Fata Morgana by Thomas J. Radford

Author:Thomas J. Radford [Radford, Thomas J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: Fantasy
Publisher: Tyche Books Ltd
Published: 2019-02-18T16:00:00+00:00

“ENJOYING THE VIEW?”

Violet traced the incoming horizon, the dock-world of a backwater planet whose name had already slipped her mind. It grew steadily larger, the mist chased away by the Fata Morgana’s encroach.

“It doesn’t feel right,” she told Kaspar.

“What do you mean?”

“This,” she waved her hand in front of the polished crystal, the planetary landscape reflected in it. “The perspective is wrong. The way the ship moves, I feel it, and then I see this, and this is wrong. It’s wrong.”

“You’re not the only one to say that.” Kaspar stood at ease, rocking back and forth on his heels with the pitch of the ship, hands clasped behind his back. “Not enough that we’re listing. Maybe something else is lost, with all this metal and glass between us.”

“It is.”

“It’s an odd thing for you to say that.”

“Why?”

“Because we pulled you from outside, Violet. Frozen and cold. I would have thought if anyone would have wanted something between them and the mist, it would be you.”

Cold. Falling . . .

“So you thought wrong,” Violet said. “Can’t be the first time.”

“I see the ice still has some melting to go.”

You don’t know cold. You don’t know it at all.

Violet grabbed at her head, knuckles massaging her temples. The motion knocked her glasses askew, the fragile wire frames almost bending from her reflexive actions. The glasses made everything worse, staring out at the world through scratched and tinted filters. Worse but better, because without them there was no colour. They made her nose hurt, leaving painful indentations on the bridge. She probably looked ridiculous too. The pain made her short-tempered and snappy. She knew it made her that but it didn’t stop her snapping at people. At Kaspar and Gravel.

“And how are you today, little one?”

Violet turned, leaning against the hull of the ship. Raines stood a few feet away, hands clasped behind his back, studying her intently. She disliked it when he looked at her like that.

Like some peculiar specimen in some jar, some pretty butterfly pinned to a board.

“Better,” she said.

“You do indeed look more sure of foot, more flush with colour. You are recovered from your latest incident? The glasses are helping your vision still? Well, one could presume so. However, the proof is in the undertaking, so they say.”

“Sir?” Kaspar inquired.

“I would like you to accompany the shore party, little one,” Raines explained, addressing Violet. “The first officer is leading a search of the more lurid elements of this port. A distasteful task, some would say, myself among them, but I believe it would be beneficial for you to accompany them.”

Violet stared. “Why?”

“You will of course accompany our young friend, Ensign,” Raines continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “You and your companion sailor friend. I believe he is attending to preparations towards such manners now.”

“As you say, sir.” Kaspar nodded respectfully.

Prat, Violet thought, folding her arms. She couldn’t imagine a reason why Raines wanted her to go ashore. He might be one of her own kind but the way he treated her made her skin crawl sometimes.

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