“An ambitious goal. Are you sure you would be up to the task?”
“Not now, no. I have been here for barely a quarter of a day, there are still a lot of things I don’t understand. But I can learn them. Screw it, if it takes me decades, I will learn them. I need to know, I have to know.”
He borderline growled these last words. He clenched his hands into fists. He wasn’t challenging the Captain - he was challenging the Threshold itself. Maybe it wasn’t a smart idea - Joe entertained the thought that the void could be alive.
Alchfrid was silent and unmoving. Joseph wasn’t sure if Captain forgot about him, or he was simply that deep in thought when the tree-man suddenly perked up and stretched his branch-hands.
“I should slumber for an hour… or twelve. I understand. However, as I Xander said before, this ship is no charity. I don’t mind teaching you, but I have my duties to fulfill, and you, so far, only showed you prowess in combat. Which is admirable, but I want you to do something more… meaningful.”
If risking his life to a stray bullet wasn’t meaningful, Joseph had no idea what else could top that for him. Unless the Captain was going in a weird roundabout way, but then it would be a hustle to figure out what he meant. Joe was no stranger to hustling, but with this one, he didn’t even know where to begin.
“What do you mean, Captain?”
“I propose a little test. See, there are people you already know on this ship. But about the people who are strangers to you? You are one of us now, lad - see it to yourself that you learn as much about the crew as you can.”
That made sense. Joe would’ve done it on his own anyway.
Would you, now?
Begone, thought.
“That’s it?”
“I also want you to observe some people. Nothing special - just talk to them, drink with them, whatever. Then, when you think you are ready, you come back to me and tell me what you think about those people.”
“...Okay?” That certainly was one weird request. “Which people are we talking about here?”
Alchfrid put his hand on top of the head.
“Hmm… Me, Xander, Ralf, and Roth you know. That’s four. Then there is a Mechanic crew on the ship - their captain is one of them. That’s for you to figure out. Pat, doctor’s assistant. Five. Then, treasurer, that’s six…”
“Wait, you have a treasurer on the ship?” Also, why was he including himself on that list?
“Why, of course. How else would we keep track of our spendings and cuts? We are well-respected pirates, of course we’d have a treasurer!”
Joe really couldn’t tell if Captain was serious.
“So, six. The helmsman will be your seventh… and that’s about it. Seven members of the crew. Now, I am a fair man. I agree to teach you the basics of what I know…”
Captain paused, taking delight in seeing Joseph staring at him with sparkling eyes.
“...Each night, whenever we are free, after a sunset. But, I will be asking about the progress of my test - and if I don’t get the satisfying answer, you are on your own until I get one.”
Joe gulped.
“Yes, Captain!”
“Well then, what are you standing here for? Stop playing a statue and get moving. Oi, but before you actually run off, I need you to get a message to Xander.”
“I’m listening-”
“Tell him I send you. He should go up to Control Room and plot a course to Ghastly Wail. Understood?”
“Ghastly Wail… Ghastly Wail… Alright, I think I got it.”
Stolen story; please report.
“Very good.” The Captain stretched his back with audible creaking. How fitting. “I’ll stay here for a while and go hibernate for some time after…”
*****
When Joseph said to himself that his task - simply delivering a verbal message to the guy, who was standing out like sore thumb even among the ones of his own race, in enclosed space like ship interior, even knowing the name of the section he needed to go (Xander said he was going to the “Hold”) - would be a piece of cake, he severely overestimated his own capabilities.
Or rather, he underestimated the size of the ship.
That thing was gargantuan.
Logically, the Hold would be somewhere on the bottom levels of the ship. Joe vaguely recalled the path he took from Medical to the elevator area. The Arsenal was just behind the elevator, on the left-hand side of the passageway right behind the door.
There was no way the Hold could be on the first level, so he went down the stairs.
On the second level (or was it a deck? Joe couldn’t remember a terminology - assuming it was even the same in this world. He was thinking about asking someone) he found a big room, full of shells and artillery rounds. They were lying around in piles - whoever drugged them here definitely didn’t care much about their placement, dropping them on the sides chaotically.
The door forward was already opened. Of course, he had to go and check what was over there.
He was standing of the iron platform. It was going around a huge rectangle gap in the middle. Three columns with spiral staircases were standing tall in the gap, connected between themselves and the sides of the room with small bridges.
The members of the crew were scurrying around, not paying any attention to Joe whatsoever. For good reason - Joe has noticed a huge line of machines. These machines were quite big, easily taller than an average man. Joe would compare them to artillery from his world, but taller and wider, with barrels that would fit cannons from the age of piracy, rather than any modern weapon platform. They were quite long, too, and were sticking outside.
“One, two, three… ten? What is this ship, some kind of weapon of mass destruction?!” That was only one side, too!
Joe carefully walked to a rail and looked down. The spiral staircases were connecting three levels together, including the one he was standing on, each of them looked just the same.
“So, if all of them have the same amount of cannons… Hell, that’s quite a lot of firepower! Why would a pirate ship have this much?…”
It was probably a stupid question to ask. In his world, the pirate ships don’t fly in the alien void. Maybe for Threshold, this amount of firepower wasn’t even enough.
Now Joe was even more curious about the story of the Morning Star, but it’d have to wait. He still hadn’t found his target.
He stopped one member of the crew, who was walking by him. Said guy was a tall, deathly pale humanoid with straight black horns on the sides of his head. His eyes were color inverted, with black sclera instead of white, vertical pupils, and orange irises.
“Excuse me, mate, I need to see a quartermaster. Have you seen him?”
“He is in the Hold.”
His voice was serious and stoic.
“I know, but where is the Hold?”
The man’s face broke the stoic expression into confusion. Joseph was absolutely sure, that the man was very close to asking, just how dumb Joseph was.
Joe diverted his eyes away.
“It’s down?… Beneath the Weapons Deck?…” Thank god, the man did answer his question. Even if he did it in a fairly condescending way.
“Thanks, appreciate it. What is your name, mate?”
The man was seriously debating on whether he wanted to continue the conversation, or not. It was written of his face so clearly, Joe, as mediocre at reading people he was, didn’t even need to second guess.
He decided it would be for the best to continue on his way.
“Nevermind, I should not interrupt your work. We’ll talk later, see ya.”
It was quite rude, but Joe would rather leave now before it gets too uncomfortable. He could feel the man staring at his back. Mentally shrugging, he descended all the way down, where he was greeted by his old friend: the hazard sign.
The 'swirl in a gear' hazard sign, to be specific. The stairs that lead him to it were stopping at the blocked door. The curiosity was eating him inside, but dying a horrible death because of his own stupidity wasn’t an ending Joseph was looking for.
It would be pretty hilarious, though.
If he counted correctly, then the level he was standing on was the exact one beneath the Weapons Deck. Joe saw a large, half-opened gate. Behind it was a room, full of crates, barrels, and various items that were lying everywhere, except a center passage. They were somewhat organized and put together in piles.
And in the center of the room, he found the one he was looking for. Xander was standing next to another unknown scaled humanoid creature with a large maw. The quartermaster was pointing at something out of Joe’s vision, with his companion nodding and writing down something in the book he was carrying.
“...12569 Zinks from the day before, 1071 from the privateers a couple of hours ago… should be 20437 total. How much do we have left after last week?”
“180542 Zinks. So, summing everything up, we have 200979 for now.” The voice of the creature was deep and guttural. He also was barely moving his mouth while speaking, which was slightly creepy. Given that the creature had no visible eyes or ears, Joe was in complete confusion over how it was even functioning.
Xander scratched the back of the head.
“That’s not a lot… this month was truly a divine punishment. An ambush, the attack on a hideout, raiders, and slavers everywhere, patrols near every major settlement and town… Something is up, Grigory.”
“Money is running out, Zan. That’s what’s up. The crew will be pissed.”
They both fell into silence. Joe coughed, causing both of them to turn their attention to him.
“Oh, it’s you… you need something?”
Xander’s tone was surprisingly calm.
“Captain sent me. He said that you need to go to a Control Room and plot a course for Ghastly Wail.”
Xander raised an eyebrow.
“He can’t do it himself?”
“He wanted to hibernate.”
Quartermaster shook his head. The edges of his mouth rose up a bit. It was surprisingly… adorable?
Joe mentally punched himself.
“That old cranky bastard… Grigory, I think we are about done here. Can you write it down for me?”
Grigory tilted his head to left, then right.
“Sure. I need you in Wardroom after this.”
“As for you…” He turned his attention to Joseph, who was standing there, patiently waiting. “I assume Captain didn’t give you any other tasks?”
“He did, he told me to go see mechanic, helmsman, and treasurer.”
It is not every day one could see this look on anyone’s face, especially not on fantasy creatures. Xander was completely lost.
“...Why?”
Joe shrugged. He didn’t really want to tell him about the test - not yet, at least.
Xander glanced at Grigory. The scaly thin creature shrugged.
“Don’t look at me. You deal with him.”
“Mechanics are busy, so that’s out of the question for now. Helmsman… if Captain is not at the helm, then he is not an option either. Treasurer…” He looked at Grigory again. “Grigory, this man here is Joseph. Joseph, this is Gregory, our treasurer.”
That was easy.
Joseph reached out for a handshake. After a second of hesitation, Grigory accepted.
His fingers were long and thin, just like the rest of the body. He had sharp curvy claws. His grip was strong, but Joe felt like the creature wasn’t really any stronger than himself.
“Haven’t seen him around. Who is he? From the last raid?”
“Yeah, you could say that…” What was that weird tone there, quartermaster? “He is kind of… traumatized, so if he asks stupid questions, just humor him.”
Joe threw an annoyed glare at Xander but wisely decided to stay silent.
“I’m going, Grigory.”
“Uh-huh.”
After Xander left, an awkward silence filled the room. Joe didn’t know where to begin, Grigory was simply standing there like a statue.
“Say, Joseph…” Unexpectedly, the thin man began first. “Can you read?”