Nightsea Outlaw

Alex and Erin stood with the strange mechanical humanoid, and Alex was still unsure of how to deal with her. He gave Erin a sidelong look before he thought of a decent answer to the creature's question. It might not have been perfect, but it would do for now.

"That's a good question," Alex said with a slight frown. "From what I know, no one knows where Roald is, and people are looking for him."

"People, looking for father?" M.A.R.I. asked, its eyes flickering as she leaned toward him.

"Yeah." Alex nodded. "We're looking for him too. I'm Alex. That's Erin."

M.A.R.I. looked between them both. A part of Alex's gut twisted. Whatever it was, M.A.R.I. was acting like a child. What he was about to do didn't feel right, but it might have been necessary.

"Why are you looking for him?"

"To ask him some questions." Alex looked up to Erin, raising an eyebrow. "Erin here knows some people who want to learn about his travels from him. Do you know where he is?"

Erin frowned, but she didn't argue. That was in line with what Alex knew about her. She would do anything necessary to complete a mission, and finding out Roald's location was top on her list. She knelt down next to M.A.R.I. and smiled.

"We want to make sure he's okay, but he's hiding from everyone."

"I don't know where he is," M.A.R.I. said, its eyes flitting between them. "He told me he would see me soon before leaving me here, but he said it was unsafe."

"Did he say why?" Erin asked.

"No." M.A.R.I. looked down, its eyes dimming.

That was going nowhere. Alex scratched his head. He didn't think they were going to get much more on Roald from it, but he had other questions. He started thinking about all the sci-fi novels and movies he had read or watched.

"Do you know what you are?"

"I am the navigation system for the Nighthawk," M.A.R.I. said. "I am a Magical Artificial Recombinant Intelligence."

"Magical?" Alex narrowed his eyes.

"A combination of the arcane and science," M.A.R.I. rattled off without a moment of hesitation.

"The Nighthawk is a ship?" Erin bit at her finger.

"Roald's ship," M.A.R.I. said.

"Is it here?" Alex asked.

"No," M.A.R.I. said, looking off into the distance. "I can sense it, but it is far away."

"Do you think he would be with it?" Erin asked.

"I do not know," M.A.R.I. said.

Alex shook his head, stood up, and walked away. His mind was ready to check out for the day. After fighting a giant bone scorpion, regrowing his arms, and stumbling on an android, he just didn't know what he was doing anymore. He thought he had seen enough weirdness to be used to Erth, but here he was.

"It's a way forward," he whispered as he looked back to M.A.R.I. "Do you have a name, kid?"

"My designation is M.A.R.I.," it said. "I am not a child."

"Yeah." Alex nodded as each letter was spelled out, and he ignored the second part. "But can we call you Mari? If we have to go around spelling your name all the time, it'll be awkward."

Its eyes flickered, and Alex thought he saw numbers running across them like a screen. Again, Alex had to wonder at what he was looking at—an android thinking and speaking in front of him. There were so many questions, but they could wait. After a moment, it nodded, looking up at him.

"That is acceptable. Changing colloquial designation to Mari."

"Alright, Mari." Alex nodded. "What do you think? Do you want to come with us to find Roald?"

Across from it, Erin put on her best smile, and Alex thought she might have tried giving a thumbs up if Mari had waited any longer. However, the android stood and nodded. It was about as tall as Erin's waist, and Alex had to force himself not to see it as a child.

"That is acceptable," it said.

"Alright, we're going to leave now," Alex said, reaching out a hand. "Our friends are waiting for us."

Mari walked forward, taking his hand. Alex walked with it down the dais and toward the exit, and Erin had to hurry to catch up. Alex shook his head as they walked down the hall toward the blank metal wall at the end of it. They would look like a family out on a stroll if not for their location.

As they walked, Mari took hold of Erin's hand, so they were both walking with it between them. Alex cracked a grin, shaking his head at Erin, and she rolled her eyes. Depending on how long they traveled together, he would have serious problems seeing Mari as anything but a kid.

