บท 360: Boots of Danton

When the captain opened the hatch, there were two others with crossbows.

"You," he said, "have a problem."

"I've done some testing on escape methods, but I'm fairly certain I've only an inconvenience."

"Two members of my crew went missing last night. Vanished into thin air."

"That seems unlikely. Are members of your crew prone to turn themselves into vapor?"

"Don't be a smarmy ass. You know what I suspect."

"That two rapists have vanished from your crew?"

"Rapists or not, they were crew. One of them might even have been loyal to something other than bits of shiny metal."

"Well, I'm innocent; you can have anyone who can talk to the Aware question the spiders here."

"No real man talks to bugs." the captain replied. "And I suspect the lasses of nothing more than self defense."

I spread my hands to indicate helplessness. "The fact that you're talking to me about it indicates otherwise."