STRANGER WORLD

by Jack Castle

  Barnaby finished by explaining that where they were going they might not see food or fuel for a long while. So as much as the further delay pained him, George knew it wouldn’t do Maddie any good if they broke down, ran out of gas, or starved to death before they could find her. This was a rescue mission after all, and rescuing people was what he had been trained for, it was what he was good at, only the stakes had never been higher.

  At some point Barnaby must’ve ducked back into the gift shop and changed out of the ridiculous costume Lady Wellington had forced him to wear. Now he wore a pair of safari khaki shorts and shirt, knee high socks, hiking boots, and a bush hat.

  When he saw George looking at him he held out his hands and asked, “What do you think?”

  George thought about the corpse Maddie had found in the gift store. “Did you steal that off the dead guy?”

  Barnaby looked down sheepishly at his fumbling hands. “Not all of it. Most of it I got off the rack.”

  Trying to find something nice to say, after all Barnaby was helping him quite a lot, he responded, “It suits you.”

  “Thanks. I haven’t had a change of clothes in years.”

  Barnaby suggested George drive while he navigated using the oversized map they’d absconded off the gift shop wall.

  “Hey, what about this?” Barnaby asked, holding up a metal box. “It’s not a gun or anything, but still might come in handy.”

  George unsnapped the metal tabs and peered inside the metallic case. Like the town, and everything else in it, the World War II Signal Flare gun seemed to be an antique constructed only yesterday. It was the single-shot, break-open kind and, unlike its smaller more modern orange-plastic counterparts, it was metallic and silver, had a heavy duty brass frame, and a barrel-shaped like a mini blunderbuss. Aside from the handle being slightly chipped, overall the pistol seemed in serviceable condition, and included inside the case were five fat-squat cartridges.

  “Yeah, this will do nicely,” he told Barnaby, then snapped the case closed and flung it onto the front seat. George then climbed in behind the wheel.

  Barnaby circled the truck and climbed into the passenger seat grinning like a Cheshire cat swelling with pride. George was about to put the old truck in drive but his hand hesitated on the gearshift. Turning toward Barnaby he said, with more difficulty than he should, “Listen, I just wanted to say thanks. Whatever happens, I appreciate all you’ve done for me and Maddie.”

  Barnaby shifted uncomfortably in his seat and, unsure what to do next, he punched George lightly in the shoulder. “Aw, knock it off, will ya. Don’t go and get all soft on me now. Let’s get outta here before I change my mind.”

  George nodded, put the truck in gear and pulled out of the gas station’s bay.

  When he turned on his right indicator out of force of habit Barnaby laughed at him. George let it go and began to turn onto the highway.

  “Wait!” Barnaby cried.

  George slammed on the brake. He was about to ask why the sudden stop when Barnaby cracked open his door and leapt out of the truck. The chubby man jogged over to the station’s grassy median and picked something up off the ground.

  Barnaby then jogged back to the truck and jumped inside. The springs groaned beneath him as he took his seat. “Can’t leave without this.”

  He was right. They couldn’t leave without it.

  It was Maddie’s German Shepherd stuffie.

  Chapter 25

  “Chasing Hover Barge”

  “Stop worrying, we’ll catch them.”

  George was driving fast, which was a lot better than him driving since Barnaby didn’t trust his eyes with the sun now directly ahead in their faces. At best, Barnaby figured they had maybe an hour of daylight left, two at the most. The verdant jungle had given way to an endless expanse of rolling hills. The two-lane highway was like a bridge across a landscape of billowing grasses that were a variety of colors--Kentucky blue, radiant green, and savage purple.

  George had to shout to be heard over the truck’s un-muffled V-8 engine. “How can you be so sure?” Even with all the noise Barnaby could still hear the twinge of helplessness in the man’s voice.

  In turn, he yelled back, “Royal barges are extremely slow. Plus, Lady Wellington’s an opportunist. She’ll stop along the way to pillage every abandoned outpost, region, or kingdom that won’t put up a fight.”

  George thought about this for a moment then asked, “Even if we do catch up to them, how are we going to get up there?”

  Barnaby had no idea. It had been years since he’d ridden on board Lady Wellington’s hover barge but they were taken up via elevators that were little more than shark cages dangling precariously from steel cables. It had been a terrifying experience going up into the air like that. He doubted Lady Wellington would be so benevolent as to lower one and offer them a ride. So he was being honest when he answered, “Dunno. Probably doesn’t matter anyway.”

  George waited for him to finish, and when he didn’t he risked a glance from the road over to him to ask grumpily, “Why not?”

  Now it was Barnaby’s turn to smile. “Lady Wellington will probably just kill us anyway. Not the kind of death you come back from neither, we’re talking dead-dead, sever you to pieces, kind of dead.”

  George frowned. “That’s comforting.” He then thought about it for a second and asked, “Not the kind you come back from?”

  Barnaby sighed. Nodded his head and explained, “Yeah… sometimes when people die they vanish the moment you ain’t looking. Few days later, sometimes hours, other times weeks, they return, but not always.” He coughed and added, “I’m not even sure they’re the same person when they come back, neither.” He flashed George a sideways glance but when George returned his gaze, he quickly looked away.

  George opened his mouth to speak, but the words never formed and he kept right on driving.

  Barnaby knew what lay at the end of the road, and he also knew that even if they caught up with Lady Wellington’s barge, they’d never get aboard it. Back in the Dinosaur preserve he had contemplated running off and leaving George and Maddie to their fates. He would’ve liked to believe he had come back to help them out, but in the end even he had to admit, if only to himself, he was a coward. This world was a dangerous place, and if George survived, there would be safety in numbers. At least that’s what he thought a couple hours ago. Now, he was beginning to feel as though there might be more to it. He knew George didn’t care for him much, and they certainly weren’t what anyone would call friends. He wasn’t stupid. But George had thanked him back at the gas station. Genuinely thanked him for trying to help him help Maddie. And Barnaby believed what he’d said; he believed what he told George about Maddie being a great kid. If at all possible, he’d save George’s daughter from Lady Wellington. If he could; which was easy to think when Barnaby knew there was no possible way to rescue the poor girl; she was as good as gone. But George was determined, and Barnaby knew there was no talking him out of it. So, he’d ride along until George realized the hopelessness of Maddie’s rescue, and then, who knows, they might even become friends after that.

  “We’re coming to a crossroads,” George announced. The man was like a robot when it came to driving. Head tilted forward, eyes fixed on the road, pedal mashed to the metal, and motionless. He had been doing a steady eighty mph when they came up to the first crossroads since leaving the dinosaur preserve. “Which way do I go?” he asked.

  When Barnaby didn’t answer him right away George began easing off on the gas, the lessening engine noise a mercy on his ears.

  “What?” Barnaby asked beside him nonsensically. “How should I know?”

  George looked like he was resisting the urge to hit him in the face. Then he sighed, probably remembering were it not for him they wouldn’t be driving this truck right now. They wouldn’t have a chance of saving Maddie. So instead of smacking him upside his head George said, “Alright, you said Lady Wellington has to travel west toward the sun when s
he visits the High Queen, right?”

  “Uh-huh.”Barnaby saw the sun was beginning to set directly ahead of them. In answer, before the truck could roll to a complete stop at the crossroads he tromped on the gas and they were off again, heading into the sunset.

  Barnaby had to hand it to the man, he was determined.

  They hadn’t driven another ten minutes when Barnaby first saw it. Little more than a dot on the horizon. To get George’s attention he began tapping the dashboard insistently and said, “Wait a moment, hold up.” When George didn’t so much as slow down he asked, “Over there. Do you see that? What is that?”

  George ducked his head and then he saw it too. It was way off to their left, and at least a good twenty miles away. It was shaped like a cigar and was just floating there on the horizon.

  “Is it them?” George asked, not daring to take his hands off the wheel.

  “Naw. Can’t be. Way too small. I can’t tell for sure though, it’s pretty far off.”

  George spied the pair of binoculars swinging from a hook behind his seat.

  “Why don’t you grab those binoculars behind your seat and take a closer look?”

  Sure, I’ll just do that, Barnaby thought..

  He heard himself grunt and groan as he tried to turn around in the seat. He wasn’t exactly built like Peter Pan. Finally, after banging his head on the truck’s ceiling, he managed to grab the binoculars, and after more complaining, was able to retake his seat. The barge was almost left of them so George took the truck down to forty.

  Barnaby lifted the binocs to his eyes and leaned in front of George. The truck was directly even with it now.

  “Well? Is it them or not?” George asked irritably.

  By the time Barnaby answered, the truck was already past the floating cigar. If it was them, they’d have to turn around and double back.

  “No… this is different. It’s definitely a lot smaller. Plus, the shape’s all wrong.” He lowered the binoculars and added, “And it’s not moving. It’s just sort of hanging there, kinda crooked, like it’s been damaged.”

  “So, it’s not them?” George asked brusquely.

  “No, but maybe we should go check it out?”

  Barnaby didn’t even finish his sentence before George took the truck back up to eighty causing him to fall back against his seat. George must’ve sensed what Barnaby was thinking because he explained, “Even if we had time to check it out this truck wouldn’t get ten yards in those hills before getting stuck, and that thing has to be at least a good twenty to thirty miles away.” George knuckled the wheel tighter, lowered his head, and risked speeding the truck up to eighty-five.

  Barnaby admired the man’s love for his daughter. Heck, if it had been his hippie teenagers who wanted nothing to do with him, or their mom, he would’ve let them go, maybe sneak off somewhere, find a nice little cottage off the beaten path and live out his days in peace.

  Not George though. He was either going to save Maddie or die trying. Die again, that is. The man had no idea how lucky he was. Barnaby doubted George would get that lucky again. It just didn’t happen. Most likely George’s dogged determination would get them both killed. He would never give up on his daughter, no matter how hopeless the situation. That’s when Barnaby realized they could never be friends.

  First chance I get, I’m leaving his butt behind.

  Chapter 26

  “Leftenant & Maddie”

  “And then what did he do?”

  Maddie grinned impishly, gathered her thoughts, and said, “Well, according to my mom, my dad carried me all the way across the entire water park like that with poop running out of my diaper and down his leg.”

  The Leftenant’s eyes went wide and she breathed, “Noooo…”

  Maddie nodded, still smiling, “Uh-huh. And the entire park security was chasing him the whole way.”

  “And what did the water-park authorities have to say when they finally caught up with you two miscreants?”

  This time Maddie shook her head and giggled. “They never did! My dad dodged them all the way back to the motel room.”

  “Surely they must have caught up with you, you know, followed the trail of…” she struggled for the socially correct word.

  “Poop?” Young Maddie asked, eyebrows raised.

  “Well, I suppose I would have said excrement, but I believe ‘poop’ suffices in this situation.”

  Maddie held her stomach and fell over on her bed giggling. As the Leftenant watched her she began to rethink her plan. She and Maddie had been talking nearly the entire night--talking about her parents, where she came from, a lot about her dad, and finally her black cat, Lucy. The Leftenant always found the biologicals who remembered their past lives the most interesting. And for a moment, she almost believed Maddie was a real girl.

  Oh quit mucking about and show her already.

  “Maddie… may I call you Maddie?”

  Maddie nodded her head, and began eyeing the platter of food. For such a small creature she certainly could put it away.

  The Leftenant began slowly pacing back and forth as she spoke. She held her hands clasped behind her back and when she got to the opposite side of the room she would suddenly turn around 180 degrees on the ball of her foot and walk in the opposite direction. “I was up on deck a few minutes ago, standing near the aft of the ship, and it seems as though someone is following us.”

  The young girl perked her head up at this. “Is it my dad?”

