So this is Nippon
The journal of Alvis, Lord Torc, Envoy in Extraordinary from the Land of Summer’s
Twilight, pt 23
We
are not near Faerie but in Zircon and trying to get to Silicon. My Minor Glamours remain useful but an attempt to try something a
little more useful than a hairy cushion suffers from too much technological or Pattern
interference and ends in abject failure. This place – this Shadow is
fundamentally a challenge. We are to be reclothed to
‘fit in’ and I am given a gun and shown how to use it and apparently not a ‘bad
shot.’ And spent some time in a Situation Room where one has to pick targets –
apparently not the local Police. That was frowned upon. Bring me my bow of
burning gold? Perhaps not.
I
spoke briefly with Lady Constance and exchanged our respective whereabouts.
She, with her Party, is in Rebma. I would rather be
in Rebma. Actually, I’d rather be in the Court of the
King and Queen but there we are.
Darig made contact with someone who knew someone and we were
introduced to Jake Obi, the Captain of a Zircon Tramp ship of some sort. He
looked battered – to put it nicely. He has a ship but only a Second Mate as
crew. This seems insufficient to me and I am hardly swimming in knowledge
around Commanding a boat. The other options for travel seemed just as unlikely,
although I quite liked the sound of travelling in a cruise ship. However
alternatives were dismissed by people who, I trust, know what they are doing.
The
good Captain and his Second Mate are willing to take us to Silicon if we
overcome a couple of problems. Firstly, their fine ship is currently blockaded
in the Harbour. Secondly, the people doing the blockade are called the Yakuza –
a group unpleasant and responsible for scaring off the rest of the Captain’s
crew. Finally – the ship is powered by something called Newclear
energy. They don’t have an engineer for this and Darig
looks more than a little concerned by this. Perhaps people can be employed to
row it?