"Do you even know how to get out?" Erin asked as they stopped at the wall.

"There's only one way to find out," Alex said as he touched the wall with his flat palm. "▇▇ ▇▇, ▇▇ ▇▇▇ ▇▇."

Blue light flickered in a circle around his hand but then stopped. It flickered off and on like a light bulb about to go out. Alex frowned and tried repeating the words, but it didn't help. He was about to pull his hand away when Mari spoke.

"Open sesame," it said.

Light sparkled around his hand, and the circle formed. It ran away from his hand and up the lengths of the wall. Blue light flickered across the wall, and a portal similar to the one they entered through appeared across the surface.

"Interesting," Alex said. "Thanks, Mari."

"It is part of my operation," Mari said. "But you are welcome."

Alex shared a look with Erin, but she only shrugged. Together, the three of them crossed through the portal. A flicker of static ran across Alex's skin as they walked through, and in seconds, they stepped onto the metal floors of the ruins.

They stood, hand in hand, at the entrance to the portal. The portal snapped closed behind them with a flicker of light, and Alex locked eyes with Bargen. The drim captain was leaning against the wall, halfway through a yawn. Bargen's eyes darted between Alex, his restored arm, Mari, and Erin.

"I don't even know where to start."

Captain Grayson sat waiting in the room, clasping his hands in front of him as he stared into the flickering light of the lantern. As he waited, he questioned again why he hadn't retired already. He was too old to be cavorting around, fighting outlaws, and getting his ship stolen.

That was the problem in the end. His superiors would take his commission for that. Would he be discharged without severance? The Military Police had a reputation of taking care of its own, so long as you didn't screw up.

Unfortunately, losing a ship was a prime example of screwing up.

He looked down at his hands. When had they gotten so wrinkled? He picked through the spots across his skin with his eyes, and he could only think about how many years he had served the Military Police. He had left his hometown in December, a young man over sixty years ago, and now here he was, worrying about what would happen when someone responded to his message.

"You're a relic," Grayson said. "All that's left is to hope they won't take your years of service away."

Click.

The door opened, and a red-scaled lizard man entered, dressed in the same black and red uniform Grayson wore but modified for a long red tail and an absence of shoes. Grayson stood up, but he didn't salute. On the lizard man's collar were the bars of a captain. They were equal in rank, at least until Grayson was bumped down for his mistake.

"Captain Grayson?" The lizard man opened his maw to reveal pointed teeth as he spoke.

"I am Captain Grayson," Grayson said.

"I'm Captain Frank Drake." The lizard man nodded, his yellow eyes blinking as he walked over and sat at the table.

He held a folder in his claws and set it on the table as he sat down. Drake motioned for Grayson to sit back down, and Grayson did as he asked. Drake opened the folder and appeared to begin to read before he finally broke the silence between them by tapping one of his claws on the table.

"I've read your report," Drake said, his face hard to read. "In fact, it would be better to say I intercepted it. When I read that you had an encounter with 'Tin Man' Ortega, I had to come here straight away."

"You're after that kid?" Grayson furrowed his eyebrows.

"You don't keep track of bounties, do you?" Drake asked, his face forming into something that might be called a smile. "That kid has a million doler bounty. He's wanted for several crimes, but the most prominent is burning down August."

Grayson's heart almost skipped a beat. His eyes widened, and his breath caught in his chest. 'Burning August' was something almost everyone would know about. He might not know all the details, but that was more because of his laziness than anything else.

"Normally, your report would have gone up the chain, and eventually, maybe a few months from now, they'd send a ship for your men, take you back to Rockford, and discharge you," Drake said, leaning back and clasping his claws in front of his chest. "However, I'm here to make you an offer."

Grayson licked his dry lips and swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. He knew what was supposed to happen to him, but he didn't like it being said so easily. It made a mockery of all of his years of service.

