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Adventures on the Lost Continent (Midnight Lass x Blood Red Romeo)

"And at the very least, we can help with cleaning, when we're not doing our regular jobs," Luisa said. "I'm going to get her right now." And without a word, Luisa ran out of the mess.

"She's certainly excitable," Sabrina Dubois observed, before turning back to Orson. "As to your offer, there's only one answer I can give to that, and that's---"

Before Sabrina could give an answer, Bianca came running into the room. She looked around, spotted Orson, and headed straight to Orson.

"Captain James, you better come to the bridge," she said breathlessly. "You're not going to believe what's going on."
 
Orson watched the girl run off happily. It’d be nice if her cousin agreed to come. If she could run this machine properly, they’d be smooth sailing from here on out. At least if it was as capable as Orson was led to believe. That alone would be worth bringing along a regular civilian. But a camping expert? Even better.

As Dr. Dubois began to reply, he fully expected her to say she would come only if Luisa came. However, when Bianca came in, that was pushed from his head. Whatever her answer, it could wait.

“What’s the problem?” he asked, standing up immediately. The warm smile and friendly voice he had on moments before were gone. Now, he was in Captain mode. He moved quickly through the ship, practically at a run. While it was tempting to sprint, he knew that was wrong. Too easy to slip and injure yourself, putting everyone in a worse situation than before. Even so, he made it to the bridge as fast as possible, ready for whatever awaited him.
 
The rest of the crew and guests had followed Orson to the bridge. On the docks below, a crowd had started to gather. For a moment, it seemed the crowd parted, and an exotic face was looking straight up at Orson. The look lasted only for a moment, and then the exotic face disappeared.

"Up there," Bianca said, pointing. 'Up there' was a hot air balloon, with a blonde figure sitting on the edge of its basket. There was something on the blonde's back.

Tamra took out two pairs of binoculars from their locations on the bridge. She handed one pair to Orson while she used the other pair to focus on the blonde figure.

"That's our parachute salesman," Tamra commented. "Though I suppose I should say saleswoman."

"Could I borrow those for a second?" Jane asked. "This looks like a story developing!"

"Of course," Tamra answered, handing the binoculars to the journalist.

Just as Jane brought the binoculars to focus, the blonde woman fell backwards, falling to the water below. From the dock, the collective gasp of the watchers was almost audible from the bridge.

The woman dropped for a few seconds, and then a parachute opened from the pack on her back. The parachute in question wasn't white or round, but square and multicolored. And the woman began making the parachute turn and swing in a way that a round parachute couldn't.

When the woman was about a hundred feet above the surface of the water, she unstrapped herself from the parachute and dropped straight down into the water.

"That was quite a show," Jane remarked to no one in particular.

A frown appeared on Tamra's face as she peered down at the water. "Binoculars, please," she said, holding her hands out. Jane quickly complied. Tamra scanned the surface of the water. "She should have come up by now."

"Over there," Bianca shouted. The blonde had appeared at the bottom of a ladder leading up to the dock. She had some kind of device with tubes leading up to her mouth and an oval glass over her face. The tubes led to a cylinder on her back. In addition, some kind of large black device was floating in the water next to her. As the blonde exited the water and began climbing the ladder, a group of policemen gathered at the top of the ladder, waiting for her.

Bianca took the binoculars and focused on the group of policemen. "Captain James, isn't that our mutual friend in charge of the police over there?"
 
Henry Chafetz had already been in a foul mood. Earlier that day, he had learned that Bianca was going to be leaving, traveling on an airship for an expedition as the ship’s nurse. On the one hand, he was happy for her. It was chance for her to do something new with her life, get some experience. He always appreciated the perspective his time in the navy had granted him. At the same time, she hadn’t even been the one to tell him. Plus it meant she’d be away for a while. That had been the moment when he finally admitted what he had known for a while: she just wasn’t into him.

As he was dealing with the results of this not-really-rejection, he had gotten word that a crazy woman had launched a hot air balloon above the docks. Even crazier, by the time he and his fellow officers had gotten there, she was in the process of jumping. She had survived with a parachute, but did she even realize what this sort of disturbance did to the public? And what if her little test had failed? Whether or not she got hurt, she might have hurt someone else, and that was where Henry drew the line.

