I felt my heart jump, hearing the Captain’s words and knowing this might be my only chance to convince him to let me live. I hesitated, weighing my options. “I already told you if it’s a matter of money,” I leaned forward slightly in an attempt to appear earnest, “I can pay you, more than any ransom you could get for me, if you escort me somewhere I’ll be safe.”
He raised his dark brows, surprised at my request. “You had nothing on you but your precious trinket. Where exactly are you going to get this money? ” he asked, brushing off his well-tailored breeches as he stared judgmentally at my well-worn and dusty clothes. “Not only would I have to take you for your word, which I’m already debating, but to escort you? That’s bad for business.” He leaned back, stretching his arms behind his head as if he were laying on a sandy beach.
I envied his careless attitude; the conversation might have been meaningless to him, but I could feel my anxiety building as I struggled to find a convincing argument. “If you escort me, I’ll have access to all the money you could ask for.” His expression didn’t change, and I knew I hadn’t swayed him. Swallowing hard, I offered the only other thing I thought might be worth his time, “And I can work for you while we travel. I told you I’m an engineer- I can make improvements to your ship. Even proper maintenance will make a difference; how long has it been since she’s been tuned up?”
Laughing, there was a twinkle in the Captain’s eye as if I’d said the magic words he’d been waiting for. Was that why he was keeping me alive? He looked around the fine room, saying proudly, “Does it look like she’s in disrepair?”
“I chose to hide on your ship because I thought she looked impressive. But the state of your walls doesn’t reflect the care of your engines,” I said, frowning in response to his arrogance. “I can at least make her run a little smoother during takeoff. I noticed a lurch when we left Nighbrook, the thruster may have to be recalibrated.”
There was a flicker of interest in his eyes, but I knew it wasn’t enough as he smirked at me. “And you found this fault in my ship while standing in the cargo hold?” He sounded exasperated.
I ground my teeth, bristling as he called my skill into question. It had been years since I’d been forced to prove myself like that. “You can tell a lot when you listen to the inner mechanisms of a ship. She’s full of energy and gears and steam… But if you’re asking what I can offer you, I can make her run much faster if you let me adjust the engines. If that’s not enough, I can replicate the cloaking mechanisms on the military’s highest grade ships; I’ve even figured a way around the flaw that makes it fail at high speeds and altitudes.” I was grasping at straws, offering more than I usually dared to reveal I was capable of. “All I ask is that you allow me to stay onboard until we’ve reached my destination.”
“Your destination…” he repeated thoughtfully, switching topics as he said with an air of curiosity in his voice, “Tell me what you know about energy shards.”
“You sure you’ll be able to keep up?” I asked, noting his unamused expression and hurrying to explain to him what every engineer was taught when they showed unmatched potential in handling machines. “Energy shards are mere fractions of a much larger, rarer crystal. We, as engineers, refer to them as… heartstones.”
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