~ part two ~
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(Thimble Island - Rasputina)
In the rising dawn, Andromeda's hair is poorly chopped and her face smeared with engine grease, wearing a rope tied tunic over worker's pants and boots.
She stares at the ferris wheel, powered by the falls near a massive two door gate set between high cliffs, closed and being repaired by workers hanging from their peaks.
Watching the people ride the slow turning wheel and laughing, the sound of flame and cheers turns her head to the crowded marketplace. Fire-breathers with torch in one hand and bottle in the other fast dry finishes on boats lifted from the water. Buckets thrown between coats making steam.
A gathered crowd watches an entertainer gesturing beneath the flame blowing workers as they work. Through the crowd extending into the marketplace village, tall stilt walkers loom over with scopes, observing the crowd and looking occasionally to the sea.
Mixed in the crowd are many people wearing old and dirty cloaks, way made for them with bows from histories finest making a strange renaissance festival of manners.
Morgan walks up behind her, followed by Xquic and Lieu Hanh, the two who came for her on Olympos, all wearing cloaks like the rest. Brown and oily, they'd look elsewhere to be a disguise among the poor.
Morgan - Handing her a bundle, "Your market cloak. It's tradition. You'll see why." She turns to the other two, "Sniper team ..." She furrows her brow while their smiles go wide, "Shore leave."
They laugh high fiving "! Whoo !" for the large crowd, pulling up their hoods.
Andromeda throws hers on.
Morgan - "And Gunner ... you're with me. There's something I need you to understand. It's going to bother you until you to see it's true and I'm telling you what takes a long time for most to get."
Andromeda - "I was expecting."
Morgan - An annoyed exhalation and a brief stare, "You don't exist. None of this does and neither do most of the people here. Now. Do you remember feeling anything before we came to get you ?"
Andromeda - "I remember trying not to."
Morgan - "Anything else ?" A pause between them. "You're a story. A myth. All these people here and beyond that gate have a story. And they are that story."
Andromeda - Looks up at the tall walker who looks back down, walking by as he extends his scope to her with a scowl.
Morgan - "Keep your hood, Gunner. If you can see up, they can see down, and everyone in front sees everything."
Andromeda looks forward seeing the curious well dressed looking back before she looks down.
Morgan - "Everyone here survives. We don't know how and it's all that we know."
Andromeda - "You're lying. You do know how. Tell me."
Morgan - Looks at her with annoyance, "Do you read books where you come from ?"
Andromeda - "Scripts. We read scripts. But being here ... I think I know what you mean. I know things when I'm here ..."
She watches an elegantly dressed man and woman appearing to be from the Renaissance buying a vial of pale liquid. The man spots her from the distance and smiles, attention then returning to take his change, before they disappear into the market.
Morgan - "Cetus adrenal fluid from our catch, and those people are not from here."
Andromeda - "I can see that ... they're alive. From where they read the stories."
Morgan - "Possibly. Or just stupid stories. Those few living who know how can do well in the marketplace if they have something the market wants."
She looks at the closed gates.
Morgan - "The market wants everything. It's how many here become legends themselves."
Andromeda - "You didn't answer. I'll understand you if I do, and I won't if I don't. But please. That's the thing that's going to ache in me to know."
Morgan - Looks with curiosity, "Alright. When people read a story they imagine us. They define us, each very differently. Even when watching a drama, they have clues to a reality but they will all interpret us very differently still."
She looks to see if there's comprehension.
Andromeda nods.
Morgan - "The living are all connected by their biosphere, the way they interact with their world. They speak of us, they dream us, they want to be us."
Andromeda - Bitterly, "They want to take us. See us devoured. They want to watch."
Morgan - "That too. But they create us as such. Because there are so many and because they all dream the same names, our names, and because they are all connected ..."
Andromeda - "A network. Like the aqua-ducts ... sometimes I hear things where they come together ..." She looks and sees Morgan looking back concerned, "Continue."
Morgan - "A network, a nexus, a node of information, yes. And if that network is broad enough, diverse enough and random enough, it can become intelligent."
Andromeda - "When you found me, did you know I was real ?"
Morgan - "No ... I assumed you wouldn't be. I was there for the fish."
Andromeda - "And the payment ... is he real ?"
Morgan - "Wasn't. May be now, thanks to us." She looks at Andromeda, "We were going to make use of that safe harbor to find others in your pantheon, you know. We may still have to."
Andromeda - "I'm going to kill him."
Morgan - "First, we need ice and repair, and then, that's the plan. We let him assume we abducted you and in his mind you're still his queen."
Andromeda - "And in the law. So if we aren't going to be allowed the safe harbor we need ..."
Morgan - "We take that fucking harbor."
Andromeda - Looking where Morgan was looking with a pause in thought, "And all the rest ... what's past that gate ?"
Morgan - "Sanctuary. Where you should be."
Andromeda - As they enter the crowd bustling of dirty cloaks and tourists at the edge of the market, "Sounds boring."
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Through table sellers and entertainers, suspicious stilt walkers and staring tourists with giggles they arrive at the door of a clockworks, weapons and materials shop directly off the main docks. Morgan tries the handle and finds it locked.