“What the hell were you thinking pulling a stunt like that?” he asked her as she climbed out of the water. There were four other officers, casually spred out. If she tried to run, she’d easily be tackled.
 
Lauren Evans, inventor, saleswoman and known daredevil, just grinned as she climbed up on the deck. "Hang on a second, just need to get this off my back. Makes it difficult to keep my balance, don't you know." Once she got the cylinder on her back, she looked up at the police officer and grinned. "I was conducting a sales pitch en masse. You know, trying to reach the widest audience possible with a single event. New type of parachute, an apparatus for remaining underwater for a sustained period of time, even an underwater propulsion device designed for rapid movement from one underwater point to another. And this," Lauren added, plucking at the full bodysuit she was wearing, "is another invention of mine. I call it a wetsuit. Water gets between the suit and the person wearing it, and actually acts as a layer of insulation, keeping the wearer warm."

Lauren tilted her to one side and gave Chafetz a lopsided smile. "But why am I thinking that you're not particularly interested in any of these innovations?"

* * * * *

On the bridge of the airship, Tamra had taken back her binoculars to watch the unfolding drama. "So, Captain, do you think we ought to go down there and intervene? Or should we consider our appointment with our parachute saleswoman tomorrow to be postponed indefinitely?"
 
Evans. Henry practically groaned. Her name had popped up in more than one police report. A known nuisance. Not exactly dangerous, but reckless. Never sought permission to do anything. She just did what she wanted, where she wanted. Honestly, Henry was impressed with her inventions, just not her way of displaying them. “There’s a time and a place, Ms. Evans. You want to show something off? We have permits at city hall for public displays,” he explained. “We’re going to have to-“

“Hang on!” someone from the crowd yelled. Henry turned his head, still watching Lauren out of the corner of his eye, only to see his old navy buddy turned airship captain approaching him. “Sorry, she’s with me,” Orson explained.

“You know Lauren Evans?” he asked. He was kind of surprised, but at the same time, it made sense. She almost reminded him Orson with her recklessness, though she was even worse than he was.

“Yeah, there was a miscommunication. She was doing a display to try and sell us the parachutes. We were going to get the permit today, but someone said the permit was for today. Classic mixup,” Orson lird. Henry knew his friend and knew that was complete bullshit. “I’ll be happy to pay the fine for her. It was our fault anyway.” Henry paused, eyeing up the man and the woman.

“I can live with that,” the said, pulling out a pad of paper and writing down the ticket. If Orson wasn’t his friend and wasn’t set to leave in a few days, he never would have let it slide. But if the fine got paid, he wasn’t going to complain. Maybe this might even get Evans out of the city. Win-win as far as he was considered. “Count yourself lucky, Ms. Evans,” he said as handed the Captain the ticket. Then he signaled for his fellow officers to clear the area. They were done.

Orson was left grumbling as he looked over the ticket, unhappy he had to use his pull with the police for something so trivial. When his friend was gone, he turned to the woman. “Orson James, Captain of The Midnight Curse. I believe we had an appointment.”
 
"Tomorrow afternoon," Lauren replied. "But the weather forecast was calling for inclement weather. Plus, plenty of potential customers around here, And the crowds always enjoy my shows, so why not? Sorry, forgot to introduce myself," the blonde continued, extending her hands. "Lauren Evans, but you probably saw that on the ticket. The police would take me in, but they have to have a matroness to do so, and I always make sure I know where the four the city employs are before I do one of my advertisements."

"By the way, are they with you?" Lauren asked, motioning toward Miharu and Saki, who were hanging back a little. Miharu shrugged and said, "Dr. Wilson felt we should keep on eye on things."
 
Orson was a bit stunned. Wasn’t keeping track of four separate employees and their location around the city around the clock more work than just applying for a permit? She might just be an anarchist, breaking the rules just to break them. He wouldn’t put it past her, given what he had seen so far.

