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It was an early spring morning at Bigg City, and the fog was thick.
Izzy Gomez was ahead of schedule, and was gliding slowly through the water, in hopes of spotting Lillie.
His cargo was heavy, and he was looking forward to having a snooze before he had to do his usual bartering to get a cheap tow into port.
As he coasted along, a small gust of wind swept past his wheel house, that had almost sounded like a voice.
Breafly, he had recalled that ghost enouter from a few months back, but quickly pushed that thought aside, he was in no mood to scare himself.
Another gust of wind, with a far more clear, but faint,
"excuse... me..."
Izzy darted his eyes from right to left. But he saw nothing. An uncomfortable feeling made it's way throughout Izzy's entire form.
A few moments passed, and, nothing.
.
.
.
"Excuse me," a voice suddenly echoed from Izzy's port side, much more clear than before.
"Eh!" Izzy exclaimed, startled. He darted his eyes in the direction of the voice, but due to the fog wasn't able to see very far. He blinked, and suddenly next to him sat a tug, looking off into the distance.
"Aye! You shouldn't sneak up on me like that!" Izzy grumbled, glaring at the stranger, "Especially in fog like this."
The tug next to him said nothing, as he was finally able to get a better look at her. There, floating next to him was an ocean going tug, about as large as Hercules. But was comparatively worse for wear. Her paintwork was faded and scratched, chips of wood had flaked off of her superstructure and deck, and her hull and stack were dented. A tattered orange flag floated lazily behind her, and Izzy wasn't able to make out a company logo.
The only thing about her that wasn't damaged, or scuffed was her name, painted on the side of her hull, Cassiopeia.
"...Sorry," Cassiopeia replied quietly. And Izzy still recovering from his small scare, only faintly noticed how her voice was just as echoey next to him as it was far away.
"Eh," He interrupted, "You can make it up to me by giving me a tow. $50."
"No." She replied, still not meeting his eye. Izzy's eye twitched with annoyance.
"Well that's all I pay!" He huffed, glaring daggers into the side of her wheelhouse.
"No, I mean I can't." she said with a sigh. finally turning to meet his eye, and Izzy could feel a shiver run through his boiler. There was something... uncanny about her eyes, but Izzy blamed it on the fog. "Your on route towards the rocks, if you don't stop now..."
It was at that very moment when Izzy saw the beam of light to his starboard side, recognizing it as Lillie. He blinked and looked ahead, and it was only then as he saw the jagged shapes of Dem der rocks, he realized that he had neglected to lay anchor.
Izzy gasped as he reversed his engine in an attempt to halt his momentum.
When he was certain that he was safe from wrecking, Izzy looked to port again, hoping to interrogate the tug on how she knew exactly where the rocks were in the fog.
But she was gone.
Izzy Gomez's eyes darted around frantically, looking for the mysterious tug. When a familiar horn startled him.
"Oi! Now what are you up too?" a familiar voice had shouted. "Trying to sneak into port? Again?" Zorran barked, pulling up beside him.
But Izzy didn't answer.