Bactine

by Paul Kater

  "My dear Mr. Slindris, why don't you drink up and go to your room," Clelem said with a smile. "You must have had a busy day."

  Yes, that he had. Gaguran nodded, picked up the glass, with both hands to be safe, and emptied it. "I will... take my..." and what was that last word? As the glass fell over and rolled away from him, he remembered. "My leave." Gaguran did a valiant effort to get up and fell to the floor.

  "You two, pick him up," he heard his boss say.

  Two men, who Gaguran knew to be security persons, picked him up from the floor. "Hey.. hey..." he tried to retain some dignity as he was hanging from strong arms.

  The men carried Gaguran through the house, towards his chamber, and threw him on the bed. A moment later Clelem came in.

  "I think we need to have a little talk, Gaguran," Clelem said as he pulled up a chair. "About this." He held up something that was red and silver.

  "Whuffe..." Gaguran tried to use the sound as an excuse for 'what is that?'. His mouth was not very cooperative all of a sudden.

  "After our rather disconcerting talk about your visit to Dogom ko Tzuy and the fact that the man called something had gone missing, I took the liberty of searching your room. And this is what we found. In your coat pocket even. It is, as you can perhaps still see, a ruby with a silver ship on it. It matches the description of the missing item too closely to make this a mistake."

  Clelem looked at the small object. "Really nice, I have to admit. I had not thought, dear man, that you had taste." He slowly put the ruby in his pocket. "Too bad you had no chance to enjoy it." He got up and patted the pocket. "I will see that this is returned to its rightful owner. And you, Mr. Slindris, should consider yourself without a job. I cannot have someone on my team who steals." The man turned and walked off.

  The two men picked Gaguran from the bed and dragged him through the corridors, to a seldomly used exit. After a short and painful journey through the garden, they reached a spot that was not too far from the floater, but far enough to not get on it.

  Gaguran was by now completely paralysed. There was nothing he could do when the two simply shoved him over the side of the hill. He fell, hit the ground and started tumbling down. Before he was halfway down the hill, he was unconscious.

  Somewhere in the shrubbery a man saw Gaguran take the dive. He took a hydger and made a call.

  -=-=-

  "Mr. Zacharias, I wish you a good evening."

  "Good evening to you, Seigner Dogom ko Tzuy. To what do I owe this late night call?" Daniel had not expected a call from the ship owner at all.

  "It seems that Seigner Dandra ko Galem has officially ended the work contract with his serving man," Huajo said. "One of my operatives, who happened to be around, saw that the poor man was thrown down the hill without much ceremony."

  "Thrown down?" Daniel could not believe it.

  "Yes, very much so. He is at my house now, severely wounded and still unconscious. I thought you would like to know about this." Huajo had a satisfied expression on his face. "It seems that our plan is still in effect, be it with some special interludes."

  "Obviously. Thank you for informing me, sir. I appreciate it. Do you think it would be reason enough for me to pay you a visit?"

  Huajo shook his head. "As long as my guest is still not responsive, I would suggest you spare your feet, preacher. I will let you know when he is with the world again."

  Daniel nodded. "In that case, you are right. Thank you, Seigner, and have a good night."

  "Good night, Mr. Zacharias."

  "I told you," Rayko said softly. "You are a preacher. The Seigner said it too."

  Daniel was sitting next to her, on a couch in the living room. He had carried her over there, as she was fed up being in bed. "No, you are both wrong."

  "They are both right," said the senator from his chair. "You are just not ready to admit it."

  "By all means of good, sir, I am a trained soldier. That is far from being a preacher." Daniel closed the hydger and put it back on the table.

  Rayko looked at Sygra and shook her head. "He is impossible. You are in luck, Daniel. I would kick your shins again if I could."

  They had agreed to address each other less formally.

  "And you have to be careful, young lady," Daniel tried to come back. "If I am a preacher, you may have to listen to what I am saying."

  "Huh. Only when you are preaching. Not when you are spouting nonsense. So what did this message mean? Did my father tell the mouse that he could pack up and leave?"

  "In a way, yes."

  "Good thing that the Seigner has his spies everywhere," Rayko said. "For a change."

  "Spies." Somehow Daniel was not surprised.

  "Oh, you ignorant," said Sygra. "All the large ship owners have spies everywhere. It is a part of the game, I think you can say. They all are very distrustful among each other. If you are not inside that market, it can be very entertaining, Daniel."

  Daniel failed to see the fun of that. "I don't like spies."

  "It is something of real life, Daniel. And it is getting of time. Maybe you should carry miss Dandra ko Galem back to her bed." The senator smiled as he said the words.

  Rayko coloured, Daniel saw it as he looked at her.

  "It would be good, indeed," Daniel agreed.

  "And nobody asks me?" Rayko wondered.

  "You are sick and in pain, Rayko, you have to be the patient and do as we say," Daniel grinned with a wink.