“Ah, yes, they’re with me. They’re my trained assassins,” he only partially joked. Mohair was a Warrior, not sure about the assassin part. He was pretty sure Saki was one though. He didn’t know many other reasons someone would learn how to use a knife like that.

“Well, we’ve seen your demonstration now. Would you like to come inside and discuss a deal? Your inventions are pretty impressive,” he commented, gesturing towards his ship.
 
"Lead the way," Lauren said, motioning for Orson to lead the way to where his airship was tethered.

"That was an amazing demonstration," Miharu said, walking by Lauren while Saki moved ahead. "Do you have regular shows?"

Lauren laughed. "Not hardly. It's impossible for a woman to get a permit in this city. Now, for a woman daredevil, the only place to go is the American West. And the last time I did apply for a permit, I was required to give diagrams for the equipment I would be using. Not only did I not get a permit, but the next thing I know, one of my competitors has all my latest designs. So I'm happy with the way I do things now. I get my sales, I get to keep my designs and the worst that happens is I get a ticket to add to my collection of my unpaid tickets."

Miharu shook her head, not quite following Lauren's explanation, but happy that the blonde woman was optimistic in her outlook.

"I told your first officer, Captain James," Lauren said, as they all arrived at the airship, "But I'll tell you the same. Very nice ship. Very nice."
 
“I appreciate it,” he said, still chuckling at the story she had told. “Not only a good model, but my engineers have done wonders with it.” He led her to the mess hall, figuring that would be the best place to talk. Luckily, there was some leftover cake, giving him a better way to butter her up. He was surprised Miharu hadn’t devoured the entire thing already. He sent Miharu to get Tamra, thinking it’d be best to have her here as well. “You’re welcome to some,” he said, gesturing to the chocolate confection.

“So, I don’t mean to stomp on your defiant attitude, but this ticket,” he said, holding up the one that Henry had written, “needs to be paid, even if that’s just in giving us a discount on what we buy from you equal to its value. I know you have leeway, but as the captain of an officially registered airship, they have a lot of ways they can come after me. Plus, the officer in charge is a good friend of mine. I’m not going to ruin his trust over this,” Orson explained. “If we can’t agree to that much, then I don’t think I’ll be able to give you an offer.”
 
"Spoken as a man who's never had anything stolen from him because of his gender," Lauren said with a shrug. "Well, sorry we couldn't do business. Good luck with your expedition, Captain James," Lauren said with a sloppy salute.

Jane chose to enter the mess just at the same time as Lauren was leaving. "Hey, wait, I wanted to talk to you about that stunt." she shouted, chasing after the blonde daredevil.

The de la Vega twins entered the mess as Jane chased after Lauren, a look of puzzlement on their face.

"Hey, where's she going?" Cimonah asked, "We wanted to..."

"...ask about her foil design," Ninah continued. "That was magnificent!"

Miharu, who had been happily stuffing her face with chocolate cake, replied happily, "She didn't have a permit for what she did because the last time she tried to get a permit they stole her inventions so they fined her and Captain James said it was her fault and she needed to pay her fines."

Cimonah and Ninah's jaws dropped, and they both stared at Orson.

"Consider this..." Ninah started.

"...our resignation!" Cimonah finished. With that the twins stormed out.

Tamra came in just as the twins stormed out. She watched them head out, then turned back to Orson.

"Do I want to know?" she asked.
 
Orson sat back, put his hands on his face, and practically yelled into them. He sat back in silence, thinking what had just happened. He had thought himself to be being reasonable. When you got fines, you pay them. That was the way things worked. Sure, Orson would play fast and loose with the rules at times, but never in such a way that would bring down legal forces on him. At least not publicly. However, there was one line that stuck out to him. The comment about his gender. Honestly, Orson paid lip service to supporting women, but he really didn’t have all that much exposure to them.

“Are things really that bad for women out there?” he asked. “I’ve been working on ships with all male crews since I was fourteen, and before then I wasn’t exactly following social trends. But I never thought that it was that bad. Women getting kept from good jobs, prevented from certain professions, rude comments or touches in a bar. But are they really stolen from with no recourse?”
 
