Snark's Quest

by Timothy Ellis

  Sixty Three

  Sissness was stirring at last. Patters had made her as comfortable as possible, and had gone to retrieve her arrows.

  Sissness opened her eyes and groaned. She leaned over and vomited, then lay back down. She saw Patters above her.

  "What…?"

  Patters quickly filled her in, as she gave her some water from her bottle. Sissness sat up, holding her head, and still groaning. She had an almighty headache. Every part of her seemed to ache.

  "There was an explosion…"

  Patters wondered if she’d heard anything she’d said.

  "Yes, the owl set one off. I think he’d planned not to be taken prisoner by Bhatet."

  "Where are the others?"

  "The Bats have Anna. They’re gone. I don’t know where Snark is."

  "Snark wasn’t with us when the Bats took us. I thought he was outside with you."

  "I thought he’d been blown up, or on the other side of that."

  She indicated the rock fall blocking the entrance to the cave. Sissness looked down at one of her paws. It was clenched tight around something. She hadn’t noticed til now. She released her paw, and it opened like a flower. She was holding a data chip.

  Sissness remembered now. Just before they'd moved to join the Bats, Old Hootsmoon had taken her paw, and pressed the chip into it. She'd clenched her paw around it.

  "The owl gave it to me," she said to Patters.

  "Must be important then."

  "What do we do now?"

  "We hope the Shuttle is fine to fly, and we have to find Snark. I don’t think I could fly that thing. And we have to hope the Seasprite is still there. We need to avoid the Bats, unless they’ve left the system already, with Anna."

  Sissness started to get up, and Patters helped her. She could walk. They looked at the rock fall. There was nothing they could do here. They turned and made their way along the track back to the Landing site.

  Snark had found the fissure starting to open up a bit, so it was a little easier for him to make his way along. But he was almost on his hind legs at some points to squeeze around bulging rock areas. Then the fissure started to narrow again. Snark was now pressed against both sides of the walls, to pull and push himself through.

  He was stuck. He couldn’t move either back or forward. He’d already turned off and removed his belt. It wasn’t much of a change, but his bare skin gave him a touch less width to pull through, and a slightly better ability to make his form fit the shape of the fissure, since the suit in protecting him, also made contorting his body harder. As a result, he now had multiple cuts and abrasions from the rough rock face. He breathed in, and then expelled all the air in his lungs, and pushed and pulled with all his might. He started to move forward, but he could hardly breathe. He started to panic.

  His paws grappled for a purchase to keep pulling him through, while his feet pushed. He tried to breathe out again, and suddenly, he pulled forward, and could breathe again. The fissure was widening up. He scrabbled frantically, and pulled through to a place he could suck in great, deep breaths. The backpack was still bumping along behind him, but sometimes he'd needed to stop and yank it, in order to keep it coming after him. Now it pulled to him past the last blockage.

  He'd been steadily moving upwards, and the light was getting stronger. He kept moving.

  Patters and Sissness were at the Landing Site. The Bat's ship had left, but their Shuttle seemed intact. Why didn’t they destroy it? They knew there was another one of them on the loose. It made little sense. Perhaps they were the kind who followed orders blindly, and couldn’t think for themselves?

  Patters looked at the console. Jamie had taught her a lot about ship’s systems, but flying this? She didn’t think she could do it. They had to find Snark.

  Sissness had connected the data chip to a spare tablet, and was busy looking at the information scrolling onto her screen.

  "It looks as if it’s his notes on the site here, and his own theories."

  Patters tried to look interested, but she was too worried.

  "We’d better set up a search for Snark."

  Sissness looked up and shut off the tablet. She might need to save the battery. They'd lost all of their photos, and everything they'd collected in the cavern. Hopefully the Owl’s data would tell them what they needed to know.

  "Yes, Snark. Of course."

  They should split up to search, but Patters was concerned about Sissness. She might have a bad concussion. She should probably stay here, but on the other paw, what if the Bats came back?

