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

In the private residence of Max Tarloff, Max and his wards were enjoying a private dinner. Max was using the time to try to impart twenty plus years of accumulated practical engineering expertise. Granted, his wards might be the most brilliant design engineers he had ever encountered, but there was a world of difference between how an airship handled on a test run within sight of the hangar as opposed to being leagues away from home.

In his private quarters, Dandy was having the same kind of supper with Miharu. But unlike Max and the twins, Dandy wasn't worried about Miharu. The young woman, for all her cute and innocent ways, had been fighting for survival since she had escaped a native feud in Japan. Her reputation as a bodyguard in the city was such that most criminals didn't even contemplate attacking someone she was protecting. So instead Dandy enjoyed a quiet supper with the daughter of his heart.

Ayisha and Bianca had supper with Doc Cummings, who was his normal, friendly yet outrageous self. Ayishu could see the telltale signs of the onset of the final stage of Chimera Bite in Doc's face, but said nothing, affecting the cheerful mood that was the tempo of their dinner.

Onboard the Midnight Curse, Vu and Qui had made a repast for Safa and Tamra that would have been the dictionary definition of sumptuous in any setting. The Vietnamese young ladies had made tartines so delicious that they would have made Captain James weep if he'd only known that all he had to do to have one was return to his airship for supper. As luck would have it, Vietnamese was one of the grab bag of languages that Safa spoke, and it was the only language that Qui spoke, so the four ladies had a delightful conversation during and after dinner.

Somewhere along the eastern shores of the Lost Continent, Kisu was studying the colors of the fire before her, occasionally tossing in different colored powders and observing their reactions.

Somewhere east of the Cook Islands, a Mediterranean woman and a Polynesian woman were island hopping their way to Central America, with their plot carefully designed to take them north of the Lost Continent. A makeshift distillery in the cargo area of the aeroplane ensured that the aeroplane, modified to land on the water, would make it to Central America. Afterr Central America, their plans became a little hazy but, considering all they had survived so far, they weren't worried.

And just outside the women's bathroom in the Mathematics Department, two doctoral students in the University's small but thriving physics department were waiting to meet an airship captain to discover if a young janitorial worker was the female version of a Horatio Algers character.
 
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“Hello again,” Orson said as he approached the women. It was interesting being at the university at night. During the day, there had been an air of activity, even when it was quiet. At night, it was almost uncomfortably quiet. “Rose, I hope Luna treated you to a good meal.”

“So, where is this prodigy of yours?” he asked Luna, his hand moving to his pocket to check the paper was still there. Of course, it was. He had been almost paranoid about losing it, having inspected his pocket over a hundred times since leaving. He needed to make sure he didn’t lose it. The results of doing so would undermine this whole day.
 
"I have no idea," Luna said with a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders. "I've talked to her a couple of times, when she was on break, and she really can solve those equations the Mathematics department leave on the board sometimes. I've seen her to do it," Luna said to Rose and Orson (mainly Rose).

Rose just rolled her eyes in response.

"Anyway, this is when the cleaning staff usually comes in. I think this might be a night that Luisa works. Maybe," Luna added.

"There's a coffee room right around the corner that the Mathematics and Physics departments maintains for its staff and students who work late," Rose told Orson. "The coffee's too strong, and the packages of tea biscuits they stock the room with are always stale, but it's free. Care to get some bad coffee while we wait to see if Luna's math prodigy shows up tonight?"
 
“You know, a funny think happens when you’ve lived on a ship that forced you to live exclusively on water and hardtack for months. Suddenly your standards for food go way down,” he joked, following the girls to the break room. Of course, this wasn’t entirely true after having his encounter with Vu’s cooking yesterday. But just because he didn’t think it was great didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy it. Anything with flavor was welcome after that event.

Once they were in the empty break room, he got himself the bad coffee and biscuits to snack on as they waited. True to Rose’s word, the coffee was too strong and the biscuits were stale. Still, he drank and ate them. Now he was just waiting in a different location. At least their were people with him. “So what are you two studying? I know Rose is in physics and Luna believes in the Hollow Earth, but there’s got to be more depth there.”
 
