[center][img]https://imgur.com/02zVDPT.png[/img]
[h3][b]Settling In[/b][/h3][/center]

The captain was a nice enough man to work for. Penny was pretty happy with how things turned out. She didn’t ask about wages, but in her predicament, getting paid wasn’t as important as getting away from the Skyplex. But she wasn’t out of the woods yet. Now she had to get her bags past “Big D” Ellingsworth and his son Jake.

Derrick Ellingsworth was a local crime boss who seemed to have his hand in everyone’s till. He liked to go by the name, “Big D”. Penny figured that if his name was Quinten, he would be Big Q. Since his name was Derrick, he was Big D. Whoever started that idea of nicknames was something Penny never contemplated. It was just the way things were.

“Come on Izzy, we need to get our stuff,” Penny told her daughter. “We don’t want to spend too much time with Big D and Jake. Let’s get in, get our stuff and get out. Do you understand?”

“Yes, mummy,” Izzy studied the ship from the inside as they headed down the ramp. Then she studied the ship from the outside. What she could see was certainly impressive to her 11-year-old eyes. Sure, she’d seen ships larger and cleaner than this one, but its smallish size attracted her to its aesthetics.

The pair walked calmly through the skyplex until they came to a metallic door, closed from the inside. Penny stepped up to the door and turned the door handle downward. It unlatched easily enough, and the pair were inside. Fortunately, no one was inside the door. They walked down a set of steps to a lower deck. Once there, they followed a steel corridor to the third door on the left. This door opened easily enough as well. Inside were their belongings.

“Take the backpack and the suitcase, Izzy,” Penny instructed her daughter. She needed to help carry stuff back to their new home. Penny picked up the handle on the oversized trunk. A handle extended out of one end and wheels were strategically placed to make it easy to roll along flat ground. She pulled the maroon and white zippered duffel over each arm, so it was neatly attached to her back. Then she pulled on the handle and began dragging the footlocker out into the hall. “Let’s go, Izzy,” her mother spoke in hushed tones.

The two walked quietly and hurriedly down the corridor to the stairs. “Grab the other end of the trunk. We’ll need to carry this up the stairs.” Izzy grabbed an end and struggled to get it up. “Take the lead and guide it up. I’ll take the weight.” Slowly they made their way up the stairs. Izzy had to stop a few times because the weight was too much. She understood the danger of getting caught or leaving. Her mother explained this in detail during the walk here. 

Finally, at the top of the stairs, Izzy put the trunk down and Penny managed to get her end up and turned toward the door. She could almost smell freedom. As she was about to reach for the door she heard a familiar voice. “Where do you think you lot be off tah?”

Penny stopped in her tracks. At least it wasn’t Jake or Big D. “Where ye tink ye be off tah?” the irritating voice cut through Penny like a knife. “Ye, not headin’ out tah dur wittout a gud bah?” The voice originated with a massive woman named Patty, weighing in at over four hundred pounds. The woman sweat as a natural course; wet pit stains seeped through her blouse. The woman always smelled of urine. Her hair, a mop of blonde hair, and food stains adorned the front of her shirt.

Penny twirled about, “Patty, so nice of ye to show us off.” Penny smiled the most cordial smile she could muster. “Yea, we are leavin’. Please give mah regards tah Big D.”

“Ye kin quit ta play actin’. I knows ye kin tok raht, bein’ from da inner werlds.” Patty was not smiling. She would sooner throw Penny and Izzy to the wolves than give her a break. “But ah gots tings ta do. Git yer boney arse outta mah sight!” She spat on the floor.

Not one for looking a gift horse in the mouth, Penny quickly rushed Izzy through the door. She heaved the trunk out the doorway and didn’t look back as the pair headed off towards the loading dock. Somehow the encounter with Patty motivated Penny and Izzy to move quickly. “Mummy,” Izzy looked at her mother, “Patty scares me.”

“Me too, sweets. Me too.”

When they arrived at the ramp of the China Doll, no one was around. They dragged their belongings up to the crew quarters and pushed them inside. Once they were in their room, they looked at one another and smiled. Then they both cheered, yelling at the top of their lungs. “We are free! We never have to look at those disgusting people again!”

“But mummy, what of the crew here? We know sister Lyen is nice and Captain Strands appears all well and good. I certainly admire Lucky, but what of the rest? Could we be settling into another bad spot?” Izzy was curious.

“Don’t you worry, sweets. Mummy will take care of you,” She hugged her daughter and then began to unpack. They set up the one bed they would share and put clothing into drawers. 

Izzy saw something shiny on the floor and bent down to pick it up. “Look mummy, I found a Gold Doubloon!” she eyed the coin over in her fingers. [i]“Shiver me timbers, Walk the Plank, Ready to Sail. Are we on a pirate ship?[/i] I wonder what the story is behind this gold doubloon?”

“I don’t know, sweets.” Penny smiled at her daughter. Let’s explore the ship and see if anyone is around. 

[Hider=“Gold Doubloon”]The good doubloon was a coin Cyd gave to Joe Hooker after they left New Melbourne, early on in this story.[/hider]