  They left together to look for Snark.

  Sixty Four

  Anna was badly frightened. The Bats had put wrist cuffs on her, and locked her in a small room, obviously a cell of some kind. It was filthy. The whole ship seemed filthy. The Bats obviously didn’t value cleanliness. Her mind was rambling. She was a prisoner. Who knew where they were taking her.

  She gently touched her cheek, where a bruise was quickly forming behind an ugly gash. When they pulled her into the ship, she'd struggled, tried to ask what they were doing, and where they were taking her, resulting in the lead bat striking her across the face with his gun. He’d laughed as she’d fallen, and then one of the others had roughly pulled her up.

  She wanted badly to cry, but she wasn’t going to, knowing if she started, she wouldn’t be able to stop. Crying wasn’t an option. She needed to think, and she needed a plan.

  At least they hadn’t taken Sissness. And Patters was out there somewhere. Patters would look after Sissness. But why hadn’t Patters done something to help her, save her?

  And where was Snark?

  She still had her belt, so she was clothed, and had shoes. They’d taken her backpack. She had no water, and was wondering if they’d feed her. And if they did, whether she could eat it, whatever it was. She didn’t want to ask.

  The shuttle’s engines slowed, and she knew they were at the station, or a ship at or near the station. They’d be coming for her soon.

  As if she’d willed it, the door opened, and a bat stood there gesturing for her to come out. She staggered up with difficulty, given her cuffed hands, and the bat grabbed her arm and pulled her from the room.

  More Bats stood outside, and formed up around her. They marched her off the shuttle, and into the station. She looked out a portal. Only unknown ships could be seen. Where was Seasprite? Where was Jamie?

  She kept looking out the portals as they passed them, trying to see what had happened. There were some ships hanging off in orbit with the station. Nothing with clean lines like Seasprite. Ugly, brutish shapes, bristling with weapons.

  There was no one around. Just Bats. What had happened here?

  She was ushered, and pushed towards an airlock. And on to a ship. It was dark and smelled bad. More Bats.

  They pushed her through a door, and into another cell. The door clanged shut. It was completely dark. Her eyes started to adjust, but couldn’t make out anything. She shivered. It was cold.

  A rustling noise. There was something in here? She shrank back against the door and listened. There it was again. Something touched her leg. She screamed.

  "No need to shout!" came a voice.

  She could make out a shape against the darkness, which was lightening as her eyes adjusted. The figure stepped back.

  "It doesn’t do any good to shout! They can’t hear you."

  "Who…"

  The figure laughed sarcastically.

  "Who am I? Who are you? Does it matter, now the Bats have us? They’ll be taking us to Bhatet, and that’s as good as…" the voice petered off. "OK…I’m Mash."

  "I’m Anna."

  "Pleased to meet you."

  Again the voice tittered sarcastically. She could see the form move back into a corner of the small room, and sit down.

  "What are you?" she asked.

  "Me? Can’t you tell? I’m a …"

  He used a word her PC couldn’t translate.

  "What about you?" />
  "I’m human."

  There was silence, a scratching noise, and a small flame burst into life. She could see a creature which was difficult to describe. It looked at her with two eyes, but its arms were soft tentacles, and the body was, what? It held up the flame and then shut it off.

  "Don’t want to waste the battery," he explained. "They’ll turn the lights on soon, just to play around with our internal clocks, and we’ll be able to see each other clearly when they do. Reminds me of a song."

  He sang a few bars to himself.

  "So, a human. New to this part of the galaxy."

  Anna didn’t know what to say, so said nothing.

  "You’re a bit weird looking, but I suppose you can’t help it, so I won’t hold it against you." He coughed, and laughed again. "Bhatet will really be pleased to get hold of a human."

  This was not reassuring at all. Anna lowered herself down against a wall. There was nothing in the room, apart from them.

