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It was a night like no other.
She had snuck onto a ship headed to the new world, and her goal was to kill the captain, and reap the raw minerals on the shores so far away. Instead, she was found, and was given a raft so she could float aimlessly in the Atlantic Ocean and die.
Why? She was foolish. She let her foot stick out from behind a barrel, and had the soles of her feet burnt black until she spoke the truth. She was a power hungry maniac, or so the crew said. She was upset how superstitious some people can be. Women bad luck on a ship. Pah! She spat at the thought. And what about women not being equal? They were all made of the same thing. Carve out of the same earth, in the image of The Holy One, Blessed Is He.
She pounded her fists on the edge of the raft, causing it to jump, and swish around on top of the black waters. She sighed, and lay back down to gaze at the sky. It wasn't night anymore, but early morning. The sun would be rising soon, taking away the breath-taking scene in front of her.
Millions of stars shone above head in a midnight blue sky, and a strip of dark green weaved its way through the stars like a sash on a belly dancer. The moon was almost full. There was a sliver missing to make it whole, but it appeared whole. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. But she began to feel nervous.
It wasn't because she was in the middle of nowhere on a raft, nor was it because she was probably going to die out there. It was the green strip, which seemed to have moved in the last minute or so. She shook her head, trying to clear her head, and looked up again. It was probably some sort of gas in space.
She yawned, then turned over to sleep.
When she woke up, it was day. The sun was high in the sky, meaning she slept through the whole morning. She sat up, squinting against the light. But there! A vessel of some sort heading this way!
"Over here!" She shouted, jumping to her sore feet and waving her arms around like a crazy person. Crazy person or not, it worked. As they were nearing, it appeared to be another ship sent by the Queen to the new world. She could hardly keep her excitement in her. She jumped around more and more causing her to trip and fall into the water.
When she surfaced, the ship's captain and crew were lined up along the sides, watching her.
She pushed her wet hair from her face and grabbed onto the raft.
"Permission to come aboard," she said politely, trying to keep her thoughts of conquering in the back of her mind.
"Granted," he grumbled, ordering his crew to get her out of the water. They lowered a rope ladder and she grabbed a hold of it and began to climb up. When she was standing on the deck, she felt rather alone. They all kept to themselves, and there were no women. She shrugged.
"Headed to the New World?" she asked a man to her left.
He just backed away, head bowed. She turned to a man that was mopping, and asked again. He repeated what the first man did.
"You must excuse them," the captain said, re-appearing from the door he disappeared through while she was climbing the ladder. "They treat women with the highest respect, as strange at it sounds."
Or thought that if they went near her, they'd have bad luck, she thought.
The captain made a face at his crew, ordering them to lunch. When and captain and her were the only ones on the deck, he gave her a tour, and ended it by showing her to his room, inviting her for lunch. He tossed her a towel and a change of clothes from a chest.
"We don't carry women's clothes, so these will have to do. The crew's clothing has holes which would expose you too greatly."
"Thanx," she mumbled, wrapping herself in the towel.
"I'm captain Robert Hubért," he said as they sat down at a table with a view of the water. She picked up satchel from the table and was beginning to open it when captain Hubért snatched it from her.
"Don't ever open this. It contains the strongest poison known to man. A pinch can kill."
She smiled. Captain Catherine Short. It had a nice ring to it.
She waited a few weeks, earning a good reputation amongst the crew and lulling captain Hubért into false security and sense of trust. It was exactly three weeks since she came aboard, and she silently poisoned captain Hubért's wine while he was yelling at the cook for burning his supper. When he returned, she offered him the drink, and he took it without hesitation. When it was drained, she sat on captain Hubért's bed, cross-legged, watching him look for something. His movements began to slow, and she smiled evilly. He caught sight of her. His face was coated in a think layer of sweat, and he was gasping for air.
She lifted a bottle of wine and the satchel of poison. She smiled again. His eyes widened, and he stumbled over to her, placing a weak hand on his sword. He was dead before he reached the bed. He lay on the ground face down, not moving. She laughed out loud, and couldn't seem to stop. While she was laughing, she took the captain's hat and put it on, and grabbed his sword, still contained in its sheath. She went through the captain's... or rather her clothes and put on the nicest blue captain suit she could find.
When she felt she was fit to be seen, she stepped out of the door, grabbing the handgun, which hung on a hook by the door. She shot a few rounds in the air, causing the crew to come jumping out of doors and holes. When they saw her twirling the gun around her thumb then placing it gently back on the hook, they stood still, allowing the information of a new captain to sink in.
"Captain Catherine Short," she said out loud, hooking her thumbs into the belt around her waist.
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