Charlotte & the Pirate

by Patricia Green

  "Jackals!" she cried, trying to make herself as obnoxious as possible since they wanted to capture someone spirited. "Piss pots! How dare you offend us! You had best run away while you can. When our captain finds out you are-"

  "He ain't gonna find out nothin', Missy. He be dead, or most of the way dead. Saw him go down meself."

  Marie gasped and whimpered, and Charlotte's heart sank. Could Rex be dead? Was he out of the dream now? Where did that leave Charlotte and Marie?

  "Come on, ye scurvy dogs! My leg is near to fallin' off! Grab the girl and let we go!"

  Decision made, the two uninjured pirates took Charlotte by the arms and started toward the broken cabin door. She struggled and screamed. Marie tried to fight a pirate away, but she got cuffed and sent reeling back into her chair, which toppled over backwards. Marie didn't move and her breathing was shallow.

  "Leave her alone!"

  Without a response, Charlotte was dragged off toward the companionway and up on deck. Not wanting to stir up more trouble and get herself beaten or Marie hurt further, she went along with them.

  The carnage was extensive, and Charlotte searched every face she could see, looking for Rex down on the deck, dead or dying. She spotted him by the central mast, propped up by the great spar where the sail hung, torn and crooked, his eyes staring and a big wound in his side and belly. His legs were covered in blood.

  "Rex!"

  One of his eyes opened. "Traitor…" he whispered so softly that she had to strain to hear him. His lips barely moved. He couldn't have said what she thought she'd heard. The sound he made was lost in the gunpowder-scented wind.

  Rex wasn't dead, not yet. Maybe if she could get away, she could do something. But the ship was listing toward starboard, and the pirates were anxious to get away. They poked and prodded her, so she went along without a struggle. If they realized that Rex was still alive, they might come back and finish him off.

  They made her walk a long plank from one ship to the next. Had they not been holding her in place, Charlotte would have certainly fallen into the dark sea. As it was, only moonlight, lantern light, and desperation guided her across the treacherous bridge.

  Chapter 5

  Rex watched Charlotte being hustled away, but he could do nothing. While he had not been injured in real life as he lay aboard the Romantek ship in the gel, he was injured in the dream. He had a painful gash in his side and his head was dizzy from loss of blood. Fatigue gripped him and begged him to close his eyes, but he couldn't do that yet. He had to get to Marie. She might be killed out of the dream. She might have been raped and left broken. It was his job to get to her and soothe her. Unfortunately, he could barely move.

  In his head, Romantek Operations was going berserk trying to remedy the situation. But they couldn't trace the signal that was coming from outside the command center to their central servers. They hadn't given up and were scrambling to fix the breach.

  In the meantime, Rex sat, gathering his strength. There was nothing he could do about Charlotte. It was plain to see that she was part of the terrorist conspiracy. She'd signaled the pirate vessel to attack them. She'd been an inside operative all along. It hurt, hurt deeply. He'd never known her, not really. The erotic night they'd spent together was undoubtedly her way of getting closer to him to cement her place until the Revenge Tastes Sweet could catch up with them. No, Charlotte was a lost cause, but he might be able to help Marie.

  The attacking ship, flying pirate colors, sailed away from the Stealthy Dog, leaving Rex's ship floundering. Romantek alerted him that they were able to reanimate some of his crew and slowly repair his ship, at least partially. Rex crawled to the rail and inched his way along it until he got to the companionway leading down to the next deck. Romantek told him they were working on repairs to his dream avatar, and he should be feeling better soon.

  It couldn't be soon enough, as far as he was concerned. His wound was throbbing, bleeding less but still debilitating. His body was weak, but he kept putting one foot in front of the other. Once, in the dark hallway not far from the cabin door, he fell to his knees. The shock of his kneecaps hitting the hardwood deck jarred him through and through and he thought he might collapse. But he couldn't. He had a mission. He had to get to Marie.

  Painfully, he got to his feet again, and leaning heavily on the walls, he got to Marie's cabin, where he found the door splintered and hanging by one hinge. She was on the floor near the small table, sprawled half into an overturned chair.