Morgan - "She's got clients. We wait."
Watching the fire breathers bring cheers among others spinning sticks and chains, Andromeda spots the Orson walking the beach on stumbling legs toward the dock side of the shop.
She's suddenly distracted by the door opening behind her with a shop chime bell. A crowd of cloaks exit when Andromeda sees a young girl (Pipsiveya) peering curiously from underneath the wrap of an adult who quickly closes it, hiding her again.
Morgan - "Let's go."
They enter the shop with gears and mechanisms lining the shelves, ageless armor and weapons across the walls. Many appear as animals and toys, some as human. Birds chime from clock peaks, as the hour strikes while dancers swivel out on their tracks to join, grandfather clocks sounding to base the brief rhythm.
At the center is a mechanized model of the marketplace docks, and all the movements of the visitors, represented by cloaked figures on tracks, with outsiders in repeated Victorian suits and dresses, bowing to the cloaks.
The chiming fall silent to the ticking clocks.
At the counter Venus stabs at a small automaton lying on it's back with a fork lazily while it jerks in response. Dressed conservatively, if not bizarre, fitting well with her shop.
Venus - Spotting Andromeda through her disguise, "You." She looks to Morgan then back, "Unhood yourself girl ! Show us all your ... delicate beauty."
The automaton on the counter sits up as the clockwork birds and dances come out staring. Andromeda shows herself, dirt and grease smeared, hair chopped.
Venus - "Oh ! And look at you now. Problem solved." She looks back to Morgan coldly while the watchers all return with a snap. "Do you have it ?"
Morgan - Handing her the pouch, "I'd keep it in the bag, please."
Venus - Opening the drawstring and the bag just a little staring in and smiling at an eyeball, "Oh ... the eye has no ears ..." She pokes into the bag with her fingertip, "Can't hear a thing, can you ?" Her voice turns bitter cold, "But I bet you can read lips."
She jabs the eye more sharply before pulling the bag's draw-strings tight again.
Venus - Looking up at Andromeda, "All better now. I forgive you." She looks then to Morgan, "Your account is well up for covering your repairs and some extra ! You've made me very happy again, Morgan."
Morgan - "No time for happy, Venus. We've got to get some ice before the meat goes wrong. Lets put that change into bullets."
Venus - "Oh ! But captain ... you know that won't be enough. I'd still owe."
Morgan - "And yet I somehow feel like I owe you. What are you looking for Venus ? I'm guessing it's in Mycenae."
Venus - "You guess exquisitely as always, Captain." She turns her eyes to Andromeda and back.
Morgan - "Gunner ! Outside. The ship's out back." Looking directly at Venus, "Tell them to fill everything."
Venus furrows her brow back.
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(Voluptus by Pain Teens)
The airborne ship drifts along the mountain peaks surrounding Sanctuary, keeping outside it's ring, Kurukulla pounding to shanty.
Gearworkers hang from the sides singing to replacing leg girders from the new hanging chained beneath the keel. Occasionally they throw things at each other laughing, swinging from their ropes into punches between tasks, tools flying with cheers.
Xquic looks over the peaks through her rifle's scope while Lieu Hanh looks through her spotter scope, adjusting the viewer. Morgan stares at the center of Sanctuary, with thoughtless distraction.
At Andromeda's chair, now blocked off by a curtain, she finds a book on her chair with a ribbon. 'Bullfinch’s Mythology'. She opens it and on the first page is inscribed.
"Did you know you're a constellation ?" With a heart "The crew."
With a smile looking up, she forces back a tear, then flips through back and forth until she finds a page and reads. She climbs her door to the deck and sees Morgan there, staring.
Andromeda - Walks over to look where she looks, "What's in there for you ? It vexes you."
Morgan - Looks angrily at her. "Nothing. Or I'd be there." Turning to her, "Shouldn't you be maintaining your weapon, Gunner ? It was eaten yesterday, you know." She looks back to nothing with a sharp turn.
Andromeda - With a short laugh, "I was there. I know why you look at me like that, you know. Why you want to hate me so much."
She looks back over the rail at one of Sanctuary's mountain castles.
Andromeda - "Lots of people look at me in different ways for different reasons ... I started categorizing them a long time ago. I haven't told anyone because ... people hate it when you adapt to them. At least when you tell them that you did." She looks directly at the captain, "I wonder if you're brave enough to hear your category, Captain ?"
Morgan - Notable silence accompanied by a hard stare.
Andromeda - "It's because you think I'm beautiful. Or I was. That's always the reason of course, but how they act after their judgement is quite defining."
Morgan - "So define me, then."
Andromeda - She smiles a wicked quick smile, "You were once beautiful too, in some magical place so long ago ... maybe a thousand years ..." She breathes in the scent of the wind, closing her eyes to imagine, leaning back, hands on the rail.
Andromeda - Opening her eyes again, "And you know everything that's going to happen to me because of the way I look."
Andromeda - Pulls herself forward to look where Morgan was staring. "And every moment I'm with you it reminds you of everything that's happened to you." She looks back at Morgan. "Because you're beautiful."
Morgan opens her mouth to speak with hesitation.
