Chapter 6 – The Crew

            After they went back up the platform elevator shaft, Frank waved goodbye as Alos was led out by his new acquaintance, Xri. They pushed their way past the line of customers waiting at the bar, through the mobs of dancing people, and over to the entrance doors from earlier. As they exited through the first set of doors, Xri seemed to know the Lycanian guards and they spoke in passing.

            “Till next time, friends.” said Xri, waving to the Lycanians over his shoulder as he walked by.

            “So dah young’n is wid you den?” One of the Lycanian guards said, pointing to Alos.

            “Aye, that he is.” Xri responded, turning around to face the guard. “Is there a problem?”

            The other Lycanian stepped forward.

            “Jus a bid weird donchya tink? Man walks intuh dah bar and den comes out wid a litul boy. Di’nt know you wahs intuh dat sorta ting.” An air of smugness clouded the Lycanian's good judgment.

            “You watch your mouth!” Alos shouted in reaction.

            His immediate anger faded as he realized the stature of the bipedal wolf creature in front of him.

            “What did ya say ya litul punk?” The smug look on the Lycanian's face had been replaced by piercing anger. He stepped toward Alos, cocking his neck and staring at him with narrowed eyes. 

            Xri stuck his arm out in front of Alos, whispering, “Allow me.” He then retracted his arm, and walked toward the two Lycanian guards.

            “Look you two, I'm just trying to leave,” Xri said, reaching up and brushing off the smoldering Lycanian’s shoulders. “Do you really want to pick a fight with your good ol’ friend Xri?”

            Both sets of eyes on the Lycanian guards widened with apparent surprise. To Alos, it even looked as though they were scared. Why would they be scared of this guy? By the size of them, he guessed they could have easily thrown him around like a chew toy.

             “Oh we di’nt know it wahs you. We d-d-dun’t want any trouble.” The previously heated Lycanian stuttered, as he staggered in place.

            Xri reached up patting the Lycanian on the head.

            “That's a good boy.”

            He walked away, tugging on Alos collar as he passed, practically picking him up off the floor and carrying him along.

            “Thanks for bailing me out back there.” Alos said, yanking on his sweatshirt, trying to readjust the collar.

            “Let us just make sure it does not happen again.” Xri said, reaching up and readjusting his hat.

            “I’ve got to ask though, why were they so happy to back off?” Alos asked, trotting along beside Xri.

            “Most people rather enjoy keeping their heads mounted on their shoulders.” Xri answered with a glinting smile peering out from under the shadow of his hat.

            Xri led Alos down an elevator, around several streets swamped with people going in and out of shops, and then finally over to a massive building. To Alos, it looked like a parking structure only much, much larger. Clouds could be seen up around the top of the structure, dipping down just below, with several vehicles flying out from within, ripping through the clouds as they tunneled through.

            They walked inside the building and into a bare room, only having an elevator on the opposite wall. After entering the elevator, Xri selected the top floor. The elevator went surprisingly fast, and soon after it came to a sudden halt.

            The magnificence of what Alos saw next left him not only speechless, but slack jawed in amazement. The doors could not open fast enough and he felt as though he was stuck waiting an eternity to fully behold what he glimpsed through the parting doors. Never in his life had he been struck with such sheer awe.

            At the center of the empty top lot was a ship; an airship. It had wings spanning at least one hundred and fifty feet, with two giant, upwards facing turbines at the center of each. The body of the ship was like a giant metallic stingray, with the rear of the ship coming to a circular base, containing another, even larger turbine. The top of the ship had, what appeared to be, a cockpit made out of a dark glass, with the sun gleaming brilliantly off the spotless top. As they walked towards it, the turbines began to power up, and a noticeable airstream started to form around the back turbine, giving it the illusion of a tail. The thunderous turbines thrust out over the litter within the lot, kicking up mini dust storms in their wake. Alos had seen cruisers all his life, and had seen pictures of military airships, but never before had he seen in person a fully functional airship.

