured there would be more to salvage but nothing too useful besides this sword.” After admiring the blade half unsheathed Mal puckered and shot a glance down at their bagged collection. “Book in the bag might be special. I don’t think it’s any ships log, it looks too ornate We’ll see if Brain Boy can decipher it.”

“We should have grabbed one of those Lingo collars that lets us speak any language we run across. Note to self for our next tour of duty.”

“Yep! Next time we’ll be smarter. We were in a rush and excited to get exploring.” Cam shrugged. “Here!” Cameron crouched to unzip the bag and opens it. He then lifts the exotic looking necklace out for Malcolm to view, handing it up.

“Daaaamn! That’s downright sexy.” Malcolm looks it over noticing tiny engravings all around the gems golden setting. “This ship has to be ancient. Dark Ages, maybe? Before recorded history.”

Cam agreed, “Yep. Only thing is, it might have landed here a year ago. No way of knowing what and when this time travel crap steals and deposits.”

“Do we even know for sure it’s time travel? Might just be another dimension we fell into.” Mal pointed out.

“Might be both! Look around. I see tugboats from the 1930’s. That bomber over there is easily WW2. Victorian era Carriage near that other dune. No sign of horse bones though so maybe it survived at the time and the carriage survivors rode off on it.”

“Or ate it!”

“Last resort! Human survival! Let’s hope we never have to draw straws to see who eats who first.”

“This another tastes like chicken joke?”

“Not going near your cock Rooster Man!” Cam winked and placed the necklace bag inside the bag. “If it comes to straws, I’ll sacrifice myself for the greater good. Let’s just hope we can live in that alien ship and establish food sources. Water for that matter.”

“That doesn’t have questionable microbes in it that could eat us first.”

“Don’t remind me. Sophia wants me bad as it is. I really don’t want that little hottie to actually eat me alive.” He looked at the blue sky above and mumbled, “Sorry General! I’ll look out for your kid even if she is a pain in our ass.”

Loading up the spearhead on the ground the two explorers decided to examine the carriage as it was the closest. Inside the well-preserved carriage was a woman’s petticoat dress and a gentleman’s top hat next to the garment, no other men’s clothing present. No carriage driver’s clothing up above either. The dress was ripped to shreds by what looked like claw marks. Cam entering the carriage sat across from the dress and hat. “No bones! No bone dust!” A locket amid the clothing discovered Cam opened the delicate chained cameo. “Pretty lady! No engraving of a name to go with her. Of course, this photo looks very early photography, this could be a sister, mom, lover for all I know.” Sighing he was tempted to pocket it but decided instead to honor her and leave it within her tattered dress. “I already have one precious. Keep yours Milady.”

“Sentimental?” Mal found a horse whip from the carriage driver’s perch and was swishing it about.

“Always was a ladies’ man.” Stretching to retrieve the top hat Cameron discovered a sewn in gold name tag written on the interior brim. “Sir Carrington Primross. Sounds British! I wonder who she was?” Cam fidgeted. “It’d be nice to at least have a name to say a prayer for.”

“Milady works!” Malcolm lost interest with the whip and tossed it.

“Forgive me Milady, for invading your privates.” Cam carefully raised the dress up to examine it better, “I’m more worried about those claw marks. Looks like someone took a dozen knives to her. Yet there’s no blood stains anywhere.” The hackles on the back of their necks grew uneasy.

“Not sure I want to know.” Malcolm shivered. “If it was some predator there would be blood spatter all over the carriage.”

“Claw marks on the seats.” Cam indicated with a pointed index finger. “Up on the carriage ceiling too.”

“There’s a baggage carrier in back. Let’s see if it’s hiding anything.” Malcolm stepped away. Prying it open the lid rose up to reveal luggage. A Victorian trunk embossed with brass was pulled free and dropped to the sand below. More luggage followed. Once everything was in the open, they snapped the seals to examine the contents.

“Women’s clothing. These look pretty well preserved. You think Ruby or Elle might like these?” Mal huffed trying to picture it.

