by Paul Kater
The man walked up to them and stared at Daniel. "You are the sailor, right?"
"You could call it that," Daniel replied.
"Good. Come with me. I have the perfect thing for you." Without wasting words or time, Aldrick turned and marched off, the three others in his wake.
Strange Aldrick suddenly stopped. "There she is."
Daniel and his fellows stopped. And stared. "That is..."
"An airship," Aldrick cheerfully said. "It is what you need. Believe me."
"Uhm, I am sorry and not meaning to offend or so," said Daniel, "but that is a boat."
Aldrick frowned. "I cannot call it an air boat. That sounds all wrong."
They stared at a boat, all blue, that stood in a field. It had what looked like two wings protruding from its hull, pointing downwards and resting on the ground, to keep the boat level. There were two short masts on the boat, the sails nicely wrapped up. On the ground, on four sides, they saw strange blobs, like sacks, that were connected to the boat with a complex set of lines.
"How do you like it?" Aldrick asked.
"It's... impressive," Daniel gave it his best.
"Oh... wait until you see it all. Come!" Aldrick grabbed Daniel's arm and pulled him to the boat. "Here, look, see those? Those are the balloons, the floaters that will lift up the boat. Up, to the sky..." Aldrick raised his hands, looking up to the sky. "The sky..."
"Yes. I see them."
Tomlin and Gelrof kept a safe distance and grinned at each other.
"Come, come!" Aldrick became excited now. "Here, look." He held up a tube that was connected to one of the balloons. "This goes onto the boat!"
Daniel spotted it. "Yes." He was, so far, less enthusiastic than the strange man next to him. Amused, yes. But not excited yet.
Aldrick again pulled Daniel along, now to the neat blue stairs that hung from the boat. As Daniel climbed on board after the man, he noticed it was larger than it had looked. It was somewhat like a small ship, with the right attitude. It could hold twenty people with ease, thirty even in case of an emergency.
They went aft on the small ship, where a small cabin was built. Behind the low cabin was a steering wheel.
Aldrick opened the doors of the cabin and pointed at a steam-compressor, in which the four tubes of the floaters came together. "Here, see, look, fire this up, and the hot air goes to the floaters, and they fill up. With hot air, you know. And then they rise, and lift up the ship. The AIR SHIP." Aldrick exaggerated the words, wanting to make his point.
Daniel shook his head and sat down on the bench behind the steering wheel. "And you expect that this whole contraption, including the heavy steam machine, will float with these four balloons?"
"Expect? I know it will." Aldrick folded his arms over his chest. "I have flown with this airship, sir. It flies. It sails through the air. And it lands on water just as easily. But that is not a smart thing to do, because when the balloons get wet, they won't fill up anymore." This sounded like experience.
Daniel looked up at the man. "Do you think we could give this a try?"
Aldrick sat down next to Daniel. "Yes. And we alone will fly it, as these two... gentlemen..." he almost spat out the word "...are too squeamish for this."
"Daniel, are you sure about this?" Tomlin asked, still from a safe distance.
"I am sure I want to try this, Tomlin," Daniel replied. Then he followed Aldrick around the airship as the man secured the lines that held the hot air tubes in place and fired up the steam machine. It did not take long for the engine to build up steam and the floaters were filling up.
"Now look, Mr. Zacharias," Aldrick said. "This point is important. As soon as the balloons are round, you hold this down." He momentarily pressed down a lever, which made something hissed. "This fills something special into the balloons," Aldrick said with a smile that would look good in a secretive brotherhood. "This is what gives them the lift."
Daniel saw the balloons fill up quickly with the lever pushed. As soon as they hovered well over the boat, Aldrick let the lever go and throttled the steam engine a bit. Daniel still had his doubts that all this mass would be leaving the ground, when they were suddenly lifting off.
Daniel let out a shout of surprise and happiness, just for the sheer joy of it. Tomlin and Gerolf stood with opens mouths, watching the affair take off. Aldrick attempted to outshine the sun in delight of his success. "Now, Mr. Zacharias, would be a good moment to set a sail."
"A sail?"
"Yes, sir. That is how you steer a small sailing ship, don't you?"
"And what about that?" Daniel pointed at the steering wheel.
"That only works in the water, Mr. Zacharias," Aldrick said. He added an understanding smile.
Daniel grinned. This had been one stupid remark. He made his way to the mast closest to the cabin, threw his coat on the row of benches and worked the ropes until the lower sail was in the wind. He found that the sail was very easy to manoeuvre. With some clever moves he turned it exactly right. The airship moved forward, pushed on by the wind.
Aldrick was smiling like a dim-wit, but Daniel knew the man was a genius. They were at least thirty feet over the ground already, Tomlin and Gelrof small puppets in the green.
35. Getting ready
The airship was more stable than Daniel had expected. They had flown it for almost half an hour, and there was nothing he could point at to be wrong, or even slightly failing. Even the turning and sailing up against the wind had gone well, although it had cost a lot of time and effort.
Landing the ship had been simply a matter of releasing the air from the balloons, for which Aldrick had made a lever also. "If the lever fails, then people can pull the red line that holds the balloon, Mr. Zacharias. That will release the air from the balloon directly. Some synchronisation is important then, of course. It is not done to lose passengers."
One uncertainty was of course: how would the airship behave with twenty or more people on board? Would the balloons hold that?
Aldrick was convinced they would. "You just add some more of the special gas, Mr. Zacharias. It will lift. I am convinced of that."
Tomlin and Gelrof praised Daniel and Aldrick for their flight. "It looked amazing. Astounding." Coming from a man who had flown space craft, jet packs and star cruisers, that meant a lot to Daniel.
"We have to make a plan fast, Tomlin. The longer we wait, the less chance we have to find someone alive," Daniel said.
"Let's do that on the way back," Tomlin suggested.
Aldrick told them that the airship would be ready for them any day after this one. "You are most welcome to use it, Mr. Zacharias. You are a good pilot and sailor. I have confidence in you."
"You're not coming with us?"
"No, sir. I am an inventor, not a fighter..."
The three men took their leave, went back to the still waiting carriage and made plans on the way back to Tomlin's house.
The next day Daniel went over to Tomlin's house again, to meet the skipper Tomlin had found willing to help with the rescue mission. They bravely called it that. The skipper had brought two more people with him. Not the kind of folks Daniel normally would care to know, but they looked as if they were very able to do some serious damage to pirates, so he welcomed the two to the crew.
The skipper had a set of old maps with him, clearly very often used, and pointed out a number of possible places he thought they should visit first. "If y'ask me, son, it's one of them here spots the pirate's hiding."
Daniel had to take the word of the man for it, he had no clue where to start. The skipper advised him to get supplies for at least a week. "We don't know how long we're going to be gone."
That was true. And it was also something that worried Daniel. He decided that supplies for two weeks might be a better idea. Aldrick had been confident that the airship would be able to carry all that and more. The next worries appeared quickly after that. How was he going to get all the supplies to the backlands where Aldrick lived, and how was he g
oing to pay for them? He still had no idea what he was worth, financially, and Tomlin was not able to give him an idea how to find out.
On the way home, Daniel tried to contact the number of the cloaked person. After a few attempts he gave up, and somehow he wasn't even very surprised that there was no reply. The surprise happened when he had gotten home and was ready to hit the shower: the hydger made its ghastly sound and the black triangle was there.
"Daniel here."
"Mr. Zacharias," the voice spoke, "I saw you have tried to reach me."
"Yes, several times. I already had the idea that the number was wrong," Daniel said.
"It is correct. I am not always... accessible. Tell me what you have to say."
Daniel told that they had a way to get around and look for the Pricosine crew, and his worries about the supplies. "The captain we have found is right, we don't know how long we will be gone, so we need quite some food and water."
"I understand. Valid problems to deal with, Mr. Zacharias." The voice was silent for a moment, only the brushing noise remained in the background. " We may have a solution though. Do you have a list of what you need?"
"Yes, I do, in fact." Daniel grabbed it from the table. He read it out, slowly, so the person on the receiving end could write things down. He could have sent it through the hydger as a message, he knew, but on the other side there was nothing like a printing device, so it had to be written down anyway.
At the end of the dictating session, the stranger said: "I will see what I can arrange, Mr. Zacharias. And when I have done so, I will contact you again." Immediately after that the connection went off.
"And a good day to you too," Daniel frowned as he closed the hydger. These communications never felt comfortable. "What the hell have I gotten myself into ..."
As Daniel did his best not to look out the window, there was a knock on the door. He frowned. Frowning was becoming a habit on this planet. He walked over to the door.
In the hall waited a very small woman, with white hair and pale eyes. It was the woman who had addressed him as he was having a beer at the Tub. "Do you remember me?" she asked, her voice gentle and careful.
"Yes. I do. We met in the pub called the Tub," Daniel said. It was impossible not to remember such an extraordinary looking person. "Very shortly too."
"Yes." She nodded, also carefully. "I really would like to talk to you. And apologise."
"Please, would you come in. Talking with you out there is so awkward." Daniel let her in and offered her a seat, which she hesitantly accepted.
"My name is Ombra Hozteng," she said, nervously looking around. "I don't think, Mr. Zacharias, that you have heard it before?"
It struck him that she knew his name. "Indeed, Mrs. Hozteng, I haven't."
Ombra Hozteng smiled. "Thank you."
"For what, please?" Daniel was not aware of doing something special.
"For calling me 'Mrs.'. Not many people do." The white-haired woman shifted on the chair a bit, and then started to explain. "I am the... uhm... partner of Draiky. Draiky Trelodah. The cook on the Pricosine."
