Cold sweat runs down Pascuala's back as the pirates point their cutlasses at her.
She gulps and tries to wipe her sweaty palms on her pants.
She knows there is only ever one way to get what she wants: fight for it with her own two hands.
Elysium
Come on, guys, what are you doing to one little girl?
Pascuala
Pelirrojito, you—
Elysium
So many adults in the room, and the best you can come up with is to hand over a child?
Pascuala
Enough already!
Elysium
Hey, I'm speaking up for you!
Pascuala
I know! But I can speak for myself!
Pascuala
You folks wanna hand me over? Sure! Why not?
Pascuala
I get why you'd want to beat the finshit out of me, and I'm sure you get why I scammed you.
Pascuala
Violence and deception. That's how we survive. That's all we know.
Pascuala
But you know how they do things in town. Do you really think handing me and the compass over will help you even one bit?
Pascuala
But if you don't, the Inquisition bastards will keep hunting you, and that won't go so well for you either, no?
Angry Sailor
So what's your point? We're screwed either way?
Pascuala
One week.
Pascuala
Give us one week to fix up that compass!
Isidro
...
Isidro
Yes. I just need a little more time.
Pascuala
If he succeeds, the compass will guide us to the sea, where those finshits will never find us again!
Pascuala
If he doesn't, well, it won't be too late to hand me over and see how that goes!
Elysium
Not like we could escape with the whole crew watching our every move. What difference could one week make?
Pascuala
In Iberia, you escape one barren hellhole only to end up in another.
Pascuala
Outside the country, your life isn't your own without cold hard cash! It belongs to whoever's paying you!
Pascuala
Señora Juana isn't taking you out to sea just to die. What do you think she's trying to do?
Pascuala
You should know better than me how smart she is. She'd have been way better off leaving your sorry asses behind ages ago.
Pascuala
She could've held your lives in her hands and made you work for pennies, but she didn't.
Pascuala
She just wanted you to be free.
Pascuala
That compass is your ticket to fame and fortune, just like your forefathers! How could you call yourselves pirates, when you've never even seen the sea?
The layers of Arts energy field on the transmutation table collapse in an instant. The metallic substance that had gleamed with a shiny glow a moment ago is now a pile of charred mud.
Isidro pulled the probe back just in time to avoid damaging it, but the compass parts he had assembled now lie in pieces.
Isidro runs his fingers through the black mud, trying to figure out the reason for the failure.
But the mud holds no answers. All the clever ideas, the well-laid plans that he had put into it are nowhere to be found.
Isidro
We're out of time...
Isidro
Why did I think I could replicate it in such a short time?
Isidro
I should have known better... master said it took even the most skilled alchemists decades to create Corazonix...
The rusted Corazonix lies still in his pocket, as though mocking his incompetence.
Juana
What happened?
She needed no answer. Broken parts litter the ground. The young man sits with his head hanging.
If you mean the mate I sent to parley was too vulgar for you, no need to mince words.
Silver
No, what I mean is that you must understand that trust is the basis for all cooperation.
Javier
I wouldn't have come myself if I wasn't trustworthy.
Silver
And yet you've come empty-handed, asking me to go into the Salt Flat myself to retrieve the bargaining chips you're promising?
Silver
How am I to know you're not leading me into an ambush, with a hundred bandits armed to the teeth waiting for me?
Javier
Or maybe, I'm offering you more than just the compass and blueprints, but also the location of the pirate base and crewmen who already know how to sail a salt ship?