            Xri caught a glimpse of Alos’ Jaw dangling from his face and couldn’t help himself from laughing. Alos didn’t even notice though, as he was lost in the awesomeness of the airship before him. Below the body of the ship, a platform extended down to the ground.

            They boarded the platform and were raised up into the ship.

            “Thanks Levitas.” Xri said, as the platform locked into place inside the ship.

            A man was standing beside a control panel, pushing a lever up. He stood several inches shorter than Alos, about 5’8 if he had to guess and wore a black bandanna over his head, under which a small circle bulged just above his brow ridge. A solid metal visor covered his eyes, connecting to circular dome devices cupping over his ears on each side. A small chamber at the center of each cup glowed with flames dancing inside the ruby chambers, casting light in an aura around them. A metal strap ran over the top of his head, connecting from one ear cup to the other. At the base of his skull, covering the top of his neck, layered metallic straps connected from one ear cup to the other, with another strap running up the back of his skull to the center strap. As the man shifted his heard towards Alos and Xri, Alos could see the layered straps shift about, conforming to the man’s moving head.

            “So this is the one you found for the job?” Levitas said, gesturing towards Alos. The man’s voice sounded like a bag of rocks in a tuba, deep, raspy, and unwavering.

            “He looks a bit young.”

            “Frank told me he is the best at what he does.” Xri said, placing his hand on Alos’ shoulder, causing an embarrassed smirk to appear, he unconsciously tilted his head down and away to hide it.

            Embarrassment was replaced with inquisitiveness, “Wait, so how exactly am I going to be helping you?” Alos asked, unsure of why he hadn’t before. “And what about my hand?”

            Xri walked over to Levitas, bent over and whispered something into his ear. Alos couldn’t hear what he said, nor could he read Xri’s lips, as his hat was blocking sight to his mouth, but he didn’t like being left out. Levitas nodded and Xri pulled his head back up, facing Alos.

            “That discussion will be held closer to the job.” Xri said, slightly tilting his hat back. “Levitas here is going to give you a tour of the ship.” Xri gave Levitas a small shove in the back, pushing him toward Alos.

            “You kids have fun.”

            With a smirk on his face, Xri spun around and walked off into the ship. It was hard to read Levitas’ expression with all the metal covering his face, but Alos was pretty sure he didn’t know he was giving a tour.

            “Guess I’m showing you around the ship,” Levitas said. “C’mon kid.”

            He began to walk into the ship and Alos trotted along behind him. They walked down a corridor and then up a small staircase. When they got to the top of the stairs, there was a large double doorway. Levitas pressed a button on the side, opening the door. Down a hallway and through a door, Alos could see Xri walking away. Alos followed along behind Levitas, heading down the same hall as Xri, when Xri, about halfway down the hallway, squatted down and then shot up, with a lightning fast jump. Moments passed and he never came down.

            “Where’d he go!?" Alos asked with confusion cracking through his voice.

            Levitas laughed. “His quarters are just above, that’s how he gets to them.” They approached the section where Xri had jumped up from. “Here, you see the cutout in the ceiling?” Levitas pointed up at circular space in the ceiling.

            “So that’s his room?” Alos asked, still bewildered as to how Xri jumped over ten feet into the air.

            Just then, Xri’s head poked out from above. “Yes, this is my room, and you are welcome to join me up here.” A mocking smile stretched over Xri’s lips, as he said this.

            “How am I supposed to get up?” Alos asked suspiciously, “You can’t possibly expect me to be able to jump up there.”

            “No, but you can amuse me by trying.” Xri snickered after he said this.

            Alos reached his arms up trying to get a feel for how high he would have to jump. He scoffed and shook his head, not even attempting to try it. Xri’s laughs could be heard as the cutout was shut, the doors covering it spiraled closed and created a floral looking design.

            “Come on kid, you still need to be introduced to everyone.” Levitas said, motioning for Alos to follow him.

            They continued down the pathway, which led into an open room. It had a crescent shaped couch around a giant screen mounted on the wall across from it. Sitting on the couch was a large Lycanian. He turned as they entered the room, then stood and walked towards them.

