Escape from the Drowned Planet

by Helena Puumala

  “I really very much doubt that they would have left it any farther than this from town,” Kati said with a shake of her head. “If they can camouflage it, there is no need, and they have to be thinking in terms of hauling Mikal, at least, in a comatose state, to the flyer. The closer to town that they could hide it, the easier things would be for them.”

  “Well, let’s check both sides of the road again, on the way back,” Ney suggested. “I’ll do the side you already did, and you can do mine. That way there’s less chance that we’ve missed something.”

  “Good idea,” Kati agreed, and they proceeded to do just that.

  They had no more success on the way back, than they had had on the way out.

  “I guess we can cross this road off the list,” Kati sighed when they reached the edge of the town. “We’ll find out what luck Max and Lita have had, and if theirs was as bad as ours, I guess we’re off to the other side of Portobay.”

  Ney grinned at her.

  “There’s only one flyer,” he said, ”and therefore it can be in only one spot. We don’t get discouraged until we’ve been over all four of the likely roads.”

  Kati smiled back at him.

  “You’ve got the right attitude. There’s no reason to think that we missed it. I’m just being pessimistic, probably because I resent the fact that Guzi and Dakra dropped in to ruin this stop in Portobay.”

  They biked back to the picnic area at the Reclamation Project, where they were met by Mikal and Marco who were carrying small tool-bags; these appeared to be stuffed with an assortment of widgets.

  “Hey, do you have anything for us to work on, yet?” Mikal called to Kati and Ney as they cycled to the front of the building. “I think Marco and I have the means, now, for opening up that flyer like a tin can, and turning it into a mess even The Reclamation Project can’t put back together.”

  “Sorry, that road was empty, as far as we can tell,” Kati said as she coasted to a stop. “Each of us eyeballed both sides of the road, once on the way out, and once on the way back, but we found nothing to catch our attention.”

  “In that case, I think that we can assume that it’s not on that road,” said Mikal. “How far did you two go?”

  “About five kilometres,” Ney answered.

  “That should have been plenty far enough,” Mikal agreed.

  “Max and Lita aren’t back yet?” Kati asked.

  “We haven’t seen them,” said Marco.

  “Then they aren’t back yet.” This was Ney speaking. “We agreed to either report to you, Mikal, or to wait for the other two searchers, before doing anything more. I wonder if they found something, since they’re still gone?”

  “I think we better wait for them before we continue with our part of the search,” Kati said, leaning her bicycle against the end of the picnic table, and sitting down on the bench beside it.

  Ney followed her example, parking his bike on top of hers and seating himself across the table from her. Marco and Mikal came to sit at the table, too, Mikal settling himself beside Kati.

  “Sounds like you and Marco found what you were looking for,” Kati ventured.

  “Yeah.” Mikal’s grin was broad. His eyes flitted from one to another of the faces of the other three people around him, mirroring delight.

  “Clearly the pre-flood people of this world were an inventive bunch,” he added.

  “We in the Reclamation Project have found some pretty amazing things in the city down below,” Marco agreed. “And, fortunately, my superiors think that stopping off-planet crooks from plying the slave trade, is an end worth working towards. So we had no trouble getting their co-operation.”

  “As a matter of fact, once Marco’s bosses had understood what I needed, they were able to show me an assortment of possible tools. I only had to pick the ones I thought would work the best.”

  “And they allowed me to accompany Mikal, on work time, to help with the job,” added Marco, obviously delighted. “Of course there’s something in it for them. Mikal promised that what’s left of the flyer once he’s finished with it, can be brought to Reclamation. We might learn something from it even if it’s not usable.”

  “Meanwhile, here’s a question: How are the Seabird’s Raiders coming along with Guzi and Dakra?” Mikal shifted in his seat as he spoke. “I sure hope they managed to nab them, and are keeping them secured.”

  “Those sailors are an efficient bunch,” Ney said, chuckling. “The crooks probably never even knew what hit them before they found themselves trussed up, like birds ready for the roasting pan.”

