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

"On it, Captain," Tamra said with a nod. She gave the jar that the wasp had been in one last look before heading out of sickbay.

"Miharu and I will double check that everything is secured in cargo, Captain," Lauren said, before point at Safa and adding, "And don't think we're finished talking about what you did to my hair, mummy mosquitoes or no mummy mosquitoes."

Safa just shrugged at the pointing Lauren, not understanding what Lauren was saying (but pretty sure what she was saying).

Lauren harumphed, but led a giggling Miharu out of the sickbay.

"I'm going to store this down in the laboratory," Sabrina Dubois said, picking up the jar and heading down the stairs.

"We'll be here if you need us, Captain," Doctor Motwani said, gesturing toward herself and Bianca, "But hopefully you won't need us."
 
“If you girls could figure out if anyone here knows how to cut hair, I’d appreciate it,” he told his medical team. Honestly, Orson liked long hair and he thought it looked good on Lauren. But what she wanted was more important. Unfortunately, he couldn’t exactly send them out to a salon with mummy mosquitos flying around (he did love that phrase). So someone on board able to fix the problem would be appreciated.

As the crew split up, Orson was happy they didn’t need to question him or defy sensible orders. It was good to see. So Orson moved quickly through the halls of the ship, getting out and, after being sure no insects had slipped inside, closing the door behind him. He talked with the dock workers quickly, making sure they knew the plans for leaving had moved up and they needed to be filled up soon. He added an extra tip onto this to make sure the rush job was done quick. From there, it was to the call station. He needed to contact someone and he couldn’t let the crew find out.

Inside, he was able to be alone with the phone. From there, it was simply a matter of getting his call connected to the university. Once there, he just had to tell them the name of who he was trying to reach.

“Dr. Edward Murdoch, please.”
 
A few switchboard transfers later, Crazy Eddie's voice came on the line.

"Edward Murdoch. Who's calling?"
 
“You know damn well who’s calling,” Orson replied, his voice furious. “I don’t know how you did it, and honestly, I don’t care. What I need is the cure for whatever it is you did to Tamra,” he explained. He was bluffing. He knew that the wasp had failed. But he was pretty sure Eddie didn’t know that. This was his way of confirming his suspicions.
 
"Orson my boy," Eddie chuckled. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Something happened to Doctor Wilson? I hope it wasn't too serious. You need to relax, Orson, and not let the little things bother you. But if something has happened to Doctor Wilson, I'm more than willing to step in. I'm not small-minded about such things." Eddie started laughing at the last remark.
 
Orson suddenly felt a burning anger towards the man on the other end of the line. He couldn’t explain how betrayed he felt right now, but this all but confirmed his suspicions. He sighed audibly into the recover, even going so far as to hang his head. “What do you want?” he asked, now acting defeated. He was able to encapsulate the feeling quite well, just remembering what happened yesterday while speaking.
 
"It's not what I want, Orson my boy," Eddie said with a laugh. "It's what you want. You want a man who knows the legends and mysteries of the Lost Continent. Who can interpret the ruins you find. Possibly even help you find the cure for Doc. Yes, I know that other problem of yours. But that's three jobs you'll need me for, Orson my boy, so it only seems fair that if I come along on your little expedition, I should get three shares of the final haul, don't you think?"
 
Orson couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Eddie wanted money. Three shares of the total take and credit for the expedition. Orson had seen what he was capable of and he knew how fearsome he could be. He knew what he had to do.

“Fine, three shares. They’re yours. Just please, tell me what I need to do to help Tamra,” he continued, now sounding desperate.
 
"The cure is the powdered eggshell of the roc," Eddie laugh. "If your Doctor Wilson was as knowledgeable as she thought she was, even in her diminished state, she'd be aware of that. And the only place that the roc can be found, according to legend, is in the mountain ring at the center of the Lost Continent.
 
“You’re on board. We’re leaving tonight, so get here soon,” Orson told the man, clearly frustrated with him. It seemed like Eddie believed his plan had worked perfectly. Actually, Eddie always believed that he was the smartest person around. It made sense that he’d expect everything to go according to plan. “Is there anything else you’ll need me to do? Any preparations for the roc’s egg?”
 
