from the many copper-coloured ornaments that were all over her clothes.
"Now listen," said the witch, who had reached the captain. "Why are you here and how did you get here? And while we're at it, when are you leaving again?"
"Mi dispiace, madam Witch," Maurizio said as he tried to keep looking at the witch, "I am very sorry, but this was the closest place to land."
"Land? Hello, this is a ship, right?" Hilda asked.
Before the redcoat could reply, the copper-covered woman arrived. "Moro, who are these folks, and where are we?" she demanded to know.
"He's called Maurizio, not Moron," Hilda announced to the new arrival, "and I was talking to him."
"And who might you be?" the woman, who was clad in leather underneath all the small copper shields inquired.
"I am Grimhilda the witch." Hilda stared at the woman.
As Maurizio tried to step away, both women grabbed his coat. "Stay," two voices said.
"So you're a witch? Wow. I am impressed." The voice of the woman in leather made it clear that she thought something else. "Witches don't exist."
"Oh? And what's this?" Hilda waved her wand.
"It's a stick. It's just a small wooden stick."
"Hilda, perhaps we can-" William had come closer as he saw doom crawling onto the ship. His attempt to rein in Hilda however was cut short as the witch had already cast a spell onto the women in leather. The woman flew towards the metal hulk that Maurizio had climbed from and stuck to it. It was as if the huge construction was a magnet that attracted the copper plating on the woman's clothing.
"Everything's under control, sweet wizard," Hilda smiled, "and now we have that out of the way I am sure this man is ready to give us some answers."
Maurizio stood staring at the squirming woman who hung from the huge robot. "Mama mia, how did you do that?"
"Crappedy crap, don't you ever listen? I told you I am a witch!"
"Hilda," said William.
"Get me down!" screamed the woman.
"Do that yourself, Rebel!" Maurizio exclaimed.
"Rebel?" Hilda asked.
"Shut up," said Polly the parrot, who had returned to Maurizio's shoulder.
3. Introductions
The air over the black ship could have been frozen, were it not for the woman attached to the metal man. She was flapping her arms and kicking her feet while promising death and destruction to the world and its vicinity.
"Mrs. Witch," Maurizio Blunt said, "could you please bring Rebel down?"
Hilda tapped her wand against her leg. "Who is Rebel?"
The captain pointed at the leather and copper woman. "She's Rebel. Well, it is not her real name but Rebel fits her."
"You give me some answers when I let her go?"
"I promise," said the man.
Hilda nodded. "Hey, Rebel, get ready to fall," she said. Then she flicked her wand. "Suck an elf," was her reaction when she saw the woman fall - slowly. The woman, Rebel, landed on her feet so gently that she wouldn't have crushed the shell of an egg. "How did she do that?"
William also was very surprised about what he had seen. He scooped Obsi up and stroked his head, to have something to do. This, he had already decided, was not a normal black ship. Normal black ships didn't just appear in lakes, they didn't have man-carrying robots on board and they usually didn't have crew that could float towards the deck like a leaf with self-control.
Maurizio frowned. "Which question, Mrs. Witch, do you want me to answer first?"
"What do you think?" Hilda did not make it any easier on him. She kept her eye on Rebel, who had walked up to Maurizio and stood next to him, hands akimbo.
"I'm Donna Abrahams," the woman said, holding out a hand. "People call me Rebel. Oh, cute, a cat."
Rebel had noticed Obsi as William had come to stand next to Hilda; this all was becoming too interesting to miss. As Hilda ignored the hand offered, the wizard shook it for a moment. "William the wizard," he said, "and this is Grimhilda the witch. A real one, as you've noticed."
"Yeah, she's quite a piece of work," said Rebel.
Hilda raised her eyebrows. "A witch is not 'a piece of work'," she grumbled. "Now tell us where you came from and when you're leaving again. You've done nothing but upset the people in the village and our cats."
As William wondered where the upset cats had come in, Maurizio looked at his crew. "Go and do something," he said. The request was partially successful; the men moved about a bit, found places to sit and continued watching the scene. "Well, where we came from... is a bit difficult to explain. It is a bit strange."
"We're used to strange," William tried to boost the man's confidence.
"Va bene. We just escaped from a meteor shower." Maurizio's face showed doubt. He expected that the two people would not believe him.
"A what?" Hilda asked.
"A meteor shower?" William asked at the same time. "There's not been a meteor shower here in months." And to Hilda he explained: "Shooting stars."
Hilda nodded. "Yes, most people gave up shooting them. These stars are either too fast or too far away, really takes all fun out of the game."
"Eh? Shooting them?" Rebel looked lost. "The buggers almost took half the ship out. Good thing we came close to a sun that was powerful enough to fling us away. Which is what took us here. Wherever here is."
The conversation was amazingly confusing. Lots of questions were asked and answers were given but not understood. The most worrying approaches to this came from Hilda and Maurizio. William decided to break up all conversations. "Folks! Silence! And that means you too, sweetwitch," he hastily added as Hilda shot him a look. "I think we have to do some more constructive talk and explaining, okay?"
Rebel agreed. "About time. I'm getting brain wrecked here. Can I hold that kitty?"
Obsi meowed and jumped down, seeking safety with his sister.
Maurizio straightened his back. "Va bene, I suggest we go down to the lounge and talk over cappucino or espresso."
"What's that?" Hilda wanted to know. William quickly explained that it was coffee, which lit up her eyes.
"Xander, can you take that away?" Maurizio said to one of the sailors, pointing at the metal shape. The man nodded, and Maurizio asked his guests to follow him. To the lounge.
Hilda and William carried their cats. The animals did not seem to mind that one bit; the black heads with the yellow eyes looked around and seemed to take everything in, as did their humans. After going through the black door, the sounds of someone operating the large metal man fading behind them, they went down a few steps. Maurizio led them through a large iron door and they came in an immaculate white corridor. From that side, the iron door was not iron, but just as white as the rest.
"Holy Bejeebus, this looks like science fiction," said the wizard as he stepped into it.
"This is the Mimosa, wizard William," Maurizio said, "this is better than science fiction."
Hilda looked at her wizard, in need of help. William was talking all kinds of rubbish again and the worrying part was that now there were people around that actually understood what he said. She did not trust the clean white corridor with its smooth walls, barely visible doors left and right and light that seemed to come from nowhere.
William sensed the unease in his witch and put an arm around her shoulders. Hilda wasn't sure if that would make her look vulnerable, but considering this weird environment she did not really mind the protective touch of her wizard.
"This way, per favore," the redcoat captain said. His attire looked as out of place here as did that of the magicals.
At the end of the corridor, Maurizio touched a panel as they had seen next to every door. It radiated a faint yellow light and it became red as the man lay a hand on it. A moment later, without a sound, a door slid open and Maurizio ushered them in.
"I have redecorated it," he proudly told them once they were all inside.
"He means that he made the ship redecorate itself," Rebel burst his bubble, as she quickly made her way
to a large counter with all kinds of gleaming objects. "Who's for espresso, who's for cappucino, who goes for latte and I believe we have tea here also."
William and Hilda looked around the lounge. "Maybe," he said, "that thing there is safe to sit on." He guided the witch to a deafeningly loud yellow blob that had the makings of a couch, but missed something to convincingly impersonate one. "I'll have a cappuccino, please. And I think Hilda can do with one also."
Maurizio looked pained but shrugged. "Espresso for me, cara," he said and pulled a sack covered with a flower design towards the almost-couch. He sat down in the thing, which seemed to blow itself up and mold itself to his body. "Welcome," the captain of the Mimosa said, smiling a big smile that revealed a silver front tooth.
From far away heavy thuds shook everything. Bong... bong... bong... Xander was obviously moving the metal man.
"Welcome, welcome," Polly babbled. The parrot was still on Maurizio's shoulder, feeling quite at home there. "Coffee!"
Hilda laughed over the antics of the talking bird. "Maybe we should get our cats to talk too," she suggested to William. "Ouch!" she added as Grimalkin buried a set of nails in Hilda's knee. The cat did not approve of the idea.
"Here we go, guys," said Rebel, carrying a tray with cups of coffee. She stomped her foot and the floor in front of the couch rose up, making a kid of table. Rebel put the tray on it, grabbed a large latte and sat down in a sack similar to Maurizio's.
Maurizio picked up a small cup with extremely black stuff, took a sip and sat back. "Bene. This ship, you know, is not the ordinary ship. We travel to places with it." He looked