  “Did you leave word at The Seaview on where The Seabird’s Raiders can find you when they finish their part of this operation?” Kati asked Mikal, wondering if she should have taken care of that particular detail.

  “Captain Lomen is playing the role of the messenger-in-chief, today,” Mikal replied cheerfully. “He offered to send word wherever it might be needed, and whenever necessary, and I took advantage of the offer. He has lots of clout, so he’ll be able to even bring in local authorities, if that seems advisable.

  “I asked him to confiscate any and all weapons that The Seabird’s Raiders take from Guzi and Dakra, and to hang onto them until I can deal with them. We’ll see if there’s time for that before we head out into the countryside for demolition duty.”

  At that moment, two cyclists came into view around the corner of the Reclamation Project building, riding towards them at breakneck speed. The four of them stood up at the sight of Lita and Max rushing towards them.

  Max, in the lead, roared to a stop, gravel flying from under his tires as he braked. Lita was right behind him, performing likewise.

  “We may have found something!” Max cried, parking his bike at the opposite end of the picnic table from the two already there.

  Mikal, his eyebrows raised, waited until Max and Lita had seated themselves at the table.

  “Let’s hear about it,” he then encouraged the two.

  They shared a quick look between them, and then faced the Federation Peace Officer. Max was the one to start talking:

  “We did as Kati had instructed us to do, scrutinizing both sides of the road carefully, looking for something—anything—unusual. And we talked to everyone we met on the road, asking if they had noticed anything peculiar, anywhere in the area. We hadn’t seen anything that caught our eyes before we had gone far enough to turn back, and were giving both sides of the road a second look, when we came across a young boy, a farmer’s son, walking along sort of aimlessly. We asked him the usual question about whether he knew of, or had noticed, anything odd or unusual in the vicinity of the road.

  “He wanted to know what we were looking for, and we explained about the camouflage tarp. How the tarp could mimic its surroundings, but that if you knew it was there, you could tell that something was not right, and if you felt the item covered by the tarp, you could feel that it wasn’t what it looked like. He said that he hadn’t come across anything quite like that, but in the past few days something really odd had happened to a bunch of trees that he and his brother used to play in. He said that, try as they would, they did not seem to be able to get into a copse, in which a week ago they had played cops and robbers with their friends. They would head towards it, only to find, after a few moments, that they had walked by it, somehow missing it altogether. Then they’d try again, only to have the same thing happen again, even though they were now approaching the trees from the opposite direction. They even got a couple of their usual playmates to try it, with the same results.”

  “Did they tell their parents about it?” Mikal asked.

  “They tried,” Lita piped in. “But their parents dismissed their concerns, saying that their imaginations were working overtime, and besides, there were chores that needed doing. And that they’d been spending too much time in the woods anyway.”

  “Typical parental attitude,” Marco muttered.

  “Did you two investigate?” Mikal asked.

 
; “We went with him to take a look-see,” Max said carefully. “Trouble is, he was right. We kept walking right past the trees, too, even though we made several attempts to enter the copse.”

  “It felt really strange,” Lita added. “We would walk toward the bunch of trees; they were perfectly visible, exactly as Simmy, the boy, pointed them out to us. But we never reached them; we seemed to kind of skirt around them without meaning to, and then we were on the other side of the tree patch. We tried it several times and it worked the same every time.”

  Mikal groaned, dropped his elbows on the table, and took his head into his hands. He stared at the table top for about a half-minute, then he swore, shook himself and straightened out, his face grim.

  “I can’t believe the amount of resources that those crooks are throwing into chasing us across this planet!” he exclaimed. “Gorsh’s slave trade must be the proverbial gold mine!”

  (Kati could not help but smirk at his metaphor. Mikal knew more about money than he realized!)

  He shook himself again, as if to rid himself of vermin. Then he looked around at the assembled group and sighed.