"Mahari, why don't you take Saki, Vu and Qui somewhere else on the airship, and make sure everyone else stays out," Tamra instructed.

Mahari smiled, nodded her head and led her Japanese cousin and the Vietnamese cooks out of the mess and gallery.

Tamra poured herself a cup of coffee as well as one for Orson before she began talking.

"Right now, in the entire world, the only place women can legally vote in national elections is New Zealand," Tamra began. "Due to its proximity to the Lost Continent, this University has one of the leading Archaeology Departments in the world, and I am the only woman on its faculty. Doctor Dubois is the only one of two women in this University's Naturalist Department. And our University is very progressive when it comes to the hiring of women in teaching positions. Ask Doctor Motwani how often she is mistaken for a nurse. Not that there is anything wrong with the nursing profession, but it should not be the only profession in the medical field available to women. A generation ago, there were no university trained women archaeologists, and due to her ethnic background, becoming a surgeon and physician would not have been merely difficult for Doctor Motwani, it would have been impossible."

Tamra paused before she asked, "So what brought on this soul searching, Orson?"
 
He sat there for a moment, contemplating what she had said. “I told Lauren if she was going to do business with us, she’d need to pay the fine I took on in order to get the cops to leave. She said she didn’t listen to the law because they stole her designs in the past, and said I had never had something stolen from me because of my gender. She left, Miharu told the twins what happened, and they then resigned,” he explained, a sour look on his face. “I guess I never realized how bad it actually was. Maybe I’m too insulated to see things from others’ perspectives,” he said aloud, wondering to himself. “How badly did I fuck up there?”
 
"Let's find out," Tamra asked. "Hang on a second."

Tamra stuck her head out of the doorway and call Mahiru back in. Mahiru look slightly concerned as she stepped back in.

"Is everything all right, Dr. Wilson?"

"Perfectly. I just need to find out something. Do you remember the woman who parachuted over the ocean earlier?" Tamra asked.

Mahiru nodded, a smile on her face. "Her name was Lauren. She was a very nice lady. I think it would be very enjoyable to do what she does."

"Of course you would," Tamra said with a smile. "Do you remember what you told Ninah and Cimorah?"

"Lauren told me how, when she applied for a permit, she had to give them designs for her inventions, and they didn't give her a permit and they stole her designs. So she doesn't apply for permits anymore. And the Captain said she still has to pay her fines. And when Nina and Cimorah asked why Lauren was leaving, I told them all that. And they got mad and left."

Tamra nodded thoughtfully, then said, "Why don't you grab a piece of cake on your way out, Mahiru? And make sure everyone stays out, okay?"

Mahiru smiled brightly, grabbed a piece of cake, and left.

Tamra looked at Orson and sighed. "Just so you understand the chain of events, our parachuting friend applies for a legal permit, and she's denied one. Which isn't surprising, given she's a woman. But to add insult to injury, when she applies for this permit, she has to give them designs for whatever she's using in her stunt, and they steal it from her and give the design to friends of theirs. So if you're given a choice of applying for a permit you won't get, and which process the bureaucrats treat as a license to steal your intellectual designs, or doing whatever you wanted to do without a permit, which do you do? It's not anarchy, Captain, it's resisting a system rigged against you. And you wanted her to pay a fine for not getting a permit which she wouldn't have been allowed to get anyway, and would have had intellectual property stolen from her in the process. So you understand why the de la Vega twins were incensed to hear you expected Lauren to pay her fines?"
 
Orson felt like two things at that moment. The first was a deservedly scolded child. The second was an ignorant idiot. “Yes,” he sighed. He hadn’t fully thought through the situation from her perspective. He had never had to deal with anything like what Tamra was describing. He had never worried if his appropriate documents would be accepted. He had never had to fear being legally robbed just because of his gender. No one questioned his claim to be a Captain of a ship. “I thought I was better than a lot of the people out there when it came to women. Turns out I’m just as bad.”

After a brief moment, he stood up, looking like a man with renewed purpose. “Would you mind coming with me? I need to go and apologize to our inventor acquaintance. I think it’d go over better if you were there to back me up.”
 
