Flying to Nagasaki was as dreadful as you would imagine. I'm certain you would find my complaints concerning air travel just as banal as I found Howland's account of his journey to the American South. Take it as read that my excursion made me hope that the Magician would somehow bring about the end of the world sooner rather than later.
If I was unimpressed by the airline's absolute absence of competence, I grew positively nostalgic for their mundane failures when faced with the troglodytes at the Nagasaki shipyard. I must have explained that I was seeking information on the missing ship Liberator a dozen times to various laborers, foremen and crane operators before one could finally direct me to the only man on the dock with at least a partial college education.
Goto-san was overworked, harried and annoyed by having to take a few moments of his precious time to answer questions from someone whom I'm certain he perceived to be a young, foolish dilettante. To his credit, he refused my offer of money and explained that there still was no word as to the ship's whereabouts. The disappearance of the vessel seemed to genuinely bother him as he was friends with the ship's first mate. At this late stage Goto-san was resigned to the probability that the crew of the Liberator would never be seen alive again, but he still retained a morbid curiosity as to how the ship was lost. I did not volunteer the information that the Magician's knife was on board or what that might mean.
In all, my journey to Nagasaki provided no information that we did not already possess. While I was hardly enamored with him personally, Agent Pierce's loss is keenly felt as far as his access to government information. Perhaps sensing my dejection as I left, Goto-san said to me, in English, "To do so truly you must know His Will." The absolute last thing I was interested in at that point was a pep talk from some religious fanatic, and my frustration boiled over onto the imbecile with a stream of expletives. He stood there looking more confused than anything as I exited the offices cursing him, his ancestors and his pathetic superstitions.
Needless to say, should you call the dockyards at some later point it would be best to avoid mentioning my name.
If I was unimpressed by the airline's absolute absence of competence, I grew positively nostalgic for their mundane failures when faced with the troglodytes at the Nagasaki shipyard. I must have explained that I was seeking information on the missing ship Liberator a dozen times to various laborers, foremen and crane operators before one could finally direct me to the only man on the dock with at least a partial college education.
Goto-san was overworked, harried and annoyed by having to take a few moments of his precious time to answer questions from someone whom I'm certain he perceived to be a young, foolish dilettante. To his credit, he refused my offer of money and explained that there still was no word as to the ship's whereabouts. The disappearance of the vessel seemed to genuinely bother him as he was friends with the ship's first mate. At this late stage Goto-san was resigned to the probability that the crew of the Liberator would never be seen alive again, but he still retained a morbid curiosity as to how the ship was lost. I did not volunteer the information that the Magician's knife was on board or what that might mean.
In all, my journey to Nagasaki provided no information that we did not already possess. While I was hardly enamored with him personally, Agent Pierce's loss is keenly felt as far as his access to government information. Perhaps sensing my dejection as I left, Goto-san said to me, in English, "To do so truly you must know His Will." The absolute last thing I was interested in at that point was a pep talk from some religious fanatic, and my frustration boiled over onto the imbecile with a stream of expletives. He stood there looking more confused than anything as I exited the offices cursing him, his ancestors and his pathetic superstitions.
Needless to say, should you call the dockyards at some later point it would be best to avoid mentioning my name.
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