  “Lita, Max, I am certain that you have found the flyer for us, but what you’ve described is no camouflage tarp, but something much more complicated. It’s called a Deflector Shield and what it does is exactly what you have been describing: it makes it impossible to get to the object that it hides. We’re just damn lucky that Guzi and Dakra stashed their flyer in a copse of trees that happened to be those kids’ playground; otherwise, no-one would even have noticed that they were being deflected away from a particular spot.

  “To tell the truth, it had not even occurred to me that they would have such a thing at their disposal; Deflector Shields are what Kati would call expensive, and rarely found in the hands of private individuals, or small-time criminals. The fact that Guzi and Dakra have one, means that Gorsh is determined to get his hands on me. Not a pleasant thought. Also, now I’m seriously worried about The Seabird’s Raiders. I may have sent Simos and company into much worse danger than I had realized.”

  “I think you can count on Simos to handle herself under all conditions,” Marco said with confidence.

  “Nevertheless,” said Mikal, “I think we will have to see them before we get Lita and Max to show us this curious piece of real estate that they found. There should be, among the things that Simos will have taken from Guzi and Dakra, if your faith in her, Marco, is warranted, a small item that we will need to turn off the Deflector Shield. And let us hope that they haven’t thought to booby-trap that remote-control in some fashion, because we can’t get to the flyer without it.”

  They got up from the picnic table as a group and headed towards The Seaview Inn, to check with Captain Lomen there. The ones with the bicycles stopped to park them in the public rack before walking the final leg of the short journey, but this new wrinkle had disturbed all of them enough that they automatically stayed together in a close group.

  Thus they burst into the Captain’s room after Mikal had knocked on the door and Captain Lomen had sharply bade them: “Enter”.

  The room seemed to be a busy place. Simos was there, and Jocan, although none of the other Raiders. Instead, there were two official-looking Islanders, a man and a woman. Everyone seemed to be studying an assortment of objects laid out on a large table at one side of the room.

  All five turned to stare at the half-dozen newcomers.

  “Ah, Mikal,” the Captain said. “I was just about to send Jocan to look for you. We have a situation.”

  Mikal’s eyes were on Simos.

  “The Raiders?” he asked. “Is everyone okay?”

  “More or less,” answered Simos. “Better than your off-world non-friends. We stunned them, knocking both of them out before tying them up good and tight.” Her voice was dry.

  “Good. No serious injuries to any of you then? They didn’t manage to use weapons on you?”

  Simos grinned. It was not a nice grin.

  “Didn’t get a chance,” she said. “They weren’t expecting to be attacked first thing in the morning, not by five people. I think that when they saw that it was Jocan at the door, they expected only you and Kati to be with him, and considered only you to be in any way a threat to them.”

  Mikal grinned back at her. His smile was one of relief.

  “Very foolish of them,” he told her. “But I’m thoroughly glad that they keep underestimating us, and our ability to get competent help.”

  He nodded towards the table and directed a questioning gaze at Captain Lomen.

  “That’s the haul of the off-world goodies that the Raiders collected from Guzi and Dakra’s room?”

  “These are the weapons that they had there,” replied the Captain. “Or, I should say, just the obvious weapons. A very nasty-looking collection, I must say. I took the liberty of immediately contacting Portobay law enforcement, since pretty well all of these things would be classified as illegal on Sickle Island.”

  Mikal had crossed the room to examine the table.

  “Good Lord!” he exclaimed after a quick look. “They were hauling a frigging arsenal! Blasters, stunners, needlers! Wicked things, those needlers, they’re used for shooting poison. Those vials there: don’t open them whatever you do; you’re looking at an assortment of toxins. Some very deadly; others, marginally less so. You don’t want to get any of them on any part of your bodies.”

  “You’re familiar with these weapons?” asked one of the two Islanders, the male.

  “I have to be, in my line of work,” Mikal replied, eyeing the local law enforcer closely.

  Then he smiled at his local counterparts. He offered his hand formally to each of the two in turn; they shook it just as formally.