  With her back turned to Maddie, a slight bemused grin spread across her face. The Leftenant knew she had to proceed very carefully from here on out. Maddie was young, but she had a keen mind. “I’m not sure,” she said carefully. Well done, an award winning performance to be sure, she thought sardonically. Quickly recovering she asked, “May I show you?”

  At her approval, the Leftenant moved over to the bulkhead and touched the wall. A rectangular section of steel plating seemed to vanish upon her touch and they could now see the landscape below as though they were staring out a windowless window. Far below was a singular road running a straight line through endless fields of billowing grass. And upon this road was a battered safari truck with billowing clouds of dust trailing behind it.

  This was an illusion of course. The young girl’s quarters were deep within the ship but the projected image was in fact real, and in real time.

  “Is this man your father?”

  Little Maddie squinted. Of course her eyes wouldn’t be able to zoom in on the truck’s occupants. So the Leftenant touched the holographic screen again (which really wasn’t necessary, merely as a courtesy for Maddie), and the image changed to a closer image of the cab of the truck.

  “Dad!” Maddie cried out. “That’s my dad. I knew Lady Wellington was lying. I knew he wasn’t dead. It takes a lot more than that to take out my dad; just ask my mom. I knew it.” And then pointing to the man beside him she added, “And that’s Mr. Barnaby. He’s my friend too. Dad doesn’t like him very much, or at least he pretends not to.”

  Taking a chance, the Leftenant sat down upon the bed next to Maddie. “I’m afraid that even if your dad does catch up to us in his auto-mobile, they’ll never be able to get aboard her Ladyship’s vessel. Even now I am doing everything in my limited power to keep her gunnery crews from detecting them.”

  This was very true. Had she not detected their pursuers first, the hover barge would have open fired with their deck guns and obliterated them immediately. Even now it was a small miracle they hadn’t.

  Maddie pursed her lips as she thought about this for a moment, then gazing up at her she said, “We have to get down to them somehow.”

  The Leftenant shook her head. “I’m sorry, but that just isn’t possible. The elevators are well guarded. And even if we did manage to get past the sentries, to exit the ship in such a manner while it’s operating at top speed would be nothing short of suicide. And that’s assuming the guards don’t just reel us back in like a caught fish.”

 
Maddie stuck her chin out and with a determined look on her face she said, “It doesn’t matter, my dad will never stop coming for me.”

  That’s what I’m counting on, little one, the Leftenant thought inwardly. My, when did you become so devious? Trying to outwit a young girl. Bravo! I hope you’re proud of yourself.

  The Leftenant shook her head slowly. “I’m afraid that won’t be possible for much longer. You see, where we are going, your father won’t be able to follow. In exactly twenty-two minutes the road before him will become quite impassable.”

  Tears began to well up in young Maddie’s eyes. And for a moment, the Leftenant actually felt pity for the poor creature. Is that even possible?

  The Leftenant raised her hand, hesitated, and then delicately laid it on young Maddie’s shoulder. Up to this point, the young girl had refused to let anyone see her cry. But the moment she felt the Lieutenant’s touch the small girl whipped around and hugged her fiercely.

  And as Leftenant held the frail creature in her arms, Maddie sobbed uncontrollably.

  “There, there, Young Miss. There’s no call for all of that now. I’m certain I will think of something.”

  Young Maddie lifted her sobbing face from her petticoat and gazed up at her. “You’d do that? You’d help me?”

  “Yes, of course. After all, we’re friends.” Her inner voice refused to let that one go by without at least a few volleys, ‘Well, that was a ghastly lie. You only just met this little bobkin. Whatever you’re thinking, cease it immediately. You have no loyalty to her. Only one thing matters now and that’s getting back to the Dauntless.

  Maddie buried her small head in her petticoat once more and hugged her even more fiercely than before. “We merely have to get a message to your father somehow. And I have an idea how to do exactly that.”

  Chapter 27

  “Gorge”

  “Oh no.”

  They had finally caught up with the barge. And for ten minutes the safari truck paced the moving barge on the right at forty mph.