  "Where will they take us?"

  "Wherever Bhatet happens to be."

  "Why does he want you?"

  "Oh, I went a bit crazy, and tried to cheat him. I should have known that crime doesn’t pay!" He laughed again. "Especially when you commit a crime against a crime lord." She didn’t ask the next obvious question. "You don’t want to think about it. Best not."

  He quieted down. Anna looked over, as some wheezing noises started up. He was asleep.

  Sixty Five

  Snark sat on a stone, looking up at the sky, basking in the sunlight. The day here was nearly over, as a faint tinge of pink was glowing along a line of clouds on the horizon.

  The fissure had opened up into what was some kind of stone quarry. Which seemed odd to him, because there weren’t any stone buildings anywhere. Or was this where the standing stones had come from?

  He'd emerged, battered, bruised, and bleeding. Now he sat, licking some of the cuts and abrasions on his legs, body, and arms, and using his paws to soothe some on his face, head, and ears.

  He was a Cat of the Plains. If in doubt, lick.

  After a while he felt better, although smarting.

  He needed to find the others, or what had happened to them. He pulled his backpack to him, untied it from his ankle, and rummaged in it for his pad. He hoped he could get some sense of where he was in relation to the Cave opening and the Landing site.

  Belt back on and shifted back into his red suit, he put on his backpack, and made his way through the strewn stones in the quarry, climbing out onto a hill. Better. He could get a vantage point from here.

  He could see the Landing Site. Their shuttle was still there. No sign of Bats. No signs of cats or humans either. He turned around. He couldn’t see the cave entrance valley, but thought he could work out where it was from here. He started down the hill on the other side to the quarry. His ears were turning furiously trying to catch any unusual noises or sounds. But there was nothing unusual.

  He came to the valley floor, and the track was there. Which way? He tried to orient himself. Left. Definitely left. No, right. He started off.

  Soon, he came to the Cave entrance. The effects of the blast were evident. The rock fall had completely blocked the entrance. There were bat bodies lying everywhere. It looked like there'd been a fight. But no sign of human or cats alive, or dead.

  He decided to strike out for the Landing Site. The light was fading fast now. He needed to get into shelter, as the temperature was falling. He hurried his pace.

  "Snark!"

  He turned towards the location of the voice. It was Patters. She had her bow ready with an arrow notched, but was lowering it, and making her way towards him. Sissness followed her.

  They ran towards each other, and hugged when they met up. Snark winced as his cuts pulled.

  "I thought you were dead!" said Sissness and Patters together.

  "I thought so too," said Snark, and filled them in on his escape from the cavern.

  He didn’t include details of his archaeological finds, which could wait until later.

  "Where’s Anna?"

  Sissness and Patters were silent. Finally, Patters described the fight by the cave, and the futility of trying to fight the Bats at the Landing Site. Anna was gone.

  Snark could see Patters was feeling guilty, and hurting.

  "You did what you could. You wouldn’t have been able to save her."

  Patters nodded, but looked down.

  Once back on the Shuttle, they discussed a plan. They tried calling Seasprite, but there was no reply. Nothing. They had no idea if the Bats were still on the station, or whether they had already left. They couldn’t take off and fly back to the station, without any idea of what was happening there. They decided to wait the night, before flying back. If the Shuttle would get them there. If the Bats were still at the station, they’d have no choice to come back to the planet, and hope the Bats wouldn’t follow them.

  Where was Jamie?

  Sixty Six

  Jamie was watching the HUD, and monitoring the bat ships near the Station. Seasprite was on the far side of a different moon, around the same gas giant. He had no direct view, but the sensors showed him everything he needed to know. A Shuttle had returned from the surface of the planet, and now they seemed to be leaving.

  Jamie was worried, badly worried. He’d left the ground team vulnerable, but there was little he could do. When the ships had appeared on the navmap, from the direction of the jump point on the other side of the system, all he could do in the time between his detecting them, and them detecting him, was to find somewhere to hide, until he knew who or what they were.

