Shackleton's Folly (The Lost Wonder Book 1) (12 page)

“Thank you,” said Dancer. As he took the sealer, his optics had another opportunity to scan Electra’s bracelet.

*

Alec came to the end of the seam he was working on, finishing up another patch on the hull. He put down his tools, pulled off the eye-shields, and climbed down, jumping the last bit. Tired and dirty, Alec found a wide shipping crate and sat, watching Dancer scan datapad readouts and communicate with the
Quest
regarding the ship’s damage and repairs. Electra, looking worn out as well, came from the ship with a tray of refreshments.

“I appreciate you pitching in and helping where you can.” Alec got up slowly; his body ached from being bent over. He took the tray and sat her down on the shipping crate. Electra kept her eyes lowered, as usual. Alec looked around, found a fairly clean rag, and wiped the dirt from his hands. He gently raised her chin with his index finger. “No worries — okay? We will be off planet as soon as we can.” He took the glass and offered it to her. “Go ahead.”

Electra reached for it, and, for a moment, they both held it; their eyes met. Then, Electra took the glass, breaking the connection.

“Freedom and hope — that’s what makes us human.” He looked around the port from their vantage point. “This isn’t what I thought I would be doing now.” He took a long, cool drink from the glass and sat down next to her. “I have studied most of my life and thought I would be passing it to a new generation. Teaching or something like that, but now…” His thoughts drifted. “I had a dream of finding my little private Shangri-La.” Alec looked out over the concrete and steel of the spaceport. “You would not know it. It’s from a book called
Lost Horizon
, by James Hilton. A mystical and earthly paradise for travelers like myself. A happy place.” The daydream left his face a little wearier than before. “I still hope it’s out there for me.”

Electra leaned against his shoulder. Alec turned to look at her and smiled.

*

Temple Coffee Shop was thick with locals. Alec, Dancer, and Electra made their way to a back table. On stage was a poet, sounding like fingernails on a chalkboard. The audience snapped in appreciation of the poet leaving the stage. A squid-like creature doing a mime act pulled itself onstage with its tentacles.

Electra sat closest to the wall, flanked by Alec and Dancer. She had moved the chair close to Alec.

“What about Wolfgang?” Dancer scanned the room for anyone taking more notice of them than usual.

Alec looked to the other two. “He can’t do anything without the piece you carry. It takes all three to complete the map.”

Dancer brought out the artifact they’d bought from Dolk. “What about the star chart? So far, it looks legitimate.”

“Any luck translating the glyphs?” Alec ran his hand through his hair.

Dancer handed it over to Alec, whose fingers flitted over the surface. “Not so far. There are some similarities to some dialects spinward but nothing certain.”

Alec hesitated touching the glyph; the symbol struck a chord in his memory. He thought about the civilizations the direction of the galaxy’s spin. Alec turned to Electra. “May I see your arm bracelet?” Electra remained still. “Please?”

She removed the bracelet cautiously from her bicep and pointed to herself and then to the center of the rings. At Alec’s raised eyebrow, she nodded and then pointed at Alec, herself, and then at the center of the rings.

“You want to go here?”

Electra handed Alec the bracelet with an expectant look. Volumes went unspoken. Alec felt that this was another breakthrough for them. Just exactly what it was he had to find out.

“Don’t worry. You’ll get this right back.” Alec held the arm bracelet next to the star chart. The symbols had a similarity but were not quite the same.

“Yes, I saw it, too. Makes you wonder about our meeting with Dolk. It was quite a coincidence we were sold a star chart with the key to the Eleven Wonders of the Universe.” Dancer calibrated a scanner on Alec. “At the same time, a beautiful human slave girl appears, the only true human female we’ve come across in two years this far out in space.” He scanned Electra.

“I will definitely agree with that part of your assessment.”

Dancer stopped scanning. “She’s the real thing. When I saw that arm bracelet the first time, I thought we’d been taken.”

Alec rocked back in his chair. “She’s real; your DNA scan proved that. Her people have been away from Earth a very long time.”

Dancer shook his head. “I have the results for you on the mitochondrial DNA. It shows that her ancestors split from the rest of humanity. I place it at 11,000 human years ago.”

