Bactine

by Paul Kater

  Daniel, Stroro, Tomlin and a few others carefully brought the floaters close to the boat and tied them up high, to keep them out of water's reach. Then, on a single sail, they slowly came into the harbour.

  As soon as they were in shouting range, Tomlin requested medical assistance, and blankets for everyone. They had been flying low for a while, but still most people on board were still suffering from the cold, most of all the ones that had been living in poor circumstances while being under the cruel supervision of pirates.

  People came running with all kinds of things that the ship faring people might need. Everyone was taken off the airship, now bobbing on the water and tied to the quay as a normal boat. Gallons of tea, fake coffee and stronger things were brought, along with food, and two doctors were there who had been alarmed were tending to the sick.

  A police officer came closer. "What is the matter here, gentlemen? Is anyone able to tell me?"

  Daniel hoisted himself to his feet, a cup of hot strong tea in his hands. He told the man their story, incredible as it sounded.

  "You've been... flying? In that?" The policeman pointed at the blue boat. "I hope you do not mind me asking what is in your cup, sir..."

  "It is tea, officer."

  Some of the people who had been there when the airship had landed on the water came to Daniel's help and vowed to the policeman that the boat had indeed flown.

  "And what are your plans now, sir, after your upheaval creating arrival?"

  "Once our sick have been seen to, we go on to Skarak, officer," said Daniel.

  "Ah. I see. And you will be... flying there, I assume? With your boat?"

  "Airship," Aldrick corrected him. The vessel had proven to be worthy of the title.

  "Airship, you say. It does look like a boat to me, sir. And you are?" The policeman feigned professionalism. It was obvious though that curiosity was his ulterior motive.

  "I am Aldrick Bunzing. Inventor. I created this airship."

  "Of course, sir..." After a frown, the policeman sauntered off, but did not leave the harbour area. He wanted to see the rest of this.

  An hour after that, the doctors agreed that the sick people could be moved further. "We shall inform our medical brothers in Skarak about them," one of them said, already reaching for the hydger in his bag.

  "Thank you, sir," Daniel said, as lightning seemed to hit him. He left Tomlin to arrange some things and he walked off, taking his own hydger. He looked up the number of the mysterious person and requested a connection, but there was no answer. He decided he'd try again later, put away his device and returned to the boat, where most people had gone aboard again already. The sick ones were safely tucked in, and the broken line on the floater had been repaired.

  Aldrick took his position at the engine. Daniel and Abnezer set the sails, as Ulaman was at the map and the compass. Accompanied by the sound of many cheers the small ship left the harbour. The policeman stood to the far side, watching the proceedings.

  Aldrick, once the ship had left the harbour, did his trick with the levers. The floaters filled up. The straps that had held them up were released to allow the balloons all the space they needed. And then Aldrick added the gas for the extra lift. Slowly the airship was lifted from the water. Daniel grinned at Ulaman and Tomlin. The sails were raised. This time the wind was with them; it had changed and it was ready to push them to Skarak in almost a straight line. As they flew off, the crowds in the Boragov harbour went crazy with cheers and whistles.

  The last leg of their journey went by as in a dream, so quickly. In far less than two hours they crossed the last forty miles to Skarak.

  -=-=-

  Tomlin used his hydger to inform some people they were coming in, once they were in range to connect. Daniel, in that time, was talking to Seigner Waldo Skinsh ko Talush, the president of the Ship Owner Society, to inform him about the rescued people from the Pricosine.

  Aldrick had decided to land the airship outside the harbour again and sail in, like they had done in Boragov.

  A strip in the harbour had been cleared for them. There were many people present, many of them family members of the sailors. The news of their arrival had spread like wildfire.

  Daniel smiled as he spotted a tiny woman with white hair among the masses. He touched Draiky's shoulder for a moment and was rewarded with a hug and a big smile.

  The airship moored at a spot where several policemen had cleared a large area. After that, everyone left the small ship. It bore the signs of being home to so many people for many days. The sick were carefully brought ashore and taken away to the hospital for a proper check-up and treatment. There were reporters of the newspapers. Seigner Skinsh ko Talush had a speech prepared, and all eyes and ears were his as he spoke. Clelem Dandra ko Galem was there, with his son Warlem. Clelem mingled with the people of the crew, but for unspoken reasons he ignored Daniel.

  Before he could approach the owner of the Pricosine, Daniel was called to the front by Skinsh ko Talush. He was awarded an honorary title that did not mean much to him. As soon as he could, he retreated to the back of the crowd, where he found a spot to sit. He had never felt so tired. He had not allowed himself sleep aboard the airship, almost feeling bad to discover when he had nodded off. He'd see to Clelem later-

  "Daniel..." a soft voice said. Daniel recognised it without looking.

  "Warlem."

  "You did the amazing, Daniel. The impossible. And with such style. I hate to trouble you, but I do need to speak with you," said the young man.

