Bactine (25 page)

Birkle turned back to Ulaman. "You know, former captain, you are in luck. You and your people look strong and healthy. Fortunately, I am looking for people that can do the odd chore for me. In return for their work, they get to live. Of course, it is obvious what happens if they don't work."

He pulled something from his pocket and threw it to the monkey. It caught it and devoured the thing, an apple-like fruit, in seconds. "I am a strong believer in setting examples, former captain. To make a point, so to speak. Things like that speak to the imagination."

Some of the pirates yelled very descriptive ideas of how to set an example, roaring with brutal laughter, but a fierce look of their leader made the lot be quiet. He reached into a pocket of his coat and took something. It was a piece of red plastic, Daniel first thought, but as it glistened he decided it had to be a ruby. Birkle placed the ruby on Ulaman's head. "Flat side up, dear former captain, means the example will be dealt with by my little pet here, the Bonto. In a fair fight, of course. Sparkling side up means that the example will be left to the plank."

Daniel wished he had to wonder what the example would be, but it was plain and obvious. Someone was going to die. He blamed himself for not seeing the faulty course of the ship sooner. It was his job to know, to see and to warn Ulaman in time, and he had failed. Frantically he started to squirm, to get out of the ropes that kept him down.

The pirate looked. "Oh. Look at that. We have a really lively one here." He smiled at Daniel's futile attempts for a while, but Daniel got tired and found it was no use. Birkle snarled something in a dialect Daniel didn't understand. The kick in the kidneys came as a extremely painful surprise. The pirate captain seemed to become impatient. "Come on, former captain..." He slapped Ulaman in the face, making the ruby fall. "Oh. Now that is really too bad..."

Birkle picked up the ruby. "Sparkly side up. Looks like Bagel here is out of luck today." He leaned over the railing and yelled something about the plank being prepared. This was worrying. The really unnerving part was the cheer from the pirates' ship. The man in the long coat turned and pointed. "We'll take him."

'Him' was Daniel.

All the crew members of the Pricosine were lined up along the side of their ship, each one kept under control by the ropes and a few pirates. All, except Daniel. Daniel's ropes were untied, except for his hands that were bound on his back. And the gag was still in his mouth. He had been taken to the pirates' ship and pushed down to sit on a crate. Birkle stood in front of him.

"You know, if you had not been so wild, maybe you would have been one of the unlucky ones watching how another of you is getting killed," the pirate said, fiddling with his cap. "Now you are the unlucky one who gets killed. Life is hard, and life on sea is worse. It's hard and wet. And for some it's very short." The man got up and gestured at some of the men around him.

Daniel was roughly pulled off the crate and dragged over the ship, where a plank was waiting. The piece of Polychlon was pulled back, like a slingshot, with two heavy ropes. There was something like an open coffin mounted on the end. That was where the pirates dropped Daniel into, after untying his hands and tying up his feet instead. One villain held his hand over Daniel's throat and squeezed. Daniel had to fight for air, but as he tried to yank the hand away, two other pirates grabbed his arms and nearly broke them on the coffin's sides.

Aboard the Pricosine, the crew was forced to watch what was happening. Powerless, unarmed.

Birkle sat on a side of the coffin. "I like you. You fight back. Care to join us?"

"Never!" Daniel tried to say. The pressure on his throat increased.

"I thought so." The pirate captain got up. "Have a nice death." He disappeared out of Daniel's view. A few moments later his arms and throat were released, and a sickening movement of the plank started as the two ropes were cut.

Aboard the Pricosine and on the pirates' ship there was a loud cheering as the invaders saw Daniel being flung out of the coffin and land hard on the water.

Bilk, in his anger, tried to use his head to punch down the pirates that held him there to watch. One of them went down. The other one pulled a Polychlon dirk from his belt and stabbed the sailor until he was dead.

-=-=-

Daniel woke up. He was floating. He was also extremely cold. He remembered the feeling of being catapulted off the pirate ship, seeing the water come close, and from there - nothing. As he got his head together, he decided that he was floating because of the air-filled pockets that were still in his arms and legs. Bless you, Rhonda.

His legs were still tied. Why the pirates had done that and left his hands free was a puzzle Daniel did not want to solve then and there. It took him a while to get his legs free as his undercooled muscles also ached from the impact on the water, but he got it done. It wore him out pretty well, so he went back to floating again until his breath was less ragged. He peeked at where the sun was.

"Not good," he mumbled to himself. Evening was not far away. Knowing that was something the experience on the Pricosine had taught him, but it was not much of a help now. He'd have to find a way out of the water. Either to the shore, or on a boat. Daniel looked around. The boat option fell away. He had no idea where the Pricosine was, nor how long he had been floating around.

Again he spotted the sun. He worked his brain hard, trying to remember the map, their course, what was the direction of the sun towards the evening. "Where is that bloody shore," he yelled out at the sky.

"It is a mere sixty leagues to shore," Ulaman had said.

Daniel gave it his best shot and started swimming.

-=-=-

It had become dark. He was swimming again. He had taken several breaks, simply because he could not go on anymore, and now he was starting a slight panic. He had not been out on deck enough to thoroughly know the stars and constellations. As darkness set in, he had tried to locate some significant stars, but he was now so tired that he couldn't see straight anymore. He just swam until he was drained, floated until the fear and despair struck again and swam some more.

This had gone on for a long time, when he heard a rush in the water. Disoriented as he was, he just turned and turned as the rush came closer. Waves washed over him as he tried to scream, already envisioning a ship crashing into him, running him over and leaving him dead.

