"No one touched it except me," he assured her immediately. It was a fact that he'd mentioned to the Ministry before, but given how lax they were about remembering things he'd already told them, generally, it seemed to bear repeating. He supposed he didn't know definitely that no one had handled it when it was being brought onboard, but that was the theory he was working under. The smuggler, whoever they were, had probably brought it on themselves in secret and stashed it away in the cargo hold after it had been filled with other goods and wares. After he'd made the attempt to open it, he'd had it levitated up to his cabin, for that exact reason — he didn't want anyone near the thing when he wasn't sure exactly what it was or what it was doing, particularly when it seemed to have some strange magical properties about it.
"And the smuggler," he allowed. He still didn't know who it was, so sending the crew in to be checked over by the Ministry was appealing in that regard — it would allow them to pinpoint who the reckless fool on his crew was and get them arrested. Assuming it was someone on the crew who had smuggled it in. It was possible that someone could have come aboard with it and left it there, then departed themselves — but for what purpose? Smuggling just seemed to make more sense than someone out to strew chaos around the world.
It was a huge relief to hear that the crew were likely unaffected, but that condition that she'd added — as long as they didn't touch it — didn't bode particularly well for him. His heart rate picked up slightly and he fiddled with the button on one of his sleeves, a nervous habit he hadn't engaged in for several months now. He ought to save the worst news for last, he decided, but he wasn't sure whether he expected the news regarding the Voyager or himself to be worse. He was dreading learning more details about either, because nothing about Zelda's appearance today suggested that she was proud of herself for having successfully de-cursed anything, or solved anything. The news was going to be bad; it was just a matter of how bad.
"What about the ship?" he decided to ask next.
MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER
"And the smuggler," he allowed. He still didn't know who it was, so sending the crew in to be checked over by the Ministry was appealing in that regard — it would allow them to pinpoint who the reckless fool on his crew was and get them arrested. Assuming it was someone on the crew who had smuggled it in. It was possible that someone could have come aboard with it and left it there, then departed themselves — but for what purpose? Smuggling just seemed to make more sense than someone out to strew chaos around the world.
It was a huge relief to hear that the crew were likely unaffected, but that condition that she'd added — as long as they didn't touch it — didn't bode particularly well for him. His heart rate picked up slightly and he fiddled with the button on one of his sleeves, a nervous habit he hadn't engaged in for several months now. He ought to save the worst news for last, he decided, but he wasn't sure whether he expected the news regarding the Voyager or himself to be worse. He was dreading learning more details about either, because nothing about Zelda's appearance today suggested that she was proud of herself for having successfully de-cursed anything, or solved anything. The news was going to be bad; it was just a matter of how bad.
"What about the ship?" he decided to ask next.
MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER