A Cure for Boundary Pirates by Steve Ruskin

Author:Steve Ruskin [Ruskin, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Alpine Alchemy Press
Published: 2019-11-28T18:30:00+00:00

Two days later Simon was home in bed. The doctor was just leaving, and Simon heard him talking to his wife. “He’s better today. Whatever illness it was has subsided. Maybe something is going around. It’s nothing to worry about.”

Someone had left the morning paper next to him on the bed. He skimmed the front page.

Lost Airship Recovered!

The Lethality of Ignorance

Boundary Pirates Receive their Due

The postal airship that was hijacked two years ago was recovered yesterday morning by members of the southern regiment. It was spotted circling the mouth of the Low Valley, on the standard approach to the Boundary interior. Official reports claim that the ship appeared derelict: its anchor line was down and its piloting system was flying in a stasis pattern. Regimental airships and a winch crew were able to haul it out of the sky.

Once on the ground a shocking discovery was made. The ship’s two crew members, whose names are unknown but whom sources suggest were an eastern fugitive and a regiment deserter, were found dead onboard. One was curled up on the floor of the cargo hold. The other was prostrate in the pilot room, where he had apparently been attempting to adjust the piloting engine.

The cause of the pirates’ deaths appears to be ignorance, or stupidity, or possibly both. An empty bottle of Columbia Spirit deodorized wood alcohol, which as any civilized person knows is a deadly poison despite its grain-alcohol taste, was located in the grip of the pirate found in the cargo hold, and the scent of the spirit was also on the one in the pilot room.

We say justice was more than served. The life of the hard-working, law-abiding citizens of the settled plains, when compared to the criminal life these pirates lead, affords many advantages, not the least of which is the chance at a solid education. Had these men chosen the honest life of the former, and not the delinquent existence of the latter, they might well have known to read the warning on the bottle they consumed, which is so commonly used as a household solvent and lamp fuel that it is bought and sold regularly and without incident in any general store or druggist …

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