Electra returned the arm bracelet to her bicep. Alec sensed she was ready to open up to them. Alec smiled warmly. “I was right. Whether it’s chance or destiny, Electra,” he said, putting out his hand, open, palm up, “you’re what I’ve been searching the galaxy for.”

Electra reached out slowly and clasped his. She squeezed him when a waitress came to the table with a tray of hot, spiced coffee drinks. A tall, thin mantis-like creature entered with two exotic females. The females were well-toned humanoids with flowing waist-length hair and large, sapphire-blue eyes. The mantis spotted Dancer and Alec, and headed to their table.

Alec leaned into Electra. “We don’t want any trouble, so forgive me if I have to… just play along for a few minutes. I’ll make it up to you.” Electra nodded her understanding.

“See, Dancer? I told you she understands — every word we say,” Alec said pointedly.

Electra shot him a quick glance only to find he was already watching her for reactions.

The mantis creature worked hard to speak in a frequency audible to humans. “Be you Captain Shackleton?”

“Who wants to know?” Alec turned his attention to the newcomer.

“You be. I am Sokkeer and wish to make an offer for your small female,” Sokkeer spat out. “I have two females to trade for your one.” He presented his women, motioning to their ample curves.

Alec stared at him. “Now why would I want to do business with you? I have a woman of which dreams are made.” He took Electra’s hand, raised it to his lips, and kissed it. He held it as he put it back on the table. “A beauty none can surpass.”

The two females moved around the table to Alec and pulled his chair from the table and Electra. One interposed herself between Alec and Electra, and the other one moved to Shackleton’s right, each nuzzling his neck and tousling his hair; their hands stroked his upper body. They smiled broadly, with sharp, pointy teeth, and purred.

“Yes,” Sokkeer said, “but with two such as these, trained in pleasing males with such rapture you have not experienced, how can a lowly human male such as you refuse to accept such an offer?”

Electra caught the slightest wink from Alec as he shooed away the females. “I do not own slaves; this person is free and has obtained passage off-world. If I need to make it clearer to you, I will.” He started to push back his chair.

The humanoid females shrank back to Sokkeer’s side, horrified. Sokkeer said, confused but apologetically, “Fight you? I was sent here to conduct a business transaction. Nothing more.”

“Tell Doctor Gray,” Alec commanded, “that you failed.”

Sokkeer and his females left the table, and Alec smiled at his companions. “Now then, let’s find us a ticket off this rock.”

*

It gnawed at her that she was still playing the part of the slave girl and had not identified herself or her mission. She had searched the ship as best she could without drawing attention to what she was doing and had found nothing of her world anywhere. If what Alec and Dancer had talked about were true, it would mean he was from the mother world. Was that possible?

*

Alec stood on the curb, waiting for an opening in the skimmer traffic. The spaceport’s gate was closed, and the Temple Coffee Shop’s sign flickered behind them. Alec began to step into the street when Electra said, in a strong, confident voice, “Would you have stood for satisfaction and my honor, Captain Shackleton?”

Alec stopped and turned to her. “Without hesitation. My, but don’t you speak Standard very well. Why the charade?”

“You are my fifth master since I was taken captive and sold into slavery. Captain, you are the first of my race I have seen that I feel can be trusted. I had hoped to find more of our people — a world even — but, out here, we are a dying race, and, from what I have gathered, we have no home world.”

“Where do you come from?”

Electra hesitated. “I was part of an expedition from my world. The crew and I were taken prisoners and enslaved.”

Dancer scanned the dark streets and led them through the traffic to the sidewalk, as they headed toward the main spaceport gate.

Curious, Alec asked, “Where are they now?”

“I don’t know. It’s been so long since I’ve seen any of them.”

“Where are your people from? Earth?”

“I do not know of ‘Earth,’” Electra replied.

“My people came from a small planet we called ‘Earth.’ It’s gone now. I’m looking for the descendants of the tribe of humans that left our world long ago. Dancer assures me they are your ancestors.”

Dancer caught a glimpse of movement behind them. “Let’s get a move on. The
Quest
received and forwarded to me a message from O. She’s filled your order.”

“She has found another piece of the inscription for us.” Alec looked out into the darkness. The barking of an alien dog broke the silence. “Better hurry.”