  There was an urgency in his voice that Daniel could not resist. He got up. "Okay. Where? Here?"

  Warlem shook his head. "No. Too public."

  Daniel nodded. "Give me a moment." He went to where Tomlin, Aldrick and the Skipper were standing, told them he was leaving quietly and returned to where Warlem was waiting.

  They walked off, to a carriage, Daniel wondering what this would be all about.

  39. Missing

  As soon as they had entered the carriage, it started to move.

  "You are not waiting for your father?" Daniel asked, somewhat without need but curious about the why.

  "No. He doesn't seem to care so much. Daniel, I am really sorry to inconvenience you like this, and when you hear the reason you have my permission to slap me in the face, or anywhere you prefer. We do need your help, though." Warlem looked in the most pleading way Daniel had someone ever seen.

  "Okay. What's the problem?"

  "My sister is gone."

  "Gone where?" Daniel was not sure this was a joke, but it had the makings of it. It couldn't be one though. Warlem was not the kind of person to go for practical jokes.

  "We don't know. Four days ago she just disappeared. Not a word from her that she was going to do something like that, and also none of her things have been taken. We worry, Daniel, that someone abducted her." No matter how sneering Warlem could act towards his sister, the man's face showed serious worry now. "We are going to see my mother now. She too wants to ask you for your help, but I think it is good that you know this beforehand."

  "Your mother. At your house."

  "Yes."

  "And your father? He will either tear my heart out or throw me down the hill." Daniel was not looking forward to a confrontation, even if he felt sorry for the man about his daughter. But Warlem's remark...

  "I think he would opt for both, Daniel, he is really mightily displeased about something," Warlem shook his head. "If you feel like sleeping, please, go ahead. We'll be there in a while. I'll wake you up."

  "I'll try. Just close my eyes for a second." A second was all it took to make him fall asleep.

  "Daniel?" It took Warlem some serious shaking to wake the man up. "I am truly sorry to wake you up already. We've arrived."

  "Yeah, that's okay." It wasn't, but Daniel was not going to back out of this. A was said, so B was the logical next step.

  They clambered out of the carriage and into the basket under the floater. Swiftly they were going
up the hill, and Daniel felt a tweak in his heart over the airship that had done so miraculously well. He shivered, from the cold, the lack of sleep, from the tension of the past days that was still in him. A shower, food and a bed were on his mind, the last two not necessarily in that order.

  The floater stopped. They got out, stepped into the reception building. Warlem grabbed a coat and offered it to Daniel. "You look cold."

  Daniel did not object; he was cold. He put on the coat and didn't mind how it would smell after giving it back. He followed Warlem through the transparent tube and into the large hall with the fountain. The young man led him to a sunny terrace.

  Ugidra, Clelem's wife, was sitting there. As the two stepped onto the terrace, she got up. Her face was red, her eyes puffed up from crying. "Mr. Zacharias..."

  "Warlem told me what appears to have happened, my lady," Daniel said. He had trouble getting his head together and saying the right things. "I am sorry if I say dumb things, I am quite tired, but can you tell me what happened?"

  Ugidra nodded. "I know. I understand. And I appreciate that you came to listen to me, very much." She then offered him a chair and told him that Rayko had indeed disappeared without a word four days earlier. "She has never done that, Mr. Zacharias. The day before she had one of her arguments with her father before and she was very depressed after that, but-" Ugidra looked at Warlem "-that has happened before."

  "Regularly," Warlem confirmed. "And that leaves me stuck with her goffeesh."

  "Golfdish?" Daniel asked, wondering if he had heard that right.

  Warlem sort of nodded. "Her pet."

  Goldfish, Daniel thought, typically the pet for a stuck-up girl. "Warlem told me nothing of her things were taken as she left. Disappeared."

  "Indeed. She would never leave without some of her things."

  "And you have tried to contact her on the hydger, I assume?"

  "Yes. Someone in the staff is trying to call her every hour, but no one has heard from her."

  So her hydger was responding. Maybe he could do something with that.

  "Mother, do not forget the recordings," Warlem reminded her.

  Recordings? Daniel was surprised.

  "Ah, yes, how foolish of me." Ugidra reached for the oversized locket she was wearing and opened it. The left side was a display like Daniel's device had, just smaller. She did a few things with the incredibly small controls on the right side and handed the locket to Daniel. "If you touch the left side, you will see what Warlem means."

  "We have one of the most amazing things in our house, Daniel," Warlem said with some pride, "it is a device that can store moving images. There are not many of them."

  Daniel looked at the young poet for a moment and touched the left side of the locket. The small display came to life. It showed, in black and white, a view of a part of the garden, probably behind the house, and a door. The images were moving, be it not smooth. They looked jumpy, as if the recording had been made only a few images per second. For several seconds nothing happened, except shadows jumping. Then Daniel gasped. A cloaked figure, the cape wide and billowing in the wind, carefully moved towards the door. The person, whoever it was, fumbled with the door, then disappeared inside. The jumpy movie stopped.

  "Can I see that again?" Daniel asked. He had seen it well, he just didn't believe it. Warlem did something to the thing and Daniel watched the short movie again. As it ended he handed the locket back to Ugidra. "Do you have any idea who that is? And when this is recorded?"

  She shook her head. "No one who has seen this-" she shook the locket "-knows who it might be. The recording is of the evening before we noticed Rayko gone. She was just... gone... the next morning." Tears started rolling down her cheeks again, as the pain bit her again.

  Daniel told them that this was the same person who had lured him to Maliser Park and stunned him, on the evening of the soirée. "I don't know who it is either, but this person seems to hold a grudge against your husband, lady Dandra ko Galem."

  "Can you find my little girl for me, Mr. Zacharias? I will pay you anything. Grant you anything. As long as I have Rayko back."

  Daniel took in a deep breath. "I can't promise anything, my lady, but I will do what I can."

  "Thank you, Mr. Zacharias, thank you, thank you. If you need funds, or anything, just let me know about it. I will transfer my hydger sign to your hydger; if there is anything I can assist you with, you must call on me. Day or night." Ugidra and Daniel exchanged numbers on their hydgers. Warlem also told Daniel that he could call on him at any time. The poet was very concerned about his sister's well-being, and wanted her back home again too.

  Daniel got up. "I should go home now, my lady, and refresh myself." He was near keeling over now and all his built-up knowledge of the planet's etiquette had crawled away in a dark corner.

  Ugidra got up. "Mr. Zacharias, I insist that you do so here. I will immediately arrange for a guest room with a private bath, and I will have food sent to it. Warlem, can you see to that?"

  The poet got up and walked into the large hall after just a nod.

  "Lady Dandra ko Galem, I thank you, but your husband will not be pleased to see me. He was not very friendly earlier today already."

  Ugidra smiled. "He won't know you are here. Please take my word for that, Mr. Zacharias. The house is very large, and the servants know when to be silent."

  Daniel was not in a mood to argue. Deep down inside he was glad he did not have to travel back to his own place. He was not certain if he would still be awake to get out of the carriage.

  A male servant came to the terrace. "If you will follow me, sir..." He guided Daniel through a few corridors, reaching a room that looked like a luxury suite of one of the famous Stardrift Hotels Daniel had once read about. The floor was covered with brown and orange carpeting, the walls were a soft beige and the bed in the room was large and inviting. As the servant showed Daniel around in the bathroom, another servant brought a tray with food.

  Daniel was impressed how fast that all was arranged. The servants left him, he wolfed down most of the food and considered the bath. It did not take him long to decide that the bed now was more important. He threw his clothes off, rolled into the bed and was enveloped with a black nothing within seconds.

  -=-=-

  Waking up was a strange experience for Daniel. The smell, the sounds, the softness of the bed and the light created an ensemble that confused his still groggy brain. Slowly he sat up, stared around the room and only then he recalled where he was. In the house of his former employer. Without the man knowing it. He fell back into the pillows and sighed. A firm rub of his face brought more activity to him.

  Daniel got out of the bed, found his way to the bathroom and filled the bath. The water, running quickly, was hot and inviting. As the tub was filling up, Daniel peeked out of the window, over which a curtain had been drawn. It was light. He had no idea what the time was. He kept the curtain closed and disappeared into the bathroom for a while, soaking and cleaning himself up for the first time in far too long. Heaven, if something like that existed, he mused, had to be like this.

  He resisted the urge to fill up the tub again. Instead, he rubbed himself dry with a large white towel. It carried the sign of Dandra ko Galem that he had also seen on his hydger. He put on the bathrobe that lay on a side table, neatly folded up, and went back into the bedroom.

  To his surprise he found his clothes, washed and dried, lying folded on a chair next to the bed. His hydger was lying on top of the stack. It made him wonder how long he had been asleep. He had not heard anyone come in and go around the room. As he was dressing, he noticed a sheet of paper on the table that was against the wall, near the door.

  'Mr. Zacharias. Please ring the bell when you are awake. It is the cord next to the door. Thank you.' it told him. The handwriting was simple, as was the message.

  Feeling close to human again, and equally presentable, Daniel tugged the cord. He heard nothing, but chanced that it had been enough. While
he waited for something to happen, probably someone to come to his room, he peered through the curtains again. His room was located somewhere at the backside of the house. There was nothing but garden and more hill as far as he could see. He tried to see where the path was where the cloaked person had come to the house, as he recalled the video he had seen, but that was invisible from where he stood.

  There was a knock on the door. "May I come in, sir?" It was the voice of a woman.

  "Of course, please do," Daniel said, stepping away from the curtain.