Monty

Since all of his ‘Command Crew’ had left on missions, Brad was alone. He wondered if someone was supposed to stay on the Bridge at all times. He looked out the front viewing windows at the clear day and the calm ocean and figured that the ship wasn’t doing anything except floating idly in the sea. Then he remembered that the ship was fueled by poetry, and figured that he’d better go and find the person in charge of the engine room. There was a high chance that they didn’t speak English, but someone had to tell them that the ship didn’t run by conventional methods. Brad figured that he could somehow pantomime the basics, and maybe do a demonstration also. He debated a few moments, then figured that the ship wasn’t in any danger, so he might as well go out and meet the engineering crew.He answered questions and settled disputes all along his trip to the bottom center of the ship in the main engine room. He finally arrived to find everything in a busy, but functional order. It didn’t take him long to find the reason. A tall man in a broad-brimmed hat wearing what looked like long loose-fitting shorts was giving orders and directing affairs. Brad caught his attention and was introduced.The man put forth his hand, “Captain, I’m Montgomery Bentham, I believe I’m your Engineer, at least that’s what Hubert there said it’s called.” He pointed down a corridor to indicate a boy wearing dark rough clothing and a wool cap.” The boy gave a furtive look, then disappeared into the distance.”“Sounds good to me.” Brad smiled and shook the hand. Inwardly Brad was also smiling because he had found a native English speaker. Not only that, but this Montgomery carried himself like an English gentleman.In fact, if Brad had his memories, he’d assess that Montgomery looked very similar to the way Sherlock Holmes was depicted in many movies, albeit with a totally different style of dress from the detective stories.Montgomery had a narrow face with piercing eyes. His chin was rounded, but his look was…

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Storyboard

The WordMaverick was staring at a blank wall.  It wasn’t a metaphor.  It was an actual blank wall.A stack of sticky notes and a pen were in his hand.  He sighed.He was getting geared up to do a storyboard.  The entire setup of the first days of the A Go-Go could get very tedious and  . . . boring.  So, he came up with a loose formula to followMeet Character + Learn something –> Something interestingThe WordMaverick was aware that some people that were linier thinkers (like his wife) or people that actually knew a about life on an ocean liner would find fault with the timeline either way.  Oh well.There are many exciting characters in Cruise Ship A Go-Go.  Look for periodic character profiles in the Dramatis Personae portion of the site. 

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Peas

Peas almost sank the ship during those first few days. While the massive amount of learning was taking place, the crew was tortured with the culinary blandness of canned peas as their only meal. A few of the crew from primitive cross-ocean voyages could remember worse meals, but none of them could remember horrible meals with such a regular consistency. After they discovered that there was no designated chef for the ship, they administered a temporary solution; to make a schedule to have different crew members rotate into being the line cooks in the galley. It was all peas, so nobody had to have any special skills. The magic of the ship provided heat to warm them up on the stove, and they were ladled out to the crew in shifts. Everyone took turns washing dishes as well; Brad and the other command crew even took their shifts.

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