"You do remember we have a ship full of visitors, at least one of which we need to make the Analytical Engine work, at least according to our engineers?" Tamra asked. "And speaking of the de la Vegas, we need to talk to them first, to get them to come back. Because if we don't talk to them before they talk to their guardian, there goes our engineers and any supplies we need from Steam and Air. And if Max is irritated at us, he'll tell Dandy, which means we lose Mahiru and Saki. So why don't you talk to our guests and I'll catch up to the twins."

"And may I make a suggestion, Orson?" Tamra continued. "Go in there and tell the ladies what you did and where I'm going. Don't make an excuse. Don't give a reason. Just let them know you erred greatly, and are going to correct your behavior. When I bring the twins back, you'll make your apology. And if I find Lauren, I'll bring her back here and you'll make your apology."

"So are we agreed on this plan?"
 
She was right. He wanted to go to them himself to show his sincerity, but the rest of the ship needed to be controlled. Orson had fucked up royally. As usual, Tamra was the one proving to have a level head when it was needed. “You’re right,” he agreed, preparing to go out there and explain the situation. “Just let them know that I am sorry. I know I’ll be telling them that myself, but let them know I want to apologize.”

Honestly, Orson wished he was navigating Graveyard Pass. At least that he could predict and understand. It was wind and rocks and flying. He could do that. This sort of thing? It was beyond him a lot of the time. Honestly, if he didn’t have his own goal in mind, he never would have been a captain. He’d much rather be a helmsman and an extra gun.

Still, you have to deal with the hand you’re dealt, especially if you dealt it to yourself. So Orson did just that. He ended up going to the bridge with Miharu where everyone was and he explained what had happened. As Tamra suggested, he told exactly what happened and what he had done. No excuses, just the truth and how he felt he had made a great mistake. After that, it was just a matter of waiting.
 
As Orson made his oration, the only sounds in the room were Ayisha translating for Safa, with Vu and Mahiru translating for their respective cousins. Jane walked in near the beginning of Orson's mea culpa, but Sabrina Dubois quickly shushed her. After Orson finished, the bridge was silent, until Jane broke the ice.

"Well that's definitely a headline," Jane said in a wry tone, "Man apologizes, makes no excuses"

This got a chuckle from the room. Safa walked up to Orson and said, "Apana kuka keli, apana sikalata, amhi pudhe pravasa karato."

Ayisha translated for Orson, "We err, we learn, we move forward."

Sabrina Dubois stepped forward. "If you're still looking for a naturalist, you have my services at your disposal, Captain. With the caveat that, when Luisa returns with her cousin Maria, you hire them both. Unless there is an overwhelming reason not to. Which I don't suspect there to be."

Luna and Rose exchanged a quick conversation, then Luna stepped forward. "We'd like to come along too, Captain James," Luna said. "We can help the de la Vegas with their engineering duties, and we both have doctoral thesis that can be bolstered by direct observations of physical events on the Lost Continent."
 
Orson found himself standing there with bated breath. He didn’t know how they’d react. He’d always been told that captain needed to always project strength, no matter what. Apologizing to a crew member was greatly frowned upon. Public ally apologizing to the entire crew, unheard of.

Jane’s joke made him feel better, but it wasn’t over yet. Then Safa’s comment, followed by the rest. Orson couldn’t have felt better. Okay, he could’ve felt better, but he was happy to learn he didn’t need to put on a false authoritative persona. All he needed to do was be honest. That itself was alleviating all on its own.

“Dr. Dubois, Luisa is more than welcome. And unless Maria attempts to kill me upon meeting her, I intend to hire her as well. So I welcome you to the crew,” he said with his own awkward smile. “Luna, Rose, you are both welcome on board as well, provided the de la Vegas approve. Judging by your earlier conversation, I’m sure they will.”

With that, he stepped aside. He needed to wait now. He would apologize to the women. Even if they didn’t return, he’d hope they’d at least forgive him.
 