            He was a goliath, even taller than the Lycanians from earlier. He had a head like a wild wolf, with gray and silver fur surrounding off colored eyes, one green, and one blue. Hanging from his broad shoulders was a robotic, mechanical right arm. As the Lycanian pushed off the couch, Alos could see the fingers move as smoothly as a normal hand would, even with its complex metallic structure.

            “Hello, myee name ess Dardaños; it ess a pleasure to ‘ave yeh workin’ wit us.” The Lycanian said, with an accent Alos didn’t recognize. The Lycanians from earlier were using a Southdrem dialect Alos had heard before, but this was different.

            “Hi, I’m Alos.” Alos replied awkwardly, placing his left hand behind his head and scratching. Dardaños glanced down at Alos right arm which was still stuffed into the front pocket on his sweatshirt. His nostrils flared a couple times, making sniffing noises.

            “Iee see we ‘ave suffered dah same fate.” Dardaños said as he brought up his mechanical arm twisting it within his left hand. Alos pulled out his stub which had become more swollen from the last time he looked at it.

            “I don’t think this is as bad yours, luckily for me.” Alos said observing the charred flesh where his hand used to be.

            “Myee injury started wit only myee forearm being detached.” Dardaños said gripping the part of his arm just below the elbow. “Dah wound became infected doe, and dah rest had tuh be amputated from dah shoulder.”

            Alos cringed, grabbing his own shoulder unconsciously. “I really hope that doesn’t happen to me.”

            “Go see Bert; he should be able tuh fix ya up.” Dardaños said, pointing down one of the paths branching off the room they were in.

            “We were headed there next.” Levitas replied.

            “Until later den.” Dardaños said, as he bowed his head slightly to Alos.

            Levitas walked away, with Alos following behind. They went down the path Dardaños had pointed down, passing by several doors, and at the end they reached a small stairway which led down to a platform elevator. Alos followed Levitas onto the elevator and soon they were moving downward. They had only gone down a floor, when the elevator stopped and they got off. Outside the elevator was a short hallway leading to a door. Levitas opened the door and they went inside.

            Inside the room, lining the ceiling, were massive tanks containing a thick green liquid, and bizarrely enough, the green liquid sat at the top of the tank, instead of at the bottom. In fact, Alos believed the liquid seemed to be flowing upwards. Parts of the liquid that were touching the top of the tank would morph into a darker green, then seep down through the rest of the liquid eventually landing down onto the bottom of the tank. When it touched the bottom, it would change into a bright green, brighter than the rest, and then float back to the top with the rest of the liquid where it would slowly shift back to its original color. The trails the liquid would leave as it seeped to the bottom, gave it a slimy, gooey appearance.

            Over on the far end of the room was a tiny man, standing on a stool reaching up, and wrenching something on one of the tanks. He had long, thick, brown gloves that went up to his elbows, and hanging around his neck, he had an apron of the same material draping down his front side, both it and his gloves stained and discolored. Over his eyes, he was wearing thick goggles which were connected to a headset that sat around his head. The headset covered nearly the entirety of his head, leaving a small gap in the very middle of the top, where all his dirty blonde hair was being pushed out, in a wedged Mohawk fashion. Covering his left ear was an earphone, which connected to his right ear where there were only wires soldered together and jagged metal pieces where a second earphone used to be.

            With all the clatter in the room, the man didn’t hear Levitas and Alos approach and even when they were feet away, he was completely oblivious. When Levitas got within arm’s reach, he reached out and tapped him on the shoulder. The man spun around pulling up the right side of his goggles and peered out at them from under. The mix between fierce anger and terrible disgust on the man’s face was an expression unlike anything Alos had ever seen.

            “Aye bug off ya mangy sagits!” The little man belted out with such force, Alos stammered back several feet, almost tripping over himself. His accent sounded like his tongue was taped down inside his mouth, with his throaty grunting being used to compensate.

            “Lay off Merick,” Levitas said sternly, “This lad is joining us on our expedition.”

            “What’s tis sowrry punk going to duhoo anyways, huh!?” Merick yelled, aggressively flicking his wrist out at Alos.

