Mr.Sandman: Book 1

Chapter 7: Paradiso

Charlemagne and Zoe took their usual seats as Darell proceeded to lift off. Once they had reached a comfortable altitude they unstrapped themselves and stood up. They stretched as they prepared to waste away their travel time. Zoe contemplated asking Darell what they'd be doing exactly, but she didn't expect a straight answer out of him anyways.

Charlemagne found a rag in one of the drawers of the ship and began to polish his blade as he sat back down. He was at this for a while, eventually his hand seemingly developing a will of its own as it effortlessly polished the sword. The sword had already begun to sparkle, but this didn't stop him from polishing it further.

Zoe circled Charlemagne's chair in boredom as she spoke to him, "You know, I think I'm getting used to space."

"When everyone said get your head out of the clouds back on Earth ascending farther above them wasn't exactly what they meant."

"You can't say you're not adjusting, you've shockingly adapted to life in space."

Charlemagne had snapped his fingers and Bass opened its chest to reveal a freshly brewed pot of coffee which Charlemagne quickly poured into a cup, "I don't know what you mean."

"Uh-huh, right. Well now, while you enjoy your chest coffee, tell me, what do you think Darell will have us do?"

"I can't get a read on the damn guy myself, he's truly a mystery to me. I'm not even sure if I like him or not."

"You've got to like him to some degree, he's personally piloted us around everywhere, and fed us. You have to be at least somewhat grateful for that."

"I didn't realize there was a Darell fanclub, much less that you were the president."

"You don't think we'll be finding jobs do you?"

"I doubt it, what job would we even find in space?"

"I'm sure someone somewhere wants a coffee. You could be the Barista Of the Stars."

"Very funny. And you could be the Bitch of The North Star."

Zoe shoved Charlemagne, knocking him to his feet. He expected about as much, but what he didn't expect was for her try and land on top of him with an elbow. Charlemagne moved out of the way and attempted to leave the situation all together, however Zoe wasn't having it as she coiled her whip around his ankle, bringing him to the floor again.

She slowly reeled Charlemagne in as he protested furiously, gripping one of the chairs. He tried wrenching himself free but eventually his arm gave in and he found himself being dragged towards Zoe. A shrill scream escaped him, prompting Darell to leave the cockpit angrily as he spoke to them, "Out of all the people to have crossed paths with, it had to be you two? Please, kill each other quieter, or wait until we get there to do it?"

Zoe let go of Charlemagne as he scrambled back to his seat, Zoe questioning Darell, "And just where is there?"

"That's a surprise, I hope you two brought swim wear."

"What is that supposed to mean, Darell?"

"I heard of a nice play, so while we're there you guys can volunteer and we get boarding for free. So just do some work here and there and it's essentially a paid vacation. So, what do you say?"

The idea sounded great to the both of them, in theory. They had grown a slight skeptisim surrounding Darell, though they couldn't imagine anything going wrong if everything he said was true. Zoe and Charlemagne stared at each other for a little bit, mulling over what to say. Eventually nodded to each other and Charlemagne responded, "Sure, Darell."