Second Exit

by London Lampy

Chapter 3

The ship is huge, far bigger than anything I've travelled on before. It's a passenger ship that makes regular crossings from Parnell to Kipp, we are going to be spending three nights on board, but currently Vio and me are stuck at the bottom of the ramp unable to get on board because Vin has our tickets and he's not here yet. He's picking up Sampson in a cab and meeting us here, or at least he was meant to meet us here half an hour ago.

"It's got to be Sampson that's holding him up," Vio sighs, looking at her wristwatch for about the twentieth time. I'm trying very hard not to stare at, or make comments about, the small purple red bruise on her neck that's standing out starkly against her pale skin. I don't want to annoy her this early in the morning, or the trip, but it's very tempting.

"What the fuck are you grinning at?" she asks, frowning at me.

"Nothing." I look up at the ship, great clouds of grey smoke are pouring out of its chimney stacks and disappearing into the sky above. No rigging, no masts, no network of canvas sails. "Steamers are soulless compared to wooden ships," I say, thinking of how beautiful The Firebrat was.

"That's very poetic of you monkey boy," Vio squints up at it too. "But to be honest I don't fucking care if its got a soul or not, so long as it gets us to Kipp in one piece."

"Here they are, my troops!" A loud voice booms from behind us. I turn to see Sampson striding toward us, he's dressed in a black pinstripe three piece suit, a gold watch chain across his waistcoat, a folded white handkerchief in his jacket pocket, shiny black shoes, a black felt hat and silver tipped cane complete the look. He's in his early fifties, with a full head of iron grey hair, a long face with small close set muddy grey eyes framed by very bushy eyebrows and he has a rather large, rather red nose. He's quite tall, about the same hight as Vio, but gangly rather than solid. He is looking around at us and the ship with a pleased expression on his face, a few paces behind him Vin is looking less than pleased. He's wearing much more casual shirt, trousers and jacket along with army style boots on his feet, much like mine, and is carrying two very large new looking leather suitcases, one in each hand. A much smaller and well used kit bag is slung across his back.

"Good morning chaps!" Sampson greets us. "Although actually your not really a chap though are you, you just look a bit like one," he says to Vio, and I have to bite my lip to stop myself from laughing. "And are you a chap?" he then addresses me.

"I'm not a girl Sir," I say confused.

"Yes, I know that," he says as if I should understand what he's on about. "What I mean is do you call your sort chaps? You know, like with horses, you don't say boys and girls, you say mares and stallions, or gelding if the poor bugger has had his knackers off I suppose, not that that applies to you, I hope," he laughs. "So do your kind have a different name for the sexes?"

"Er..." I glance at Vin, who's giving Sampson a despairing look.

"Sir," he interrupts. "I don't believe they do. I have our documents here," he puts one of the cases down and pulls a wad of folded papers from his inside pocket. "Why don't we embark?"

"Yes, indeed, excellent idea," Sampson looks up at the ship again then rubs his hands together. "So troops, are you ready for an adventure?"

"This man is going to show you to your suite Sir," Vin says to Sampson, passing the suitcases to the porter, along with a tip. "We'll find our own cabins."

"Good stuff Govinder, once you're sorted pop along, I want to talk about the itinerary." Sampson follows the steward across the deck, as they leave I can hear him talking loudly about sea voyages he has made in the past.

"The gods help me," Vin says, looking at a piece of paper. "A month of that, come on, this way." He leads us through a maze of corridors that all look the same, seemingly endless numbered cabin doors are arranged along them every few paces and they are floored with hundreds of yards sickly patterned green and yellow carpet. Eventually he stops outside a door identical to all the others. "Vio, you're in there," he points to the cabin opposite and passes her a key. "And we're in here."

We? I'm sharing a cabin with Vin?

He unlocks the door and I follow him inside, it's quite a small room containing a chest of draws, two beds and a door that I guess leads to a bathroom. It unfortunately has the same carpeting as the corridor, but at least it has a porthole.

