The Adventures of the HMS Harlot

Part 5: Witherford Chesterfield, Engineer

It always seems to be that the sky is most beautiful on nights when you cannot sleep. That night was no different.

The Moon was full and it made the deck shine like it was daylight; which made hiding on the deck so the Captain couldn't see that I was awake difficult. Though on that night she was distracted, not even the heavens know what was going through her mind on that night. I kept my mind off of the coming confrontation with The Michael by counting the stars. My eyes finally fixed on the Moon, and much like every sailor who looks at the Moon, I became lost in my own memory.

...

"Daddy, how far away from here is the Moon?"

The little girl standing next to me has a floral dress on, the garden smells gently of flowers. Sunflowers, her favorite.

"How far do you think it is?"

She looks thoughtful for a moment, scratching her head as she has seen me do countless times.

"Well it looks like it is close enough to touch."

"Oh? Does it now?"

"Uh-huh, I bet if I got on your shoulders I could just reach."

"You just want me to pick you up again."

"Noooooooo" She says with a mischievous smile.

I laugh, so does she. There is a gentle breeze as I lower myself to place her on my shoulders. She is small, barely adding any weight onto me. I am careful when I stand up.

"Higher daddy! higher!" She cries.

I race across the garden, finding a hill, she is laughing and reaching up to the sky, trying to grab the Moon she is sure it is just out of reach.

"What are you two clowns up to?"

There is a woman in a lab coat, smiling warmly.

"I am trying to reach the Moon!"

"Reach the Moon! Is that why there is so much noise out here?"

"I'm sorry, did we disturb your work?" I say to her while stopping.

"No, I just finished. Besides I have to be sure she is ok."

"She is fine, I am with her."

"You never watch her as closely as I do."

The moment is tense, but there is no anger between the two of us. We have had this conversation before. The silence is broken by the little girl on my shoulders starting to cough.
I bring her to the ground and take out her medication I have in a pocket of my own lab coat. The little girl gently pushes my arm aside as I try to inject into her arm. She sits up, blood trickling down from her mouth.

"It's ok, I'm ok." She wipes the blood off on her dress, the sunflowers on the dress now stained red.

"Pick me up again daddy, I wanna touch the Moon."

...

After a loud thud woke me up, I had fallen asleep in my hidden perch. A brief investigation finds that the source of the noise was the Captain who had fallen from the railing. Eldon must have startled her, rare for the Captain to be surprised.

"Then what were you doing?" Eldon asked.

"Well, I was meant to be manning the whe-" She stopped, "I was trying to touch the moon."

They both stood in silence for a moment, then they laughed. I felt a tear go down my face. I quickly wiped it away. That man is dead, he has been dead for a long time, along with the girl in the sunflower dress and the woman with the warm smile. I grip back onto reality and move towards deck as Barty yells "land!" From the crow's nest.

I have lost one family and I'll be damned if I lose another.

This signature signifies that I still live and breathe.

Witherford Chesterfield III