  Rex hurried as much as he could to be by her side, finally leaning over to listen for her breath. She was breathing, thank God, but it was shallow. A bruise was forming along her jawline where she must have been hit.

  He screamed at Romantek to find out how it could be that dreamers had been injured. It wasn't supposed to happen! It was against everything they promised to customers. This was an unmitigated disaster. Romantek Operations answered that the terrorists had overridden the safeguards. They had too much access, too much power, too much knowledge to be anything but insiders. Someone in Operations or fresh from Operations was behind this. Rex told his associate, David, to search through employee records for anyone who'd recently been fired or asked to leave within the past six months. In a business the size of Romantek, that might be quite a number of people. He reminded David that it had to be a programmer, one who’d had access to the process servers. David acknowledged.

  Rex had to focus on Marie. He felt for her pulse, weak but getting stronger. The skin on her face was cool, not deadly cold, but she was pale, and as he touched her, Marie came around a little.

  "Rex?"

  "Yes. It is me, Marie. Tell me how you feel."

  "My head hurts. I am a little dizzy."

  Rex peered into her eyes. Her pupils were slightly uneven. Apparently, she'd suffered a concussion.

  He reminded Romantek non-verbally that they needed to get their avatar repair system fixed even more quickly. Once again, they acknowledged, giving him the first good news he'd had in quite some time: the repair system was online and healing should be taking place rapidly. Even the ship was righting itself.

  Rex dropped all pretense of being other than a twenty-second century dreamer. It was too late to salvage this dream for Marie. Chances are she'd sue the pants off them when she woke.

  "I'm told that you'll be better shortly, Marie. Can you sit up?"

  She nodded, though it appeared painful. Her wig came off as he helped her up, and dark hair streaked with medium blonde fell around her ears. "It is over, oui? The dream?"

  "Almost," he told her. "We seem to be having some technical difficulties. You'll awaken on the Romantek ship as soon as we resolve them."

  "That is well. I've had enough of this particular adventure." She sat heavily in the chair he righted for her. "You are bleeding. Oh, dear, your side!"

  "We're being repaired. This wound is healing already. Your head should feel better shortly."

  "Merde, this is nothing like I expected. It takes adventure to a new and unpleasant level. None of my other RAVEs have been like this."

  "We…ah…there is an outside hand at work with this, Marie. We're on it. The criminal will be caught and punished."

  Her eyes narrowed. "He or she had better be punished."

  "One of each, I think. I believe Charlotte had a part in this."

  "Non! Impossible! I will never believe it."

  He shrugged, choosing not to argue with this very important client who was already having a miserable experience.

  "My head is improving."

  Rex touched his side. The wound was closed, though his breeches were still stained with blood and he had a large gash in his coat, vest and shirt. Those details were unimportant, so long as he could maneuver and operate the ship. He could hear movement on the main deck above.

  "I need to try to catch up with the pirate ship, Marie. Will you be alright here?"

  "Non. I wish to come with you. I want to see the criminal caught. It cannot be Charlotte. I k
now it in my heart."

  Rex wanted to believe that, but the evidence was damning. "Very well. You may come up topside, but please stay out of the way while my men put the ship back together."

  "Oui, mon capitaine."

  Slowly, both still a little unsure on their feet, they made their way up to the main deck, where Rex saw that his first mate was in the midst of repairs. There were still some dead avatars scattered about, but most of the crew had been restored to function and were making ready to sail.

  It took hours to finish repairs on the ship, and Rex was grateful that Romantek hurried it along. Daylight shone by the time they were under way again.

  Romantek was tracking the pirate vessel. They couldn't stop it, but they could set up the Stealthy Dog's pursuit. The enemy ship was sailing about twice as fast as Rex's ship, but, toward afternoon, it stopped, dead in the water, as though it was waiting.

