No way.

No way.

His jaw couldn't be stopped as it dropped, the letter falling from his hands and drifting to the floor. Victor's heart raced.

NO WAY.

He suddenly blurted a hysterical laugh, crouching and snatching the paper again, hunched over it as if looking at it from a different angle would make the words swirl and change shape. This was too good to be true, he knew, he couldn't believe it, his eyes darting across the words enscribed like they were solid gold.

Dear Victor Tomasson,

We have reviewed your work and have decided that, indeed, we would like it to be shown at our annual convention. You have an extraordinary mind, and your research on that of the deceased has stuck with us here in England. As well as that, so has the smell. Please do not send any more corpses along with your research. I do hope they were ethically sourced.

We eagerly look forward to your presence at the annual World Sciences convention. The date will be May 25, which should give you plenty of time to prepare.

Thank you and best wishes,
Earl Pierce, Head of the World Sciences Organization

His head spun, and he was completely giddy. He stood up so suddenly he almost fell over, raising his fists high in the air and cackling excitedly. "I have DONE it!!!"

Racing around his room, he immediately began to pack his things. Notes, binders, diagrams, anything necessary; for he was going to showcase his research at the convention, and he was about to become so famous he wouldn't be able to shit without people bending over backwards to know about it!!!

Or, at least, god, he hoped so.

He cackled to himself again, erratically thrusting things into his suitcases, completely disregarding the things he might actually did need, like, oh, clothes, or maybe a toothbrush...

That did not matter. Not now. Not when he was so close to the cusp of everything he'd ever dreamed of.

As he packed, he muttered to himself, excited for anything the future might bring; he wanted to set off right away!! He must! England was a whole ocean away, and he needed to get there to prepare. He shoved his suitcase closed, grabbed the letter and stuck it between his teeth so he would have more room to hold things, and raced outside without a second thought.

If you spoke to anyone who knew him (who were few and far between anyway, because no one really "knew" Victor Thomason), they would say that this was not at all irregular behavior for Victor. He was often doing things on simply a thought, racing around like every moment was his last, and today was certainly no different. He needed to get down to the docks, after all!! Who cared about his house, when he had a chance to change the whole world!!

Even if May 25 was three months away....there simply wasn't enough time!

He cackled to himself again as he raced through the streets toward the docks. He didn't live in a very lovely place; deep in the slums of some Australian port city. He was melting from the heat, anyway, and never spent too much time in one place, so it didn't matter much to him where he was or when, just that now he had a place to be, and that was this convention!!!

He must have looked like a mad man, lugging two whole suitcases and a flapping piece of paper stuck between his grinning teeth, wearing long brown pants and what he usually wore as his nightshirt. He rushed into the bustling area that was the dock, searching over the head of those around him to check to see if there were any ships at all docked nearby that he could seek passage on.

Fuck!! It seemed like the only ones docked were fishing boats, cargo ships, nothing that could take him the distance he needed. Worry knotted his stomach, and he approached anyway, searching the waterways.

Almost completely out of nowhere—because he was sure he'd already looked!!—he spotted a beautiful ship, bigger than his entire house, swaying majestically in the rocking waves. The sails were closed for now, but he could tell even from here that they were huge, and beautiful, at that. Victor felt a grin slowly cross his face, and he hefted his suitcases and strode right over, heels click-clacking on the cobblestones.

There was a man leaning against the railing, up on the ship. Victor grinned and called up, muffled from the letter caught between his teeth. "Ah—Hello!! Oh, no, maybe not—Ahoy, there, matey-!! Where on Earth is this ship heading, can you tell me?"

The man looked down to hi, a cigar perched precariously between his lips. He had a rugged sort of look to him, like he hadn't shaved in weeks but still managed to keep a hazel sort of stubble across his jaw. His hair flopped in his face in a stringy mop, and Victor hoped that if he was at sea, he wouldn't begin to look like that-not realizing that he honestly already did.

"Huh? Oh..." The man grunted at him, studying. "Well, where're ya goin'? I'm sure we can take ya, we go all the way from here to England and tha 'mericas!"

Victor beamed. This was so perfect!!! "Ah—England!! Yes, that's perfect, that's where I'm going!!"

The man leaned over the railing to peek at him, hair flopping in his face in what Victor could only describe as noodles. Gross.

"...you got money?"

Victor's brows lifted. "Ah—yes! If you'll just allow me to come aboard, I can set my things down." The bit of the letter he had in the mouth was getting soggy, and it was hard to talk. He climbed aboard without waiting for an answer, setting his suitcases down on the clean hardwood deck and pulling the letter out from between his teeth, grabbing his money purse from his pocket. "How much?"

The man studied him briefly. "...eh, I'd say about five hundred for one way. Food costs,, an' all. You up for that?"

Victor couldn't contian his grin. "Yes. Yes, I'm definitey--I--yes. Thank you, so much!"

The man just grunted and held out his hand; Victor yelped, then quickly counted out the amount and passed it to him. The crewmember studied it for a moment, then grunted and jerked his head, motoning for him to follow. Picking up his bags, Victor did so, grinning uncontrollably as he was led across the deck to a staircaise leading to the luxurious underbelly. "Im Kael," the man said suddenly. "crewmembers are Derek, Garret, Olga, and Anise. Captain stays in that room--" He was pointing as he went along to various people he passed and rooms they went by "--and you are not allowed to disturb him. You're lucky; we only have room for one more passenger. You get the smallest room."

Victor nodded along eagerly, not even minding Kael's gruffness. He thanked the man profusely and slipped into his new room, setting his luggage down quickly and then going back out to follow him on the rest of the tour. He was shown where the galley was, where he was to use the bathroom, where he was to dump where he used the bathroom, where the steering was, where he wasn't supposed to go, where everyone slept, specifically. By the end of it all, Victor hadn't retained a single word, and was bored out of his mind.

He was making his way back to his room on his own when all of a sudden the boat lurched to the side and he was thrown against the wall with a sharp "Oof!"

His shoulder ached now!! God, it would be such a pain to sleep on it now—He scowled and looked out the window, wondering what on earth could have caused such a disturbance, only to find that they'd started their journey, and the dock was starting to grow further away.

Victor felt a grin spread across his lips, heart thumping and heat rising in his face as he once again let himself feel the excitement of his situation.

So much for grabbing a toothbrush.