"We're both doctoral students in the physics department," Rose explained. "My doctoral thesis is about determining the existence of an ultrashort radio wavelength. Luna's is on the use of radio waves to predict meteorological events. Which is how we both got involved with the de la Vega twins and their radio detection device. And why don't we start looking around. I see some of the cleaning staff is here."

At that moment, an older gentleman in grey clothing carrying a mop and bucket walked by.
 
Orson was impressed, even if he didn’t understand. Still, he had seen what the Twins could do. If they had faith in these women’s abilities, so would he. But his attention was called away by the nearby custodial staff. Orson decided to tak point.

“Excuse me, sir,” he said, hailing to him. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m looking for a woman named Luisa who works here as part of the cleaning staff. Would you happen to know where she is?”
 
"Que?" the man responded.

"Never mind, I got this," Rose said. She spun off something in Spanish and, after a few exchanges with the man, turned back to Orson.

"She's down this way," Rose said, pointing down a hallway. "Marcus...the gentleman back there, says she likes to come in early sometimes, to see problems on the boards, before she starts work. See the problems, not necessarily solve the problems," Rose added.

Luna just huffed as headed down the hallway.

A younger woman was sitting at one of the student benches, scribbling down a problem that a lecturer had left on the board. When Luna entered the room first, Luisa stood up, apologizing. "Sorry, sorry, I'm leaving."

Luna went down to the level Luisa was sitting at, trying to calm her down. While Luna was doing so, Rose said to Orson, "When you go down there, keep your distance. Don't try to force eye contact. Don't get between her and the door. A few of the staff here don't understand the concept of boundaries, and it's hard enough to enforce those when you have family clout like me and Luna. Understand me?" Rose said, as Luna waved at her and Orson to come down.
 
Orson took what she said to heart. He was not going to purposefully make someone uncomfortable. That was just a cruel and almost always pointless endeavor. So he began to walk closer to her, though he chose an angle that not only followed Rose’s conditions, but also made it so she could see him for the entire approach. If she was this nervous, he could only imagine what sneaking up behind her would do.

Eventually, Orson reached what he hoped was a respectable distance, standing about ten feet away from her. When Luna finished talking, he spoke himself. “Hello. Luisa, right? I’m Captain Orson James. It’s nice to meet you.”
 
The pretty Latina bobbed her head, not looking up, and answered, "It's nice to meet you too, Captain James. Miss Lucille says you have a math problem you want me to look at."
 
“Yes, I do. I was wondering if you’d be able to solve this,” he said, looking slightly away from her as he pulled out the sheet of paper. He passed it to Luna who was able to give it to the girl.

He took a seat in a nearby chair, looking out of the window. “You’re welcome to take your time on it, if you’d like to try. We can also leave you alone if that’d be easier for you.”
 
As soon as Luisa took the problem from Luna's hands, she began scribbling on the margins of the problem, and in her own notebook. Her face was screwed up in concentration, and it was as if she had forgotten there was anyone else in the room.

After fifteen minutes, she flipped the paper the problem had been on, and began writing furiously. Once she was finished, she beamed proudly and handed it to Orson, the nervousness she had treated him with earlier entirely gone.

"Shit, is that right?" Rose said, looking over Orson's shoulder. "Pardon the French, but that's right. Luna, comie look at this. She used elliptic curves to solve it."

Luna patted Luisa on the shoulder and said, "My friend is going to be eating crow for the foreseeable future."
 
He really liked watching her work. Orson found competent women attractive, it was true. It’s part of why he found his crew so amazing. But as an extension, he loved watching people be so thoroughly focused on a challenging task. It was just interesting.

When the fifteen minutes passed, he was left looking at an answer that was even harder to understand than the original question. However, he took out the other sheet and compared his provided answer. Sure enough, they added up. Orson couldn’t for the life of him understand how she had done it, but she had.

“This is amazing,” he said. “Luisa, would you be interested in a job involving this sort of math?”
 