  "I will not do as you say," she grumbled. "But fine, if you want to get rid of me, then best take me to bed again. But be careful. Please."

  Daniel lifted her. Carefully. "Are you okay like this?"

  Rayko had hoped to put an arm around his neck, but that proved too painful on her ribs. "I'll manage."

  Daniel carried her out of the room. Sygra smiled again, the more as he enjoyed the comments that came from the corridor.

  "Watch out there, Daniel."

  "I am watching. I know what I am doing."

  "You don't. Now, stop and - no, don't do that. I can open the door - owwww.... you open the door."

  "I told you I know what I am doing."

  "Oh, you, be quiet and put me in my bed. Owww!"

  -=-=-

  The next morning, Daniel's hydger rattled while he was still in the dining room. He recognised the symbol of Huajo. "Good morning, Seigner Dogom ko Tzuy," he answered the call.

  "Mr. Zacharias, I had an interesting conversation just now," Huajo said, his face conveying a smugness Daniel had not seen from the man before. "Our friend, Clelem Dandra ko Galem, just talked to me. He has retrieved the object that I had mentioned was missing. He seemed a bit disconcerted that the person who had stolen it from me had 'escaped' before he could punish the person. He apologised and offered to hand me the object back."

  Daniel grinned. "That is an interesting chain of events we are facing, sir. Have you agreed on something with him?"

  "Oh yes, I have, Mr. Zacharias. I will meet Clelem at the shipyard where his new Pricosine is being built. I have asked him if he would be willing to show it to me, and he agreed to that. The meeting will be tomorrow in the morning. Oh, one moment, please..."

  The man in the tiny display was looking at someone and talking for a few moments.

  "Oh. I just had the disappointing news that my guest, Mr. Slindris, has passed away. Apparently his being cast down the hill was with more peril than we anticipated."

  "Oh, I am sorry to hear that. He could have been very informative." Daniel really felt bad, hearing that Gaguran had died.

  "How are things with respect to miss Rayko?" Huajo asked.

  "She is doing better, sir. She is still in a lot of pain with her ribs, but the wounds on her arms and back are healing nicely."

  "Ah, good. I am glad she is making good progress." Huajo nodded to emphasise his words. "Well, there may be a few things we need to arrange before the moment that I will meet our friend Clelem tomorrow..." They started some more planning.

  After
the scheming, Daniel went to the kitchen and arranged for a cup of tea. He took it to Rayko's room. After a gentle knock on the door, to which there was no response, he looked inside. Rayko lay asleep, a book on her knees, some pages folded over her fingers. Her hair was a bit of a mess around her face.

  Daniel placed the cup on the table and just stood looking at the frail-looking woman in the bed. After standing there for a while, he pulled up a chair and sat down, next to the bed. Carefully, so he would not disturb her sleep, he took the book from her fingers as it looked it would fall down the next time she stirred.

  He had a smile on his face as he saw it was a book about Nahmyo. "Preacher," he grinned to himself. It startled him. He should be careful, he did not want to wake her up.

  After a while of sitting with Rayko, reading pages of the book and drinking the tea he had gotten for her before it got cold, he got into a rather strange state of mind.

  "I really don't understand," he slowly said, keeping his voice down. "Why I risked my neck to get you out of that cellar." His thoughts were churning around and around. "But I couldn't leave you there. Even if you kicked my shins at the party." He grinned at that thought. "It was amusing, in a way." His thoughts went back to that evening. The encounter with the senator, the cloaked figure. So much had happened here in such a short span of time, when looking at it objectively.

  Daniel looked at a page in the book again. "The care for a being shows how much you are in tune with nature. Every being is a part of nature, of everything," he read out, quietly, "and the realisation of you being a part of that everything is the start of becoming a more whole person."

  He shrugged, and looked at the sleeping woman again. He bent over and carefully brushed some hair away from her face, so he could see her better. "Care," he whispered. "I've been caring all my life, and look what that got me. Maybe Troy had a better idea. Although... commanding a station at Trados Noxos isn't exactly what would make me happy." He chuckled to himself, picturing Troy up to his knees in badly smelling goo, screaming commands. Then his thoughts found another alley to stroll down.

  "I wonder what you know about your father," he mused to himself. "Step-father, should I say. But I am not even sure if you know that..." Daniel tried to picture for himself the state of mind of a man who would sacrifice his step-daughter for whatever reason. He ended up with something so inhuman that he was not able to make the picture in detail. The rough sketch of it was already making him sick.

  He turned to the book again, skipped to a random page and started reading.

  54. Kernak

  "Daniel?" Rayko's soft and not so awake voice startled him.

  "Oh. You're awake." Daniel became aware that he had no idea how long he had been sitting there, dividing his time between reading the book, dozing off and thoughts.

  "I think so," she said. "Could you help me sit up, please?"

  "Certainly," he said. He put the book on the bed and held her up, rearranging the pillows with one hand. "Comfortable enough like that?"