With a chuckle Cameron grinned, “Sure. They can wear them to the next Cotillion we throw. Can’t hurt to take them back for shits and wiggles.”

Crouching Malcolm found a small dowry with a hard bound diary within it. Cracking it open with clenched teeth Mal sighed, “My aunties always told me to never read a woman’s diary. Here! You do the honors.” He passed it to Cameron, now joining him outside.

“So that’s Milady’s name. Sabbath Black was her moniker. Crazy name! I wonder if she knew Ozzy and the boys?” Cam grinned at her namesake being similar to the band, “Black Sabbath”.

“Another photo locket.” Malcolm lifted it from a jewelry pouch and delicately popped it open. “She was pretty fine looking. The other lady must be her sister. Or her lover.” Malcolm revealed the tiny black and white photos to Cam.

“This pic is the same as the solo photo under her dress. You’re right though! Double date?” He chuckled. “Seeing as there’s two lockets, I’ll hang on to your memory Ms. Black. Something to wake up to each day that isn’t Malcolm’s ugly mug.”

“Bite me, Fly Boy!” After a brief admiration they returned to pilfering amongst clothing and into the man’s bags.

“Woohoo! Well, I’ll be! Carrington was a stage magician. Look at all these tricks. We’ve got playing cards. Poker night, Buddy.” Cam jested. “Tarot cards even!”

“Rather not know our future until it gets there.” Mal smirked then shivered, looking over at the distraction picked up on by his left peripheral. Something moved, yet he couldn’t quite detect what it was. Possibly nerves he thought. There were no footprints anywhere nor anything alive in sight. Finally, he shook it off. Ghost of the owners here disagreeing with their sifting through belongings.

“Let’s head back to the ship. It’s getting eerie out here.”

“Yeah! We can’t carry much more this trip. Few shirts to wear in Magic Mike’s wardrobe if you can look past the ruffle. We might need fresh clothing one of these days. At least being sealed up the clothes look presentable.” Going back to the interior of the carriage Cameron grabbed Carrington’s top hat and placed it on his head to replace his tucked away ballcap. He wanted to look proper. “Pip! Pip! Cheerio, old sot!”

“Old Sot for an Old Scott?”

“Close enough neighbors, Scotland and England. Keeping their memory alive is all. In a place like this we might as well collect a few trophies. Surround ourselves with loved ones we can at least honor the best way we can. The ladies and the Germ!” Patting the locket in his shirt pocket he smiled, “I have your backs Ladies.” Promise!

Mal still had the feeling something wasn’t right. Glock in reach!

Back at the Ganthorian starship Colonel Ruby Goddard hovered over James Ian as he tested the damp soil samples that Jack had brought home in his makeshift laboratory. Chemical analysis was prepping the results. “Anything?”

“Whoa! Maybe! This H2O isn’t from the ship leaking contents like Sophia’s bathtub. It looks like we might have a natural spring under our ship. No foreign chemicals that make it bad either. As huge as our new home is I think it might have corked the waterhole when it landed. Oasis, maybe? This is a desert.” James flared his eyes at the possibility. “That would be awesome if we found a date tree.”

Ruby less convinced narrowed her own eyes, “Or the hull was damaged when it crashed and leaked out any reservoir it might have contained. We’ve only explored what, two percent of this burg?”

“True! I’ve looked over the ship’s schematics after--” He hesitates to mention the cloning banks due to his promise to Jack. Instead, he plays it off.

“After what?” Ruby raised an eyebrow.

“After I did surgery on Jack. Sorry, I was just thinking of the possibilities we might have. I say we look at our interior underbelly and see what damage is there. Who knows we might have an indoor swimming pool.”

Ruby jumped at the chance gripping his chin with a warm smile, “Grab your swimming trunks and let’s go James. I need a bath something fierce. I’m running out of perfume.”

Obtaining his computer pad the boy followed her at breakneck speed. At the door they were joined by Elle Franklin whom they filled in before James took the lead following the Telepad map of Noah’s Ark. This adventure required unhinging a broken elevator and carefully crawling down three levels to the bottom. Dark and dirty the flashlights lit up.