"Holy shit, that was right," Rose muttered again, still in a state of disbelief.

At the mention of a job, Luisa immediately withdrew back into herself. "I...I just clean," she managed to mutter.

"You do a lot more than clean, Luisa," Luna said, taking the Latina's hand and patting it with her free one. "What kind of job are we talking about, Captain James?" Luna asked.
 
He did his best to take on a warm tone. Honestly, he wasn’t bothered at all by her shyness, not viewing it as an issue to try and accommodate her. “I’m the captain of an airship. I’m currently assembling a crew in order to mount an expedition into the lost continent. I have hired Cimonah and Ninah de la Vega as my ship’s engineers. They need a mathematician to assist them with their work. And according to them, anyone who can solve that problem is perfect for the job,” he explained. “If I understand correctly, much of your time would be spent with a new machine they recently developed. Though you would need to speak to them to understand the details.”

He looked at her hopefully, but he was ready to look away if she appeared uncomfortable. He decided to add in one more piece, hoping it wouldn’t bother her. “For what it’s worth, I agree with Luna. You can clean, but you can also do so much more.”
 
"Who---who are Cimonah and Ninah de la Vega?" Luisa asked. This man who called himself an airship captain said the names to her like they should mean something to her.

Rose rolled her eyes again. Obviously she knew who the de la Vegas were, and Rose knew that if the de la Vegas were men, they'd be as famous as Tesla or Edison. Still, within the island's engineering and scientific circles, the de la Vegas enjoyed a solid reputation, but one could hardly expect a cleaning lady to know who they were, even if the cleaning lady had shown herself to be a mathematical savant.

Luna ended up being the one explaining it to Luisa. "Cimonah and Ninah de la Vega are very good friends of mine. You'd like them a lot. They've adapted a machine called the Analytical Engine that's very good at processing facts and analyzing them. What if we all went to take a look at this Analytical Engine? All of us," Luna said to Rose before the other woman could object. "Maybe we might even be able to meet the de la Vega twins. They're very nice women who are our age. You'll like them a lot. Would that work for you, Captain James?" Luna asked.
 
Dammit. Orson had just assumed most people knew about the Twins. Guess that was just his ignorant thinking at play here. Still, Luisa didn’t outright refuse. That was something. “Of course. Ninah and Cimonan have moved on board my ship, so you’re likely to meet them if you come over. We could head over now if you wanted. But I imagine you still have work tonight. If that doesn’t work, would the three of you like to come by tomorrow?”
 
Rose was about to respond that tonight was out of the question, as she wanted to go home, relax, and eventually go to sleep, but perhaps tomorrow, after she graded papers of an undergraduate class her doctoral thesis adviser taught.

Luna was about to respond that tonight would be perfect, that Luisa should quit her present job, as the future was about to open for, and allow her to use the mathematical genius she was born with.

Luisa beat both the physicists to the punch, with her face beaming again, as she answered, "Oh, I can't tonight. Tonight I get to help feed the butterflies."
 
Orson felt his heart throb as she smiled and said that. In that moment there was such pure innocence looking at him. She was adorable. He also decided this would be a good opportunity to get himself in her good graces. “That’s perfectly alright. It doesn’t have to be tonight. But you get to feed butterflies tonight? Where do you do that?”
 
Dr. Edward "Crazy Eddie" Murdoch had been literally around the corner, selling a minor Egyptian piece to a smuggler, when he had almost stumbled into the room that Orson and the trio of women were talking in. The piece had been catalogued and promptly forgotten in the University's Archaeology Department, so Eddie wasn't too worried about his transaction being discovered. Still, it was best to do such things away from his fellow archaeologists, who might recognize either the smuggler or the Egyptian piece in question. So Eddie had arranged the sale to take placed in an empty office in the University's Mathematics Department.

That was when Eddie saw the meeting between Orson and three women. Eddie deduced that two of the women were probably graduate students, but the third one confused Eddie. She was dressed as one of the cleaning crew who made their way through the University each night. What was Orson playing at?

