Spaz Skunk

Moonbeam

2/5/2025 11:30pm

"Bijan has the Moonbeam free," called Bridget the Boar.

Just in time, too, as the last of the outcrops of the rocky island slipped beneath the waves.

"Any sign of @Harry Otter or the Big Bulldog?" I asked.

"Hard to tell with all this churn," Bridget replied. "Lots of debris."

"All eyes in the water. And ready the nets to scoop up the rats!"

"Awooooooo!" cried Howlin' Wolf from the crow's nest.

Moonbeam

6/18/2024 11:52pm

"Awooooooo!" Howlin' Wolf cried from the crow's nest.

"Captain!" called Bridget the Boar. "The island! It's going under!"

Badger Bijan and I looked up from the map we were studying and and rushed to the windshield. The entire island was submerging quickly. The sea was churning around it and swallowing it up.

"Any sign of @Harry Otter?" I asked "Or Big Bulldog?"

"No sir," Bridget said. "But the rats are gathering on the high ground."

We saw the rat crew of the Moonbeam swarming to the tops of the small hills and ridges that made up the surface.

"Sir, the Moonbeam!" Bijan pointed.

The Moonbeam's mooring line was tied fast around and outcropping near what used the be the shore of the tiny island, and it was rapidly following it down.

"Bridget, take us to the Moonbeam now! Bijan, get ready to board her and cut her loose."

"Aye aye, Captain."

"But sir! The rats!"

"We know they can swim. Ready the nets and we'll scoop them up once the Moonbeam's free."

"Burrrrp," said Toady McEvershine.

Moonbeam

10/30/2023 11:20pm

"How could we have lost him? This island's really not that big," I asked Harry.

"Well, he's, half bulldog. Like a were-bulldog. Bulldogs are like bloodhounds, right?"

"No, I don't think so. Actually some of the worst smellers, I've heard. Something about those flat noses."

"Well he smelled something. He got really focused on it. We could have used him getting the casks filled and loaded but I haven't seen him."

"What if he fell off a cliff? Off the island? I don't think bulldogs are great swimmers either."

"Oh he loves the water. The Mermaid Kindgom, remember?"

The island shook with another shudder beneath our feet. The little quakes were getting more frequent.

"Ok. You finish loading the Moonbeam," I said, "and I'll take the Therianthrope for a quick look around."

Moonbeam

4/9/2023 11:12pm

"Pretty sure that's an island," says Bridget the Boar. "Take a look."

We've got a big telescope on the Therianthrope. One of the onion domed minarets opens up like an observatory. Probably WAS the observatory from the palace we stole the ship from.

"Well," I said, trying to make it out, "even if it is a mirage, it's not like we've spotted anything else. And it's generally on the way. Signal the heading to the Moonbeam."

Bridget the Boar picked up the mirror contraption she'd made.

"Tell them we'll follow them in. And to keep the rats inside as we get close."

Moonbeam

10/10/2022 10:12pm

"Rats ahoy!"

"Loose the nets!"

"Loosing the nets!"

SPLASH

We were on rat pickup duty for the first few days.

"Rats secured!"

"Pull 'er up!"

"Pulling 'er up!"

The Moonbeam was crewed by rats. Rats and little big-eyed monkeys and squirrels. @Harry Otter did his best to keep them in line, but the rats just couldn't help climbing on the outside of the gondola and up the fins and onto the envelope.

And they kept falling off.

So we'd been flying cleanup duty, following The Moonbeam, skimming the surface of the sea with nets to scoop them out.

"Thank ye! Thank ye kindly!" chirp the rats. We dry them off with towels.

This ship is well apportioned. Until recently it wasn't a ship at all -- it was the onion-domed spire of the tip of the palace of a barbarian queen. A palace she probably took by force with her army of barbarian warriors. The point is, it had been the penthouse apartments of her shapeshifting harem. Till we found the control room and drove away in it.

Ermine Stoat was cleaning the bridge -- wiping the dirt and grime of centuries off the control panels.

"Hey Spaz, take a look at this."

Ermie finished rubbing the dust off a flat portion of the mahogany. There were letters.

THERIANTHROPE

"Well I guess we don't need to worry about coming up with a name for her," I said.

