Postcards From the Beyond - Chapter 7

Sebastian felt a thrill of excitement despite his anxiety. At last he was going through the portal! Though he did wish it was under different circumstances. His excitement was soon replaced by a sick feeling however. He felt as if he were being stretched very thin. The colours of the vortex swirled dizzyingly around him. He closed his eyes, but he could still see the colours behind his eyelids. It was some time before he realised the journey was over and he felt solid ground beneath him.
Sebastian opened his eyes cautiously, the world about him wobbled and blurred alarmingly. He had to take several deep breaths before it steadied again. Then he became aware of Gileon leaning over him looking concerned.
“Take it steady,” Gileon advised, helping Sebastian sit up, “vortex travel takes some getting used to. And you haven't even been in the simulator or had any training!”
“Where are we?” Seb asked, his voice seemed far away, but his head was quickly clearing.
“On Rattenbury's ship it seems,” Gileon said fearfully. Sebastian looked around with interest now. He saw they were indeed on the deck of a ship. The creature called Clump stood guarding them, a little way off. Above him he saw stars shining more brilliantly than he had ever seen.
The ship appeared to be stationary. This surprised Sebastian, surely he should feel the motion of the waves. Come to think of it, he couldn't hear any waves either.
Then he remembered, Jaon Rattenbury was a space pirate. They must be in outer space! But that didn't seem to fit either.
The ship wasn't sleek and shining metal like any spacecraft he had ever seen or imagined, it was an old fashioned wooden galleon from the 17th century, all wooden boards and tall masts and tangles of rope rigging and billowing cloth sails. But then Sebastian looked closer. The wooden deck he was sitting on didn't feel like wood, it was as cold as metal. And the cloth of the sails was unlike any he had ever seen. It rippled like water and glowed iridescent under the starlight. He could also now see many carefully concealed instrument panels, twinkling with coloured lights and scrolling readouts. Sebastian just sat and gaped, he really was on a pirate ship somewhere deep in space. Excitement exploded within him.
Gileon on the other hand couldn't have been less excited. He sat beside Sebastian rocking anxiously back and forth and pulling at his tail fur.
“I'm so sorry, so sorry. It's all my fault that you're mixed up in this,” he muttered to Sebastian. Seb took the poor creatures paws to stop him from pulling all the fur from his tail.
“It's ok, it's not your fault!” Seb reassured him. He marvelled at how calm he sounded when inside he was writhing with emotions. Fear about how and if he would get home. Wonder, at being in space. Excitement at what new marvels he might see. He felt no regret that he was here at all.
“You don't understand!” Gileon whimpered, “this is Jaon Rattenbury's ship! Who knows what he'll do....” Gileon was interrupted before he could say any more. The quiet deck suddenly became a riot as aliens of every shape, size and colour imaginable burst forth lead by Jaon Rattenbury himself.
“Where is it?” Jaon demanded throwing the sack of postcards down before them. Cards spilled out onto the deck.
“Where's what?” Sebastian asked, Gileon was too terrified to speak.
“The postcard!”
Seb stared at the pirate. Then he bent down and picked up one of the spilled cards and held it out to Jaon.
“Here's one.”
“Not just any postcard!” Jaon snapped snatching the card from Sebastian's hand and throwing it down again, “the one from the Department of Interstellar Vehicles. The one that has the location of my impounded ship on it!”
“You... already have a ship,” Seb dared to say, looking around him in confusion.
“This old wreck!” Jaon spat, throwing his hands up in exasperation, “this rattling bucket of gobblubbers! You think the greatest living space pirate would sail in this zeezil infested space hopper!”
Sebastian didn't know what to say to that. He didn't know anything about fashionable space ships for pirates. He decided it would be most prudent to keep quiet. The pirate ranted on regardless.
“My ship, The Wandering Star. My beautiful, sleek, pride and joy has been impounded!” he uttered a curse, “We only left it for a moment to make a withdrawal from the bank account of a rather rich Flutoian, and when we got back it had been towed!” he grumbled. “Ha! The fools at the DIV don't even realise whose ship they've got! It's registered under a false name!” The captain swelled with pride at this deception.
“Why don't you just buy a new ship?” Seb wondered, “You must have lots of loot if you're really a great space pirate?”
Jaon scowled at him, then his face flushed with embarrassment.
“Most of our hoard was hidden aboard the ship,” he admitted, shuffling uncomfortably, “we only have enough to rent this unspaceworthy craft. All the other pirates hung their heads, shamefaced. Sebastian wondered at how such a supposedly great space pirate could have made such a mistake. He found his fear of the pirate was greatly reduced.
“We've been watching the communication portals to intercept the postcard with the impounding details on it. We tracked it to your portal. So where is it?”
“Maybe it was in the other load,” Gileon said quietly.
“Other load?” Jaon enquired, raising several eyebrows.
“It's been a busy month, the fault in the vortex is deteriorating further, there's been two loads of postcards to Seb's portal this month.”
“Ah ha! that's it! The tracking system is rather imprecise about time,” Jaon exclaimed.
“But it's too late!” Gileon whimpered, “The other postcards have already been delivered to the Department of Misdirected Mail for processing!”
“Then we're going to the DMM to intercept it!” Jaon cried, punching the air. “All hands on deck, get us under way!” The other pirates raised a cheer as they scuttled off to fulfil their duties.
“Put these two in the brig,” Jaon ordered distractedly as he hurried away.