Rhys paid Otto the four sovereigns they’d agreed on then and there. They arranged for the pallets to be delivered the morning after next. Rhys intended to get the crew interviews and any unloading done tomorrow. That meant he would have an empty hold ready for the day after.

Thanking Otto for his time, Rhys left the shop and headed back to the Endeavour. Otto had given him a receipt to present when he arrived in Arn Dukatt. The shipment was being sent to Hans Kraus, Otto’s brother, and he would be in another branch of Kraus and Sons.

With the business for the day done, Rhys spent the evening working on his current project. While he was in Otto’s shop, he’d seen a high-end artifice that could transmit images of what was in front of it to a runescribed slate of cloud quartz. It was over a hundred sovereigns for such an intricate device, money that Rhys wasn’t even close to having.

He did have a growing amount of spares and parts to work with, and he’d gotten a good look at the runes on the slate. It would take a lot of time to replicate, but he didn’t need to make the whole thing. If he could make the initial part, he was certain Zaxx could do the rest, which would save on a lot of the runework and complexity.

‘Zaxx, I’m going to be doing some artificer work this evening. Could you move all the spares I have up to my room? If you could lay them out on the tables along the wall, that would be great.’ Rhys whispered the words to himself, knowing that Zaxx would hear him.

‘I have done as you’ve asked. Everything is grouped by the categories you’ve used before. I will add a pot of boiling water and a selection of herbs once you board the Endeavour.’

‘Oh, thanks, Zaxx,’ Rhys said, blinking owlishly as he registered what Zaxx had said. Sometimes, it almost felt like Zaxx was acting as his butler. He was getting more used to Zaxx tidying up after him, but this was something else entirely.

As promised, the parts were laid out, and a steaming pot of water was waiting for him when he reached his room. Adding the herbs to steep in the water, Rhys got to work on figuring out how he would get the project done.

-**-

The next day came around before Rhys knew it, the morning light finding him slumped over his desk with a scattering of parts all around him. Rubbing his face, Rhys took a minute to tidy things up before heading down to the galley. He wanted to have breakfast before the workers came to unload the ship.

‘Someone is approaching the hatch,’ Zaxx informed him some time later, just as Rhys was sitting down with a hot bowl of porridge.

‘Right, I’ll be there in a moment,’ Rhys said, looking longingly at the porridge before standing up and heading for the entry hatch.

A tired-looking man was waiting for him when he opened the hatch, announcing that he was from the guild and was here to pick up the shipment from Arn Bolear. As usual, there were another few workers guiding empty runescribed carts down to the base of the ship, so Rhys quickly made his way down to the cargo hold.

Zaxx had preemptively moved the pallets next to the opening, so Rhys went ahead and undid the latches and slid the hatch open. As before, he operated the cargo winch himself, but Zaxx did most of the actual work. He did his best to make it look like it was difficult, but Rhys was turning a wheel with no resistance behind it, so who knew how well he pulled that off.

In short order, Rhys had gotten the pallets dropped down to the waiting cart and worked up quite the sweat from running back and forth. It was a fresh reminder that he would have to get a water tank installed on the Endeavour at some point, then he could put in a shower or bath. He disliked the way he was going about it at the moment intensely.

Still, with the offloading complete, he finished his cold breakfast and got himself ready to meet with the potential crew.

-**-

Rhys arrived at the Captain’s Guild with plenty of time to spare and was guided to the room he’d been assigned.

The first person on his list was Tom Morgan, a general worker who was ex-military and listed themselves as a capable fighter and a decent shot.

‘Morning, Captain,’ Tom said as he entered the room. He was an average looking man with several visible scars and a muscular build.

‘Morning, Mr Morgan. Please, take a seat,’ Rhys waved to the other free chair in the room. The only furniture present was a desk and two chairs, so Rhys was able to rest his elbows on the desk as he leaned forward. ‘Tell me about what sort of ship you’re looking for.’

‘Ah, something quiet really, Captain. I served out in the Agrestal Expanse, and I’ve seen my share of odd things out there. Ideally, I want a few years on a nice, solid ship where I can do honest work for honest pay.’ Tom told him, his expression earnest as he spoke.

‘I see. Thank you for being honest. I don’t really think that the Endeavour is right for you then, we have an experimental engine, and there will no doubt be lots of odd things going on because of it,’ Rhys said honestly. It was a shame, as Tom seemed like an honest sort, but Rhys didn’t want to hire someone who wanted something he wasn’t offering.

‘Thank you for being straight with me, Captain,’ Tom said, a crooked smile spreading across his lips. ‘If I’m honest, a little weirdness would be fine. It keeps you on your toes. As much as I want a quiet berth, I think that might be a bit too quiet for me. I’d be willing to try it out if you are?’

‘That’s up to you. I can offer five bits a day with food and berth. That can go up if things work out with you, but there’s no pressure there. I need a general worker to help with loading and the like, but the experimental parts of the ship do a lot of it.’

‘Wait, how many people are going to be in your crew, Captain?’ Tom asked, cocking his head to one side.

