by C. Litka
04
We apparently still had a hold, since Defere returned with a handful of floodlights . We followed him up to the upper deck where he handed a floodlight to the captain and another to Bomtrand. LyeCarr hurried over to starboard to survey the damage, Bomstrand to port, while Defere handed out another to Naylea and then swept around the upper deck with his beam. The cage was bent in and twisted in several places and one of the ship's boats had a large dent in its side, otherwise the deck was just littered with leaves and branches caught in every nook and cranny.
Naylea turned hers outwards to the canyon walls. The beam, cutting through the drifting mist, illuminated two intricately carved columns of lichen encrusted stone, which stretched away into darkness above and below us. In the dark, recessed gaps between the columns, the light illuminated an open, lace-like tracery of carved stone - circles set in arches, intertwined with leaves and vines of carved stone, like windows without glass. Behind this stone lace, the beam showed only a deeper blackness.
'It looks to be a ceremonial center, a temple sculptured out of a natural cavern,' said Botts, adding in a personal aside. 'That, anyway, is my colleagues' initial impression. It does, however, appear to be very ancient. Do you have any idea what it is that we're looking at, CrisJarka?'
'I can't say that the decorative patterns look familiar. I'll need to have a closer look. I'll get things set up in the expedition lab to map and photograph this cave. Photographs may provide clues in the details to suggest what island society built this and when. I am, however, not an expert in the societies of the Outward Islands, so I'm unlikely to be able to say anything with authority. I'll defer to my machine colleagues who may be able to find clues I can't see. That said, I'm unaware of any island society operating on this rather impressive scale in the Outward Islands. This may well be a very important discovery - a relic of an unknown and certainly long lost Outward island society. Or perhaps a current one in sad decline. The history of the Outward Islands are still pretty much a closed book to us - they are not inviting places for field work.'
'Well, I have to say that I find this place not very inviting. It seems a very Outward Island sort of place,' I said.
'It is more inviting than the alternative, at the moment,' replied Botts.
'I'll grant you that.'
'Shine a light ahead,' said CrisJarka pointing to a large, dark shape, just visible in the faintly glowing mist that seemed to be floating in the middle of the temple. 'It looks to be a statue or an alter.' Her voice echoed faintly, just under the distant roar of the storm.
'That would be the pinnacle arising from the end of the cave - or temple,' said Botts.
Defere and Naylea swung their floodlights onto the object, and we shifted to the bow to get a better view. The stone pinnacle proved to be a finger of intricately carved rock with a large, black, jade-like stone, perhaps three meters tall and wide, carved, rather crudely, into the shape of a coiled snake or serpent dragon set on top of it.
'The pedestal is in keeping with the rest of the temple, but the statue is very primitive looking. It hardly seems to belong there,' CrisJarka mused, after studying it for a time. 'Perhaps it was added at some later date by a more primitive society. Or perhaps it's the deity figure from great antiquity that this more recent structure was built to accommodate. Interesting.'
'If the whole cave is carved like this, it would seem a great deal of work was put into this to shelter that lump of rock,' said Py.
'Societies did that in myths and legend times,' replied CrisJarka. 'At least in the Saraime proper. If this should date back to those times, it would be a find indeed. Hopefully we can make a complete record of it as long as we're here.'
With the storm faintly howling at us from above and the blackness whispering sibilant threats from all around us, I'd have been quite content to simply record its location and let others explore it, especially since that great lump of black jade gave the whole temple a definite air of menace to the place. Its wide-open and fanged mouth was all too suggestive, offering a large enough space to lay a body - or a person between those jaws. I looked around - blackness - and wondered how much light ever penetrated this deep. The storm certainly dimmed it, but I'd a feeling this ancient edifice was never a bright and sunny place. Nor was it ever intended to be.
In an effort to focus on the practical, I walked over to the starboard bulwark to join LyeCarr, studying his ship's damaged wings. As Botts had feared, the forward starboard steering wing was dangling alongside the ship, crushed. The outward half of the stern wing was bent up and smashed. The propeller cowling was battered and jammed with debris. Above us, both of the rudders were dented, but likely still operational.
'What's it looking like on your side?' he called to Bomstrand.
'Not bad. Just some dents and scrapes. The propeller cowling has some major dents, but nothing too alarming.'
This was good enough for Captain LyeCarr. 'We seem to be safe enough here and since the storm may well take a round to die down, we might as well get something to eat - a synth-galley meal should suffice. It looks like we have some heavy work ahead of us. Might as well do it on a full stomach.'
At dinner we talked of this storm and the storms each of us had experienced.
'Between the radar, and my eye-sensors, I had the best chance of penetrating the rain and debris,' said Botts. 'Plus, my half a second or so better reaction time meant that I had the best chance of piloting us through the islands or making a dash for cover behind a large island if the chance arose. And since the bridge was exposed and vulnerable to damage from debris, it made the most sense that I should take the helm, seeing that this unit is merely an avatar, not a person. It could be replaced, unlike any of you.'
