I followed James down the passage and into a room I have never noticed before. Actually, it is a room I have never seen before on the ship and that is saying something.
As a lowly kitchen boy, I have plenty of time to explore and I am pretty confident I know this ship inside out. Probably better than the Captain herself.
This room is new.
"Welcome Mr Potter, you may have a seat and keep quiet." The Captain says quickly as she spots James and me entering the room.
There are seats lined up one row after each other, I would guess almost a hundred seats easy. Aside from the Captain, James and obviously your's truly, there were only five other people.
Since all those brown nosers decided to sit in the front row I went to go sit in the back.
The Captain talked with James for a bit then he went to close the door to the room and the lights went out, focusing our attention on the wall which is now one big screen.
The Captains silhouette began to talk, "Now most of you know some of why you are here. This will be a full briefing to catch you all up to speed." The Captain says then turns to face us, "...and Mr Potter I do hope this will keep you from bothering us on the Bridge again."
I slipped down in my chair a bit just nodding in the dark, "Ok," So let's begin the Captain continues accepting my silent agreement.
A drawing of the spaceships the briefing is about shows on the screen, as the Captain continues: "These 'Pretzel' shaped ships as Potter describes them are not actually 'Pretzel' shaped. They only appear that way to a very small group of people."
The Captain walks over to the front row of people and I can see them nodding as though they understand what she means. Then she looks up at me and pauses.
"Now Mr Potter, we all know why we can see them as this odd shape but the question is why can you?" She says having made her way to the back row where I am slouching.
Leaning forward the Captain repeats the last part almost as a whisper in my ear, "Why can you?"
"Dunno." I quickly reply leaning away from her as though I am avoiding the cooties.
Standing back up and walking to the front she changes the slide to what looks like a fancy geometric circle flower.
"Everyone here knows a little about space and time and all that blah blah." The Captain says sounding a bit more relaxed.
"Mr Potter, everyone here has breached the traditional constraints of that also. It is why you can see those ships the way you do. They are not just in our space and time but in multiple times."
"Do you understand Mr Potter?" She says a bit louder and stops pacing to look up at me in the back.
I instinctively sit up in my chair and raise my hand. "No. Ma'am." I say quickly.
"Hahaha," the Captain laughs.
Starting her walk back over to me she continues explaining. "Ok, well to put it simply. Those ships are bounty hunters and they find people who for whatever reason, the powers that be deemed 'Inter-dimensional Fugitives', this also happens to coincide with the powers that be, being the reason for them becoming fugitives in the first place."
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"Does that make sense?" She asks, as I lean off to the side again but this time thinking, "She has a really pretty mouth, although it is kinda gloomy in here."
"Ok, Captain. So the people in the front are fugitives?" I ask, and she looks towards the front row tilting her head in thought as she is still leaning forward. After a moment she stands up straight again and looks down at me before replying, "Yes."
"Ok, that was not so hard, thank you, Captain. Can I go now?" I ask while already getting out of my seat and starting for the door.
She turns back to me puts her hand on my shoulder, I feel her pushing down a bit indicating I should best sit, quickly.
"Are you sure that is all the explanation you required?" She asks me as I sit back down trying to act normal, ruffling my hair a bit, I figure that would help showcase some nonchalant and chill the room out. I can feel all eyes on me as I realise this briefing is not so much about the strange ships but more an introduction to my interrogation.
I calmly reply, "Now that you mention it, I did not want to be a bother but you did say 'inter-dimensional' and I am no expert but it sounded like those ships are operating with time travel?"
"Yes, kinda, I guess." Even in the gloomy light of the screen, I can see the Captain is leering at me as she decides how to continue. Does she answer me or continue her interrogation.
Both our attention is pulled away from our standoff by James clearing his throat, "Yes, Captain, what do you mean multiple time periods?" He asks, saving me a few moments longer.
The Captain turns away from me and heads to the front of the briefing room before she continues.
I nod to James in the dark for saving me, "Ok I will explain briefly, then Mr Potter you will remain and everyone else will leave." The Captain says authoritatively.
"Ah shit. She is going to rake my ass now." I think as she continues talking, "So basically we can't time travel and we can't instantly teleport, right?" The Captain asks the room without waiting for an answer.
"So you cannot go back in your own time, that much I know for certain. I apologize but this will be rudimentary because as you can imagine this information is not exactly general knowledge." She says as she turns off the big screen and turns on the lights in the room.
The Captain then sits on the desk at the front and gathers her thoughts before continuing, "You cannot be in the same place and change time, you cannot be in the same time and instantly change places... Where ever you end up in time is your origin point, and you cannot go back on an origin point... Actually, you know what fuck it." She gets off the table and walks over to me.
"Ah shit." I think as I quickly shift my ass over to the next seat to keep some distance, the Captain comes up to my row and moves the seat before mine out of the way before pointing at me earnestly, "Who are you!?" She exclaims.