            “He’s going to help. Why don’t you just introduce yourself? Please?” Levitas asked.

            “My name’s Merick. I don’t give a rat’s arse what yours is, so why don’t yeh make like frackin roach an’ scram. EH!? GO ON!” Merick barked at Alos, jutting his chin up and out at him.

            “Fine, let’s go Alos.” Levitas said, shaking his head as he turned around. As they were walking back toward the door, they could hear Merick muttering curses to himself as he resumed clanking his wrench. They got onto the elevator and headed back up when a awkward silence came over the room.

            “Levitas, what’s a sagit?” Alos asked, breaking the silence as the elevator ascended.

            Levitas reached up pinching his brow between his thumb and pointer finger, shook his head, and let out an exacerbated sigh.

            “It’s a derogatory word for slave.”

            Alos snickered at the thought of being called a slave, it was quite amusing really. Alos Maien being called a slave, it was down right ironic. What would his parents think? Sweet Menelich he would have liked to have seen their faces. A smile overtook Alos face as he imagined how his parents would’ve reacted to such a comment.

            Surprised, Levitas looked over at him slightly relieved.

            “I’m glad you took it so well, most people are quite offended when called a sagit.”

            The elevator stopped at the top and they got off.

             “I guess I’m just too ignorant to be offended by it,” Alos said, shrugging his shoulders, “slave or not, that word is just not part of my vocabulary and to me, it sounds hilarious.”

            They walked back down the hall, stopping at the first door on the left. Above the doorway was a two toned light, one side green, and the other red. The red side was lit up, so Levitas leaned up against the door and gave it a few hard knocks. They could hear noises of whistling steam coming from inside the room, followed by feet shuffling over to the door. The door cracked open and a pair of eyes peeked out from behind. They looked like the very eyes of death himself, as they shifted from Levitas to Alos, and then back to Levitas.

            The door suddenly shut close.

            “Uhhh, is that supposed to happen?” Alos asked Levitas, confused as to what had just happened.

            “The red light indicates not to come inside; it means he’s workin’ on somethin’.” Levitas said, fixing his barricaded gaze onto the light above the door. “It’ll turn green soon enough.” The light then went from glowing a deep red, to a bright green as if in response to Levitas' remark. The whistling from inside had stopped, and the man reopened the door, this time all the way.

            A tall lanky man dressed in a long dark robe stood hunched over in the doorway. He was wearing what looked to be a scarf tied over the lower part of his face and around the back of his head and neck. The scarf had a vivid neon green center, with aqua blue trimming, but what surprised Alos was that the scarf appeared to have circuitry running all throughout it. The man reached up and pulled down his scarf.

            Alos had never seen such disturbing person before.

            The back of his head was completely shaven, while the top of his head was thick with hair. His bangs were so long, that they were pulled together and tied at his forehead with a golden ring which sat just above his brow ridge. The jet-black ponytail of hair ran down his face, over his nose, to his chin, where it tied into his beard, which then continued downward, draping over the center of his chest. Several rings seemed to hold the beard mask in place over his face and chest. The guy’s face, his... horribly strange face. The man didn’t have just bags under his eyes, he had deep black trenches where light only ever dreamed of reaching. His lips were cracked, crusty, and rocky, despite being laden with the natural oils from his hair. On the sides of his head, long goblin ears stretched from his skeletal, wide jaw line to his bulging forehead.

            Levitas stepped inside and Alos followed.

            Beakers, alembics, and burners lined the far wall. There was a mortar and pestle and beside it a machine with a multicolored powder sitting on it's open tray. The machine was connected to a computer which was displaying several different windows of statistics Alos was unfamiliar with. Stacked in a pile next to the computer were cardboard boxes with the label “bananabeef.” A strange pungent aroma seemed to be permeating from the boxes and Alos’ nose wrinkled at the smell.

            On the left side of room on top of a cabinet, were bottles upon bottles of differently labeled liquids. The cabinet the bottles were on top of had sliding glass panes instead of doors. Inside the cabinet was a dense forest of charcoal black mushrooms, some having red dots, others having purple dots, while a few had both.  Torches lined the ceiling just above the mushrooms, and once every thirty seconds or so, they would spit fire onto the mushrooms.

