by Paul Kater
reacted as fast as she could as the white light hit her. Without magic, however, she had to resort to the usual method of closing eyes and using hands. She had sensed a pull, without being touched, and when she opened her eyes again she found herself in a large room with many chairs, large windows that resembled the televisions she had seen in William's world and the two silvery aliens who sat in chairs near funny tables with lights. The witch sat in a chair too, one she could not get out of.
"Suck an elf," she muttered. "Hey you two, what do you think you're doing?"
"We are taking you to where you belong," the female said without looking up. "If there is something we can do to make your stay more comfortable, tell us. We are here to serve you."
"Now that's new," Hilda commented. "How then about taking me back to the ship where William is, and my cat? And my broom?" Her words seemed to go unnoticed by the aliens. "Where are you taking me? Who are you guys? Want me to destroy this - whatever we are in?"
The two nodded at each other and remained silent.
"Hey, troll's balls, I'm talking to you!" Hilda felt quite unsettled by now.
"We will be at the mother ship soon, all will be explained," said the man.
"Crappedy crap, can't you even tell me your names?"
"I am Golgofro," the man said, "and she is Galgoran."
"Now that didn't hurt, did it?" Hilda said as she wondered how the chair could hold her down without any visible straps. The two did not radiate any magic of- oh, she wouldn't be able to sense that. She slumped back in the chair and felt miserable in a way she had not felt miserable in a long time.
Golgofro and Galgoran seemed very busy moving their hands over the blinking lights in front of them. Hilda did not perceive anything like motion or sound. The large room was actually eerily silent and remained like that until the two got up. "We have arrived."
Hilda found that she could move again. She remained seated, even when Galgoran asked her to follow them. "I'm not going anywhere. You took me away like I am a thing, you're not telling me anything except that you are here for me and now you want me to come with you to some place I don't know? Forget it." She held on to the seat.
The two exchanged gazes again, and Golgofro touched something on his left sleeve. Without so much as a sound, Hilda's chair floated upward and obediently followed the two aliens as they walked out of the large room.
-=-=-
Aboard the Mimosa, moderate versions of chaos and disorder were unfolding after the remaining people found the witch gone. William was about to grab a broom and go after the floating pyramid, but Rebel convinced him that the Mimosa was a much better alternative to a broom.
"We'll go after her," she promised as she held his sleeve, as if that would actually prevent him from leaving. He did his best to believe her, though, and that was enough.
"The little big pyramid went into the large big pyramid," one of the sailors remarked.
"Hurry," was all that William said to Rebel as he had seen it happen as well. "Or I'm on the broom." Rebel argued that there was no air in space, but William told her again to hurry. "We pack our own air."
Maurizio and Rebel quickly walked off to the front of the ship. William followed them. They ended up near the wooden housing on which the large crystal was standing. Maurizio took a large iron key and used that to open the two doors in the housing. William saw brass pipes and something that looked like a copper vacuum chamber. Arrays of lights were blinking everywhere, without making sense to the wizard. He had once been a book salesman, never a technician.
Rebel dropped to her knees and crawled halfway into the housing. "Damn, that's turned tightly," she muttered as she used both hands on a shiny red valve. "Stand back everyone," she warned. Calling on some of her strange powers, she managed to wrench the valve open and pressure regulators started hissing.
"Holy Bejeebus!" William jumped back as from four places in the housing clouds of steam erupted, without warning. "Are you telling me this bleeding ship runs on steam?"
"I am not telling anything," Maurizio said. "I want to make this ship go so we can bring back Mrs. Witch, signore."
"Looks like we're ready, Moro," Rebel reported, still halfway inside the 'engine room'. The captain turned to the deck where a few of the sailors were still standing. He yelled out a number of commands that meant nothing to William, but the men started running and soon were out of view.
The wizard looked at the pyramid. "I think they are moving. Hurry."
"We're working on it," said Maurizio as he gazed at the steam unit. Was there doubt in his voice? William was not sure.
The unit then gave the captain every reason to sound doubtful: pressure fell away, it seemed. All regulators went silent, and the lights in the housing blinked frantically. Rebel, who was still in her uncomfortable position, closed the valve, reset all kinds of switches and buttons. It did not just look as if she was going at them using the system called 'pot luck'.
"I don't think they are moving," the wizard reported. "I'm certain they are." He knew that adding the 'hurry' word would not get them moving any faster. "Do you need some help?"
"Do you know something about this contraption?" Maurizio sounded partly wondering and partly hopeful. From inside the housing a loud curse followed a dull thud. Obviously Rebel had not seen something hard.
"I only know that I want this thing to move, and fast," said William as he saw the pyramid pick up speed and move away faster and faster. He popped up his wand and pointed it at the mass of copper, brass and lights. "What is it supposed to do?"
"Work," was the compact answer.
William waited for the red flashes to leave his eyes. "And how does it work?"
"We don't know. We just wiggle the buttons and open the valve and then it goes. Usually."
"Usually..."
"Yes," said Rebel who had decided that one bump on the head was enough. "Usually it does. Maybe it's in a bad mood right now."
The wizard chose not to respond to that. "Stand back." The sound of his voice did not give any opening for bargaining, the two stepped back.William pointed his wand at the machinery. "Don't you dare blow up on me," he told the vacuum chamber. Then he unleashed magic.
"It didn't work," Maurizio tried carefully as some time had crawled by.
"It didn't blow up, at least that worked," Rebel pointed out.
William kicked the vacuum chamber, kneeled down and slammed some magic over the valve that quickly rotated open, allowing steam from somewhere deep inside the Mimosa to fill the brass pipes. One by lazy one the lights stabilised into a satisfying green that would be the envy of any self-respecting lawn.
A shudder ran through the black wood of the Mimosa. Rebel zapped away. William got to his feet and wanted to ask where the woman had disappeared to, when Maurizio said: "You got the ship working!"
"I did?" William wasn't sure as there had been nothing but a shudder.
Before Maurizio answered, Rebel's voice boomed over deck. "ALL HANDS TO THE MASTS!"
From somewhere all the sailors appeared and quickly climbed into the masts. William stared at the proceedings and worried. They were in space. There was no water, no air, let alone wind. And they were lowering the sails.
11. Questions and more questions
Maurizio seemed to read the questions and wonder from the wizards face. "We are lowering the sails, because without them down, the Mimosa won't move." He shrugged shortly. "A bit of a nuisance, I know, but we've gotten used to it."
"So you have this great big ship with all its gadgetry and smart things, and it can't lower its own sails?" William wondered.
The captain frowned. "I don't know."
William rolled his eyes and watched how the sailors did their work. He had to hand it to them: they knew their trade.
"All done, captain!" one of the sailors yelled the obvious when they were done.
Maurizio waved at him and said: "Rebel, we're ready to go. You probably heard that."
"I HEARD YOU." The woman's voice
boomed over the deck again. It made William jump.
Slowly the Mimosa turned. There was no sound. None of the sails made any movement, but the ship was moving. After a while the bow pointed to where the white pyramid had been. It had vanished quite some time ago already, which worried William to no end. Of all the adventures he'd had with Hilda, this was turning into the worst one. He'd even go through the misery concerning Zelda again, rather than this.
Grim and Obsi appeared at his feet, from somewhere out of the shadows, and looked up at him. The wizard bent over and picked up both cats. "I'm sorry, Grim. Hilda's gone, but we're going to get her back." He wanted to add 'trust me', but he couldn't. He didn't trust it himself, so how could he. Both cats made miserable sounds, voicing how he was feeling.
"Maybe you should go and eat, William," Maurizio said. "And then try to rest? You've been through a lot." He put an arm on one of William's, staying out of reach of the cats. He thought. Nothing happened, though.
William knew that the man was right. He took the cats with him, to the mess, where he ate a simple and sad meal. The cats did not appear hungry, because the things William made for them in the food replicator remained untouched. After pushing the food down, he collected the cats again and headed for the cabin that Rebel had shown them. He lay down on the bed, feeling terrible.
-=-=-
Galgoran and Golgofro walked through long straight passageways, taking far too many turns for Hilda's taste. She was stuck on the chair. Of course, she had tried to jump off,