*

Gino worked diligently to get past
Quest
’s door force field in the low light of the spaceport. Gino pulled out a Spaceship Slim Jim and worked the lock. Worrell finished the installation of a tracking unit on the aft section of the outer engine support. They took the control unit from a toolbox, looked over it closely, and clicked the button to arm the device and for camouflage. The unit attached to the skin of the
Quest
blurred and vanished from the visible spectrum of light. Worrell smiled, picked up his toolbox, and walked around the
Quest
to where Gino was still trying his luck at opening the door.

Bolts of energy from blasters struck the ground about them, forcing them to duck behind nearby cargo crates.

Alec’s voice called out from the darkness, “Come on out, boys — now!”

Worrell and Gino took out weapons with each of their four arms, and then they each split into four sub-creatures of equal sizes, each with one arm holding a weapon. All eight creatures nodded. The four from Worrell spread out around the crates, but they still spoke as one. “Boss said we collect your ship!” The Worrell group fired at them.

“Someone stole my cargo, boys. I need just a little more time,” yelled Alec from the shadows surrounding the ship.

The four sub-creatures from Gino made it back to the
Quest
. Blasts from two directions scattered the sub-creatures around the ship’s landing gear.

The Worrell group demanded, “No more time. Pay now!”

The eight sub-creatures making up Worrell and Gino fired back at those hiding in the night who had trapped them against the ship. The physical attack was surgical, with a powerful well-placed strike from a staff incapacitating one of the sub-creatures. The only report of what happened was a screeching cry that came from under the
Quest
. The Gino sub-creatures now numbered only three as they came out of hiding. The Worrell group yelled out at the night, “We must have ship or credits.”

Another cry, another, and still another. The assailant had removed three from the Gino group along with one from Worrell from the battle. Those who were left exchanged short chirps and squeaks.

“It seems you’re a bit short of men.” Alec and Dancer came from the dark with weapons drawn. The sub-creatures tried to assemble into a single creature but failed, the sub-creature from Gino unable to integrate with Worrell’s.

The Worrell group whined, “We must be whole. Where are us?”

Alec trained his weapon on them. “Drop the blasters, boys!”

The creatures looked at each other and followed the instructions.

“Electra!” Alec shouted. Electra, with Alec’s staff twirling, came out from under the
Quest
.

“I like its balance,” said Electra as she held out the staff.

Alec spoke to the Worrell group, “I need more time. What do you guys think?”

Electra squeezed the staff just so, returned it to its original wrist bracer form, and put it on as she and Dancer entered the
Quest
. Alec stopped at the landing as the missing sub-creatures, groggy and stumbling, appeared from under the
Quest
.

“Sorry, boys, got to go.” Alec stood in the hatch frame as the thrust of the engines blew outward hard from under the ship. The ship rose quickly from the ground, its bow spun on its X-axis, pointing to a new point on the horizon, and sped from the spaceport’s controlled airspace. He could be seen disappearing into the interior as the ship blasted off high into the night sky of Ferrar.

The sub-creatures sorted themselves out and reassembled into Worrell and Gino. They ran to a nearby space freighter that could best be described as chaos with space drive. The hull of the freighter had been stitched together from at least ten different ships, with a visually interesting patchwork of textures, colors, and alloys composing the ship’s exterior.

The engines were fouled with the cheap propellant filling the internal tanks but sputtered to life through the odd-sized exhaust ports. The problem seemed cleared, and they lifted off.

*

Alec raced through the ship toward the control deck. He managed to miss the clutter of the Koty search and rushed through the doorway to the command deck.

“Are they following?” he demanded. He glanced at the screens as he plopped down into his seat. He quickly manipulated the sensors and defensive systems to cover their escape from the planet Ferrar. If anyone was going to follow them, he wanted to make it hard for them to do so.

“Of course, they are; the Koty battleships
Illia
and
Saleen
are in orbit and angling courses to cut us off.” Dancer prepared the ship for FTL flight. All systems were in the nominal range of the custom specifications he and Alec had developed for the improvements they had made to the
Quest
. The
Quest
had been outfitted to be a sleek and long-distance runner. Electra was seated at the engineer’s station scanning the panel for anomalies that would hinder
Quest
’s departure and readying the controls.