Somewhere between where the Midnight Curse was berthed, and the headquarters/warehouse of Steam and Air, was a small, upscale winehouse called the Crystal Goblet. Tamra had caught up to the de la Vega twins just outside the bar, and had convinced them to have a drink with her inside and exchange a few words. Except the twins weren't so much interested in an exchange as they were in venting their frustration with men in general, and especially men who felt they were entitled to steal the ideals of women. Even under the protection of their guardiant, Max Tarloff, they had had to put up with intellectual thievery, and the recent incident with the parachutist had set them off.

Tamra nodded sympathetically while try to calm the twins down and convince them that Captain James was different, and it had all been a big misunderstanding, but the twins didn't seem to want to have any part of Tamra's relayed apology. Tamra just hoped she could wear them down and convince them to come back to the Midnight Curse.

* * * * *

"So how would you feel about a journalist tagging along, Captain James?' Jane joked.

The assembled crew was more at ease, and had made their way back to the mess. Vu, Qui and Safa had served coffee while cleaning up after the luncheon.

"An airborne travelogue," Sabrina Dubois remarked, "An interesting idea, Lady---"

"Just Jane, Dr. Dubois," Jane insisted. "If your Captain does allow me to tag along."

"Then call me Sabrina," Sabrina Dubois answered, before turning her attention to Orson. "And speaking of the upcoming voyage, Captain James, Dr. Wilson mentioned something about Darnium?"
 
“Well, Jane, if you don’t mind me using your first name as well,” he replied, still nervously awaiting the return of the twins. He wondered if he could do something to make it up to them, but there wasn’t much he had that he thought they’d be interested in. “Zoe like to hear more about what you’d be hoping to do. I’d have no problem with it, I just want to be kept up to speed.”

“As to your question Sabrina,” he really hoped she didn’t mind he was also using her first name, “I was told there were reports of pure darnium on the continent, but no one has found any. If we could track down the source, it could be a great source of income for us. Not just by gathering some, but also selling the location to a mining company. But no one in my crew any geological training, so that plan might be tough to follow through on.”
 
"In polite company, one waits for the invitation of informality to be extended, Captain James, rather than assuming it," Jane answered, "But since I'm trying to hitch a ride, I suppose beggars can't be choosers. I'd like to do something akin to Twain's Travellers Abroad, though I doubt I could do anything near as humorous. What is darnium, anyway?"

"It's a fairly rare mineral," Sabrina answered. "With some unusual properties. There's been quite a lot of speculation about its potential industrial applications, but nothing has been developed yet. Still, hope springs eternal." Sabrina gave a gallic shrug and added, "And that's pretty much the extent of my knowledge on darnium, Captain James. I peruse the geology journals from time to time,, but I have studied geology since my undergraduate days."
 
“My apologies, Lady Salvin. I wasn’t trying to offend,” he quickly backtracked. Orson wasn’t in the mood for angering anyone else today. He had just been trying to be friendly. “We’d be happy to let you come along. It’d be nice to see how the story of our journey gets told.”

“As to the darnium, that’s unfortunate, but also understandable. It’s not like I know much about it myself. Still, I don’t want to give up on it just yet. It’s more likely to work out than the cure plan, at least,” he mused. “You wouldn’t happen to anyone looking to go on a whirlwind adventure to the lost continent with expertise in geology, would you?”

Orson had still been thinking about what he could do to make it up to the twins when an idea hit him. It wasn’t something he exactly liked, but it was an idea. Something he had that they didn’t already know. At least, he was pretty sure they didn’t know. There was only one way to find out.
 
Sabrina tilted her head back and laughed. "If you had asked me that about myself, I would have given you a resounding no. Point of fact, we only have one geologist in the Naturalist department, Dr. Cristina Dimitriu, from Romania. She's a bit strange...well, a lot strange. I know she's a Hungarian noblewoman from somewhere in the Carpathian mountains, but that's about it. She could probably be good source for briefing on darnium, but that's all I think she would be."

About that time, Luisa brought in another young Hispanic woman, though the young woman in question moved with a confidence, in contrast to Luisa's shy demeanor.

"Captain James, my cousin Maria," Luisa said. Maria extended her hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Captain."
 
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