"I wonder who named Brasslantis? It's awfully similar to Sealantis," I pondered aloud while we waited for Corvus and Arai to return.

Isla shrugged. "Sealantis is based off of Atlantis, so maybe they chose a floating steampunk version?"

"I wonder where the guys are. They had better hurry up. We still need to get to the Leviathan."

"I'm just hoping all that steam prevents the people in Brasslantis from seeing the spaceship. The Leviathan might be one of the smallest ships in the merfolk fleet, but it isn't invisible."

"Now that I think about it, where are the other spaceships?"

"This moon is smaller than Rhode Island – there just isn't enough room for so many ships. They are hiding in the asteroid belt on auto-pilot. The King has the controls to bring them back in if we ever need them."

"That makes sense," I replied. "I wonder- oh! There they are- wait. What are they carrying?"

Isla and I stared at the two approaching mermen in disbelief. Each of them was carrying a chainsaw and an axe. The chainsaw Corvus was carrying was massive – it probably weighed more than most toddlers. The fact that his muscled body was carrying it like a twig simply wasn't fair.

When they reached us, I said, "Uh, I thought I asked for weapons?"

"We decided we didn't want to hurt anyone," Arai replied.

"So, why do you have chainsaws?"

"To cut through the walls, of course," Corvus said, as if it was the most obvious deduction in the world.

I eyed up the massive tool in his hands. "You couldn't find a bigger one, could you?"

His shoulders slumped dejectedly. "No. This was the biggest one I could find – and we even searched through all of the kelp trimming tool sheds!"

"We brought you axes, though!" Arai chimed in, tossing one to Isla.

Corvus passed the axe he was carrying to me, and I reluctantly took it. It was the real deal – heavy and solid, meant for slicing through the tough kelp bases. Why couldn't he have brought me a hatchet? Or at least something that I could pretend to hide?

"Umm, guys," I began, "if we plan to sneak into Brasslantis, then carrying chainsaws into a place that likely doesn't have tall trees isn't exactly the wisest idea."

"What? Why wouldn't they have trees?" Arai asked, clearly perplexed by the mere thought of no trees in a city.

"How am I supposed to know? Maybe they didn't like the idea of trees peeking out of the billows of steam when it is supposed to look like a cloud?" I was wildly grasping at straws at this point but didn't care.

"Let's take them, just in case," Arai said. "We can always hide them and return for them if we need to."

I just stared at the bulky merman, trying to determine if he had ever watched any spy movies or even understood the word 'sneak'.

He turned and began swimming away. "Let's go!" he called back. "You said we had to hurry – and sitting here does not accomplish that!"

I gritted my teeth but followed him, muttering to Isla, "I should have grabbed those worn-out coveralls when picking out his clothing."

Isla grinned but didn't reply. She swam beside Corvus, slowly falling behind the overly enthusiastic Arai. Leaving me to be the idiot in the middle. I was still trying to figure out why I was still carrying the axe, not to mention the towels.

We wove through the kelp forest. The leafy strands thinned and stopped, forming a clearing around the Seadragon Spaceship. The Leviathan. Unlike humans had assumed, it wasn't a mythical sea monster, but one of our high-tech spaceships.

Only the length of a blue whale, it was a streamlined hit-and-run fighting ship that usually took our trade goods to and from Earth. It also happened to be the only spaceship on Sealantis, so we would have to 'borrow' it to retrieve the Unobtanium stone.

Arai was already entering the lower hatch to the air chamber. I wasn't sure why he was in a hurry. I had the towels.

I surfaced in the air chamber, somewhat disgusted to see that some thoughtful person had left racks of hanging towels nearby. Arai was already drying his hair, eager to get going.

With a sigh and a powerful thrust of my tail, I got onto the drying deck, axe and towels still in my arms. I set the axe down beside me – I still wasn't sure if I wanted to take it with me or not.

I tossed the bag of towels toward the door and wrung out my hair, which shed water very smoothly. Another neat mermaid perk. Once my hair was barely damp, I grabbed a towel from the rack and wiped my scales and tail fin dry.

Arai shifted into his human form and nearly toppled onto his rear end.

I rolled my eyes and muttered, "I think shifting once a month should become a mandatory rule."

With just the floating rafts or a couple of air chambers on this moon, that would also be a very good thing for my plans to open a restaurant in the next year or so.

A shimmer of heat left me standing on two legs. I had no balance problems this time. I smoothly stretched my arms – which felt the same, even if they weren't quite as muscular in this form.

I walked over and picked up the bag of leather clothing, taking it to a nearby bench.

"Okay... This pile is Arai's, this one is for Corvus, and here is Isla's." I grabbed mine and ducked inside one of the changing curtains.

The rich brown leather had several studded pockets. The top had a modest, yet sharp cut to it, although the knee-length shorts practically clung to my skin like a set of scales. The sleek leather boots were surprisingly comfortable.

They went stunningly well with my necklace and bracelet. Like it was something that was just meant to be.

How did simply wearing leather clothing make you feel like a bad-ass fighter? I suspected my immense amount of over-confidence didn't need the extra boost.

I came out to see how the others were faring. Arai was waiting impatiently by the door, chainsaw in hand. Isla and Corvus were behind some of the other changing room curtains.

My axe was still lying on the floor, taunting me. Then I realized it would actually match my outfit very well. Was there some way to sling it on my back?

More optimistic now, I picked up the axe and scanned the room. Nothing but towels, changing areas, and a couple of mirrors. Wasn't there a small armory on this ship?

"I'll meet you in the control room in a minute," I told Arai.

He nodded and turned a long-suffering gaze upon the change rooms, waiting for the other two to emerge. I jogged down the corridor, taking some time to adjust to the stride.

Luck was with me, and the first doorway on my left was for armor and weapons. I slid the door open and entered, eagerly scanning the room.

Why were merfolk so obsessed with tridents? Half of the walls were covered in tridents – everything from the pitchfork variety you actually had to stab people with, to the ranged laser version that could cut rows of attackers down at a distance.

Of course, all of the powered varieties were locked up and required a fighter to scan their wrist gauntlet against the lock. None of us had such a gauntlet or the training required to obtain one.

The packed shelves and tables made me wonder if I could disguise my axe as something else. I tapped the shaft of the axe against the floor as I continued examining the rest of the room. There wasn't much time to figure this out.

I didn't even know what half of this stuff was. Everything appeared medieval or primitive at a casual glance, but I knew better. Merfolk liked to be underestimated.

The way my morning had been going, one of the trident polishing stones was probably a concussion grenade. And there was no way that the locked-up shark tooth necklace was anything but a promise of death for an opponent.

Shaking my head, I grabbed a leather pouch and turned it upside down. I wedged it over the axe head. The foldover cover hung down even farther, with its numerous tassels swaying like a fancy decoration.

Even I had to admit it was a pathetic disguise that my sister would roll her eyes at if she ever saw it.

I tossed the pouch back on the shelf, finally accepting that it simply wasn't possible to disguise an axe as an innocent object and not stand out.

That meant I had to hide it.