Gareth and th Lost Island (34 page)

The right eyestalk stood up straight, and said,
“Cargo Master…”  Sheldon rumbled out his full name which
sounded something like two elephants slap fighting.  “…
reporting for duty, Captain,” the right eyestalk finished.

Gareth stood at attention, and saluted his new crew
as a group. “Pardon me, Captain Mintel,” RENE 7 said.  “We… I
mean Kevin, DAR-C 254, and I were talking earlier, and were
wondering if you were going to allow Automatons to sign on as crew
members,” she stated.

Gareth slowly looked over the three Automatons.
 “You three want to leave the island?” he asked.  All
three Automatons nodded their mechanical heads.  “I would be
honored,” Gareth replied with a small bow.  

Kevin rolled forward, and grabbed Gareth before
pulling him into a rib bruising hug.  “Thank you, thank you,
thank you,” the tank like robot gushed.

“Kevin… can’t… breathe…” Gareth gasped.

Kevin dropped Gareth, and muttered a heartfelt,
“Sorrrry.”

When Gareth was able to finally take in another full
breath, he turned to face Elizabeth.  “I seem to have my crew,
Miss Morgana,” he told her firmly.  “I only need one more
crewmember to make things complete.  I’m in desperate need of
a good First Officer willing to kick me in the ass when I do
something stupid,” he offered.

Elizabeth slowly turned, and met the eyes of her
former crew in turn.  When she finished looking at them, she
sighed, and let her shoulders slump.  “Knowing my luck, if I
stay behind, you’ll destroy the new ship pulling out of dry dock.
I’ll either starve to death, or be killed by pirates,” she moaned.
 “If I go with you, I’ll at least get to keep an eye on my
baby sister, and choke the life out of you if you hurt her,” she
added, looking directly at Gareth. Elizabeth let out one last sigh,
straightened up, and threw back her shoulders.  With a
passable salute, Elizabeth stated, “First Officer Elizabeth
Morgana, reporting for duty.”  Gareth returned the salute, and
led his crew into the building.

The crew was met inside by a swarm of Automatons
that looked like a cross between insects and Centaurs.  Their
bodies consisted of three, ovoid structures set end to end, with a
pair of limbs on each section.  A rotating head sat on a track
that ran down the center of each ovoid, allowing the head to be at
whatever end it wanted to be.  A slightly smaller worker robot
stepped forward, while rotating the front section of its body
upwards, and placing its head at the top it.  “Captain Mintel,
I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you again,” it told Gareth,
in a voice that was hard to distinguish if it were male or
female.

Gareth shook his head in amusement. “Are there any
Automatons on the Island who didn’t know me as a child?” he
inquired.

Rene 7 and DAR-C 254 raised their hands. “We came on
line after the Wizard Wars,” Rene 7 informed him.

Kevin tilted his large head to the side. “I don’t
remember if I knew you before. My memory crystals were damaged,” he
admitted.

The worker robot nodded its front section in
understanding. “Your aunt Moira Mintel, our head ship designer,
brought you in to show you off after you were born. She brought you
a second time after you decided to lick that charged Aetherium
tube.  She said you were born to be an engineer, just like
her,” it reminisced.

“Actually, I’m a linguist,” Gareth admitted.

“Oh… well, no one’s perfect I suppose,” the worker
robot muttered.  “Anyway, were the Eyebots correct in telling
us you plan on taking your Aunt’s masterpiece into battle on its
maiden voyage?” it inquired.

Gareth nodded his head.  “I’m afraid so,” he
replied.

“How exciting!” the worker robot squealed.
 “Since you are going into combat so soon, I’ll give you the
fighting man’s tour. After that, I’ll have you activate the main
circuit to get her started,” it suggested before lowering its front
section to the ground.  The head slid along the track, and
took up position on the other end.  “This way please,” it
requested, while walking off in the direction the head was now
facing.

