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his or her ship. Such things date back to another era now mostly just "myths" now. "Something troubling you now, your majesty?" Valerie asked as I sat there silently beside her, the up and down motion of the ship's longboat having been enough to remind me that I was not as much of a "sailor" as I would have liked! The meal I had eaten a bit earlier and washed down with perhaps too much strong drink now didn't want to stay "down there". The thought of displaying my seasickness before others of my command much annoying me now!! "It will be all right once I get aboard," I answered back. "I have some good brandy aboard that will settle that stom- ach of yours," she assured me, putting her arm around me then. I thought of another, of another ship, another time. Of Darlanis. "Our Warlady! Our Queen!" the crew of the Corsica cried out as I stepped aboard, the greeting at least getting my mind off the nausea that had afflicted me there in the longboat as I sat beside Valerie. The evident enthusiasm of the crew, the polished whiteness of the deck, the taut and blackened down rigging leav- ing no doubt that Valerie ran a "taut ship". And one, I suspect- ed by now, that could be relied upon to give its best in a fight! While I could not "see" everything, it being nighttime, I could see enough to know that the Corsica was indeed a well run ship! "I'll try to do better `next time'," I told the crew as they stood there in neat rows before me. "And we'll rid the seas of these damm raiders of Queen Maris'!" I added. I wasn't too sure of that, but I felt certain that once we reached Dularn we could teach the Dularnians a few "lessons" that they wouldn't forget! "I have a good ship, a good crew," Valerie said to me as we went below a moment later, the crew having been dismissed to their respective duties. The ship's girls all "healthy" looking wenches that obviously were of the sorts that could much pleasure a "tired sailorman". I suspected that Valerie had taken time to see to that. Most captains merely took what was "issued" to them and called it "good". Obviously Valerie was a very capable and competent officer. Perhaps better, I thought, than any of my others with the possible of Mark Berson there commanding Squala. "And you take good care of both," I smiled back, stepping into the stern cabin. The sea now invisible beyond the stern windows. The ceiling beams like Page 45 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html aboard my other ships just high enough that I could walk beneath them without having to "duck". Mark Berson aboard the Squala was not quite so "lucky" at 6'2" "I handpicked my `ship's girls'," Valerie smiled back. "And I insist that my officers take their `pleasures' from among them too." Most captains allowed their officers to have their own girl. Usually she was of `better quality' than the other women who had been sentenced to "serve" on a ship of war for their crimes. Such being the fate of women here in the 26th Century. It is more sensible than just locking people up for a period of time to ponder over their "mistakes". Economically sensible too! I suppose the women don't care too much for it, but they were the ones who committed the crimes that got them into the "fix" too!!! "They look `healthy'," I smiled back as Valerie got out the brandy she had promised me and poured me a good glassful of it. The furnishings of the cabin spoke much of Valerie's own tastes. "They are of the Peasants," Valerie Dann smiled back then, handing me the glass. They were busty, wide hipped wenches. No doubt with strong female drives that would make them a true de- light to the sailors. I drank deep, now feeling it "warming" me. "Have they required `disciplining'?" I asked. I had seen one whipped today aboard the Seawolf for minor insubordination. Stripped and tied to the rigging, then given a couple dozen where it would hopefully do the most good there before the assembled crew. One must of course be "strict" with such feminine de- lights. They are usually supervised by the Physician aboard, most of whom are usually women, "medicine" now being for the most part a "feminine" profession for what "reason" I don't know yet. "I haven't found it `necessary' as yet," she smiled back. Even on Squala it had been necessary to whip one of them in the few days that we had been out to sea. Two seamen who should have "known better" had also felt the lash since we had left Trella. I do not tolerate "drunkenness" while on duty. The "stakes" are far too high, especially aboard a sailing ship subject to wind and weather and enemy action at any time! I nodded, smiled back. "Where do you think Maris is now?" I then asked Valerie. "Somewhere behind us, keeping our mastheads just in sight," she smiled back. I had suspected the same thing too. We had been keeping to a regular [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |