S. Welles - To Ocean's End

“Jessie, why did you assault one of my crew members with an oar?”

“He saw me. How was I supposed to know he wouldn’t try and hand me right back over to Tethys?”

“You came from Tethys’s ship?” Sauna said over another bout of Scully’s vomiting. “Que horrible.”

Jessie’s face hardened.

“What’s it like over there? What does he do when he’s not chasing us around?” Sauna scooted closer to the edge, dragging his plate over the lacquered wood, and present the remainder of his potato wedges to Jessie. She gave them a ravenous look before snatching one up. I positioned myself in front of the hall leading to the stern, keeping one eye on Jessie, and the other on Scully. I’d eventually have to hunt down Cancer, our ship’s medic, the only man banned from ship fights. Sutures were your own job when he had dead men to tend to, unless you couldn’t reach the spot.

I backed up two steps and opened up a tall, thin door concealing folding chairs. I took one out, then carried it over to Scully and nudged him with it. He pulled his head out of the garbage, then he stuck his rear in the air as I set he chair under him. I returned to my post across from Jessie. Scully resumed vomiting as Jessie spoke.

“It’s not as nice as it is here. I don’t know what he does. Shipping, I guess. He kept me locked up all the time.”

“How did you escape?” I asked.

“I kicked the door until it broke,” she said, eyes hardening with bad memories.

“An iron door?”

“It took months. The frame was rusty. Eventually Tethys had a hard time shutting and locking the door because I’d bent the frame that bad.”

“No wonder you can kick so hard,” Mido said as he added some diced vegetables to the grill. “You’ve been practicing.”

“A lot.” Jessie snatched another potato wedge and shuffled back out of arm’s reach of the table. Not sure what her deal was. I wanted to tell her to sit down but I’d let her be for now. She’d been through enough already.

“How often did you get fed on Tethys’ ship?” Mido asked.

“Once or twice a day. I used to get more food snuck to me until they all learned I’d give them bruises in place of the sexual favors they wanted.”

“You don’t have to worry about that anymore,” Mido said.

“I hope so. I’m tired of stupid people and I’m tired of starving.”

I said, “However, a few members might need some reminding that you’re not here for their pleasure. It might take a few painful lessons for them to get the picture to leave you alone. But don’t hold it against them. We’re all just men. We can go months at a time without so much as hearing a woman’s sweet voice.”

“I’ll cuss you out with my ‘sweet voice,’” Jessie warned. Mido and Sauna laughed.

“That reminds me,” I said, unfolding my arms. I crossed the galley and headed for the stairs to the main deck. “Sauna, assign Jessie one of the empty bunks once she’s fed, then show her where the showers are and get back to the engine room.”

“Yes, Captain.”

I stopped at the base of the stairs and looked at Scully, whose face was quite green and grey, and the back of his head a bloody mess. I headed for the wheelhouse to make sure we were still on course. The compass read that I was bearing a little too far south by one degree. I un-wedged the wood, turned the stick slightly, then put the ship back on auto pilot and met up with Sam at the bow. The sun was finally out in full force, turning the chill wind hot and humid. I unbuttoned my trench coat.

Rammus and Sam were carrying supplies to their appropriate locations around the ship. I informed Cancer via my old-fashioned sound system about his new patient. Hopefully he had the energy for it after preparing two corpses for cremation.

Purposely deciding against using the com a second time, I left the wheelhouse and headed over to Sam in the cargo hold, who stood among several head-high stacks of crates and boxes. “Where’s Rammus?”

“He’ll be coming back from the deck shortly.”

I turned around, headed for the deck, and found Rammus descending the steep steel stairs. I motioned him to stop. He gave me a curious look as I glanced in Sam’s direction before ascending to the hatch. I took hold of his arm. “Anyone else been this way recently?”

“No, sir.”

I glanced up and down the starboard side of my ship. I let go of his arm. Sam and the cargo hold were well out earshot. I spoke in a low voice anyway. “Rammus, we’ve got some special cargo. A woman. She goes by the name of Jessie but her real name is… is Amphitrite.” Once again my stomach did a flop. Rammus’s slate eyes widened.

“That’s—”

“Do not call her anything but Jessie. She doesn’t leave this ship, unless I say so. Got it?”

“Yes, Captain. I hope this portends good.”

“So do I. Now get back to work.”

Jessie ate her chicken stir fry with her gaze frequently checking each man’s proximity to her, using each raise of her fork as an opportunity to disguise her wariness, even though her inability to take a seat gave away part of how terrified she was. The more complacent these jerks got, the easier it would be to defend herself later, whenever necessary. Men were acceptable to have around, so long as they knew their place.

However, she was safest when she knew her place as well. Right now, she was an intruder who was getting fed.

Back on Tethys’s ship, there had been three other women. Two of them were crybabies that did nothing but feel sorry for themselves, and one was a whore who must’ve been a nympho. Unfortunately, her hormones made her think she was some sort of sex queen or goddess; the whore started pulling dominatrix moves, so the men responded by taking her in twos and threes. Her moans turned into cries as they raped her. Every time they were done, she’d spew a tirade about how they’d just treated her, until the day she was replaced.

Dyne hadn’t bothered threatening bodily harm no matter how much she yelled at or beat up him or the rest of his jerks. What was it with them? Were they just a bunch of pushovers? But Dyne had a gun. It took a lot of gall to carry around something that dangerous.

“Are you alright, Jessie?” Mido asked from across the table. “Did you just find a bit with too much spices on it?”

Without realizing it, Jessie had froze with an empty fork in front of her full mouth. She resumed chewing and shook her head. She swallowed, then snipped, “I’m fine.” She grabbed another forkful of the greatest meal she’d had in who knows how long, and checked her company’s positions once again. They were still out of kicking range. Sauna leaned against the ice box and folded his arms.

Guns were something Jessie never wanted to deal with. She’d seen firsthand what happened to those stupid enough to carry one when she was young. Back in Cyprus, a gang leader named Adrastos had found a gun that had survived the centuries, so he flaunted it to get his way. Rumors spread that the gang leader had found a way to get the quasi-children do to his bidding, but no one had seen them do more than appear or vanish every time.

One day, Adrastos wanted to take Dad’s orchards. He refused, calling Adrastos’ control over the quasis a bluff. As it turned out, Dad was right. The second Adrastos aimed his gun at Dad, the quasi-children swarmed the gang leader and somehow killed him without drawing blood. Dad bent over and picked up the gun. It looked like he was holding it out for the quasis to take when they touched his arm. They took the gun, then vanished as Dad clutched his chest and went into cardiac arrest.

As soon as Jessie finished her meal, Mido rose and collected the plate and fork, his arms at max reaching distance while she more tossed than handed everything over. At least the cook had learned to stay away. She didn’t much care to beat up the hand that fed her, especially if food was going to taste that good until she got home.