‘Five for the moment if I hire everyone, maybe a few more over time, but not too many. As I said, the experimental parts of the ship will be odd, but they do cut down on the manual labour.’ Rhys was emphasising the experimental parts now to cut down on any questioning later.

‘Sounds fair, Captain. For my part, I do dislike some of the weird things that happen out there, but berths are hard to come by these days, so I’ll deal. I’ll give you plenty of warning if I’m going to leave as well. I stand by my word, so I won’t jump ship halfway through a run. If that’s all agreed, when do I start?’

Rhys drummed his fingers for a moment before nodding. He liked the forthright attitude that Tom was showing. Reaching into his coat, he pulled out two ten-bit coins and slid them across to the muscular man. ‘You start today. Consider this your first day’s pay and a signing bonus. I can either give you directions, or you can come back with me when I’m done. What do you prefer?’

‘I’ll pack up and be back here in ten, looking forward to working with you, Captain,’ Tom said, grinning as he took the coins and headed back out the room.

Pleased with the way it went, Rhys settled in to wait for his next potential hire, a man called Malone. Malone was his pick for helmsman, a vital role on the ship.

From the moment that Malone came in, Rhys knew it wasn’t going to work out. Malone had a cocky swagger to him that rubbed the young captain up wrong from the get go. It only got worse when Malone answered his questions, the smug man talking down to him like he was an idiot.

Rhys stayed civil, but he shortly sent Malone on his way, leaving him short of a potential helmsman. It looked like he was doing it himself for the time being. Damn. He’d been particularly looking forward to having someone to fly the ship at night when the occasion called for it.

The next on the list was Oliver Brown, who he’d shortlisted for several tasks. Oliver listed a lot of time spent managing cargo and inventories, so Rhys wanted him as cargomaster mixed with quartermaster.

Oliver came in a few minutes after Malone left. Oliver was a tall and thin man with short brown hair and an unremarkable face. There was a spring in his step, though, that made Rhys perk up.

‘Captain Hunt, it is a pleasure to meet you,’ Oliver said, shaking his hand before folding himself into the chair opposite at Rhys’s gesture.

‘Mr Brown, a pleasure. Please, tell me about what sort of ship you’re looking to serve on.’ Rhys leaned back and settled himself into his chair in anticipation of a long conversation.

‘Ideally, I’m looking for a small ship, so I have space to work without worrying about too many people. I deal mainly in cargo. I’ve done organising, purchasing and supplies management. I like to be able to manage my own work, so I’d look to be in charge of the team you have. I’ve done all the jobs you can do with cargo on cloudships. The message I got didn’t state exactly what role you were looking for?’

Rhys was nodding along as Oliver spoke. This was sounding good so far. ‘It’s a small ship with a small crew, so I’m looking for a single person to manage the cargo. I’ll choose jobs, but you organise it and choose any additional cargo to go with us. You’d also manage our general supplies for the moment. The Endeavour has an experimental engine, amongst other things, so it only needs a small crew and will be quite odd or weird at times. Will that be an issue?’

‘I doubt it. I’ll be mainly dealing with the logistics side anyway. To be clear, though, you want one person to manage everything around the cargo side. By that, I include scouting for new jobs and buying goods for a dedicated part of the cargo hold to trade on arrival. Does that sound right?’

‘Pretty much, yes. There’s only one general crewman to assist you currently. There may be more in time.’

‘Perfect, I’m in. That’s exactly what I was looking for,’ Oliver said, grinning at him once more.

‘Great!’ Rhys said, returning the grin as he leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table once more. He was getting a good feeling about Oliver. He seemed competent and knowledgeable, qualities the inexperienced Rhys needed in his crew. ‘I can offer ten bits a day with food and berth. We can review that later once we’ve had a few trips together and confirmed it all works.’

‘Sounds good to me, Captain,’ Oliver said, holding his hand out once more.

‘Good to have you onboard,’ Rhys said, shaking his hand firmly as he gave him the same options as he had for Tom. Oliver considered before saying he’d be back to meet him here.

Sitting back down once Oliver was gone, Rhys smiled to himself. Two out of three wasn’t bad, and the one that hadn’t made the cut wasn’t such a bad job to do himself.

The last interview was with Lucy Val Drack for gunnery and backup artificer. Mainly the gunnery side, though, but some help with building any new devices would be welcome.

‘Zaxx, I’m bringing at least two people back with me today. Remember, don’t talk to them directly, if you even can.’ Rhys took advantage of the few minutes he had to speak with Zaxx. He was worried about Zaxx giving them away somehow. The eldritch creature didn’t quite seem to view the matter of crew from the same position as Rhys.

‘I can do so when they’re on the ship, but I won’t. At least, not until they’re comfortable with my presence. I will obfuscate myself from them until that time.’

Rhys sighed and rubbed his face. That was a prime example of the difference. Zaxx was always saying it would be a temporary thing. The idea of sharing Zaxx’s existence with other people terrified Rhys.