"You don't need the whole egg.," Eddie replied. "Just a fragment. A piece of the shell as big as your palm will do. I'll see you soon....Captain," Eddie added with a chuckle.
 
Orson hung up the phone, his expression grim. This... this was really happening. It was almost too much for him to handle. Things were about to get messy on board the Midnight Curse. He just hoped not all of his crew left as a result.

Orson left the call station, hurrying for the ship. He was sweating once he got on board, mostly due to tension rather than exhaustion. He locked the door once he got in, then moved towards the bridge. He’d need to speak with his crew.
 
Eddie was chuckling as he hung up the phone. This was almost too easy. And not only was he going on the expedition of a lifetime, but he was going to get three shares of a fortune. Plus whatever he could secret away. After this trip, Eddie wouldn't have to sneak around and sell small things from the University anymore. He was going to be set for life.

The first thing that Eddie did was hand in his resignation to the Department head. He thought about just asking for sabbatical leave, but fuck that! The Department head had been crawling up his ass almost from the moment Eddie had started to teach for the University. So being able to hand in his resignation to the pompous ass was the proverbial icing on the cake that he had forced that chump Orson to serve him.

Before Eddie headed home to pack up enough things to last him for the trip, he decided to make one last stop at the near abandoned storage room he used as his private relic "piggy bank." Since it was probably going to be the last time he would ever be at the University again, it would probably be prudent to see if there was anything he might need.

Eddie chuckled as he picked up the container where he had released the magical wasp. Who knew that something the university had all but discarded would end up securing him the fortune he deserved?

Eddie's musing were interrupted by a hand on his shoulder. He turned around with a growl of "Who the---"

Eddie turned white as a sheet when he saw the owner of the hand, screaming, "No! NO! NO!"

The room that Eddie was in was so isolated, that no one heard him scream. Or when he stopped screaming.

* * * * *

On the bridge of the Midnight Curse, Tamra watched with a smile on her face as the de la Vega twins and Luisa happily went about their various stations. From what she could see, Luisa had taken like a duck to water to the controls of the Analytical Engine, and every time she made a quite suggestion on how to improve something on the computational device, the twins reacted as if every word that came from Luisa was pure genius.

When Orson came on the bridge, she greeted him with a smile. "You're friend who owns the tavern, Mr. Shatner, called," she said, gesturing toward the communication station. "He said he was sending over a case of the Scotch you two toasted to yesterday evening, for good luck. I'm going to miss being able to make phone calls when we launch," Tamra added.
 
Orson had a dark look on his face when he came into the room, but it faded almost instantly upon seeing the crew. Luisa was taking to everything well, almost impossibly so. It seemed like this sort of work might be her true calling. She was also a cutie he very much wanted to cuddle with. Then there were the de la Vegas, matching her genius with their own. If it wasn’t for them, the ship wouldn’t be near ready. They were also the pair that had featured most prominently in his dream last night. Orson almost had to shake away the fantasies. After yesterday, it was hard to not see his crew as the attractive women they were. In fact, Lauren and the de la Vegas were more attractive to him because of yesterday. He found their willingness to oppose him when he was being stupid but listen when he admitted his mistakes very attractive. Maybe he just had a problem.

“That’s good to hear,” he told his first officer when she informed him of the booze. “We should have it served with dinner tonight as a toast to a safe journey,” he suggested. “Also, do me a favor. Stay in the bridge for now. I know it’s a strange request, but please.” He made it clear with his eyes he was serious in his request.
 
"Of course, Captain," Tamra replied. "Do I need to ask the rest of the crew to stay in place?"
 
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “Though if you could quickly tell Dr. Mohtwani and Nurse Costa to stay out of the sickbay, that’d be good. Also, send Saki and Miharu to my quarters. I’ll meet with them in a minute after I talk to our science team,” he explained. “I know, I just asked you to stay. We have at least a few minutes until that becomes a necessity. I just need to get everything handled as soon as possible,” he finished. He hoped she wouldn’t ask too many questions. He really didn’t want to explain this right now.
 