Moonbeam

5/3/2022 11:09pm

City slowly replaces desert as we make our way towards the bay.

Scattered tents and mud huts transform into subdivisions of sturdier structures; multilevel dwellings whitewashed and glowing in the evening sun, colorful fabrics hung out to dry.

Then the city starts to rise. Tall towers, dirty and crumbling. New spires under construction here and there. The natives drape bright streamers from the buildings to catch the wind.

Finally, ships abound, tied to docks and anchored at bay.

"There!" cries Weasel Least, hanging from the bow.

Below lies the Moonbeam, floating at a list, but anchored at the edge of the open sea.

As we approach, it appears to be inundated by rats, crawling the hull and casting off.

Moonbeam

12/23/2021 11:21pm

"Steady as she goes," said Badger Bijan.

We'd cleared the queen's city's catapults easily. Maybe too easily.

"Do we have a destination, or a direction yet... captain?"

"Totally not 'captain,'" I replied. "Er... well... I guess... consider me a temporary COO."

The Badlands stretch out before us to the west.

"We could use some experienced crew. See that ocean on the horizon, Bijan?"

"It appears to be a bay?"

"Yes. Take us there."

Moonbeam

9/15/2021 10:51pm

"How do you know this is safe?" yelled Badger Bijan.

"I don't!" I yelled back.

Ceiling tiles and pieces of paneling were still falling, but it seemed this strange, ancient airship was coming to life. And rising.

It was clear the dashboard of jewels and bone knobs was that of some antiquated airship, and this room was the bridge. The entire top of the palace of the barbarian queen had been built around it, and had absorbed it with cheap facades, like a movie set built to hide a glorious airship. But the balloons were still full, and with a little bit of rocking back and forth, the props were clear. We were tearing ourselves away from the top of the palace.

"But our brothers and sisters in capivity! Chip and Chinchilla and Ermine Stoat and the rest! What will become of them?" asked Bijan.

"If I'm not mistaken, they should be along for the ride. There!"

A passel load of our furry compatriots emerged from the curtains leading into the bridge. While shaken up, they let us know the grand hall and quarters of the court were safe -- all part of the original structure of this mighty, previously dormant airship. Perhaps it was one like I'd seen before at the docks, with its tiered decks and Rococo balustrades and ribbons and sails. Probably not looking too great now, but at least she still had lift.

We shook off the last of the scaffolding and plaster connecting us to the palace, and drifted over the grounds of city in the afternoon sun. It was an ugly maze of ruddy bricks and dirt, and walls and towers. Most of the people below were scattering.

"Watch out!" cried Franzine Foxx, as a burning ball of tar crossed the sky outside the forward viewport, flung from a catapult below.

Apparently not all the natives were scattering.

"Full steam ahead!" I cried.

Moonbeam

6/18/2021 11:58pm

"Ready mate?"

Badger Bijan says he knows a secret passage way. I've got nothing else to lose, so...

We're finishing a tea of lemon sandwiches and cream.

"Lead the way!"

Badger Bijan swings his black and white head behind the curtains, then disappears in its folds. I follow suit.

It's a long, dark, narrow passage way. Framed with plywood, or whatever cheap scaffolding they have in this world. Light seeps in through the occasional peep hole or hidden door.

"Get ready we're almost there!"

We pass from behind another curtain into a large, circular room full of dust. And control implements. Dashboards of gems and spinning wheels. Diamond screens gone dark. Ivory toggles in mahogany settings.

"Nobody seems to know what it's for," says Bijan.

Moonbeam

3/23/2021 10:45pm

"Squirrelly Acres, chief."

"Franzine Foxx."

"Billy Badgerton, at your service, guv!"

It was a great wide hall, filled with pillows and low tables and hookas and chocolate fountains. Greens and blues and purples and great soft drapes and open windows.

"Howlin' Wolf. Awooooooo!"

"Toady McEvershine. Burrrrp."

"Whims Wormington."

Well that last chap was a bit odd. But overall, I find myself introduced to a giant room full of... people like myself.

"Chip Monk!"

"Wilma Wolverine, cheers."

"Ermine Stoat."

I mean, it's like a convention in here.

"Pleased to meet you I'm Chinchilla Devine."

"Weasel Least."

"Bridget the Boar!"

How many of us are being held captive here?