Snark's Quest

by Timothy Ellis

  Warspite nodded. He'd expected most of it.

  "Tranquil, keep shadowing them. Try to stay within a couple of hours of Seasprite, but outside their scanner range. Keep your other ships within a day as well. Keep a pretence of trading going, but their protection is the primary goal. Before you leave them, transfer over enough missiles to restock them now, and leave them a full set of repair droids, a search and rescue droid, and several salvage droids. Leave Seasprite a special body as well, in case she needs to create an avatar sometime in the future."

  Tranquil nodded this time.

  "Oh, and both of you before you go, make sure all of them have belt suits. The way the crew died should mean the ship has a lot of civilian models on board. Get them on those who don’t have one, and make sure they all know how to use them. And for Gaia's sake get them all set to hair-trigger mode. Anna doesn’t know she was never in any real danger, but her suit shouldn’t have allowed that face injury she took, so it's not set up right. Snark probably doesn’t have a decent set of controls on his pad. I must admit, I let him go without updating the basic set I gave him. My bad. Give him the newest set I made for Pink and Barf, and tell him from me he earned the upgrade. If the belts are not there, let me know, and I'll send more. Jane out."

  The two AI's shifted down again to human speed. No-one had noticed anything untoward about them.

  "Where are you going from here?" asked Tranquil generally.

  No-one answered immediately.

  "I think we need to talk about it," said Snark. "Why?"

  "You can't stay here while you think," said Warspite. "If you have no firm destination in mind, I suggest you return to your homeworld until you do. Tranquil will escort you there, before continuing on her trading mission. I need to report back to Hunter Prime."

  "There's an ambassadorial mission to your homeworld in planning at the moment," said Tranquil, "and they'll probably have a medical unit with them. It might be good for you all to be there when they arrive. Anna in particular should be checked out by human doctors before she goes off on any new adventure. Although I assume the care unit on this ship has already treated her?"

  "Care unit?" said Anna and Jamie together.

  Warspite and Tranquil both face-palmed.

  Seventy Eight

  Snark slept.

  He'd emailed his Grandmother and found out she was fine, although a bit weak. She confirmed the Kingdom was sending an ambassador, and a medical unit especially to try and help her live longer. She also confirmed Jane was going to make sure their home system was protected, without it appearing as if the cats had begged for help. Snark was satisfied for the moment.

  His eyes moved to and fro in rem sleep, and his foot tried to scratch his ear. It kept twitching, and then was still.

  He was a kitten again, a small, fluffy kitten, before he lost all of his hair as the Cats of the Plains did. His father was giving him a lesson in star charts and drawing the chart in the dirt with a stick. The star chart was wrong, and Snark corrected it with his paw.

  "No, that’s not it," his father said, and redrew the chart with his stick.

  Again, Snark changed it

  Again his father repaired his correction.

  Snark was confused. He knew how the star chart went. He’d seen it on the stone.

  He woke up.

  Anna had also not properly slept for what seemed an age. But she couldn’t. She was afraid to fall asleep. Something bad might happen. The scar on her face was healing now, her having spent a short time in the care unit. It had addressed a number of developing health issues, but what she needed now was food and sleep. She hadn’t eaten, and couldn’t sleep. She tossed and turned the night away.

  Patters didn’t need anyone. The hunt was the hunt. Although this hadn’t been a hunt, this had been about survival, and cold-blooded murder. She said a verse for the dead. It was important to recognise the strength and value of an adversary or the hunted animal, so their strength would not be wasted, but absorbed into either themselves as food, or into the wider ether as energy. She spent some time in contemplation, reflection, meditation, and stretching exercises, to be at one with the cosmos. After a while, she purred, and slept.

  Jamie slept deeply, and dreamed the battle which had just been fought. In his dream, he was the one controlling all the ships, and one by one they all died. As Seasprite began to explode last, he bolted upright, covered in sweat. The dream began to dim, and he vowed he'd learn how to fight a space battle, and one day be better at it than Warspite was. Vow made, he flopped back down, and slept dream free.

  Sissness continued her research until she fell asleep at her tablet.

  Brindle slept for the first time in she didn't know how long, without any fear of not waking up. She dreamt of going home.

  The following morning, the team met again in the lounge room. Snark started the conversation.

  "Thanks everyone, for playing your parts, and helping to get Anna back."

  There were quiet murmurs of congratulation and encouragement. He went on.

  "Bhatet is dead. But the Brotherhood is still strong. We may have defeated them this time, but they will keep coming. We know the Brotherhood is interested in the Destiny Stone, and will keep searching for it. It’s almost a point of honour with them to get to the Destiny Stone first. The thing is, what do we want to do?"

  The question fell into a void which echoed between them.

  Snark answered his own question, since no-one else had.

  "My Grandmother has given me a quest," he said. "And I intend to fulfil it. It’s not just about the Destiny Stone, it's about something she calls 'the cold evil', and she thinks the two things are linked. I promised her I would investigate, and I will."

  Sissness spoke next.

  "I'm a bit of a 'ring-in'. I’m on this journey because I may be useful, and because I wanted adventure. I've learned to be careful about what I wish for, as I certainly did get it. And much more." She paused. "I want to continue. I believe the Destiny Stone is real, and we have a duty to our societies to find the answers."