Andromeda - Looks quickly back to the view and interrupts her. "When you pointed your gun at me all I could think was that it was beautiful, and so were you. I really didn't care if you killed me at that moment. I was just watching you. I still don't care. Such a beautiful ending you could give me ..."
Morgan - Slams her hand hard on top of Andromeda's holding the rail and looks coldly into her excited eyes. "You've got the right chair. But you'd better watch that death wish of yours, or ..."
Andromeda - Bursts out laughing, "Go ahead ! Tell me why I shouldn't make every good choice you've ever made." Giggling, "I want to watch your lips when you lie to me. I don't think you can. Noowwwww ... Go !"
Morgan - Looking truly incredulous and confused, opens her mouth to speak.
Andromeda - "Mmmmmm ! Pokerface !"
Morgan - After some struggle, breaks out laughing with just a little cry. "Do you drink, woman ?"
Andromeda - "Of course I drink. I was sitting at the gun that got eaten yesterday, you know."
The ship drifts along it's way, some seeming to note the captain's laughter.
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Morgan leans over Andromeda's chair with a bottle, while Andromeda sits with a bottle of her own, both clearly affected.
Morgan - "Okay, Gunner. These are high penetration rounds. Spotter shines the light, you shoot there til the light moves on. We've found a pure peak. Solid ice. You cut it off, we catch it, then you ... hold on."
Andromeda - "My chair doesn't have a harness yet ..." She hears the deck stairs slam down and looks over the back of her chair to see the stairs slam up and the rest put on their harnesses.
Andromeda - To herself while she cranks to angle the gun slightly upward, "I fucking hate her."
Morgan - From the top deck, "Gunner ! Shoot your damn gun !" She stomps the deck hard over Andromeda's head, dropping dust.
Andromeda - Through the window she sees the dim light on the ice and she begins the pedals spinning the guns as they drill through. "Feeling. Definite. Hatred." She starts to pedal hard, leaning forward.
Morgan - While mild snowfalls from the peak begin, "Move on Gunner ! The light's moved on ! Pay attention !"
Andromeda - "I can't see the damned light through the smoke and ice chunks !"
Morgan - "I can't hear you through all your complaining !" Stomping over her head, "_Shoot,_ Gunner !"
Andromeda - To herself while she pedals more furiously now standing on them, "I'm going to fucking kill her with her own ! Pretty ! ! Gun !"
Lieu Hanh - "It's moving ! It's going !"
Morgan - "Kill the gun ! Drop the net ! ! Brace !"
Andromeda - "! What ?!"
('Funky Dollar Bill' by Funkadelic)
The peak begins to slide off slowly as the legs beneath the ship drop a net between to catch it.
Andromeda realizes it's size as it approaches her view with explosions of avalanche. She steps off the pedals and grabs the chairs arms as Kurukulla begins to pound. "Yes. I will kill her tonight."
Walking to the front of the boat, Morgan finishes her bottle and tosses it over the edge. She then wraps chains mounted to the deck around her wrists, a smile of anticipation before the ice slides beneath, caught in the net.
The ship jerks violently forward as the back slams hard against the mountain and bounces sideways. It slides fast down the mountain pulled by the weight of the burg, bangs back and forth, side to side between trees on boulders, avalanche in pursuit.
Morgan - In bliss at the front with her eyes closed, "More..."
Andromeda is gripping still the chair, trying to keep upright, teeth clenched and eyes closed tight. Through her windows the avalanches approach fast as churning snow swallows the aft.
Down the mountain it slides, the boat rocking and bouncing until finally Morgan exhales calmly and closes her eyes.
Morgan stomps her foot on the deck to the engineer beneath, "Take off !"
The top dome splits into wings, their undersides balloons filling with steam to make an aerofoil providing lift, while another balloon fills down the middle, beneath the domes second layer, a bit like a scarab.
The chained propeller engines set in the wings fire their ignition as the craft rises behind the burg lifting it slowly with it's glide, before turning back the way they came, the aft under engine lowering and firing after.
Morgan releases the chains and walks with her arms behind her back militarily and into her cabin, while Andromeda opens the stair hatch seeing the door close.
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("Rid of Me" by PJ Harvey)
Andromeda - Enters the captains room abruptly with a loudly door slam behind her and a lock.
Andromeda - Walking straight to Morgan, "Got a sec ?"
Morgan - With an annoyed look and threatening posture, "Gunner ... speak."
Andromeda - "No."
She grabs Morgan by the throat and slams her hard against the wall. Morgan draws her pistol before it's swatted from her hand while Andromeda raises the thumb on her throat to kiss beneath it.
Morgan shudders and leans her head back to the side slowly bringing herself to hold the back of Andromeda's head.
Andromeda - Whispering, "My name is Andromeda."
She pulls Morgan from the wall and to the desk, clearing it with a swipe of her arm. Throwing Morgan over it on her back.
Andromeda - "You're going to remember my name."
Morgan relaxes into an exhale as Andromeda climbs the desk over her and rips the buttons from her jacket one by one, kissing downward.
Andromeda - "And I'm not going to let you cry alone tonight."
