by Paul Kater
-=-=-
Daniel stood on the new airship. The floaters, all eight of them now, stood high above him. There was something odd about the construction. Aldrick had never mentioned the light Polychlon beams to keep the floaters up. Also the way the floater cables were connected to the airship was new to him. Curiously he wandered around the ship. Too many things were... odd... The steering wheel had gone though, which was an improvement. The cabin that held the steam engine was higher. And painted bright red.
"Now there's a change we could do without," Daniel muttered, wondering where Aldrick might be.
The colour screamed out load against the blue of the rest of the airship. Now wait... the first airship was blue, but this new one had been grey when he first saw it. How'd that become blue all of a sudden?
Slowly Daniel started to understand, as the dream wore off and he woke up.
The room was dark, so it was still night time. He reached for the matches and lit the candle next to his bed. He tried to recall what he had seen in his dream as he located a few sheets of paper and a pencil. As well as he could, he wrote down what he had noticed. He made crude drawings, and wondered if this was something he should show Aldrick. The inventor would probably die a happy man: laughing.
Daniel grinned at himself as he lay down in bed again, the candle still burning. After a few minutes of ceiling gazing, he picked up the hydger. No messages, of course. The noise of those would have woken him up. All the others would have the common sense to just sleep in the night.
"So, what are you going to do, Zacharias?" Daniel asked himself. "Stay here and help crazy Aldrick invent new forms of airships?" He chuckled at the idea of becoming as crazy as that man. At least that would make life here a lot more interesting, he assumed.
Maybe, he then thought, he could send another message to Rhonda. Ask her if there was any chance that he could be reinstated to something resembling his old position at star base. Or somewhere else, as long as it was not near Troy and his smelly command.
"Sure," he mocked himself, "just because you managed to not get killed here a few times, that will be a clean bill to get back. Forget that." He blew out the candle and lay down to sleep again.
59. Preachers and inventors
"This is not going to work." Daniel had spent some time trying to go back to sleep and failed. Again he lit the candle and tried to decide what he should do about that. More reading? No, that was not the way to go. He'd done enough of that. He'd also run out of ideas for the airship.
"Fresh air. That usually helps," he remembered. Quietly he dressed. As he was about to leave the room, he stood still for a moment, looking at the hydger. Better to take that along. Suppose it would make its noise and wake other people up. With the box in a pocket, he walked into the corridor and then left the house.
Two of the three moons of NGC6637-VIII were high in the sky and set the area in a very intense light. Daniel turned right and slowly walked up the slope. He knew that the view over the area and the bay was magnificent from there, and now he had the chance to see it in the moonlight.
The walk up the hill was good for him: he had to focus on where he stepped, as the trail was not often used. When he reached the summit, he breathed in the cool nightly air. A little further to the left he saw the rock he had sat on before. He claimed it as his again and looked down the hill. He could not see Sygra's house from there, there were too many trees and high bushes growing. Finding it back would be no problem though, the light of the moons was abundant.
Daniel looked up at the smallest of the two moons. It was an oddly shaped moon, not round. There had been many meteors, he assumed, that had used that moon for target practice. Bites had been taken out of the shape and now it looked as if someone had thrown up a half-eaten cookie which had gotten stuck in orbit.
Then he stared at the constellations that he had gotten to know by now. The star base... he had no idea where that should be now. It could be anywhere in that vastness. Daniel lay down on the ground and looked straight up at the stars overhead. "Out there, my boy, is where you belong," he told himself.
"Is that so?"
The voice made Daniel jump to his feet while his heart tried to jump from his throat. "Who are you?"
A man was sitting near a low hedge. Daniel had no idea how long he had been there.
"My name is not important, but for convenience sake you can call me Lundar. And do you have a name?"
"I'm Daniel Zacharias."
"Ah. I am pleased to meet you, Seigner Daniel Zacharias," the man said as he slowly got up. He walked to Daniel, holding out his hand.
Daniel frowned. The man wore dark clothes, and on his back hung something that looked like... "You are a preacher, aren't you?"
"Yes. I am surprised you recognise this, you don't look like someone who is from here," Lundar said.
They shook hands.
"Some people have called me a preacher also," Daniel allowed himself. He grinned as he said it.
"That makes you my brother, Daniel."
Daniel noticed that Lundar immediately dropped the Seigner, which suited him fine. "I'm afraid I woke you up, Lundar. Please accept my apologies."
"Not to worry, Daniel. I sleep lightly and short. I was about to go anyway as I like to travel at night, so this is a lucky coincidence. What is troubling you?"
"Nothing, I'm okay," Daniel said with a smile, as he regarded the man. Lundar was short, even for local sizes. He had long blond hair hanging around a square face.
Lundar nodded. "Of course. That is why you are here on the hill in the middle of the night, staring at the stars and claiming that out there is where you belong."