  Jamie considered the others.

  "I was included as a bit of muscle, someone handy who could help out. I also wanted to see the galaxy." He laughed softly. "I got my wish in spades. But what I sense is we’ve grown together as a team. And I’m more than happy to help the team in finding the stone. More than this, I've learned just how much more I have to learn, and its high time I stopped being just muscle, and started learning how to be useful. I'm in."

  Brindle was a bit embarrassed and blushed.

  "I’ve only just arrived. I wanted to leave the trap working for Bhatet had become, and I took advantage of the opportunity you provided. But I can see you all have a mission, a purpose. It'll be nice to go home, but I can't see myself staying for more than a brief visit. I’m happy to go with the flow at the moment, if you’ll have me."

  Patters was silent, but then spoke up.

  "I’m a Wild One. I came on this quest to help you, but also to see the galaxy. I’m a bit like Jamie, but a lot like you all. I stand for the good in beings. I want to do what’s right. And I can see when someone like the owl destroys himself for the greater good, as well as selfishly, but at the same time leaves us with the means, perhaps, to find the Destiny Stone, it’s a goal worth pursuing. I’m in!"

  They all turned to Anna.

  "I’ve been humbled," she said quietly. "I’ve seen death, and stared it in the face. I reached the point where I could no longer see the point of this quest. The Destiny Stone could be nothing for all I care." The others drew their breath in, in an audible communal gasp. "But I’ve seen this group of beings come together as a team. And I know the stone is out there. We just need to find it, and protect it. I started this, and I intend to finish it."

  She closed her eyes.

  "It’s close, I know. It’s waiting for us."

  Epilogue

  Mac called a meeting of the clan chiefs and the Scots council.

  H
e showed them the battle feeds he'd received from Jane, both at the Cat Homeworld, and near Bhatet's stronghold. His purpose was to demonstrate the nature of the foes out there, and the benevolence of the Kingdom, as well as its strength. He emphasized how the Kingdom protected its people.

  He went on about Scots independence within a multilayered political system, which they could not escape, but which they could use to benefit their world. The time of isolation was ended. It was time for their Scots world to determine its own destiny in this new galactic order.

  He felt a pivotal moment happening in their destiny, and he started the process of turning opinion in the right direction.

  His direction.

  The Grand Mother was slowing down, and she knew it. But she had hope the human medics would be able to help her back to at least how she'd been before being shot. For now, she let Preddle fuss around her, and leant heavily on her aides to get things done.

  She thought about her latest vision. She'd been sitting in the sun, cat-napping, as she liked to do, and did a bit more than usual now. It was if a space had opened up before her, and she was standing on a precipice. A ferocious wind was trying to blow her away, out and over into the abyss.

  Large white birds appeared struggling to maintain flight in the wind. Then she could see black birds behind them in pursuit. The black birds engaged the white birds, a squawking battle ensued, a mass of beaks and claws, and fluttering wings.

  The black birds defeated the white birds, which plunged out of sight into the abyss. The black birds soared triumphantly.

  She knew she needed to tell Snark.

  Maidie was in her garden, harvesting green beans, when the vision came. One minute it was sunny in her forest clearing, and the next dark, as black as Hades. Was it the cold evil?

  Out of the blackness came a figure dressed entirely in black. It raised its hand to her, pointed directly at her heart, and then vanished.

  She tried to interpret it, but failed. She would try scrying to see what else she could see.

  She needed to tell Mac.

  "Bloody mop heads!"

  Snark was back to his old grumpy self, and taking every opportunity to be dissatisfied with what others were doing.

  He knew he would need to explain what he'd found in the cave on Perdita. He hadn’t just yet, as there really hadn’t been the right opportunity. They were all in, but he'd seen none of them ready to really think about the next step. Everyone was getting back to normal, but they still needed time. When they started to plan out their next moves, he would fill them in.

  For now, the days could pass on the way home, slowly healing each of them, and he was as content as he ever could be, given his nature.

  He knew they had the next piece in the puzzle, and could continue the quest.

  His quest.

  Snark’s Quest.

  He curled up in his cat bed, and purring, went to sleep.

  Snark will return.

  Acknowledgements

  Thanks goes to Kalen O'Donnell for the cover design for this book.

  Special thanks to KJ Colt and Rumpy, for the perfect photo of Snark.

  A Message to our Readers

  From Elspeth Anders: I hope you've enjoyed reading my first novel. As a cat lover myself, Snark was just the purrfect character to begin with. I'm looking forward to many more adventures with Snark. I hope you are too.

  From Timothy Ellis: As usual, I’ve had a lot of fun with this book. There is more in this story to come, so I hope you've enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed the writing.

  If you've enjoyed this book, we hope you'll take the time to leave a review on the Amazon site. All reviews are greatly appreciated, as they help assist purchasing decisions by other readers. Sales and reviews help us to focus on the next book in the series, which impacts how fast the next installment is released.

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  Also by Timothy Ellis

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  Snark's Quest

  With Elspeth Anders

  Snark's Quest

  The Hunter Legacy

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  Send in the Hero.

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  Part Three

  Home is where the Hero is

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  Table of Contents

  Contents

  Dramatis Personae

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen