“Well, would you look at that? We got three interesting candidates here. Whew, I can smell them from here. Are you sure we should not throw them back and tell the cap that they fell?”

Gizmo grabbed his enormous belly with both hands and laughed along with the other crew, watching the new applicants pat each other on the shoulders for making it onboard. Looking around at the smiling faces of his fellow mates, when his eyes fell on one crewmate, his face soured. If it had to be anyone, Gizmo was not too surprised that it was Lemon who was not laughing, but was holding a gold coin in her beautiful fingers.

On a crew made mostly of men, having a beautiful woman would normally be a danger, but the redheaded beauty nicknamed Lemon had nothing to worry about. Her curves and beauty distracted many first timers from her actual fighting prowess. Gizmo wondered if she did that on purpose, but that she was holding up just a single gold coin showed she knew something he did not know.

“Do you remember our bet?”

With a quick visual check, Gizmo counted three shipwrights. Raising his eyebrow questioningly, he turned back to the bold, green eyes of Lemon, who flashed him a devilish smile as she nodded behind him and to the left. Turning around, following her gaze, Gizmo’s shoulders slumped defeated as he saw a single hand holding onto the edge of the flooring. Moving at speed, it was hard to hear much over the moving wind, but it was clear to see that whoever the hand belonged to, they were a fighter.

“Are you going to let a little old woman like me help them up? Or are you going to, since you are so big and strapping?”

Laughing, Gizmo shook his head at Lemon as he ambled over to help the last shipwright, who was dangling off the edge of the ship. Standing with his toes just hanging off, on either side of the hand that held on for dear life, Gizmo inspected the last potential crew member. The kid looked to be young, maybe early twenties. He had black hair, bold brown eyes, and a determined look on his features. Besides all that, the kid looked to be a mess. Bruises and minor cuts covered his face. One arm was bleeding from minor cuts that ran up and down his forearm and Gizmo feared to know more. Leaning down, he offered the boy a hand and yelled into the wind in the hope the lad would hear him.

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“Grab on, or fall off. Either way, I couldn't care less. Fact is, if you let go, I can earn some coin today. But if you are strong enough to grab on, we could use a crewmate like yourself. Your call, what will it be, son?”

“Are you going to pull that dirt rat up or leave him to drop just so you can win your bounty?”

Using his free hand, he waved Lemon’s comment away, and a smile grew across his features as the kid hauled himself up to grab onto his offered hand. Yanking the kid up into the cargo area was not much for Gizmo. The kid being nothing more than skin and bones helped some, but it would have made little difference if he was a full-grown man. Gizmo had been packed to the gills with mechanical extras.

Dusting his metal hand off after the kid landed on his feet, Gizmo stepped back to inspect the newest potential recruit. He was not much more than what he thought when seeing him dangling off the ship, but deep down inside he hoped he was something special. He would hate to lose the bet on the count of some dirt rat like this one. Almost completely forgetting the kid was there by the time he turned back to Lemon, he questioned loudly.

“So, how did you know? No one thought we would take on four recruits from this dirt ball. What made you choose that number?”

Gizmo chuckled as Lemon just shook her head with an eat your heart out grin. They both knew the bet was not over just yet, but they were both excited to see how this would play out. Standing to his full, augmented height, Gizmo slapped the side of his enormous belly and yelled at the newcomers.

“We only have room for a few of you on this ship.” He turned to survey the four standing at the edge of the flooring. Spreading his arms, he added. “So… who is going to become new crew? And who will become dirt stains on the ground below? I give you two minutes to decide.”

As soon as the words were polished blades slid across the floor to rest within arm's reach of each new applicant.