"I take it there's a bright side to the offer," Grayson said, locking eyes with Drake.

"We'll get your ship back." Drake shrugged his shoulders. "We'll capture Ortega and Baptiste and bring them both back to headquarters. By the time anyone who cares to notice that your ship is missing starts asking questions, we'll have everything back in order, and there will be less of a reason for our superiors to think about discharging you."

Grayson pursed his lips, nodding his head as Drake finished. It was a good offer. It would be a gamble, but it might just save Grayson's retirement if he was willing to play along. It was true that the Military Police's bureaucracy moved with the swiftness of a barge. A month or two delay in decisions wasn't unusual.

"This isn't an order," Grayson said, raising one eyebrow. "This is an offer."

"I can't order you around." Drake nodded. "We're both captains. However, if you serve aboard my ship, I will ask that you follow my orders out of courtesy."

"Your house, your rules," Grayson said, knowing he would expect the same. "I can live with that."

"So, are you on board?"

Grayson considered it. He already knew he wasn't facing any good options. If he had just waited on Zanhai, he would have eventually received the discharge he dreaded. It was only a matter of time. However, if he went with Drake, there was a chance he could keep his retirement. If he could recapture the prisoner and take the people who stole his ship, then while all wouldn't be forgiven, he would probably be allowed to retire in peace.

Grayson smiled. It was an offer he couldn't really refuse.

"Okay," Grayson said. "I hope your ship has room for all my men. We'll need space for eight."

"We can accommodate." Drake again attempted a semblance of a smile. "I've got ten men on my current ship, along with my lieutenant. That gives us eighteen in total, with two captains and two lieutenants. I don't think 'Tin Man' Ortega will be able to beat those odds."

Grayson thought back to the kid. Ortega had managed to distract Grayson long enough for his friends to beat Grayson's lieutenant and steal his ship. During the run, Ortega had managed to hit him, even with his use of the Path of Will. Even if the man was pushing himself to the extreme, getting hits on a captain was no easy feat.

"I hope you're right," Grayson said, biting his lip. "I don't know much about him, but one thing I know is we can't underestimate him."

Clap.

"Believe me," Drake said, closing the folder and standing up from the table. "If there's one thing I won't do, it is underestimate 'Tin Man' Ortega."

A bonfire burned into the night on the coast of Nowhere while two ships rested in the docks. Alex leaned back against a crate around the fire as people yelled and cheered around him. The drim celebrated rejoining their newly freed crew members. Bargen danced with a mug of liquor in his hand, the other holding a bottle with the Black Turtle label.

Sayed stood near the fire, placing fruits and vegetables on sticks and roasting them before handing them off to Jean, who distributed them to the drim. Alex hadn't noticed before, but Sayed seemed to enjoy cooking more than any of them. With his curse, it made sense. Cooking always involved a little bit of heat.

He spotted Erin at the edge of the camp, near where the forest began. Every few moments, she knelt down in the grass before pulling up a piece of a particular plant. He had noticed this habit in her since Cragg Hollow. To him, it fit her well, considering her curse.

He took another sip from his mug and let the burning liquid run down his throat. Mari huffed beside him on the adjacent side of the crate. He looked over and raised an eyebrow at it as it fiddled with the fruit in its bowl.

It was wearing his duster draped over its shoulders. Alex had felt bad about leaving it in the hospital gown, and they didn't have any extra clothes running around that might fit someone so small. It would be something to solve on another island. Maybe he could tap Erin to help Mari pick something it wanted.

"Finish your food, kid," Alex whispered. "Sayed's putting a lot of work into it."

"I am not a child." Mari glanced at him with its blue eyes. "And you are not my father."

"True." Alex sighed. "But so long as you're with us, we're going to look out for you. That's what people have to do for each other."