"Oh. You heard that." Daniel felt caught.
"In the night sound travels far, Daniel." Lundar sat down on the rock. "Sit here. Tell me what goes on inside you."
Daniel sat down, but couldn't bring himself to start talking.
"Brother preacher, speak. Please. Your words are safe with me. Set them free, as then they set you free. As you are here to help others..."
"...so are others here to help you. I know," Daniel completed the words that Lundar had started. It made him feel more at ease. Then, slowly, he started telling Lundar what was troubling him.
"I think I understand your problem, Daniel. You do not allow yourself to become one of the people from here. You hold on to being the outsider, the man from the other planet, the soldier who is sent here to do something. Now the something is completed and it leaves you staring into a black hole where first there was a task."
Daniel looked at Lundar. The man was calmly looking over the bay. "You are very kind to listen to me, Lundar. But..."
"But I am wrong, am I?" Lundar smiled. "Of course. Preachers are always wrong, until they are right. You just need to allow yourself to see that, Daniel. Like the other things." He got up. "I should pack up my things and move on. Thank you for being here and waking me, preacher brother." It sounded sincere.
The two men shook hands after Lundar had collected his things.
"You are right," Daniel said as he looked the man in the eye.
"Yes. And so are you. Be well. We may meet again, Daniel." Then Lundar pulled the hood over his head and walked off, towards Boragov.
Daniel looked at Lundar go until he disappeared in the distance. "Yes. Damn him, but he's right." He looked at the hill and the water again. Somehow it looked different. He shook his head and started his journey down the hill and to his bed.
-=-=-
Refreshed, Daniel got out of his bed. He opened the curtains and felt good. As he got dressed, he saw the papers he had written on in the night and picked them up. He looked them over. And again he felt good, no matter how silly things looked.
As he was enjoying breakfast, Sygra came in. "Good morning, Sygra," he said.
The senator frowned. "You are remarkably cheery, Daniel. Did something happen in your sleep?" He sat down and welcomed a cup of sturt, the local coffee version Daniel had never gotten a taste for.<
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"It is more that something happened while not sleeping, Sygra." Daniel told him about his midnight stroll and how he had met the preacher on top of the hill.
Sygra nodded. "Sometimes, doing something out of the ordinary can bring insights that are out of the ordinary. Amazing that this man was there when you were there."
Daniel watched his host. He was certain there was a catch somewhere in those words, and as he was trying to find it, Sygra laughed.
"Very good, Daniel. Very good. I see you are learning to consider my words before jumping to a response."
Daniel grinned, still not sure what to say. They ate while Sygra for once told Daniel a bit about what he was going to do during the day.
Then Daniel showed Sygra the scribbles and drawings. "I am going to see Aldrick again and show him this. Maybe there is something useful he can make of it. And otherwise it was a fun thing to do."
"Ah, yes. Aldrick. He's a good man. You and he really fit together. Enjoy your day with him." Sygra chewed down some of his toast. "It is still beyond me how you and the others dared climb aboard that flying thing and take it all the way over to the pirate island. And it worked." The senator shook his head. "All due respect for that, Daniel."
Daniel thought back of the blue airship, and excitement filled him again. It had been an incredible adventure, flying with that thing. No spacecraft could ever be a match for that. "Yes, it worked great. I hope we can make an even better one, with what we know now."
An hour later, Daniel was coming near to Aldrick's place again, and half an hour after that the two men were going over the drawings and writing that Daniel had made.
"That, Daniel, is very strange. We cannot put the floaters on sticks like you drew there. And what's this?"
Daniel pointed out, explained, and wondered about things, together with the inventor.
"Do you really think the steering wheel should be removed?" Aldrick looked pained by the thought.
"It is useless, Aldrick."
"Yes. That is so. But I like the wheel."
"Maybe we can put up a smaller one then."
They haggled about the wheel for a while and decided to leave it for now. Then Daniel used his hydger to get in touch with Tomlin. He explained where he was and what they were doing, and then relayed his ideas about the new steam engine.
Tomlin appreciated the ideas and said he would give it some serious thought. He also laughed as he heard Daniel mutter about the steering wheel. "Make the silly fart happy, leave him the wheel, Daniel. Attach it to some propeller that he can wiggle about."
Daniel laughed, then stared at the display. "But of course. That's it!"
"Uh? That's what?" Tomlin was lost.
"I'll get back to you, Tomlin. I have an idea again. I have to go now!" Daniel ended the talk and quickly walked over to a drawing-table. He grabbed a pencil and started sketching. "Aldrick!!"
Aldrick stared at the drawing and heard Daniel's explanation. "Do you think that's going to work?"
