Snippet #2808944

Rikki took the time given to head down to the Sick Bay of the good ship Bronze Bolt to stow her sea chest and take stock of things. Fairly standard layout, of course. A few bunks lined up along one wall, with the other wall lined with shelves and drawers presumably stocked with everything the expedition would need. She would have to make a full inventory later, but for now she would just have to take the Prof’s word for it. Dropping the sea chest on the bunk situated against the far wall, Rikki pulled the curtain around to wall off a little area from the rest of Sick Bay. There was no need for the Ship’s Doctor to be any further away than necessarry from her patients, if and when she had them.

Wanting to quickly return above deck, Rikki grabbed a large backpack that served as her field medkit out of the chest and swung it onto one shoulder. After lifting out the bottom of the sea chest, she pulled out a seven-cylindered revolver complete with holster and gunbelt in an almost reverent manner. Other than the extra cylinder, the revolver was a fairly standard one: longish barrel, regular ammunition, cherrywood lined grip. The last thing she pulled out of the chest before closing it were her goggles. Simple and practical, with a blue tint in the lenses, nobody sailing on an airship should go without them.

Satisfied that everything was in order, at least for now, Rikki hurried back towards the main deck. On her way past a set of stairs that led to the upper decks, something made her pause for a moment. It might have been a twinge in her knee, or a twitch in her eye that made her stop. There was a door, in an out of the way place, and only visible if you looked for it. With the shadows and the colouring of the door, it could be easily dismissable to the eye, but Rikki could feel its presence. Several moments passed, how many she didn’t know, when she was roused out of a stupor by the calls on deck, hand resting on the doorknob.

Puffing her bangs out of her eyes and readjusting her goggles, Rikki ran over to the railing to see what was going on. All thoughts of the strange door were completely forgotten as she laid her eyes on the huge chunk of metal. Something about it remided her of the Horned Men she had encountered during her voyages with the Deadalus. The metal thing looked like nothing more than…

“That’s the propulsion exhaust-thinger, isn’t it?” The Doctor asked aloud. “I’m not an engineer, so I don’t know the lingo, but that thing’s just a bigger version of what propels this ship. Something that gihugeic, though… that ship would be massive!”

Rikki peered around at those gathered around the rail, her eyes resting a bit longer on the girl that seemed to be floating at the rail next to her, before staring evenly at the Professor.

“Prof, if we’re going to check that thing out, make sure all your people are updated on their Tetanus shots before we do,” she said sternly, before adding more lightly: “But of course all you Cogsman folks would already be inoculated against whatever metals you work with.”