"Can't I have a cabin to myself?" I ask him as he puts his bag down on one of the beds.

"No, Zale was quite specific on that, we're to share wherever possible. He doesn't want us to spend any more of the company's money than is absolutely necessary."

"But Sampson's got a suite," I point out.

"And he owns the company, even Zale answers to him."

I peer out of the porthole, I can't see much other than the grimy river and the ship berthed next to us.

"Would you rather share with Vio?" Vin asks, coming and standing behind me, not so close that we're touching, but close enough that I can feel his body heat. "Municipal Work's policy is that male and female employees should only share quarters if they're married to one another, but I could ask her if she minded if you went in with her."

The question is really do I want to spend my nights listening to Vio snoring, or getting fucked by Vin? My body wants one thing, my conscience another.

"But you would have to share a bed with her, her cabin is smaller," he says quietly into my ear, one hand resting lightly on the small of my back just above my tail.

"No, I'll sleep in here," I reply, dropping my bag onto the other bed and stepping around him to sit beside it.

"Good," he gives me a crooked smile then turns and starts unpacking his bag.

"Is Sampson always like that?" I ask.

"Yes, always. That's why we're here, he thinks he needs a bodyguard but what he really needs is a babysitter. My job is to stop him from causing some kind of international incident just by opening his mouth."

"How does he manage to run the company?" I consider unpacking, but we're only going to be on board for three nights.

"He doesn't, he thinks he does but it's people like Zale that actually run it."

"And you," I say as he shuts a draw.

"And you," he adds.

"I don't help run the company, I doubt anyone will even notice that I'm gone."

"You're one of the most useful agents we have, don't think that hasn't been noted. Why do you think you're here rather than one of the others?"

I kind of assumed it was because Vin wanted an opportunity to have sex with me again. "I don't know," I say though.

"Because you proved yourself with all that pirate business, Sampson asked for you personally, and I was very glad about that. If I'm going to be spending a month with a pair of my agents I'd far rather it was you and Vio than any of the others. I like the two of you, and I trust you not to fuck up in a difficult situation, that's a lot more than I can say for some."

I trust him in a difficult situation, I just don't trust him alone with me, or me alone with him for that matter. "So you didn't fancy a month away with Sonja and Kezlo?" I ask smiling.

"Sonja, Kezlo and Sampson? By the time we got home we'd most likely have started some sort of war," he laughs.

A knock on the door is swiftly followed by Vio letting herself in. "You have a porthole?" she comments to me straight away.

"Yeah, the view is amazing, come and have a look." I offer her, she stands between the beds and squints through it. "Hmm, but once we get going it'll be better."

"No, once we get going it'll just be sea."

"Why don't the two of you go and get something to eat?" Vin turns round from the small chest of drawers. "The standard class cafeteria is one deck up from here, I'll come and find you once I've finished with Sampson and I'll run you through what we're going to be doing for the next few days. We all need as much information as possible if we stand any chance of keeping him out of trouble and under control."

"Don't they have any plain ones?" I scrutinise the plate of biscuits Vio's put on our table.

"You want plain chocolate?"

"No, I want no chocolate."

"You can't possibly be on a diet, and hell will freeze over before you go off the stuff, so what the fuck gives?"

I stir a spoonful of sugar into my tea as I consider how best to explain. "It's made by echoback slaves," I say in the end.

"You mean harvested by them, there's a chocolate factory near the house where I grew up, I can tell you, no one with a tail works there."

"No one with a tail works on the plantations either, the slavers chop them off."

She stirs her own tea thoughtfully. "Why does it bother you all of a sudden?"

"Because I only just found out, I've know about rubber for a while, but I don't think I ever buy anything made out of that."

"You dated Ry though."

"Yeah, I know, I did talk to him about it though, apparently his family no longer uses slaves."

She gets to her feet. "I'll go and see what else they've got."