  “I’m Mikal of Borhq and Lamania,” he introduced himself, “a Member of the Star Federation Peace Officer Corps, the Human Trafficking Section. Kati of Terra, here, and I are on the trail of, as well as being trailed by, a group of rather unpleasant slave-traders. I do have to have knowledge of the weapons that might be used against us, even though, like all Members of the Corps, I am not authorized to use lethal force in the pursuit of my duty.”

  “They told us about that in Law Enforcement Classes,” said the woman Islander, with a touch of awe in her voice. “The Star Federation Peace Officers are very effective law enforcers, they said, even though they’re not allowed to take a sapient life, or even authorise the taking of such, during their operations.

  “I’m Caterin, by the way; my partner is Mase; we’re of the Sickle Island Law Enforcement, stationed in Portobay.”

  “We do our best,” Mikal said to Caterin. “We do have stunners for sticky situations, although, I’m not carrying one at the moment.”

  He smiled at Simos and Jocan.

  “We thought The Seabird’s Raiders would have a use for the ones in our possession when they faced Guzi and Dakra this morning. I gather they came in handy?”

  “I left Dav, Wes and Mila at Yacko’s, keeping sharp eyes on those two, even though they are tied up with nautical knots, and stunned, of course. They have the three stunners you gave us to use, and will use them again, if the prisoners show any signs of awakening.” Simos gave a precise report, as befit the First Mate of The Seabird. “Jocan and I brought the goodies we found here to await you; Captain Lomen took one look at the weapons and sent for the local law.”

  “As far as I’m concerned the local law—“ Mikal grinned at Mase and Caterin as he spoke, “—is welcome to the weapons. And the culprits, if their possession of the arsenal means that they’ll be kept in custody for at least some time. I offer my services to help deactivate the weaponry later today—perhaps the Reclamation Project premises would be the best place for that?

  “But, what I’m most interested in, at the moment, are the rest of the off-world goodies, the non-lethal stuff that was removed from their room and from their pockets.”

  Jocan passed a bag over to Simos from where it had been sitting beside his
feet. Simos emptied it on the bedspread of the Captain’s bed, and Mikal leaned over the bed to examine the assortment of objects.

  After staring at the conglomeration of small objects for a few moments, he straightened, searched the room with his eyes, found Kati and beckoned her forward.

  “Think you could ask the granda if it can identify these items for us?” he asked her softly after she had come to stand beside him. “My guess is that it knows a lot more about the stuff that the criminals of the Fringe Worlds haul around, than I do. It’d be good to put to use some of the knowledge that the rascal’s collected over all those reprobate lifetimes.”

  She grimaced.

  “The old grouch has been difficult since I’ve been in this room,” she said a little testily. “He’s salivating after what’s on that table, and I had to push him back into the recesses of my mind, into exile of sorts.”

  “Then we’ll have to get the temptation out of your—its—reach,” Mikal said.

  He turned towards the people still crowding around the table on which the weaponry was displayed.

  “I’m thinking that it would be best if the Law Enforcers Caterin and Mase would very carefully collect that arsenal, and remove it to a safer location. Do you have a vault or something like that in your office, where they could be kept until we have the opportunity to break a few triggers and jam in a few pins? I should imagine that you’ll need to keep them as evidence, in any legal case against Guzi and Dakra.”

  “I thoroughly agree with that idea,” said Captain Lomen emphatically. “I really don’t care to have them spread out in my room.”

  Simos pulled out a heavy sack from a shelf where she had apparently stuffed it earlier.

  “Jocan and I brought them over from Yacko’s in this,” she explained to the Islander law enforcers. “I imagine it’ll serve, with a little bit of care, to ferry them away from here, too.”

  “If you don’t have a secure place to keep them in your offices,” Marco spoke up, “you can always take them to The Reclamation Project. We do have some idea of how to deal with dangerous things, and there are secure places to stash them there. I can come with the two of you if you need me.”