SHIP'S LOG:

The Sadie Hawkins

Billy Nails 6/30/2023 11:55pm

See kid I told you you might get to appreciate the simple life. Oh no need to blush, ol' Billy knows all about it. And there ain't one member of this crew who hasn't had a little taste of it themselves. I mean farm life, of course. Sky Sailors are the first to decry the life on the ground, and the more you've got your boots in the mud and the manure the more we're likely to heap on the insults. But I think it's fair to say all that spit and vinegar is just a mask--a mask to hide away a burning desire, deep inside...

Don't get me wrong, kid. When the captain and @Starry Skye find their way back--and I know they will--they'll be needin' our help and boy are we gonna give it to them. But after that debt's repaid, well, it's never to late for a Sky Sailor to turn up a new leaf...

Starry Skye 3/10/2023 11:50pm

It wasn't surprising Dip Squealer didn't know anything about Cat's heavy connections. Dip might know a lot, but ultimately he's just a dumbass among dumbasses. Real pros would never have anything to do with him, and their secops would keep Dips and dips like him out of any serious loops.

But the exospectral quill shards, and the liquid crystal bluefur, and the colors nobody's ever seen before -- that sounded exactly like the exotic animal trade. The seriously deep dark animal trade, specializing in the impossible to find--the extinct, the mythical, the hyperreal. And there was a place in deep in the most rotten underbelly of Uranographia Fields where that kind of trade took place: Shady Bottom.

I wasn't about to hail a cab or take the monorail. So I took to the rooftops. This used to be my element--using my agility and star-class dance moves, leaping over ledges and pirouetting over pipes and diving over neon signs and laundry lines. There was a reason I'd been known as the most amazing zero-G cat burglar and pickpocket in the Tarantula Nebula... before my time on the Sadie Hawkins. Before Hettie, the Fire Breathing Plasma Moth.

But then there was Cat Tracer. There was a time we were tight. Real tight. Things fell apart there at the end. But I sure don't remember any fancy clothes syndicate guys hanging around way back two years ago. Which was also now. Seems like I should have known. And where was I, these days, anyway? Some kind of rule about not heading yourself off in the past...

Before long I'd leapt and flung myself over the rooftops of Uranographia Fields all the way to Shady Bottom. One of the decrepit warehouses had a loading dock open and the lights on. Almost like they were waiting for me...

Armando Lupiz 12/7/2022 9:52pm

"So where'd he go then?"

I'm on the podium. With the other showroom dummies.

"The door was locked from the inside, right?"

I'd had just enough time to tear the coat and a hat off one of the mannequins. I'm standing in the back.

"Well... thinking about it... I may have just started kicking it."

"You didn't try the door first?"

"It just seemed like the obvious place he'd be. I mean, it's 'the room.'"

A tiny piece of dusty cobweb made its way from the stylish pillbox and veil I was wearing down into my nose.

"Yeah, and he's not in 'the room.' And he never was."

"Well... yeah, ok. We looked under all the tables, right?"

"Right."

"Let's move out then."

"Roger."

...

"Shut the door?"

"Let's leave it like we found it,"

"Yeah that's not exactly possible."

"Shut it as well as you can."

CALUMPH


"aaaaaaaaaachooo!"


Captain Armando Lupiz
(The Sky Wolf)
dressed in the slacks

Billy Nails 9/15/2022 11:34pm

I'm glad to see you settlin' into life here, kid. You've got yourself your own hovel, keepin' it swept, putting in a full day's work at the Langpa ranch and goin' to the dances on Friday nights. I'm sure you've seen how ol' Billy Nails has come across his own bit of treasure, in the form of Ms. Amalasuintha. I'll tell ya' kid, ol' Billy Nails never pictured he could get used to life on solid earth, but I suppose that's because I'd never met anyone like Ms. Amalasuintha. She's been around the block -- much like yours truly -- but we both seem to be at a place where keeping the garden kept and cleaning out the Frinlic Coop makes for a full life. Especially when you've got a peach as cute as Ms. Amalasuintha to share your meals with. Now you know I'll keep The Sadie Hawkins ship-shape in the barn till we hear from the captain and @Starry Skye, but till then, I think we all ought to appreciate a little down time.

Starry Skye 7/3/2022 11:59pm

Dip Squealer was always exceptionally informed.

"This isn't fair!" he squealed. He was tied to a bed in a cheap love hotel in the Night District, but not for fun.

"Neither was forcing me to give up the Rusty Jade," I answered, my legs up on the little coffee table. "That was just rude."

"Aw, bygones and all that, amirite? You woulda done the same."

This was patently false. Dip was just a douchebag.

"I know a number of others in town might want some payback too. You're generally not worth anybody's time, but if I've got you on ice they might just want to drop by and have a word or two."

"Aw, Starry, I just know we can work something out. What, are you short a little? I got a few little nest eggs, stashed here and there..."

"Yes you always know just what everybody's up to, and how to take a little piece, don't you Dip?"

"Seriously! We can work a deal! I'm turning over a new leaf! You name it, Starry."

"What's Cat Tracer up to these days?"

"Aw Starry, you know I wouldn't know something like that. She's big time!"

"That didn't stop you when it came to me, did it, Dip?"