The biscuits without chocolate are dull but at least I don't feel guilty eating them. I notice Vio sticks to the plain ones too, the others remain uneaten. I'm pouring myself a second cup of slightly stewed tea out of the pot when Vin joins us.

"Hell, you know you're not in first class here in here," he looks around the cafeteria, taking in the oilcloth covered tables and self service counter. "I've just been stuck with Sampson while he eats his breakfast in the first class dining room, it's silver service in there."

"Sound about fucking right," Vio mutters. "Did you have breakfast in there too?"

"No, didn't even get a glass of water, they only let me because of Sampson."

"And you had to sit and watch him eat?" I ask, it's strange to see Vin being treated the way we normally are. I'm used to him being in charge, not being one of us, I've also noticed that since he arrived this morning neither Vio or me have called him "sir".

"Yes, kippers and devilled kidneys." Yuck. "Then he decided to start a conversation with the waiter about the war, which wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't been Surosian," Vin closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose, "we're not even on the open ocean yet." When he opens his eyes again he spots the plate of chocolate biscuits, picks one up and bites into it. Vio glances at me, but I'm not about to tell him he can't eat it. "Right, as you know we're headed for Kipp, by the time the ship has docked the train we need to catch will have gone so we'll be spending the night in the city and heading off first thing the next day. A representative from the Northern Continent cartel is going to be meeting us at the station and accompanying us. They're calling him a "guide", but in reality his job is to make sure we, or at least Sampson, only sees what they want him to see. In Shelly Sampson's due to address a summit comprising some of the most powerful people of the area, with anything like that there is always a risk of genuine, rather than Sampson made, danger, so we'll need to be on our toes..." he goes on to outline our movements for the next few weeks, by the time he's finished I've forgotten most of it.

"Are we going to be on duty all the time?" Vio asks.

"Hopefully not Violet," she scowls at him. "We should be able to work two on one off mostly, the important thing is to never leave him alone where he can cause trouble, which is pretty much anywhere other people are," Vin sighs and bites into another biscuit.

By late afternoon the ship is far out to sea and we've lost all sight of land. "We're moving pretty fast," Vio observes as the two of us sit at a small table on a covered part of the deck.

"Hmm, about twenty knots I reckon," I squint out at the sky.

"Anyone would think you're some sort of ancient sea-dog," she blows out a blue smoke ring. "You were only a sailor for a few months."

"Don't get cross just because you know nothing about sailing," I grin. She doesn't like me knowing more about stuff than her.

"Huh, you'll be off splicing the mainbrace next."

"This is a steamer," I point out. "It doesn't have a mainbrace."

She suddenly spots something over my shoulder, I look behind me to see Vin and Sampson walking toward us. Sampson has his silver tipped cane with him and it makes a tapping sound on the deck with every step he takes. When they get closer to us Vin fetches a pair of chairs from one of the other tables and they join us.

"It's rather jolly up here isn't it?" Sampson says loudly looking around. "Not so formal as in first. Where's the waiter? The sun's long over the yardarm, I think it's time for a little drink."

"Sir, I don't believe there are waiters in this area, it's more self service in standard class," Vin says smoothly.

"Oh," Sampson looks around again, "that's damned inconvenient."

Silence falls. I look at my nails, I can hear Vin bouncing a finger off the surface of the table, Vio has reached the end of her cheroot and stubs it out in the ashtray. She breaks first. "Would you like me to fetch you one Sir?"

"That would be most kind, a brandy would just be the ticket I think."

She stands and looks at him expectantly, nothing happens; eventually Vin puts his hand in his pocket and passes her some coins. "That should cover a round, we might as well all have a drink, Exit?"

"Lemonade please," I don't feel at all comfortable with the idea of drinking alcohol with Sampson.

"Same for me Violet," Vin adds.

"Govinder! That is not a man's drink," Sampson laughs. "He'll have a brandy too," he tells Vio, while I notice a flicker of annoyance pass over Vin's face.

