The Brigadier was relaxed. Very relaxed. Six gins and tonics relaxed. His location: on the observation deck of the Nautilus, as it steamed across the Pacific towards China. And destiny.
The Pacific was, uncharacteristically, conforming to its name today, and the calm seas and fair weather had enticed Captain Nemo to run on the surface. Rossaroni, and his erstwhile companion and particular friend, Lord Turnips, had spent the day making good use of the ship's Steward, Rodrigo, making him fetch drinks, applying tanning butter, and adjusting umbrellas to keep the equitorial sun at bay.
"Rodrigo, another G&T, por favor," said Rossaroni as he waved number six in the air. When Rodrigo wasn't fast enough in responding, the Brigadier made a loud sucking sound through his straw. "Garcon! Pronto! Pronto!"
A harried Rodrigo finally appeared, "Si senor. Right away, senor." He took number six and scurried away.
Just then Lord Turnips, dressed is his swimming gown, appeared from the hatch that Rodrigo just went down. "I say, old boy, it looks like you've got the poor boy all in a lather." The Brigadier smiled, "I supposed he's not all bad, as far as dagos go, that is. Well, tell me what you've been up to since I've been sunning myself up here?" Turnips sat down on the adjacent chaise lounge, "Well, I just finished taking a steam in Nemo's Turkish bath. Excellent for the pores, you know. Anyway, I saw the Captain coming down the corrider and he asked me to tell you that we'll be submerging tonight as we enter the South China Sea, and you'll have to leave the deck in an hour so the crew can prepare."
"Well, it's the least I can do for the good Captain, as he was so nice to pick us up in the Sandwich Islands," responded Rossaroni as he took number seven from Rodrigo. "But I'm afraid the difficult part of the journey is just about to begin. The Temporal Confluence Detector is clearly pointing at the Hong Kong-Macau area as Marzipan's location, and it hasn't varied since we left the Sandwiches. But what we've got to figure out is WHY she's there." Turnips pursed his lips, "If she hasn't left the area, It's clearly because she is either looking for something or trying to accomplish something there and hasn't finished yet. And as she's driven by her pathological desire to obtain the Ur-Gin, I'd say that, whatever she's doing there, we'd better stop her."
"Capital reasoning, old chum," said the Brigadier as he made more slurping noises with number seven.
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