  * * * * *

  Charlotte spent hours in the smelly, dark hold of the Revenge Tastes Sweet. There were rats in the hold, and rotting vegetation somewhere. Several inches of seawater had also accumulated, stagnant and putrid. Sitting on a crate in her ruined clothing, Charlotte took off the foolish wig and finger-combed her hair out. It was a small comfort, but as the hours wore on, it was the only one she had. She had already tried closing her eyes, hoping for the RAVE to reset itself into a new day, but it hadn't worked. The miserable day remained.

  Eventually, one of the pirates opened the hatch and lowered a ladder. "Come up, lady. The cap'n wants to see ye."

  Charlotte's eyes smarted from the daylight streaming into the darkness, but she found the ladder and gratefully climbed up, dragging her sodden skirts around her ankles. Shielding her eyes from the glare with a hand to her forehead, she shivered in the cool sea air. She was led to the captain's cabin in the stern of the ship and unceremoniously shoved to the floor.

  She looked up from her hands and knees to see an average-sized man, fit, trim, standing very still near the stern windows.

  A little sound from her was all it took to have the man turn. His hair was short and straight. He wore no hat. Swarthy skin stretched over high cheekbones, and his expression was almost a sneer. He looked East Indian, which was commonplace enough in the twenty-second century, but not so much on the Atlantic Ocean in 1720. He peered at her, coming closer, taking her chin in his hand and tilting her face toward the light.

  "Who are you?" He addressed the capturing pirate when he demanded, "Who's this? Where's Marie Carthage?"

  "Uh…this ain't the right one? There was two, Cap'n. We had to pick."

  "Fools! You couldn't take them both?" Charlotte couldn't help but notice that the captain's speech was not of 1720. Something was wrong, very wrong. He kicked out at her and caught her upper arm.

  Charlotte crumpled to the floor, but soon came up on both knees, rubbing her bruised bicep.

  "I don't care about this ugly one. Do something with her. Rape her. Kill her if you like."

  "Wait!" Charlotte cried, feeling the pirate sailor approach from behind. "Who are you? What are you doing in this dream?"

  He turned back to her, the brass on his buttons and sword hilt winking at her in the light from the windows. "My name shouldn't matter to you. I am the master here, and that's all you need to know."

  "Why were you after Marie?"

  "She is valuable. You are not." He addressed the sailor. "Get her out of here. And furl the sails, you imbecile. We'll wait for the Stealthy Dog to catch up and then we'll get the right person." A flash of pain crossed his face, making him frown. Charlotte noted it for future use.

  * * * * *

  Once the Stealthy Dog was repaired, it got under way, and what should have been a long distance to catch up with the Revenge went very rapidly. In the space of about three minutes, they could see the pirate vessel only a few kilometers away. Apparently, the terrorists were still in charge of this dream, and they wanted Rex's ship nearby.

  Rex used the scope to look at the pirate ship. On deck, he saw a number of crewmen going about their business, but near the mizzen mast was a man with a ratty topcoat and a tricorne hat that had seen better days. It was not the captain, for Rex would have recognized him, but it might have been the first mate. That didn't matter. Next to him stood Charlotte, tattered—from the battle between the ships, no doubt—but still very much intact. He couldn't tell exactly but by the expression on her face, she looked…frightened. Was it because the Stealthy Dog approached? Was she afraid of what Rex would do to her when she was caught?

  It was perhaps perverse of him, -- maybe he just needed retribution for her betrayal -- but he wanted to hear Charlotte's confession from her own lips. It might not happen. The terrorists might back out of this dream without a moment's notice, but if Rex could get hold of her, he'd rattle her until she told him who she really was. He would make her talk, in whatever way he had to. He was prepared to be ruthless.

  As soon as he was within range, the pirates arranged their sails to come closer. They did not fire their cannons, though they could have. There was something they wanted on the Stealthy Dog, and Rex was sure he knew what that was: Marie Carthage. This time, however, they both wanted something the other had. Rex wanted Charlotte. He didn't hold out much hope that the pirate captain could be captured; surely he was the brains of the operation and would get out before he could be caught. But Charlotte was another thing. She'd played a secondary role in this nightmare, and maybe she could be caught. If caught, she could be compelled to confess who her compatriot was.