Tamra looked at Orson inquisitively, but did not ask ask any questions. "Miharu and Saki are probably still at breakfast. I'll call them there." Tamra paused before asking, "Should I make sure the laboratory is cleared to, since it's directly connected to Sickbay?"
 
“Yes, please,” he replied. At that moment, he looked around and saw that everyone one the bridge was occupied with their current work. No one was even looking at the captain and his first mate. So Orson did what he felt like he needed to do. He leaned in, giving a quick peck to Tamra on the lips. “Thanks,” he told her, retreating quickly. He knew he had mentioned staying professional, but at this moment, that’s what he needed. But he had to get other things settled. So he parted, moving over to the science team.

“Hello ladies. How goes the preparations?” he asked, returning to a more cheerful appearance.
 
Tamra touched her lips, momentarily surprised by Orson's actions. A small smile crossed her face as she walked over to the communication station to get the ship's sickbay and laboratory cleared, as well as get the Japanese cousins to Orson's quarters.

"We are very fortunate," Cimonah began.

"To have Luisa on board," Ninah continued. "She has come up...."

"...with an ingenious data storage system..."

"....for the ship's analytical engine."

Luisa blushed at the twin's praise. "It's just...well, it was just obvious, Captain James," Luisa responded, her cheeks glowing. "Anyone could have done it."

"Everything else is ready, Captain," Cimonah continued. "Navigation, helm, communications..."

"....meteorological, everything is ready to go," Nina added. "And as a bonus. we think..."

"....somewhere between here and the Lost Continent..."

"....we might be able to come up with a system..."

"....to use voice instead of just Morse code..."

"...with our radio. Rose has some brilliant theories..."

"...that we should be able to put into practice...."

"...and get her her doctorate once we're back home," Cimonah concluded.

"But we're ready to go when you are, Captain," Ninah said decisively.
 
Orson smiled again at the girls. This is what he was here to protect. They wouldn’t be safe with Eddie on board. No one would be.

“That’s excellent news,” he told the trio, looking at this miracle machine they had devised. “And for what it’s worth Luisa, I wouldn’t have been able to what you do. I couldn’t even read that equation you solved when we first met. So I can for certain day you did more than just anyone could do,” he told her with a smile.

“All of that sounds excellent and I can’t begin to imagine how useful it would be to use voice instead of Morse code. But before that, can this thing monitor fuel consumption rates? I want to know how much going through Graveyard Pass expends and how adding or losing cargo effects it during the exoedition. Is that possible?”
 
"Absolutely," Cimonah answered. "That's called..."

"...mathematical modeling," Ninah continued. "We can devise..."

"...various scenarios, including cargo load, weather conditions, any..."

"...variable you can name. After all, we have a brilliant..."

"...mathematician on board."

At this, both twins wrapped their arms around Luisa's shoulders, causing Luisa to blush furiously.
 
“That’s excellent. Luisa, can I put you in charge of watching our fuel levels and predicting how much we need to make the return trip back here? Just maintain the data you need, estimate high if you need to, and tell me when returning would put us at ten percent of fuel. Is that something you can handle?” he asked. He’d usually do such a thing, but he imagined these girls would be much better at that sort of thing.
 
"Absolutely, Captain!" Luisa said eagerly. "We can even design something that will automatically alert anyone on the bridge if the fuel limit reaches certain preset points, or if the rate of fuel exceeds a certain rate. With Cimonah and Ninah's help, of course," Luisa added.

"She is..." Cimonah said.

"...a treasure," Ninah included.
 
Orson couldn’t help but feel a little prideful upon hearing this. After all, most of his crew had been connected or came recommended to him. Luisa was the one he had been able to find with his equation idea. Maybe a bit petty, but it made him happy nonetheless.

“I’ll leave it to you,” he told her with a smile. With that, his business was handled with them. He excused himself, leaving them to go to his cabin. It was time to speak to his two swords.
 
Miharu and Saki were waiting in Orson's quarters in their working clothes, blades tucked away in the belt at their waists.

Saki said something to her cousin, who translated to Orson.

"Saki said she sensed you would want us ready for battle. Was she correct, Captain James?"
 
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