In truth, he had been surprised when it had even taken the first few bites of the food. He didn't know anything about androids and had been hesitant to take a peek using his magnetic senses. He was still having difficulty with how he was supposed to see Mari. Was it a machine? Was it a person? He had no real answers.

"Would you consider yourself Roald's daughter or his son?"

Mari glanced at him again, chewing through one of the pieces of orange in its bowl. He waited patiently for it to finish. It reminded him of caring for his siblings when he was younger. Again, his mind was divided on how to treat Mari.

"Roald often called me his daughter," Mari said.

"That makes it easier," Alex said, reaching down and grabbing one of the orange slices from her bowl and popping it in his mouth.

"Hey!" Mari pulled the bowl away, far too late.

Glaring at him with flickering blue eyes, she brought the bowl back closer to her chest to continue eating.

"I'm not sure what to think of you," Alex said, looking up at the stars above him. "But that can be a start."

After a while, Sayed came over and sat down with him, holding several skewers with roasted fruits, vegetables, and dried meat on them. He had a broad smile on his face as he looked between Mari and Alex.

"I still cannot believe that you both were blessed in such a short time, brother." Sayed did little to contain the laughs behind his words. "To think that you came back with a child in a few hours."

"Come on, Sayed." Alex groaned. "You've made that joke too much already. It's getting old."

"And I am not a child." Mari pointed at Sayed, Alex's duster sleeve drooping down from where it was longer than her arm.

"Hah, it will never get old." Sayed shook his head as he started to eat his skewer.

Jean joined them soon after, sitting alongside Sayed and taking an offered skewer. As ever, he smiled a bright white smile, his bony arms holding his skewer away from his robes as he ate. Alex was grateful that he wasn't making jokes, at least.

"A fine group I have stumbled into," Jean said. "If you will have me, Eliza and I wouldn't mind seeing what fate has in store for us all."

"Why would we not?" Sayed yelled, slapping Jean on the back. "You are already tried and tested as a brother in battle. We would be happy to have you along on our journey."

Alex had no idea what had happened between the two, but he had to admit that Sayed wasn't wrong. He already knew Jean was strong enough to come with them, and if Jean believed that it was fated that they would work together, who was Alex to argue?

"Happy to have you along." Alex raised his mostly empty mug in a toast.

"But where are we going?" Erin asked, joining in on the conversation and sitting down by Mari. "I'm not even sure what to think about this all anymore. I knew Roald had found a way into the New World, but..."

She trailed off, looking down at Mari. Mari, for her part, slid so that she could lean against Erin, bowl in hand, as she continued to munch through the fruit. Again, Alex had trouble seeing Mari as anything but a kid, doll-like android appearance notwithstanding.

"Everything we've done so far has been a lot of questions without any answers," Alex said, looking over to the eastern mountain peak at the massive mollusk statue that covered the top of the mountain. "I don't know where we'll get the answers, but it feels like we're onto something. Unless you guys want to stay here and dig through that other dig site, I say we take Mari to the closest island we can, get some supplies, and find out where Roald's ship is. Maybe he'll be there, and we can finally figure this all out."

He left out the other reason he wanted to go. Someone as explored as Roald might know something about Erth that he didn't. Maybe Roald knew a way to cross back to old worlds. It was a low chance, but it was better than what he had been doing.

"It's my mission anyway," Erin said, brushing through Mari's white hair with her fingers. "Finding him is most of the reason I'm out here."

"And I'll go to the ends of Erth to help out a brother." Sayed smiled, holding up an empty skewer like a sword. "You already know that."

"For me," Jean said, holding up one bony finger. "You are already such interesting people. So long as we are fated to be together, I'll go wherever you will."

"I want to find my father," Mari said, looking up to Alex with her glowing blue eyes.

Alex had to smile. He didn't know where they were going, nor did he know how it all would end, but with people like this around him, he was sure that they would do something great out on the nightsea.

"Then it's settled," Alex said, looking over the drim that partied around them. "Let's go find this ship."