Spyglass

The woman lifted her goggles from her eyes and squinted through the spyglass. The frown on her face was accented by the layer of grime from dirt and soot from the engine. Slowly she scanned the desert below.

Her airship flew high above the sand dunes and the fractured bodies of a world long gone. The shadow of her airship passed over a large building, once called a sky scraper, and marveled at the windows still in the fallen building. They had been made of a combination of glass and plastic.

Plastic was the evil of the old world. The woman idly wondered what this area had looked like before it fell. She had heard that this area had once had millions of people. Though the concept of millions was lost on her, she knew it meant a lot. It was two hundred years since the world came to a halt. The oceans, polluted with trash and micro-plastics, caused a mass die-off of animals and plants living in the ocean. Cities that were once dependent on the ocean for food or money died in days. Soon, the stench and sickness from the dead animals was overwhelming all over the world.

It wasn’t long before people were moving away from the shore in droves. Unfortunately, island nations and countries with little non-coastal land were forced to move to other countries. War and disease broke out over land and resources. Eventually, the extremists in office started attacking their own citizens or putting them in camps. The camps were horrid places full of sickness, hunger, and death. People died by the thousands.

She idly fidgeted with the trinkets hanging from her braids as she continued to scan the horizon. The area below her was a wasteland of the debris of long looted places, slowly filling and being covered by the sands. Very little grew in this area and the haze of heat rose off the morning sands already. She suddenly stopped her surveillance as she caught sight of a tiny piece of cloth on the end of a stick, fluttering in the hot breath of breeze.

“Found it,” she yelled, just as a voice from the makeshift crow’s nest above said the same. She steered the large airship toward the tiny piece of cloth that stood on the top of a large mound of sand. “Set down and get ready to breach. If I remember correctly, she is laying on her side, so this is likely the hull.” Large mechanical legs unfolded from the bottom and sides of the ship and settled lightly on the ground beside the large mound.

“What are we searching for Captain?” asked a young woman with a shaved head and tattoos along her face.

“Anything that we can scavenge and sell. Things are getting tight and I want to pay everyone what they are owed this month.” A cheer raised along the deck at the mention of getting paid. Most people barely made a living these days. Jobs were scarce, food and liquid even more so. The people who could afford to live comfortably were much like warlords in many areas of the world. The Captain, like others, scraped a living off of scavenging old world goods that still worked or pieces that can be used to run the ever more dangerous half steam-half old tech contraptions that barely kept goods moving through the wastelands of the world.

After the mass extinctions in the ocean, the heat from the decomposing bodies and the trapped heat from the sun on the surface of the oceans, cause a disruption of the ocean currents. Unfortunately, the scientists were wrong. It did not cause an ice age as predicted. It caused the entire world to come to a still. The oceans stopped moving, the air stopped moving; the rivers dried up and disappeared. Any water that was not contaminated from one thing or another was guarded or bottled up and sold at a premium. Even now, most people get their moisture through the foods they eat, rather than drinking water or other beverages like it used to be.

The Captain idly wondered what coffee tasted like. One time, she had found a sealed container of coffee and had opened it. The smell was deep and rich in a way she never knew existed. She had heard stories of how people used to heat water and pour it over the ground beans called coffee and drink it in the morning to wake up. Now, people just stumble about and run into things until someone kicked them in the rear end and forced them to be more alert.

“Captain!” yelled the woman. “We have breached the hull and are ready to enter. You wanna join us?” The Captain gave a large smile and pulled her goggles down over her eyes, her mask up over her nose, and her gloves from her back pocket. It was time to descend into the bowels of a ship much larger than their own. She was very interested to see what they will find. Just as she was about to descend a rope, she noticed a plume of sand on the horizon.

She ran to the window and peered through the spyglass once again. For a second there was silence. Then she gave off a loud whoop and everyone burst into action. The hole cut into the hull was plugged and recovered with sand as people of all shapes, sizes, and ages scrambled to the deck. The fires were stoked with coal and the solar sails were prepared for dropping. It was time to go from scavenger to pirate.