'You can't argue with success. You found a safe harbor in all the chaos,' said CrisJarka.
'More by luck than skill. The main body of the island is still half a kilometer beyond the cave. We were heading right for it. From our approach angle, it seemed very unlikely that I could have skimmed over its surface and around it to get us to its lee side. It was simply luck that we skimmed over this peninsula and when this canyon appeared on radar I had just enough time to jam the rudders down and dive into it. Unfortunately our momentum flung us against the canyon wall, but still, down here in one piece.'
As the meal wound down, LyeCarr said, 'Right. Let's get to work. I'd like to be able to sail as soon as the storm passes. The first order of business is stripping off the cowlings and clearing the propellers. We have spare propellers, so we can replace them if needed. We'll also need to cut the damaged wing section free. We should still have enough flaps to steer without it. From what I've seen, we can certainly make the Dontas without too much trouble. Nothing looks to be too critical, and all our on board systems survived without damage. We were lucky.
'Defere, Bomtrand, and I will see to the actual repairs. I'm thinking, however, that it might be wise if we took a systematic look around the canyon with the lights, before we step out on to the wing. Who knows who else has taken refuge from the storm in this cave? And I'd appreciate it if some of you stood guard while we work - just in case we miss a dragon or two in the dark. One complacent dragon is all I trust my luck to provide.'
My thinking exactly. We quickly agreed, though Botts insisted on joining the repair crew, saying that even though this Botts III unit was second rate, its limbs had very powerful servo motors that would come in handy, tearing apart the damaged parts.
I followed LyeCarr up to the bridge wing deck and we systematically searched the temple cave - our bright shafts of light cutting through the mist. Except for flocks of birds high up, near the mouth of the canyon, we found nothing.
'I'm not surprised. Most of the creatures of the Pela avoid dark places - they're too rare and unfamiliar,' said LyeCarr.
'Hissi and Siss certainly don't like it. One peeked outside, and they hissed and turned around to play chess in the wardroom.'
'I don't blame them. Between you and me, thi
s place gives me an uncomfortable itch on the back of my neck. I guess because I'm a creature of the Pela as well. Since we don't need more than one of the flood lights on the wing to do the work, let's keep one pointed up, and one to each side of the wing. I'll have Defere break out a couple of the air rifles for you and anyone else on guard. Just in case.'
'I'm armed already,' I said, showing him my darter slung under my jacket.
He laughed. 'Not a great vote of confidence in my ship handling skills.'
'Just being prepared for the worst. I try not to take chances. Naylea and even Natta have darters as well, and I'd bet Natta, at least, is wearing hers. She doesn't like taking chances either.'
'I'm sure she is. That's why I like having her around.'
He leaned over the railing. 'Is everyone armed, or should I break out some air rifles?'
'Don't bother,' replied Naylea. 'Natta and I have our darters and Py has his staff.'
'Wil said you would. Good. I'll be right down.' And with a nod to me, he stepped into the bridge and down the companionway to join his crew on the shelter deck below.
I set up the lights on the railing of the wing deck to illuminate the wing and cowlings while Captain Lye-Carr led the repair crew, trailing safety lines, out of the shelter deck's gangplank gate and over the side. It was a short leap to the wing with the propeller cowling set above it. LyeCarr, and Bomtrand set about removing the crumpled metal cowling while Defere and Botts walked out to the crumpled wing with a satchel of power tools to clear the wreckage and see what could be done to get some of the steering flaps operational.
I kept a vaguely uneasy watch on the four shafts of light that illuminated the mists that drifted out of the blackness. I'd no reason to expect trouble, but I did anyway.
The crew hadn't been banging, pounding and cutting away on the wing for long before I caught, in the corner of my eye, the deep shadows moving between the faintly illuminated stone columns. Whatever moved, stopped before it had my full attention, leaving me unsure I'd seen anything. I stared at the spot, but nothing moved, save the floodlit mist. I said nothing, but to minimize down course risks, drew my darter and flicked it on to max charge, non-lethal. I didn't trust my aim well enough to be shooting lethal darts about.
Looking up from the darter, I caught the black shadows between the columns now definitely changing patterns against the pale tracery of stone? 'Naylea,' I said quietly after stepping over to the railing next to shelter deck below me. 'Did you see?'
Before I could finish, several long, glistening black shapes wiggling up, from the darkness from under the ship into the pale grey light. Their eyes were red sparks in the light.
'Trouble! Back to the ship! Now!' barked Naylea, as she snapped off several darts into the wiggling forms of what were now clearly big, black snakes. Very big snakes. They had to have been fully ten meters long and as black as the cavern around us. Their scale-like feathers glistened in the floodlights as they swam out of the deep darkness around us.
