A shopping list

"Captain" Sasha stood in 'her' galley looking through the open serving window into the rest of the main hold. "Can you pick up some supplies while you're in town?"

"As long as they're easy enough to find and don't cost that much." Brenan actually wasn't as worried about money as he had been before Ambrose gave him contract for the shipment, but until he actually got paid, he'd still have to be careful.

"Nothing unusual, Captain." Sasha said as she handed him a sheet of paper. "Here, I made you a list." Brenan looked over the list, the very first item was for a chicken coop and laying hens. Not a bad idea. Looking over the rest of the list he saw pretty much what he expected until the very last item.

"What does this mean Sasha?" He asked as he showed her the last notation:

. . . . . . . . . . . . 3HNO3+ C6H10O5 ? C6H7(NO2)3O5 + 3H2O . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sasha's face got a puzzled look and she shrugged her shoulders as she looked over the series of letters and numbers.

"I don't know Captain." She looked again "I don't even remember writing this, but it looks like my handwriting." Sasha's handwriting was distinctive with almost perfectly shaped letters and numbers, it was very easy to read but it had an old-fashioned look to it, like something you'd find in an antique store. In some ways the combination of letters and numbers looked like the algebra he had to learn to pass his officer's tests, but not all the numbers were written as coefficients. Some were small, like exponents but they were written as subscripts instead of above the letters like he had learned.

Carefully ripping the section of the list that contained the odd notations Brenan handed the scrap back to Sasha and told her to keep thinking about it. She nodded unhappily as she looked again at the paper.

"I'm sorry Captain." She dropped her eyes to stare at her hands. "I sometimes think it is better not to know anything than to know parts without understanding what it is."

Brenan didn't know what to say. He gave a grunt that he hoped could be interpreted either as sympathy or agreement, and climbed up out of the hatch.

"If Ambrose gets here while I'm gone, start loading the containers right away." He hated to leave the ship, but the only one who he had any trust in to get the necessary supplies was James, and he didn't know Freeport nearly as well as he did. Sasha of course could not leave the ship, the Jones brothers would almost certainly be cheated, and Michaels might not even make it back to the ship if something interesting caught his eye. Nope, until Red was on board he'd have to wear more than a couple hats.

Brenan didn't even realize that the thought of Red left a huge grin on his face as he hopped over the gunwale and dropped to the wharf six feet below. Both Tyler and Kyle noticed the captains good spirits but chalked it up to the fact they were setting sail later today.