Eddie had expected Orson to contact him by now. Well, it would happen soon, Eddie reasoned. As soon as that wasp released its curse, it could only go two ways. The first way, the curse would be laid on that young, uppity Doctor Wilson, and Orson would have to come to him to get the curse lifted. The second way, somebody else would get cursed, by that know-it-all Doctor Wilson wouldn't know what to do, and Orson would still have to come to him. Either way, Eddie would finally get to be back in an expedition and, if all went well, this would be the one that set him up for life.

All he had to do was be patient.

With that thought in mind, Eddie left the Mathematics department unseen.

* * * * *

"Is that tonight?" Luna asked Luisa, and the young cleaning woman nodded enthusiastically.

"I don't know if you're familiar with them, Captain James," Luna told him, "But there is a bioluminiscent flower native to the eastern part of the Lost Continent, called the...well, I'm afraid I don't know the scientific designation, but they're called Moon Roses by most people. They blossom once a year at night. Which night the blossoming happens varies, depending on the region where they are found, but in the University's skylight covered atrium, they have to be given a little nudge on order to bloom. We also have those butterflies that look like Monarchs, except their colors are blue and white, and not orange and black. They are called, surprisingly enough, Moon Butterflied." Luna added with a laugh.

"Moon butterflies have to have access to a blooming moon rose in order to reproduce," Luisa announced.

"Aren't you a budding naturalist?" Luna said with a smile, which caused Luisa to duck her head and blush.

"Dr. Dubois has been teaching me a lot," Luisa answered.

"Senior or junior?" Rose asked.

"Probably Junior," Luna answered, before turning her attention to Orson. "Dr. Jean Paul Dubois is the Chair of the University's Naturalist Department. He came to us from the University of Paris a couple of years ago because the University's Naturalist Department is the leader in the study of the fauna and flora of the Lost Continent,. He brought along his daughter when he came over. She's turned the University's skylight covered atrium into possibly the finest collection of relatively harmless plants and animals from the Lost Continent. She is a stickler about how you enter and exit the collection, though. Even the Dean minds his Ps and Qs when he's on her turf."

"I'm supposed to ring the bell at the atrium's east entrance shortly, and let her come get me," Luisa told them.
 
Orson thought he heard something outside the room. But when he looked over to the door, he saw nothing. He dismissed it, believing he was just imagining things. There were more important people to focus on at the moment.

“That sounds pretty magical,” he answered. He had read about the moonlight rose, but he hadn’t seen one. As with everything from the lost continent, he was interested in it, even if it was only aesthetically. Plus, this was a once a year experience. Who could pass that up?

“Would you mind if I came as well?” he asked the girl. “I’ve been interested in seeing a moonlight rose in bloom for some time now. I might not get a chance on the continent itself to see it, so this may be my only chance for some time. And I promise, I’ll follow every rule you have. Captain’s Honor.”
 
"Not my rules," Luisa replied shyly, but at least comfortable enough to talk to Orson directly. "Dr. Dubois' rules"

Luisa led the group out of the room (followed even by the seemingly cynical Rose), first stopping to tell Marcus her whereabouts.

Luisa then led the band to the University's Naturalist Department.

Years ago, a wealthy donor had donated the funds for a new Naturalist building. At the center was an atrium, enclosed by a skylight. The atrium had fell into disuse, never receiving its full potential. That is, until Jean Paul Dubois arrived at the university, with his daughter in tow. While the father began reinvigorating the teaching and researching aspects of the Department, his daughter took over the lapsing taxonomy associated with newly discovered species from the Lost Continent. In addition, she threw herself into revitalizing the atrium into what it was originally designed for. Between father and daughter, the University's Naturalist Department was now almost as well regarded by academics across the globe as its Archaeological Department was.

At the east entrance was a button connected to an electric buzzer. By the buzzer was a sign that read, "No entry without appointment. No exceptions."

A single push of the button and a couple of minutes later, a woman with olive skin, in tan blouse and slacks with her hair in a bun, opened the east entrance. Upon seeing Luisa, the young woman smile brightly at seeing Luisa.