  "Yes. Thank you." She smiled a tired smile. "I just wish this sitting and pain was over. I want to go outside. Walk. Feel the sun and the wind, and smell the ocean." She reached out for the book, a short twitch in her face showing that the movement still hurt. "Oh." She smiled. "You were reading this."

  "Yes, I did. I picked it up as I was afraid it would fall off the bed," Daniel said.

  Rayko looked at him. "How long have you been sitting here?" Her voice did not sound accusing, it was just a question.

  "I'm not sure. For some time." Daniel noticed the empty cup. "Would you like something to drink?"

  "Oh, and to eat, please!" She nodded. "I am famished." After all, she had missed breakfast.

  "I'll go see what the house has to offer," Daniel said as he got up and picked up the teacup. "Do you want to try sitting in the dining room?"

  "I'd really like to. Maybe we can see Kernak from there."

  "Oh, you know her?" Daniel asked.

  "Yes, I have seen her several times. She is magnificent."

  Daniel agreed. "Let me see what can be arranged. I'll come back for you, okay?"

  Rayko glared at him. "Okay. Okay. Do you know how much that makes you sound like an uncivilised peasant boy, Daniel? It is such a dumb word."

  "Calm down, you. You're in no position to fight, remember?" Daniel warned her.

  "Hmpf. If my ribs did not hurt, I would throw a pillow at you. You don't know how lucky you are that I am defenceless at the moment."

  "Shouldn't that be offenseless?" Daniel laughed.

  "Oh, go and do something useful, instead of trying to outsmart me." She opened the book and stared so intently at the page that it was clear she considered the matter closed.

  "It's upside down," Daniel said before he left. He laughed at the peasant sound she made as he closed the door behind him.

  It did not take long to get a nice lunch on the table in the dining room. Daniel and a servant had brought a large chair into the room, filled it with pillows and then he had picked up Rayko and seated her in the chair.

  "I am relieved that you no longer worry about me dropping you, Rayko," Daniel said as she was sitting and he took his own seat.

  "I know now that you are strong enough. And not nearly as clumsy as you look," she said as she reached. "Oww... could you please hand me the bread?"

  "Of course. What do you mean by looking clumsy?" Daniel had no idea that he looked like that. He held the bread basket for her.

  "You're so... big. Broad. Your voice was so loud then. And then your clothes... so sailor like. And you smelled bad."

  "I was at a ship, Rayko. Sailors don't wear suits or costumes."

  "So I've noticed. Marmalade please."

  For a while they ate in silence, until Rayko suddenly exclaimed: "Oh, there she is!"

  Daniel looked over to where the woman was pointing. Outside the window, the Kotrvayk walked to her spot under the low tree. "She's magnificent, isn't she?"

  "Oh, yes, I can't look at her enough."

  "She is also good fun to play with," Daniel said, a grin on his face as he remembered the tugging contest.

  "Play?" Rayko's large eyes stared at him. "Surely you are joking, aren't you?"

  "No? Why should I? The senator introduced me to Kernak, and she seems to like me," Daniel said.

  "For lunch, I'm sure, or a hearty snack in-between," Rayko muttered as she buttered some toast.

  "I'll show you after lunch," Daniel said.

  "You will do nothing of the kind, Mr. Zacharias. I can not allow you to go near that animal just because you have the need to show off. Kotrvayks are strong and dangerous. I have read my books, you know. It is a miracle that the senator has not been hurt by her. Magnificent or not."

  "You, miss Dandra ko Galem, are hardly in a situation to allow me anything. Allow me to pour you some more tea."

  "Thank you for that, Mr. Zacharias." Her face made it clear she was not done with the other issue though, it was just on a back burner.

  Lunch went by without further incidents.

  "I never knew that eating is such hard work," Rayko said as she carefully touched her ribs. "But I am glad I had lunch, Daniel. Thank you."

  "You're welcome. Now, if you would excuse me for a moment." Daniel got up and slipped out the dining room. He walked through the other corridor and reached the door to the inner garden, where he walked up to Kernak. "Hello Kernak, how are you today? You don't seem to get many visitors," he said.

  "Oh no, he really is an idiot," whispered Rayko as she saw Daniel cross the yard to where the Kotrvayk was lying. "He is going to die, and I put him up to this." She pressed her napkin against her lips as she saw how the man walked to animal and kneeled next to her. She wanted to look away, but could not avert her eyes.

  Daniel stroked Kernak's head. The Kotrvayk rolled on her back and allowed him to pet her all he wanted. She was just a great big kitten to him, enjoying the attention.

  Inside the house, Rayko stared an
d could not believe what her eyes told her. "He is petting her," she whispered. "He is petting the Kotrvayk. He truly is a preacher."

  "So, tell me, girl, do you want to meet Rayko? I am sure you will like her." Daniel rubbed the massive chest of the animal. "I just wish I could be as certain as the senator about that."

  Rayko witnessed how Daniel got up and came back to the door. Soon after, he came into the dining room. She stared at him.