            On the right side of the room, hanging from the wall, were rows of syringes. Different colors filled the syringes, each with its own unique label. Hanging beside the syringes was a gun-like object with a nozzle at the tip, and a slot on the top for something to be inserted in. Below the syringes was a sink, which had signs of recent use and beside the sink was a toilet, which also appeared to have been recently used. Alos was then unsure if the smell was coming from the “bananabeef” boxes or if it was just the lingering side effects of the recent toilet use.

            “What are you working on Zeith?” Levitas asked the strange man.

            The man’s lips stretched into a smirk, as he pressed the tips of his fingers together.

            “The ladder of life, the keeper of genes,
A way to enact it, through unusual means.”

            “Are you talkin’ about DNA?” Levitas responded. Alos had no idea how Levitas managed to pull that away from what was just said.

            “You are correct, indeed, indeed,
Through this, it will spring forth like a weed.”

            Alos turned to Levitas, his eyebrow raised and said “Is he trying to rhyme?”

            “He’s done this for as long as I’ve known him, whether it’s intentional or not, I don’t know.” Levitas said shaking his head, his voice like a bag of rocks.

            Alos leaned towards Levitas whispering, “Is he, you know… crazy?”

            “I have the courtesy to invite YOU into my domain,
And YOU have the audacity to ask if I am sane?”

            “Errrm, well, I uhh,” Alos said awkwardly, as he shifted his weight around.

            “Intelligence weeps at the assumptions you make,
The pit of ignorance you dwell in must be the size of a lake.”

            Zeith cackled, his amused smirk turning into a full toothed grin. Even Levitas couldn’t keep from softly chuckling to himself. Alos turned down to the ground, his face warmly blushing as the robed man stepped toward him.

            “Embarrassment is only relevant if you are burdened by fame,
But alas you are not, for I do not even know your name.”

            Alos looked up at Zeith who was glaring back at him.

            “I’m Alos.”

            Zeith’s attention was caught and he turned and walked over to a yellow liquid containing beaker being heated by a burner. He reached over and grabbed another beaker, this one containing a purple liquid, and poured it into the beaker being heated. The colors swirled together in a majestic symphony of transformation until they morphed into a light blue. He then reached over and pressed a button beside the burner. The light above the doorway turned, flipping from green back to red.

            “C’mon, we should go.” Levitas said to Alos, motioning toward the door with his head. Alos opened the door, and they both exited Zeith’s room.

            Alos watched the door close behind them, practically waiting for it to click shut. The moment it finished closing, Alos turned to Levitas and asked,

            “What is bananabeef?”

            “I wish I knew kid,” Levitas replied, “but then again, there are some things about that guy we’re probably better off not knowin’.”

            They walked down the hall stopping at the next door on the right. Similar to the last door, they had come from, there was a two toned light above the door. The light glowed red, so Levitas knocked on the door. After a brief moment, the light turned green, and Alos followed Levitas inside.

            They were welcomed inside by a massive Simanian, coated in a long grey medical coat. The coat must have been custom tailored, because the Simanian was nearly as wide as he was tall, hell he must have been at least seven foot. The sleeves of the coat stopped just below the elbows, with brightly colored bracers extending out of the mouth of the sleeves. A holographic interface was being projected out of the top of his left bracer, displaying schematics to some circuitry, the schematics were quickly retracted though as Alos and Levitas stepped into the room.

            “What’re you up to Bert?” Levitas asked the Simanian.

            “Is this an attempt at small talk?” Bert asked his left eye brow raising.

            “Yeah, I suppose it is.”

            “Why are you here?” Bert’s brow retracted to its original position.

            “I’m introducin’ our newest member to the rest of the crew,” Levitas shoved Alos forward towards Bert.

            “This is Alos.”

            “Uh, hello.” Alos said looking around the room, awkwardly avoiding eye contact.