  He had no way of knowing if they were hostile, but a good guess suggested they would be. The other jump point had a station owned by Bhatet, so the most likely scenario was someone on Byways station had ratted them out, and Bhatet had sent a fleet to capture them. The only way to know for sure was to engage them in combat, but given how well he'd done last time, it wasn’t his first choice.

  Of course they were hostile. Who else would think to come to this isolated place, except those looking for the Seasprite? He'd undocked from the station without telling anyone he was doing it, and sought a place to hide, while he figured out the best course of action. Above all, the ship had to survive.

  He'd watched them send a large shuttle down to the planet. He agonized over leaving those on the planet so vulnerable, but it was too late now. If anything happened to them, it was his fault. He’d tried warning them, but hadn’t been able to get through. He assumed the rock above the caves was blocking all signals.

  The ships had moved further away from the station now. What were they doing? Yellow dots lit up on the HUD, missiles heading for the station, and before he could do anything, the station disintegrated in a series of explosions, which showed up on his HUD as grey dots moving apart.

  He waited as the ships left, heading back across the system to the jump point on the other side. He waited until he was sure he was out of range of their sensors, before moving Seasprite back to where the station had been.

  Nothing was left but floating debris.

  Jamie put his head in his hands. All those beings. Why had they done that? He scanned, looking for any survivors, but it was useless. He took the ship into a parking orbit above where the shuttle had landed. Time to find out if there was anyone left on the surface.

  As he came into coms range, he opened a channel to the shuttle, and each of their tablets. Almost immediately there was an incoming coms signal.

  "Seasprite, Seasprite, This is Snark, come in."

  "Snark, this is Seasprite! Am I glad to hear ye’re grumpy old voice."

  "Humph!" came the reply.

  Jamie rapidly explained what had happened to the station, and told him to dock the shuttle in the ship's hanger.

  There was silence.

  "Snark, come in?"

  "I’m here. Just a bit shocked. But not really when you think about it."

  They exchanged arrangements.r />
  The Shuttle lifted off from the surface of the planet, and docked with Seasprite. As the group of cats came through the airlock, Jamie was there to greet them with a grin on his face. His face fell.

  "Where’s Anna?"

  The cats were silent. Finally Snark spoke up.

  "The Bats captured her."

  "Bats?"

  "Armed Bats. Lots of them."

  "What happened?"

  Snark looked at Jamie. The human was distraught.

  "It’s a bit of a story."

  Jamie looked at them in total shock. He suddenly turned, and ran towards the Bridge.

  "We have to get after them!" he yelled.

  Snark followed at a run, with the others close behind.

  "Stop! Jamie, stop."

  Jamie already had the ship moving towards the other side of the system. Snark jumped up on to the console next to him.

  "Jamie." He put a paw to Jamie’s shoulder. "We don’t know where they’ll have gone. We can go through the jump point, and there will be three others to choose from. Which way will they have gone?"

  "We have to try."

  Much later, after they'd all cleaned up, addressed their various wounds, physical and psychological, and the ship had jumped into the next system, they were sitting in the lounge area. No-one said anything. Snark had just finished recounting the events down in the caves. Jamie had not interrupted, and was sitting silently morose.

  After they’d jumped, they’d come out into clear space. No sign of the bat ships. And no idea of where they'd gone.

  Finally Jamie stirred.

  "We have to go after her."

  No-one spoke. No-one knew what to do. He spoke again.

  "This is Bhatet. He would have followed us to Patch, and somehow found out we were there. Anyone on the station could have been a follower, or a member of the Brotherhood, and let him know we were there. The same for Byways. Anyone could have told him we were here." He chewed on his thumbnail. "All we have to do, is find out where Bhatet is. He’ll want Anna, to find out about the Stone. And about Seasprite. Maybe even as bait for Seasprite."