'Move it!' added LyeCarr, swinging his crowbar at a snake's head that emerged from below the wing to dart at him.
Botts was swinging its crowbar as well, deflecting another snake slightly off course as it darted for the crouching Defere. It hissed loudly in pain and anger. And then there were several snakes just over my head, beyond the grating above me, well within my three meter optimum range. I put a dart into each of them. They hissed and struck at the cage. One dart didn't seem to bother them much.
Defere stood and, swinging his tool bag, tried fending off several more black forms that crowded around him with their wide mouths open as Botts whacked them with his crowbar. As carefully, and as quickly as possible, I sent darts towards the snakes as they emerged from the blackness into the light. I could hardly miss, they were so close. Between the three darters, the cave flickered in blue light, leaving at least a few inert snakes drifting over the wing. But more kept coming. Botts and Defere were fighting their way through them for the ship, when the large head of a snake appeared from under the wing and with a swift strike, closed its jaws on Defere's leg, jerking him off the wing and into the blackness. He slammed his tool bag on its head. It let go for a moment, hissed and grabbed his leg again, pulling him out of sight until his safely line grew taunt.
Naylea was out of the gate and down the side of the ship in a flash. When she got below the wing, I saw half a dozen flashes of blue while Botts grabbed Defere's safety line and started hauling it and Defere back in. Bomtrand and LyeCarr stood by Botts, waving crowbars and tool satchels wildly about to keep the gaping jaws of half dozen black snakes at bay. Still more were now swirling around in the flood-lit mist - and between the stunned or dead ones, and the onrushing live ones, our view of the Complacent Dragon's crew was fast disappearing behind a wall of shiny blackness.
Py, who unlike Naylea and the crew, didn't have magnetic boots to anchor himself on the metal wing, had clambered out, and was clinging to the gangplank gate by his feet, wielding his staff, trying to clear a path for the crew back to the sheltered deck through the inert, and not so inert snakes while Trin stood guard over him, firing into the blackness that moved.
It had been less than a minute since the surrounding blackness first had taken shape in a hundred wiggling black snakes. It now seemed as if they were being distilled out of the darkness itself. Their eyes, red sparks in the light, darting about in the now-thick blackness. As more snakes wiggled into the light, they sought to tear their way through this tangle of dead or stunned comrades to get at LyeCarr and Bomtrand, with Defere between them, and Botts providing cover by wielding its crowbar with abandon. Reaching the hull, Py and Trin grabbed the inert Defere from his shipmates and hauled him aboard. LyeCarr shoved Bomtrand ahead of him. 'Get Defere hooked up to the med unit!' he ordered. And turning to Naylea, who had moved to the wing, darting anything black that still moved, he yelled, 'Get on board!'
'Right behind you, Carr,' she replied, 'I've got you covered.'
He didn't bother to argue, but grabbing the gate, swung back and offered her a hand. They swung themselves aboard, followed by Botts, who was still calmly swinging its crowbar at any active snakes that ventured in its range. They slammed the gangplank gate closed and I let out a sigh of relief. Too soon.
A flash of pain shot through my outstretched darter arm as the jaws of the snake latched on to it. I cursed and swung my left fist at it's nose. It jerked back without abandoning its vice-like grip, carrying me back with it. Its tail must have been wrapped around the upper cage to give it the leverage needed to drag me across the afterdeck, since it did so relentlessly. After a few more useless blows with my fist, I gave up and frantically tried to reach my sissy in my jacket pocket. The snake made it hard - tossing me about as if I weighed nothing at all, and dragging me ever faster.
It tried to pull me out through the large hole in the cage - large enough to get me out - if it managed to get me at the right angle. Luckily, I arrived crossways to it, though I arrived with a stunning blow that knocked my darter out of my hand. It hissed and yanked at me again, clearly annoyed that I wasn't cooperating. It shook me a bit, and took another bite of my arm nearer my wrist in an effort to guide me through the hole. Not if I could help it, but I feared that if I didn't get myself free, and soon, it and its comrades would decide to take me out in parts.
Held tight against the grating, I was able to find my jacket pocket and, bringing my trusty sissy out of its secure pocket, I put it against its snout, and gave it a couple of darts. Startled, it released my arm and hissed in fear as the electricity flowed though its body. I frantically kicked myself away from the grating, and glanced around for the darter I'd lost - but as several more snake heads appeared in the gaping hole, I decided a retreat was in order. I snapped off a volley of darts to keep them at bay, turned and scrambled across the deck for the bridge. I almost made it.
There was a sharp jolt of pain from my leg and a strong jerk back that sent me sprawling. As pain shot up my leg, I tried t
o twist about to give it a dart, but Naylea got several in first, and then quickly dragged me through the bridge doorway, slamming the door behind us.
'It never ends with you, does it?' she muttered, breathlessly, shaking her head.
What could I say? Especially through my pain-gritted teeth.
