Swamped

Well. Nothing's going to happen until he gets reports on whether there are more machines. So you might as well ask some questions.

Starting with the ones where you pretend to be helpful.

"Er. Should I go looking, too? I'm unarmed, and I was supposed to be getting to sleep... had a long and busy day, you see."

He mulls over this.

"Just stay here for now. If it turns out to be a full-scale attack, you won't have time to sleep."

There's something unsettling about the way he says that. It's like he isn't actually afraid of it happening. Almost as if he'd be disappointed if it turned out to be nothing.

"Wait, hold on," he continues, almost out of nowhere. "You're the fellow who wasn't assigned to anything, right? Tom Sixth, wasn't it?"

You just nod in response.

"Hmmph. That's what happens when you can't settle anything and leave a disgraced sergeant in charge. But I suppose that will be sorted out soon enough, won't it."

The way he looks at you when he says it makes you feel as though he knows what you've been doing. That you're trying to help the Postmaster make up his mind.

"I imagine it's just been hard to keep track of everything," you reply. "I heard the base has had a lot going on lately... and, well, depending on how bad this is, maybe it still does. Easy for some paperwork to get lost in the chaos."

"I've actually been thinking it would be good to get a new Recordkeeper," Ash says. "John's getting on in years and his memory isn't what it used to be. He's got some capable assistants who could easily take over by now. And, of course, if one of them were to be promoted, well. We'd have a new slot to fill in the archives, with a corporal's salary but much less danger than combat operations. And hells, probably a lot less messy than repair work."

He's looking at you very pointedly.

"But that would all depend on having a captain who wouldn't go easy on the poor old boy and would keep pressing him until he agreed to retire. He's a good man, but a bit stubborn, as old folks tend to be. Don't mind me, though, just thinking out loud."

Thinking out loud, indeed. Thinking about loud about how you could have a nice, safe, well-paying job if you just persuaded the Postmaster's vote to go a certain way.

It's almost tempting. Almost.

But you also know that a man who deserves to be Captain shouldn't resort to bribes. If you knew nothing else about Ash, this meeting alone would convince you he doesn't have what it takes.

Before you have time to mull this over, though, one of the knights comes back.

"Did you find more of those machines?" Ash asks.

"No, sir. But we did find something else odd."

You wonder what that might be.