            Tied around Bert’s forehead was something Alos failed to notice before; an intricately designed, rainbow colored headband. Cupped around his ears, following the outline of his jaw, was a mask like headset, with a mouth piece that stuck out from his chin. Alos’ eyes were then caught by the Simanian’s.

            “Why were you selected for this task?” Bert asked Alos, with such direct intent that it only added to the tension.

            “I guess I’m supposed to help out in an Omninet related issue of some sort,” Alos said, quickly adding, “But I haven’t exactly been filled in on how yet.” 

            Bert stood staring at Alos for several moments, exacerbating the awkward tension even further. It was as though he was trying to read his mind, or discern whether he was lying or not. Alos was uncomfortable.

            “I have been notified you were injured,” Bert said, taking a step toward Alos. “Allow me to examine your injury.”

            Alos had almost forgotten about his missing hand in all the excitement of the preceding events. Like waking up with his hand in a blender, he instantly regained awareness of the waves of sharp pain pulsating through his wrist. Struggling, Alos grabbed onto his right arm with his left hand and pulled his arm out of his sweatshirt, brandishing his charred mutilated nub.

            Bert leaned in towards it, close enough to kiss it, when a metallic covering extended up over his face from out of the headset. He moved his massive head around to observe the charred flesh from several different angles, graphical displays fluttering about the mask, until he was satisfied. He then turned around to the desk behind him, quickly grabbing something and turning back with a tube in his gloved hand, and his mask retracted.

            “This is a topical analgesic,” Bert said as he squirted a white paste from the tube into his other hand, “You will feel a sharp pain, followed by coldness, and then numbness in the area.”

            Alos stuck out his arm and clenched his face preemptively in his best attempt to prepare for the administration of the paste. The sensation of Bert touching his arm felt like he shoved his arm straight into an outlet. The excruciating sensation of pain quickly disappeared though and like Bert described, was followed by a freezing cold sensation. After placing the tube back on his desk, Bert wiped the excess paste off of Alos' arm, without Alos even flinching, awing him with how effective the numbing agent was. Bert then peeled off his synthetic rubber gloves, trapping the excess paste inside and tossed them into a slot in the wall.

            “You will be provided with a hand later, which I will attach.” Bert said looking at Alos’ missing limb.

            “Why can’t you now?” Alos asked, impatience voiced in the question.

            “That was not the agreement.” Bert brushed his coat out, as he turned back towards his desk.

            “Compliance will grant you accommodation.”

            Levitas and Alos looked at each other with raised eyebrows, or in Levitas' case, metal facial coverings.

            “Please leave now, it is late and I still need to finish up.” Bert said, as he pressed a button shifting the light above the doorway back to red.

            “Thanks Bert.” Levitas said.

            “Yeah, thanks, this feels way better.” Alos added.

            No answer came from Bert, who was hunkering over his desk fiddling with something.

            Levitas opened the door leading Alos out into the hallway.

            “I swear half the people on this ship have a stick right up their ass.” Alos said to Levitas, shaking his head as they made their way back down the hall. “And the other half belong in an asylum. That Merick guy…”

            “Welcome to the crew kid,” Levitas smirked, “So do I have a stick up my ass, or should I be in an asylum?”

            “Actually, you’re the only person so far that I haven’t been formerly introduced to, making it harder to say.” A grin started to dance its way across Alos face. “If I had to say though, you seem like the only normal one... er, minus the whole 'metal covering your face' thing.”

            Levitas laughed deeply.

            They had walked through the open room from earlier and down another hallway. The hallway was lined with adjacent rooms on both sides like the previous and at the end they stopped at a room with its door wide open.

            Levitas turned to Alos, the corners of his lips still curled up into a smile from the terrible attempt at humor Alos had made.

            “These’ll be your quarters.” Levitas motioned inside with both hands.

            “Thanks, I’m exhausted.” Alos said as he plopped onto the bed in the room.

            “Lad, you’re gonna be a fine addition to the ship.” Levitas said, nodding his head lightly.

            Before Alos could respond though, he had already gotten comfortable and begun to drift off to sleep. Shaking his head in disbelief, Levitas laughed at Alos as he exited the room.