The Worlds of the Sheaf

Lost in Space - Part 3

     Thomas was bored. He'd finished settling himself into his cabin and had just spent the morning exploring the communal wizard's laboratory with its four individual study cubicles, familiarising himself with everything they contained. The shelves and cupboards had been packed with every material component they could possibly need, including some for spells he was confident even Saturn didn't know, presumably in case they were away from home for longer than they expected.

     A quick search among the lower cupboards, right at the back, behind the stuff they would be using more regularly, confirmed his suspicions. Twenty spellbooks belonging to dead wizards, no doubt containing dozens of rare or little used spells to cover every possible contingency. Ready to be learned and memorised when needed. Saturn hadn't said anything about this to the others, but the Powers That Be must have considered the possibility that they might be stranded somewhere, unable to return to Tharia. They'd made sure they had everything they'd need to allow wizardry to survive in their new home.

     That was the only surprise, though. Apart from that, everything was as he'd expected, and now there was nothing left for him to do. Nothing seemed to be happening at the moment. So far as he could tell the ship was just floating in space while the bridge crew assessed their situation, so Thomas went in search of someone to talk to. The common room was the obvious place to start. There were bound to be some off duty soldiers who'd welcome the chance for a chat, but when he arrived the place was still as empty as it had been the first time he went there. Puzzled, Thomas tried to imagine where they could be. Surely they weren't all on duty, way out here in the middle of nowhere. What was there for them all to do?

     As he was about to leave, though, he saw that the place wasn't completely empty. Tassley Kimber had gone behind the bar in search of something to drink and she was talking to a man he hadn’t seen aboard the ship before, although he had a vague memory of having seen him in the valley a couple of times. One of the contract workers, he thought, but what was a contract worker doing aboard the Jules Verne?

     Why not just ask him? he thought, smiling internally. It would mean talking to Tassley as well, of course, but he was well used to her verbal sparring matches now and knew how to fend her off. Besides, if she was getting interested in this other man, perhaps that meant she’d stop chasing after him.

     Tassley saw him and waved him over, beaming with delight. “Tom!” she cried. “Look who I’ve found. This is the guy I was telling you about.” Thomas stared at her, uncomprehending. “You remember?” prompted the wizardess. “When you first came aboard? That conversation we had? About that conversation I overheard?”

     Thomas gave a start of realization and stared at the man she was with. “You mean this is…” he began.

     “Haskar Wenn, the anthropologist,” interrupted Tassley.

     Thomas nodded, understanding. They weren’t supposed to know there was a felisian on board.

     “He’s here to advise us about the strange civilisations we’re going to encounter," Tassley continued. "Tell us how to avoid accidentally starting a war by violating their most cherished customs.”

     “Pleased to meet you,” said Haskar, holding out his hand.

     Thomas took it, studying the man closely. He looked completely human, but then so had Naomi, the girl he’d known back in the war. He wondered where his former teammate was now. Probably back on their homeworld, he thought, unless she was still back on Tharia somewhere, still gathering information on human civilisation for her alien masters. He certainly hadn’t seen her in Lexandria valley, and neither had anyone else. Her description was known to every proctor, and there were artists sketches of her, drawn from Thomas’s description, posted in every building in the valley.