"Luisa! Bonsoir! You are right on time," the woman opening the entrance said. "And you have brought friends." The woman in question pointed at Rose and Luna, adding, "You two I think I know. Physics graduate students, non? You, however," she added, pointing at Orson, her lips forming a slight frown, "I do not know."
 
Orson was almost taken aback again. She contrasted the appearance of the other girls he had met here significantly. He imagined there were two main reasons for this beyond his established love for French women, but he tried to focus on answering her question at the moment. After all, he was a gentleman.

“Pardon me. I am Captain Orson James, an airship captain with a fascination for all things associated with the lost continent. I was offering Luisa a spot on my upcoming expedition when she told use about the moon roses. I’d love to have a chance to see them,” he explained cordially. He avoided using any French at the moment. After all, there was no need to deeply embarrass himself. “I hope that would be alright, Dr. Dubois.”
 
"Hmmph," Dr. Dubois said, eying Orson, Luna and Rose critically, not saying a word. Even Rose had the good sense not to try to make eye contact with the Frenchwoman.

Finally, Dr. Dubois patted Luisa lightly on the cheek, before turning to the others. "Suivez-moi, s'il vous plait," she instructed, motioning for the group to follow her. "Remain on the path, keep your hands by your sides, and watch where you put your feet."

Dr. Dubois led the group along a dirt path, thick undergrowth on both sides, with birds and other animals crying out in the background. Were it not for the fact that just a minute ago the group had went through a door to enter the atrium, one might almost believe one with in a jungle on the Lost Continent.

After a couple of minutes, the group came into a small clearing, which consisted of a number of bushes, which looked as if they had pale white cattails extending from them.

Dr. Dubois motioned for Rose, Luna and Orson to stay on the edge of the clearing with the instruction to "Taisez-vous! Be quiet!" She then picked up two nearby poles, each which seemed to have white tea balls at the end. She handed one to Luisa and whispered, "You remember how I told you to use them?" Luisa smiled and nodded, earning a smile in return.

The two of them approached the cattails and held the tea balls over the top, lightly shaking them. The top of the cattails opened up, revealing silverish white orchid like blooms, each with light blue streaks.

As soon as Luisa and Dr. Dubois finished, they returned to join the other three. Rose, standing next to Orson, whispered, "Do you see that?"

That was at least fifty butterflies, blue and white, descending en masse onto the opened blossoms. When the butterflies were settle on the bloom, Dr. Dubois said, "You may speak normally now, if you wish."
 
Orson obeyed her orders to the letter. He understood the value in what she was saying. He carefully admired the foliage around them. It was amazing how she had gotten this place to look. If he didn’t know better, he would’ve sworn he was outside in some jungle, not in a university building. This woman was incredible at what she did. Orson couldn’t help but admire her as they made their way to their destination.

When they reached where they were headed, Orson could only watch the display the two put on. He wasn’t sure what they were doing, but the results were breathtaking. The beautiful flowers that opened up was a magical sight. He hadn’t expected to see something like this when he had come here this afternoon, and now he was even happier that he did. He’d be sad if Luisa didn’t want to come, but this sight alone made today’s efforts worth it.

It was a sight could only improve, it turned out. Orson looked where Rose was pointing, seeing the swarm of butterflies, moving towards the flowers. They fluttered around the flowers, landing and flying on their own whim, creating a mesmerizing light show of nature. It was genuinely beautiful. “Amazing,” he breathed. While he had been told he could talk normally, his voice remained quiet, as if speaking too loudly could break the scene they were watching.

“This is why I want to go to the lost continent,” he said, not really to anyone in particular. But it was true. This was something incredible and new that only the lost continent had. Before people had explored it, no one knew this existed. Now, it could be shown to the world like this. That’s something he wanted. To see things no one else had and bring them back to show the world. He was feeling more inspired than ever to make his expedition a success.
 
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"It is beautiful," Dr. Dubois agreed, before turning her attention back to Orson. "So what is position you're offering Luisa?" she asked Orson in a no nonsense tone.
 
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