Storm Warning (Choose your own adventure)

11

You walk towards the crowded market stalls. People have set up small market booths and pavilions, selling almost anything; trinkets, jewellery, gemstones, charms, books, clothes, boots, candles, exotic spiced food, hot chai and gingernut tea, ale, fine wines, puzzle boxes, milk, sweets, ice cream... you can't think of many things that aren't being sold here! You walk through the crowded streets and up to a stand that sells food.

After waiting for a while in the queue, you buy a hot spicy bun sprinkled with some sort of bitter green sauce with the handful of coins you found while rummaging around in your coat pocket. The hearty bun goes down well. It's the first piece of food you've eaten that actually tastes nice. As you wander through the market stalls, something catches your eye. A locksmith has set up his stall here. It's not really the thing you'd expect to see at a market, but it's what's in the booth that interests you. Lying on the front counter is a key with a pattern similar to one you've seen before....

"Excuse me sir," you say to the man at the counter, "What sort of key is that?" "Ah, this is a black box key. Ya know, black boxes in skyships and such that record data? They need keys to unlock dem" the man says. Your heart is racing. You can barley contain your excitement. The cube you found in the wreckage...it was the airship's black box! You could unlock it and found where the airship was going and why it crashed! Then you could follow the source to reclaim your memory!

"Would you be able to find a key for this?" you ask, showing him the black box. "Well, let me see...imperial class airship....hmmm" the man says, carefully examining the black box. He pulls a key out from under the counter. "This should so the trick!" he says, plugging the key into the black box and turning it clockwise, counterclockwise and clockwise again. The box opens up along the blue lines, like a creature extending its claws. Inside is a glowing silver sphere. You touch it, and a holographic display springs up. "You can take that somewhere private if you don't want anyone else seeing it" , the man says. You thank him and quickly run off. Turn to 18.