The worker bot led them through a series of doors
until they reached the main hanger.  The crew stopped, and
stared when they saw their new airship which was made of some sort
of dark, golden colored metal.  The new ship was twice as long
as the Glorious Dawn, with two enormous Aetherium tubes that ran
the entire length of the airship.  Large, curved metal shields
ran from the edge of the main deck, to just below the bottom of the
Aetherium tubes.  The bridge was raised two stories above the
deck on a bent goose neck like structure, and was completely
enclosed in clear crystal panels.  On deck were two large
guns, with a much smaller gun mounted at the bottom of the aft
wall. Written on the side of the ship in large letters in the Trade
language were words that brought tears to the old crews’ eyes. The
new ship had been had been christened the “HMS Glorious Dawn.” Izzy
squeezed Gareth’s hand, too choked up for words.

“This is the first Royal Mascalian Air Navy ship to
fly in nearly 13,000 years. It will defend this island, and show
the rest of Hadronus that we have returned. She has quite the
legacy to live up to. I gave her a name worthy of that destiny,” he
explained. Izzy pulled Gareth toward her, and gave her new captain
quite the kiss in front of the crew.

The little worker robot played the recording of a
polite cough to get the Gareth’s attention. When the kiss ended,
Gareth nodded towards the worker robot. Raising one of its front
limbs to point toward the HMS Glorious Dawn, the robot said, “This
is the first of the Gold Swan class cruisers. She runs off of Dark
Magic charged Aetherium, and can out fly anything we had built
previously. A copy of Center’s personality runs the minor systems
on the ship, allowing her to have a far smaller crew than what
would normally be seen on a ship her size,” it told them.  “As
a multipurpose combat vessel, the HMS Dawn is armed with the latest
in anti-Wizard technology.  Her primary defense is the hull
which is made of calith, a copper and steel alloy which conducts
magic poorly. Magic spells loose most of their effectiveness when
striking this shield,” it told them.

“The HMS Glorious Dawn boasts three guns as her
primary offensive weapons. The tail gun mounted on the aft wall
works by dropping metal balls from a hopper into the barrel.
 The gunner squeezes the trigger, which completes a rune
sequence that sends magic into the repulsion rune carved into the
rear of the barrel.  The repulsion rune throws a metal sphere
slightly faster and farther than the gunpowder fueled weapons these
modern pirates seem to favor.  Using magic instead of
gunpowder, we are able to increase the rate of fire to a little
under two shots per second, or roughly 110 shots per minute.
 The hopper holds over a thousand spheres to keep it in action
for the duration of most fights,” it explained, while pointing to
the rear of the ship.

They continued to walk along the side of the new
Glorious Dawn, and the worker robot used one of its free limbs to
point towards the deck gun in front of the bridge neck.  It
was mainly a huge barrel with a gunner’s chair mounted on the side.
A pair of monstrous gears were placed at the base of the barrel to
let the gunner move the barrel up and down.  The whole
contraption sat on a rotating disc, giving it almost a 360 degree
field of fire.  “The main gun works on a very similar
principle to the tail gun. Squeezing the trigger completes the rune
array, and triggers the repulsion rune.  Only instead of
throwing small metal spheres, this one throws twenty pound shells
that can be loaded with explosive powders or flammable oils.
 The size of the projectile means it has to be breach loaded
manually,” it said.

The second gun was unlike anything the biologicals
had ever seen before. It was mounted behind the bridge neck.
 A black, geodesic dome was split in two, with a series of
crystals and mirrors set between the two halves.  The mirrors
ended up pointing to a final crystal that stuck out of the end of
the barrel.  

The worker robot rotated its head to look at Gareth.
 “That was your aunt’s greatest invention.  We were
taking a pounding from the Wizards, and found that the most
powerful Wizards could raise magical shields that would block
everything we could throw at them.  Moira realized that the
Wizards were able to see what we were doing. She tried to come up
with a way to use that fact against them,” the worker robot stated.
 “The answer came when your aunt was watching her wife burn a
design into a piece of wood, using only a magnifying glass and
sunlight.  Moira brought her idea to the Technomancers.
Together, they built the Sunlight Collection and Focusing Array
Weapon or SCFAW,” the robot explained.  “After trying to say
that fast, they shortened it down to Sun gun.  The black dome
halves collect and store sunlight.  When fired, the stored
sunlight is fed into the focusing crystals and mirror arrays. The
gun creates a variable width beam of light. The beam can go from
being 30 feet wide, able to blind the enemy crew, down to a beam no
thicker than a sewing needle. The heat of the thinnest setting is
capable of cutting through solid metal,” it said proudly.

“How effective was it?” Pilot inquired.