Many pieces of the puzzle suddenly crawled together by their own strength. "Oh. Right. I understand a lot more now," Daniel nodded. He recalled how tenderly and lovingly Draiky had spoken about her love, and smiled. "Draiky did not mention your name, but she spoke of you a few times."
"I know," Ombra said, a slight smile showing. "She told me about you, and how you talked to her. She trusts you, Mr. Zacharias. And when she trusts you, I trust you too."
Then the hydger started its noise. Daniel looked at it and decided to ignore it. This talk was more important, he sensed.
"Needn't you answer that, sir?" Ombra asked, noticing his action.
"No. They will call back when it is important. You and I are talking now."
"Oh..." She coloured, her pale cheeks turning pink. Clearly she was not used to that. "Do you have any information, sir, anything, on where she might be?" In a sudden bold streak she blurted out her question.
Daniel held back the sigh that wanted to part with him. "Unfortunately, I don't, Mrs. Hozteng." He registered that the hydger shut up.
"Please, call me Ombra, sir."
"I will. Ombra. I am Daniel. And I really wish I could tell you something more positive, Ombra. The last time I saw Draiky she was still alive." He knew that this was not very comforting, but it was the only thing he could say.
Ombra stared at the floor. She almost jumped as the hydger rattled again. "You should answer that, sir... Please."
Her words made Daniel pick up the hydger. As he saw the incoming identification, his heart skipped a beat. It was Rhonda, calling from star base. "Rhonda! Daniel here," he said after accepting the incoming call. He was more than just pleasantly surprised. "I have a visitor here, can you-"
The click of the door made him look up. "Crap," he muttered.
"You have a visitor?" the image of Rhonda's face, distorted and jumpy because of the enormous distance and difference in technology, still showed her surprise.
"Looks like she just left," Daniel commented.
"She? Don't tell me you have a girlfriend over there, Daniel Zacharias!" Not even the tin-can speaker on the hydger covered her amusement.
"No, I don't. It was the girlfriend of the cook." Daniel closed his eyes. "Do you want me to explain?"
There was an unnerving crackling in the connection for a moment.
"Maybe that's not necessary. We heard of what happened, Daniel. How you survived the pirate attack. Are you okay?" The concern was real.
"I'm okay, Rhonda. Really. Just worried sick about the rest of the crew."
"Yeah. That's you. Listen, I have limited time on this thing. I just want to tell you to be careful, Daniel. I had a great time with you there, with all the dressing up. I never had a friend like you before and-"
The connection dropped away. Daniel slapped the hydger. "Rhonda? Rhonda, do you hear me?"
The connection was gone and staid away. Limited time, she had said. No joke there. Daniel put some effort into trying a connection from him to Rhonda, but that stranded quickly. Somehow he could only send out messages to the star base, not set up visual communication.
He let out the sigh that had been put on hold during Ombra's visit. He felt sad that the tiny woman had left so quickly, and wondered how she had gotten his address. He felt sad also that the talk with Rhonda had been cut so short. But on the upside, she had gone through the trouble of contacting him, and that made him feel good inside.
-=-=-
The next morning, as Daniel was paining his brain over all kinds of useless things, the hydger yanked him back to serious things.
"Mr. Zacharias, please listen," the voice behind the black triangle said, "your supplies will be waiting for you in a carriage this afternoon. You will find the carriage in... the backyard of a shop called Henlicks Cranulum. It is in Skarak, where you live."
Daniel frowned. Why did that need to get emphasised?
"Will you be able to find that shop?" the voice asked.
"I am sure. Do I need to know something special? I am curious how you arranged that, too," Daniel tried.
"Henlicks Cranulum, backyard, this afternoon. Good luck." And those were the last words before the connection went dead.
Daniel called Tomlin and told him about the mysterious call and the carriage that would be waiting for him later that day. Surprised that his friend was available so often lately, he asked Tomlin about that.
"I have my own company here, Daniel," Tomlin enlightened him. "I can work when I want. And this thing we are doing now is much more interesting and challenging than yet another steam cylinder."
"Right. I hope you don't get into trouble with all this, Tomlin. We will be gone for a while."
"Let that be my problem, Daniel, if at all there is a problem. Let me know when you go get the carriage and when you come here with it. I'll get the others in a carriage then, and then we can head over to Strange Aldrick's place.
"
"Okay, Tomlin. And let me say that I am really glad with your help."
"Don't mention it. You coming here was the best thing in a long time. Getting back into action. Like the old days."
"Like the old days, Tomlin," Daniel grinned, and ended the call.
He bided his time by locating the shop that was Henlicks Cranulum. It was nothing special, he discovered. It was a shop where one could buy food. The strange name would never have made him connect that to their wares, but there were more things he wondered about on this planet. As he went around the back, which was no problem at all, he came to a backyard that was open and deserted. He noticed plenty of tracks in the earth in the yard obviously more people came here with carriages to pick up goods.
