The Emporium Chronicles - 1. Sky Pirate
Time in the Pan-Dimensional Emporium was a questionable concept. Since it sailed through the void between worlds, there were no days, no months, no years, not even aeons by which to measure. Nevertheless, it wasn't too long after the new proprietor's arrival that the sky pirate appeared in the lobby.
It was quite the surprise to both of them. Being a sensible sort of person, the pirate responded to her sudden removal from her engine room by remaining calm. Being by nature polite, she finished wiping her oil-blackened hands on a rag before asking, "What's this place then?"
The proprietor, who had been knitting in an armchair and quite unprepared for visitors, hastened to change into a suitable form. As their natural shape was something like a cloud of glittering night wrapped in a woolly jumper, it tended to startle people.
"I do beg your pardon," they said. "Welcome to the Pan-Dimensional Emporium! This is the shop between worlds, where even the most far-fetched need may be met. I shall endeavour to guide you, but what you find here is up to you. Erm. Though I must admit, I didn't think anyone could get here yet."
The sky pirate looked around, taking in the wood-panelled counter, cluttered shelves, and the drifting void outside the windows. "Damn. I'm even more lost than I thought."
"The Emporium should find its way to people in need you see. But since the guidance system is currently a mess of corroded bits and bobs, I rather thought it was jammed."
"Listen, I really need to get back to my ship. We’re lost in the butt-end of nowhere and the crew's relying on me."
"Are you the captain?"
"Engineer."
"Oh! Then we might be able to help each other. If you could fix the Emporium's guidance system, it could attune a navigation device for your world. That would soon set you back on track."
The sky pirate sucked her teeth for a moment, then nodded. "Can't promise I'll know how to work your machine, but cogs are cogs and wires are wires. Lead on."
The Emporium's navigation room was directly underneath the lobby. They took the lift, which played them a cello symphony as they descended. The diamond grille opened onto a walkway suspended above a great inverted dome of glass. It offered a magnificent view of the void in all directions except up, where a ceiling instead displayed starry maps of a dozen or more worlds. The walkway led out to a platform directly over the centre of the dome. It was a circular navigator's study complete with charts table, mysterious brassy equipment, and even a leather armchair, but no walls.
The proprietor led the way to a bank of machinery tucked behind the table. "If you open that panel you'll see the problem."
The sky pirate took out her spanner and tutted. "You've had some cowboys in here."
"Tell me about it. I only took the place on recently, and it's a real mess. Gremlins in the library, rusted pipework all over the place, a whole wing covered in trees - it'll take me forever to get it into a decent state. Not that 'forever' has much meaning here, but it's the principle of the thing."
From somewhere under the machinery, the sky pirate grunted. "Couldn’t you get people in to help?"
The proprietor watched her deftly unscrewing problematic parts, cleaning the pieces, and reattaching them in what looked like a far more sensible arrangement. "You know," they said, "I think perhaps I could."
It was a companionable stretch of non-time. The proprietor passed down tools, fetched water and engine oil, and dug spare screws out of a drawer. The sky pirate tsked and huffed and wrangled things back into working order. At last, they both sat with mugs of thick tea and admired her handiwork.
"Think it'll work?"
"I'm sure it will." The proprietor fetched out a small grey tablet from a box beside the machine. "On its native plane, they call this a GPS. The Emporium can work a little magic to make it suitable for your world, and then it should guide you wherever you wish to go."
The sky pirate's eyes narrowed. "It’s a magic map?"
The proprietor smiled. "More or less. Though I suspect you’ll figure out its inner workings in no short order." They plugged the tablet into the newly-renovated guidance system and tapped a few brass buttons. A few seconds later the system beeped, and the proprietor handed the device to the sky pirate.
She accepted it with great care. "Thank you. If it does what you say, this might just save my whole crew."
And with that, she was gone.
The proprietor sighed, and leaned against the platform’s railing. The void stretched away, streamers of pink and purple energy threading an endless depth of star-studded blue. "Well," they said to no one in particular, "it seems the Pan-Dimensional Emporium is open for business."
