Chapter 4

'Come in' bellowed the Captain. 'Don't let all the good air out.' Crator was just fixing his pipe for another smoke when we came in. I wished fiercely there was something one could do to stop him smoking but alas, nothing I've ever tried seemed to work. 'Sit down, sit down.' He said pointing at the two chairs at the big oak-table he used for his maps and such. But Bell'e then, I almost asked, where should she sit? But as I happened to look at her she only smiled and shook her head meaning that I didn't have to care. Oh yes I thought, it's true, great minds and all. So Puss and I sat us down to listen quietly to our Captain.

He started by trying to light his pipe, somehow his matches suddenly seemed to have a life of their own. They broke as he lighted them or else they fell to the floor and if not that there was all kinds of strange happenings with them, one ended up in his beard for example. In the end he gave up on lightening his pipe as being a bad job, that must have been a first for him I guess, but a blessing for us though. 'Well boys' he started. Boys? I thought, don't tell me he is sexist, I looked to Bell'e to apologize for his behavior but she just shrugged her shoulders and smiled at me. being such a good sport I thought admiringly to myself, and then she hushed me by putting her finger against her lips so that the Captain could continue his speech undisturbed.

'Now, ' he started. 'This here what I am going to tell is of the outmost secrecy, I will trust you two with it only because you already gotten yourselves involved without my prompting you boys.' Here he threw us an red rimed eye filled with dark foreboding. 'Remember, dead men tell no tales.' He nodded to himself, filled with grave acceptance as he studied us. 'But Sir' said I. 'how about those forensic guys? They say that dead men do talk? Sir?' The Captain suddenly seemed to grow in stature as he looked down at me. 'Are you questioning my wiles Sir? Are my thoughts strangers to you?' He asked looking peeved. Maybee, I thought, Maybe I had gone just a tiny bit to far this time. 'No Sir, never Sir.' I hastily said, as I tried to do one of those strange salutes that him and his mates so loved. I must have succeeded, as Crator seemed to calm down somewhat. 'Yes, where was I?' He started another of his doomed tries to light up the pipe.

We watched fascinated as his match this time seemed to bend in an impossible angle against the lightening plate, thereafter rebounding landing on his ponytail's black rosette setting it to fire. It took him some time to understand what we were gapping about but when he did he sure handled it quickly. He grabbed his glass of rum and resolutely tried to squelch the fire with that forgetting in his haste that it contained ninety percent liquor. We only succeeded in putting it out after taking the Captains own Chamber pot and throw it all over his head. As one easily can understand our talk broke down somewhere around there and the Captain asked us out as he had, as he said, better thing to do then to be drowned in his own piss by young rascal's and mutineer's. He did say that we would talk again, but as he was growling like a werewolf in heat then it didn't reassure us that much.

When we were back we both went directly to bed. Waking up the next morning I found myself holding an apple, or maybe an orange? Quite big one too I thought to myself as I prepared myself for the awakening. I never been that fond of morning people, myself I have this feeling that no man should be forced up from his bed just because it happens to be a morning. They come back all the time right, so what's so fantastic about that? This orange was feeling quite nice I thought sleepily, let's see if it's juicy. I started to squeeze it a little, as I was doing that I felt something touching me further down.

It was a strange feeling, almost as if someone was stroking me, it made me bore into whatever it was that I was feeling with great gusto at the same time as I started to think about my Mouse. That orange had a quite large stem to it, funny that I hadn't noticed it before? I started to try to pick it away, It was then I heard the labored breathing, almost as if a steam locomotive was coming in. Now I really wanted that orange so I took a real good hold of it and tried to put to my mouth. It was then that her screaming finally woke me up. She looked at me with aversion and horror, 'You pervert!' She screamed. 'Cannibal!!'

She threw herself out of my bed pointing at me with a shaking finger. 'Never again will I allow you to sleep at my side.' I couldn't for my soul understand what had got her going like that so I just nodded and said 'fine, fine.' Then I asked her to leave me in peace to do my morning chores whereupon she sneeringly explained that perverts had no privacy as it was every citizens duty to watch and hinder them from their unnatural desires. In the end I found myself forced to go up no matter her watching to relieve myself. I could hear that damned steam locomotive starting up again as I whipped it clean but when I looked around there was none there.

It was then I first started to suspect that she might be dabbling in the mighty 'arts', so to speak. But why she would want to materialize a steam locomotive here I just couldn't understand. It made me think back to last night when we had gone to Castor. There had been all those incidents, strange ones too? And hadn't she followed us in? As I was thinking I suddenly felt someone trying to fondle my brain. Well, I can't help your having a moral outrage, that was exactly what it felt like. I hastily moved myself away from there and created a mirror reflecting all thoughts around me. When I came back the feeling was gone and so was Bell'e.

The Captain seemed to have cooled down though and we had that talk but on the bridge this time. Now his pipe seemed to work too, and wonders of wonders, the Captain had gotten himself a haircut. We complimented him on it but he only shook his head mumbling something to the tune of 'And I swore to her that never would I cut my hair before she became mine. On my immortal honor did I swear, and now this? Why oh why do you punish me???' And so on. It was somewhat interesting in the beginning but one got fast tired on listening to it I have to admit.