"It did, centuries ago on my old home planet, so why not here?" Daniel had drawn the new airship, with the floaters high up. There were two small sails on the ship, at the bow, and at the back he had drawn two propellers. "If we can get this working, there is a need for the steering wheel too. Turning the wheel will turn the direction of the propellers, and then you can influence where you go."
Aldrick caught the bug. "This is amazing. Daniel, this is a miracle. I will start drawing and think of how we can do this!"
Daniel could almost hear the gears and cogs in Aldrick's head work, as he philosophised on the mechanism to manipulate the propellers. He left the inventor alone and went to look at the way the floaters were now strapped to the airship.
Aldrick served a pretty decent lunch. Daniel had helped where he could, but the kitchen of the house was not a place where he felt safe. It looked as if anything would jump him if he did not keep an eye on it, and he did not have enough eyes.
Daniel's hydger started rattling. "Ah, that must be Tomlin, with some good ideas."
Aldrick, who did not own an intrusive device like that, frowned.
Daniel opened the box and almost dropped it. On the display was a black triangle without a name. This could not be true. Slowly he flipped the switch. "Hello."
Aldrick noticed the change in Daniel and looked at the man in wonder.
"Mr. Zacharias," the voice with the metal brush sound said. "We need to meet."
Daniel stared at the hydger. "You. Yes. We really have to meet. And when we meet I want some answers."
"You will get your answers, Mr. Zacharias," the voice said.
"Where do you suggest we meet?" Daniel asked.
"I would suggest neutral ground."
Daniel was not really in the mood for that. "I would suggest that you come to the foot of the hill where senator Dirrit ko Assac lives. There is a crossroad there."
The voice on the other side said: "The foot of the hill it will be. I will arrive tomorrow morning." That was all. The display went its normal grey again.
"And I'll be there," Daniel announced to the silent box. He closed it and put it away. "This is going to be interesting."
The day went by with jumps for Daniel. There were times he and Aldrick were very busy, hacking, cutting and grinding, there were also times he had to wait and at those moments the meeting with the cloaked person did not leave his thoughts for a moment.
Later that evening he told Sygra about the strange call.
"You have mentioned this cloaked figure before. Are you sure you want to go into that meeting alone, Daniel? I can arrange for some safety if you want."
"Thank you, Sygra. I am sure I can deal with this person myself. I'll take a good stick with me. That can come in handy."
"You can take Kernak too," Sygra offered. "She likes to be with you and is quite good at protecting someone."
Daniel gave that a thought. "Might not even be wrong to do that. If you really believe it is safe to take her."
"It would make me feel better, Daniel."
60. A cloaked person
Daniel was awake very early the next morning. The one person who had been so mysteriously weaved through all that had happened was going to meet him today. Daniel had given up his attempts to contact the triangle; there never had been a response. But now things were different.
Sygra had once more insisted he should take Kernak along. "Don't worry, Daniel, she won't get hurt. It takes a lot to hurt a Kotrvayk."
Daniel was convinced of that. He thought of it as he let Kernak out of the garden, through the small reception building. He had first worried about a leash or something, but Sygra had laughed at that idea.
"Where do you want her to take you, Daniel?" he had asked, which was where Daniel saw reason. "She likes you. She will stay with you and protect you. And Kernak will enjoy it, she does not go out very often." That was obvious also.
Kernak was very easy going and followed along calmly as Daniel walked down the hill. The crossroad, he knew, was behind a long and slow bend, but he was very early and had plenty of time to enjoy the gentle breeze and the sunshine. As he walked along the deserted road, he was suddenly very aware of being there, in the land, the feel of the ground under his feet, the large Kotrvayk with him. It made him slow down and come to a halt.
Kernak turned her mighty head to looked at him, and walked back. She lay down at his feet. Daniel hardly noticed it, as he took in the scent of the area while the wind messed with his hair. He squatted down and stroked Kernak's head. "This is an amazing place, girl," he told her. Slowly he rose to his feet again, and as he made the next step, Kernak was up also and with him.
Daniel noticed it now and was stunned. What an amazing creature. They went on. It took them over a quarter of an hour to reach the crossroad.
"In the morning", the cloaked voice had said. Well, there was plenty of morning to enjoy.
Daniel and Kernak waited. At times he took a short stroll, the animal on his heels. They lay
on the ground, sat, and Daniel at times whistled a tune. Then he heard the familiar rattling of wheels on the hard road. A carriage worked itself towards the crossroad.
Daniel and Kernak stood again when the carriage reached them and came to a halt. Daniel's hand was on Kernak's back. "It's okay, Kernak."
The door of the carriage opened, and the cloaked figure came out of it. As soon as the entire person was with both feet on the ground, the cloak unfolded to its large size. Daniel heard the rush that the strange mask made of the breathing.
"I am here," said the mysterious stranger. Behind him, the carriage slowly pulled away, en route for a new customer.