Instead of the expected massive Polychlon keel, a thick soft bulk pushed into him. He grabbed wildly, panicking that this might be the last thing he would do on this planet. Or anywhere else. His numbed fingers found hold on something hard and solid. Daniel struggled, his mind commanding his almost unresponsive body. It took him a long time, but whatever it was that had bumped into him was now beneath him and it kept him out of the water. He was too exhausted to even worry about how long that would be. He fainted.

When Daniel woke up, there was light. There also was a significant amount of warmth on his back. He turned around to catch the sunlight on his still wet front. He felt a slight tremor below him which startled him. Waves, a bump, climbing, it slowly came back to him. He shivered. He became aware of the rush of waves, the same sound he had heard before the thing bumped into him.

Daniel forced himself to sit up and look. He sat on a Fringy. He was certain of it. One of the animals Ulaman had described to Rayko and himself as she was sailing with the Pricosine. It was one of the fish that looked like a rock and did not dive. At that point it all became too much for Daniel. He broke down and cried. He cried until he fell asleep.

-=-=-

"Hey! Hello!"

The sounds hit Daniel.

"Hello out there! Do you hear me?!"

Awareness fought like a champion to regain its seat. Daniel opened his eyes.

"Hello! If you are alive, can you show me so?"

Slowly Daniel sat up and stared around.

"Hello... Here, behind you..."

While his body protested, Daniel turned. He saw a row boat. There were two men in it.

"Hello there. You will have to jump into the water. We can't get near the Fringy to pick you up!"

Daniel waved. At least he did his best to wave. Then he just let himself roll off the animal that had saved his life. The men in the row boat paddled quickly over to him and dragged him into the boat.

"Are you okay, sir?"

"Never better," Daniel said, and laughed. The insanity and the hardship of the past days needed a way out.

The men in the row boat took him to the fishing boat from where Daniel had been spotted. They fed him and checked him as well as they could, and then they put him in a bunk. Miraculously, his hydger was still in his possession, somehow it had gotten stuck inside his shirt.

When Daniel woke up, the fishing boat was on its way to port. After more food and a shot of something like brandy, he felt better. The sailors had handed him fresh clothes that sort of fit and he told the captain of the ship about what had happened.

"Good grief, man, it is impossible that you survived that! How did you get on that Fringy?"

"I don't really remember. It was just there."

"You, sir, are the love of the power of the waves."

Daniel had heard that expression before. It meant someone who was very lucky at sea. It made him wonder, after all the things that had happened to him already. At sea.

He tried using the hydger several times, but there was no signal. The captain, upon noticing his attempts, told him he'd have to wait until they were ashore. "Our town is not a large rich one like Zoroon, sir, the hydger signals are very weak here."

So Daniel had to wait, and spent his hours worrying about the fate of the men and women aboard the Pricosine.

Properly fed, and warm again, he jumped off the fishing boat, after thanking the crew. They had offered to assist him, but all Daniel wanted to do was get in range of a signal so he could contact his boss.

Clelem took the news in a strange way. Daniel got the feeling that the man suddenly was ice cold inside and wondered why that was. There was no emotion at all. Not even an inquiry after Daniel's health, or how he had survived.

"I will arrange for the fare for a carriage to take you back to Skarak, Mr. Zacharias. You will report to the President of the Ship Owners Society at once after arriving. Measures will be taken." That was all.

Report to Seigner Skinsh ko Talush? Why him? Why not to Clelem?

As he sat in the carriage, he had acquired a basket with food for the long trip, he kept wondering about the strange attitude of Clelem. At first he had seemed such an admirable person. The strange way in which he had made his daughter be his personal hostess during the soirée had already struck him as odd, but this last exchange was totally incomprehensible.

No matter from what way he approached the issue, he could make heads nor tails from it, so he went back to worrying about his friends.

The carriage stopped in several places to take in a few more people who were also travelling to or towards Skarak. It surprised Daniel somewhat, as he had never needed to share a carriage, but it did make sense.

It took Daniel little over a day to reach Skarak. Sleeping in the carriage was not too difficult, but he desperately wanted to shower and put on some clean, fitting clothes. Still, he first made his way to the ship-shaped building of the Ship Owners Society.

Varning was there to open the door to him. "Mr. Zacharias. We have been expecting you. How horrible an incident, how tragic." The man shook his head and quickly went ahead, leading him to the office where Waldo Skinsh ko Talush was waiting for him.

"Mr. Zacharias. Take a seat. Do you need some tea? Sturt? Something stronger?" The man looked genuinely concerned.

"No, Seigner, thank you." Daniel told his story, while in the back of his mind the wonder remained why Clelem, the owner of the ship, was not there. Perhaps it was the way things were done on the planet, but still it bothered him. The more as only several days ago he had been invited to a party at the man's house. Again the strangeness around Clelem's action regarding his daughter tugged at him. Daniel tried to shake it off and focus on the matter at hand.

Seigner Skinsh ko Talush looked at Daniel in silence, after hearing the account. He was pondering and evaluating. "Mr. Zacharias," he finally said, "it is with no pleasure at all that I have to tell you that Seigner Clelem Dandra ko Galem has asked me to relieve you from your assignment with respect to his ships. He does not feel you are adding to the safety on board, not to the security against pirates."

Daniel felt the blood pull away from his face. He had successfully managed to repel that first attack. It had almost cost him his life. Because of that very fact, Clelem had invited him to the soirée. And now this?

The president seemed to guess his thoughts. "You are certainly entitled to feeling rage, Mr. Zacharias. I am quite surprised about this decision also, but it is in the end the Ship Owner who decides." The man went through some papers on his desk until he found an envelope. "I have prepared this document for you, sir. Would you please be so kind to read its contents and tell me if you agree and accept this?"