“We have no idea. Like most of the ship, it’s a
prototype, and we never got a chance to try it out before the dock
went into null-entropy mode,” the worker robot admitted.

This brought Gareth up short, and he stopped to
stare at the little six legged robot.  “Are there any systems
on this ship that aren’t prototypes?” he asked, worried about what
the answer would be.

The little worker robot thought for a few minutes
before answering.  After running every one of the ship’s
systems through its processors, the robot replied, “The ship is
powered by a chunk of the original Void Stone that gave the
Mascalians their abilities.  Since almost all of the systems
had to be redesigned to accept the direct Dark Magic coming from
it, I think the only system that is not a prototype are the loos.
Yes, I believe the crappers are what you would call tried and true
technology.”

Sheldon’s right eyestalk moaned, “We are
sooooo
going to die.” It pivoted to look at Elizabeth. “Is
it too late to switch back to working for you?” it begged.

“YES!” everyone yelled at once.

“Just asking,” Sheldon’s right eyestalk pouted.

The worker robot tapped one of its feet impatiently.
“May we go on?” it requested. Gareth gestured for the robot to
continue. It led them around the ship, and up a wide cargo ramp set
below the bow. “Captain, your aunt firmly believed that one day we
would win the Wizards Wars, and designed the Golden Swan class
cruisers to be multi-functional. It has a large cargo hold that can
be refit for different types of missions. The HMS Glorious Dawn
also has extra crew quarters in case it needs to transport large
numbers of troops, or just regular passengers,” it told them as it
led them inside.

Just inside the entryway, the group found themselves
face to face with a nightmare mixture of magic and machine. The
magic skull they had dubbed Chompers was sitting atop a humanoid
looking body of blackish brown metal. Folded up along its arms were
various blades and other methods of killing. Chompers folded out
each weapon one at a time before giving them quick practice swings.
His left hand dropped down on a hinge. A three bladed, spinning
device popped out, and sliced through the air with a high pitched
whine. The spinning blades slid back in the arm, and his hand
snapped back into place. A small tube popped out of the right
forearm. They heard a click right before a small jet of flame shot
of out of the tube. The flame shut off, and the tube dropped back
into the arm.

“Alright, who thought it was good idea to give the
homicidal skull a new body?!” Gareth demanded.

Kevin happily raised his hand. “I found the skull in
the wreckage of your old ship. He didn’t have a body anymore so I
took him to the manufacturing plant. I let him pick out a new one,”
he said.

DAR-C 254 and RENE 7 both shook their metal heads.
“You felt sorry for him so you gave a Mark 5 Guardian Skeleton the
body of a Hunter/Killer Assassin unit?” RENE 7 moaned
rhetorically.

“Yeppp,” Kevin replied, still cheerful.

DAR-C 254 looked down at Sheldon, and muttered,
“It’s been nice knowing you three.”

Chompers advanced on Henry, and stopped right in
front of him. A crystal mounted on the neck of the mechanical body
flashed as Chompers said something in Chim to Henry. For his part,
Henry let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, and
slapped the metal monster in front of him affectionately on the
shoulder.

“What just happened?” Elizabeth asked no one in
particular.

Gareth took a moment to reboot his brain before
replying, “Apparently, Henry now has the scariest looking Sous-chef
on Hadronus.”

“Oh,” was all Elizabeth managed to say.

As a group, the crew moved deeper into the ship, and
stopped at a “T” shaped intersection. “Captain, you and Engineer
Morgana should follow that corridor to the stairs leading to the
engine room. I’ll take the others, and show them where their post
are,” the worker robot said, pointing to the right.

“Thank you, um… I’m sorry, I forgot to ask your
name,” Gareth stated.

“That’s quite alright, Captain. They call me Alex,”
the worker robot replied.

Teesh scrunched up her eyebrows as she tried to
figure out what the letters A-L-E-X might stand for. When she
couldn’t figure it out, she asked, “What does ALEX stand for?”

The little worker robot raised up its front segment,
and put the hands of its first set of limbs at the joint where the
first and second segments met. “I stand for Truth, Justice, and the
Mascalian way!” Alex said with a mock serious voice. “Sorry, I
couldn’t resist. I get asked that question a lot by my fellow
Automatons. Truth is, I just liked the name,” it admitted.