"Make that a gin and tonic," Vin adds, then nods to her and discreetly signs "no gin" in front of his chest. Sampson doesn't notice, but I doubt he knows sign language anyway.

"You know I was rather hoping you'd bring that pretty black haired girl," Sampson says as Vio walks away, he's lowered his voice a bit, but probably not enough to stop Vio from hearing him. "I've no doubt Violet makes an excellent bodyguard, but it's good to have something nice to look at when you're travelling." He must mean Sonja, I suppose some men might find her pretty.

"Violet is Exit's partner, and as you say, she is an excellent bodyguard, she used to be in the police force if you recall," Vin replies evenly.

"Ah, yes," Sampson nods, then looks at me. "Bet you wish you were partnered up with that dark haired girl though, eh?" he winks. I can't think of anything worse.

"The two of them work very well together," Vin puts in, briefly catching my eye. "It's important that partners skills compliment one another."

"Hmm, and I suppose romance would effect your work," Sampson muses. All right, that's a worse thought than simply being partnered up with Sonja. "You know the current Mrs Sampson used to be my secretary?" he looks at me and I shake my head in reply. "I must admit that when I fell for her my office became more a temple of love than a place of work." What the hell is he talking about? "Let me tell you, when she smiled at me from behind her typewriter I was done for..." he rambles on about his "courtship" of his wife until Vio arrives back with the drinks.

"Ah," he sniffs the contents of his glass. "Not the best quality, but I suppose it'll have to do, we are at sea after all."

I glance at Vio, wondering how much of his earlier comments she heard. I notice that she's drinking lemonade too.

"A toast I think," Sampson raises his glass. "To the next few weeks together."

I've just got into bed and am looking through a newspaper that Vio bought and read earlier when the cabin door opens and Vin enters. Vio and me ate dinner in the cafeteria while Sampson "treated" Vin to dinner in first class, unfortunately in the evenings the first class dining room is formal wear only and as Vin hadn't packed any formal clothes he ended up in a borrowed dinner jacket from a stock the ship keeps for that very reason. It was obviously made for someone much bigger than him, he's only a couple of inches taller than me and not particularly large framed, and it should look stupid on him, but it actually looks weirdly good, the fact that his bow tie is undone and hanging loose and he has unbuttoned the top couple of buttons of the shirt don't hurt. He sits down on his bed and starts to remove his boots, they don't go with the dinner jacket at all but he flatly refused to wear borrowed shoes, and I don't blame him.

"Have you had a good evening?" he asks as he pulls the first one off.

"Fine, a bit dull," I put the paper to one side, he grins at me.

"Want to make it a bit more interesting?" his intent is clear, and made all the clearer by him removing his second boot and coming and sitting on my bed.

I look up at him, torn between telling him no and jumping on him. He settles the matter by pulling me in for a hard kiss, and as usual in a battle between my body and mind, my body wins. I'm not wearing any clothes and I decide to try and equal things up by pushing the oversized jacket off his shoulders and start work on his shirt buttons, sliding my hand inside as I go to stroke his chest and nipples. Once his shirt is fully open he shrugs if off and I begin to go for his belt when someone starts pounding on the door and shouting.

Vin stops kissing me, turns and shouts "GO AWAY" loudly in the direction of the door.

The pounding stops, then starts again, even louder.

"Perhaps you'd better answer it?" I suggest, stopping what I'm doing.

"Whoever it is they can just fuck right off." He gets up, not bothering to redress or to hide the prominent bulge in his trousers.

"What?" he spits as he opens the door, a nervous looking steward is standing on the other side.

"Sorry to interrupt Sir, but are you Govinder?"

"Yes," Vin says, a note of curiosity creeping into his voice.

"Sorry Sir, but it's about Mr Sampson."

"What about Mr Sampson? It'd better be important." I wouldn't want to be that steward right now, Vin can be quite scary at times.

"It is Sir, he's been stabbed."