As soon as the last person was on the rope, the anchor was pulled and the person raced to the top of the rope before the anchor did. If they didn’t, they would have to hold on for dear life as the ship took off in a sudden lunge from its mechanical legs. Many times, those people fell off and were left behind. Rarely did they go anywhere after that fall.

The small airship raced toward the plum of sand and dust that was raised by a merchant’s caravan. The merchant hovercrafts were slow and cumbersome. Many times, pirates were forced to fight one another for the privilege of raiding the slow, but highly protected caravans. This time, no one was around to contest their claim on the caravan. The Captain had taken the ship and crew further out into the sands. Normally, ships tried to stay in the shadow of the mountains. There, if they were lucky, they could find food and shelter when not raiding. The Captain had taken them further out into the sands than any other ship was willing to do. Only merchant hover caravans, equipped with plenty of fuel and enough water or water based food to survive the cross through the sands would come out this far.

The Captain gave a whoop and a fierce grin to the bald headed woman as they came near. All pirates pulled weapons out and prepared to attack the caravan. The plan was to hit quickly and use the small size and maneuverability to avoid the caravan attacks. They would then pick off a couple of the hover craft with harpoons and pull them away from the caravan to be plundered in peace. The Captain had a smaller than usual vessel, but used all of its abilities to her advantage. She was smart and prepared to do what it took to take care of her crew. They were the only family she had.

Thankfully, the caravan was not prepared for an attack and had not booted up the shield. The ship was fast and did not raise as much dust on approach. The Captain was thrilled to see that they were able to take the caravan by surprise. They were quickly able to harpoon three hovercrafts and pull them back into the sand.

There was a slight skirmish as three people were found aboard the hovercraft, one of which was very well dressed and looked like someone with money, means, or family. She assumed that it was likely a combination of the three.

The three men were tied to a pole on the deck as the team looted the hovercraft for not only caravan goods, but also technical equipment to keep their ship running. By the time they were done two hours later, there was little left to the hovercrafts.

The Captain swaggered up to the well dressed young man and gave him a seductive smile. “Tell me young lordling, who will pay your ransom? Are you even worth my time?” The man shook his head and glared at her. Her smile widened at the sight of a golden glint around his neck. She pulled the long golden chain from under his shirt and looked at the tiny, golden, heart-shaped locket hanging from it. “Ah, little lordling," she purred, "it looks like you have a lover. How much would she pay to have you warm her bed again or do we make a cold corpse of ya.” She seductively pressed herself against him as she unhooked the chain from around his neck. He glared at her as she fastened it around her neck and tucked the locket deep into her cleavage.

Suddenly, the man was out of his bindings and had stolen a sword from one of her men. He swung wildly at her throat as he lunged toward her. “How dare you. You have no idea who I am. Give me the locket and I will not kill you and destroy your ship leaving your crew in the sands to die.” She laughed brazenly as she danced from his reach and pulled her own sword from its sheath at her waist.

She danced around his attempts to attack her. She admitted he was well versed in the art of sword fighting, but she was better. She had the skill of one used to actual combat, he, on the other hand, was untested. She played with him as they danced around deck. She tested his abilities and speed and found him well versed and practiced, if not tested.

“You are strong and fast, maybe I should enslave you instead. Tell me little lordling, would someone miss you if you were forced to work for me?” She giggled as he swung wildly, his face red with exertion. She slid past his defense and pressed herself against his chest. He stepped back in surprise and she shoved him, taking advantage of his momentum. He landed on the floor with a thud.

“What is so special about this little trinket that you would be willing to risk your life for it?” He glared at her. She carefully opened the locket and found a tiny hand-drawn picture of two men. She raised her eyebrow at him. He glared at her, keeping his mouth shut.

She smiled and unclasped the chain. “Ok, little lordling," he bared his teeth at her words, "you have a few choices." She raised a work hardened finger for every option. "You can join me and become a mate on my ship; you can send a message to the man in the locket for a ransom; or, you and your man can both join our disaster of a family.” The man’s jaw dropped. “The decision is up to you,” she winked as she pulled the bald woman with the tattoos against her and gave her a long hard kiss.