"Aw Starry, no offence. I ain't talking about daring, or skill. I mean she's gone big time. Working with a syndicate these days. Heavies. High class types. Fanciest clothes anybody round here's ever seen -- decked out in exospectral quill shards, liquid crystal bluefur, colors nobody's ever seen before. But they're hard cases. You know Blind Larry? And Curly Kate? Snuffed 'em both. Nobody's sure why, but Cat's in tight with them. But everybody knows that. Nobody'd cross Cat these days."

Dip looked up at me from the bed.

"But you don't know that, do you Starry?" he said. "Something everybody down here in the Night District knows, but how come you don't?"

Dip started to get a real thoughtful look in his eye.

"Goodnight, Dip," and I went in for another nick with my sleepy ring.

Armando Lupiz 4/7/2022 11:17pm

"Fashions of the Future" the sign read.

This room of the library was obviously focused on fashion. Shelves of magazines lined the walls, shelves for oversized art books dotted the room, and against the far wall were mannequins on a podium, dressed in what was obviously haute couture.

I mean, I'm no fashion expert, but you could tell it was fancy. If a little dusty.

This room looked more lived in than the rest of the library I'd seen. There were two or three magazines and big art books open on tables. I glanced down at one and there was the navy blue pill box hat -- the very same we'd spotted on the spy-eye footage.

This was the source for the Clothes of Tomorrow flooding the micro-fashion market of Uranographia Fields.

But something seemed odd. I looked at the magazine more closely. It wasn't a magazine from the future. It wasn't even a magazine from tomorrow. A closer inspection of the date said it was a magazine from fifty years ago.

Clothes of Tomorrow wasn't coming up with new ideas, or even stealing them from the future. They were just recycling fashions from the past!

Then why all the flash and pop and translocation? I'd assumed there'd been some kind of time travel involved, but why travel to the future to look at magazines from your own past? It didn't add up.

"This way! He's in here!" came the muffled cries from the hall. Then the door started to bang.

Captain Armando Lupiz
(The Sky Wolf)
trapped in the stacks

Billy Nails 1/30/2022 2:22pm

You've been a real trooper, kid. A credit to all Sky Sailors, even when we've got to get our hands dirty slinging Langpa poop for a grumpy Langpa rancher. But at least we found a place to keep the Sadie Hawkins safe while the captain and Starry Skye try and get us out of this time knot. I know the crew is gettin' grumpy holed up here on this stinky ranch -- goes against every grain in their nature, toiling on the earth like this. Exactly the kind of life they were looking to avoid when they took to the sky. So it means a lot to ol' @Billy Nails that you're setting a good example and keepin' morale up. Now it's just a question of how long we gots to wait -- or how long the crew'll keep from mutiny. We'll just keep that radio on and wait for come kinda word...

Starry Skye 12/7/2021 11:57pm

"So, Dip, you're looking well."

It was Dip Squealer. I knew him long before he removed his mask.

"Starry Skye. It's been awhile."

I had to think back about how long it'd really been. A lot longer for me than him.

"The Rusty Jade heist, if I'm not mistaken."

"Yeah, you treated me exceptionally fair, I must admit. It made me kind of... feel there might be something between us? If you know what I mean?"

I did. But unfortunately it wasn't like Dip thought it was.

"Yeah, well, I was wondering if maybe it was time to ask for a little favor in return."

"Oh yeah?" Dip nuzzled a little closer. Which made it easier to nick him with my sleepy ring.

Armando Lupiz 10/14/2021 9:41pm

One room just leads to another in this huge library. Each room has a different configuration. All are lined with bookshelves full of books, but the freestanding bookcases and the sporadic but tasteful use of curved shelving, as well as reading tables and lamps, are uniquely arranged in each room, potentially reflecting some differentiation of subject matter.

No sign of windows or stairs or elevators. Each room is carefully lit with unobtrusive hanging lamps and subtle recessed bulbs. Everything smells like wood and leather and books. Pages and pages of books, stored at perfect humidity and temperature. I try to read the spines but the golden letters elude me. Do I need stronger reading glasses? How many hours since I last slept?

While I heard no sign of my perusers, nor was there any way I could find my way back to the room I left them in. They could be as lost as I am.

Until I found something different. A door. A pair of heavy double wooden doors. The only doors I'd seen.

And thankfully unlocked.

I closed them behind me, and waited for my eyes to adjust to the darkness.

Then I got tired of that and started feeling around for a lightswitch.

Captain Armando Lupiz
(The Sky Wolf)
lost in the stacks

Billy Nails 8/30/2021 11:40pm

So if it ain't one thing then it's another, kid. With both the captain and Starry Skye missing, now the port master says The Sadie Hawkins has to give up her berth, and there isn't another space in all of Uranographia Fields on account of the Aquids Convention. I just knowed we should have booked more days in advance, but the last time we were in town we'd left before those soggy sea dwellers ever showed up so who knew? Already they're slappin' their paddles on the boardwalk in their fishbowl helmets and gigantic eyes. So now I got to take The Sadie Hawkins out of dock and make room for more Aquids and just loiter around in some kind of holding pattern till the sky police get wise and then what, eh kid? This thing's falling apart faster than a piece of texas toast at the milk bar, and @Billy Nails doesn't like it one bit.