  Marie stood by Rex, trembling, but standing tall. She said nothing when Rex ordered his cannons to fire on the pirates. He was immediately told that they had no cannonballs. Damn his enemy! He was still taking charge of the dream!

  The Operations staff wasn't quick or effective enough to prevent the pirates coming close enough to board the Stealthy Dog. It looked like the same battle would be waged again. Rex needed to take that pirate vessel. He need to capture the captain, Charlotte, or, if he was a little lucky, both.

  When the Revenge was close enough, both crews started to board each other's ship.

  Rex went right for the man he perceived as captain of the enemy ship. He had come so close to taking a photo for Romantek's facial recognition software to use, but it had not come to pass…yet. Rex readied his pistols and made sure his cutlass was ready. He yelled to Marie to go barricade herself in Charlotte's old room, and, thankfully, she did.

  Romantek Operations reassured him that they were working toward stabilizing the system and getting the Revenge out of there. It was a tricky situation because they didn't want to simply throw out the Revenge's captain. They wanted to catch him. To do that, they needed to trace his signal from the avatar on the pirate vessel to its source. The enemy captain had to stay alive and engaged for as long as Rex could manage it.

  Once onboard the Revenge, Rex shot two of the pirate crew—they were not real people, so although it sickened him to shoot constructs that looked and acted so much like humans, it was shoot or be killed. He had to keep the fact that the terrorist was still in charge of his own ship in mind. For all he knew, Rex could be killed out of the dream and then the pirate would escape with Marie in tow. Rex had to keep Marie safe.

  Charlotte screamed nearby, and Rex turned his head. She stood with both hands over her mouth, her eyes wide and terror-filled. She must be afraid to be caught, though why she didn't just drop out of the dream, he didn't know. Maybe she was bloodthirsty and needed to see Rex killed. Rex dropped his spent pistols and drew his cutlass. The Revenge's captain's pistols were useless as well, so he drew his sword and began hacking and slashing his way toward the Stealthy Dog and his prize. If his own men got in his way, he killed them as well.

  Rex matched swords with the pirate captain, looking him square in the eye as he did so. At one brief pause, Rex blinked a photo of the man's face. If it was his real face and he was in Romantek's database, he'd be pursued outside of the dream. But there was no guarantee h
e looked like his true self.

  Rex had no fencing experience, but apparently, the same could be said for the pirate captain. They flailed and swung wildly at each other. Fighting for his life and Marie's, Rex managed to corner the enemy near the rail of the Revenge. Charlotte was nearby, still wide-eyed. Rex couldn't afford to take his eyes off his assailant long enough to snap a photo of Charlotte, though he would have liked to trace her as well. If Rex could just subdue the pirate, he could grab Charlotte and make his way back to the Stealthy Dog.

  Romantek Operations was doing its best to track the pirate captain's face down, but there was some obscured code in the database. It looked like the terrorist had thought of that, too, and was doing everything he could to hamstring Operations.

  Rex parried and slashed, dancing on his feet as he fought. He cut through the pirate's top coat, and though he didn't draw blood, he did get a vicious curse from the man. It appeared that he could be angered, and Rex could use that anger against him. Cornered, the man redoubled his efforts to harm Rex, and, indeed, he did slash Rex's arm. But Romantek had restored Rex's avatar enough to make him heal immediately. Aside from some blood on his sleeve, he was none the worse for the strike.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Charlotte moving. Trying to run away, no doubt. But instead of running, she grabbed a coat off a dying sailor and ran toward the fight, not away. Rex couldn't afford to be more distracted. The enemy was moving away from the rail again, beating down Rex with as much vigor as he could manage. He called to his men to go on board the Stealthy Dog and get the woman. The men were scrambling to save their own lives, programmed to be distractions and not to be orderly. If crewmen from the Revenge Tastes Sweet went onto the Stealthy Dog with a mission to capture Marie, Rex couldn't tell. But the crew must know they had a purpose for attacking Rex's ship, so it seemed likely one or more of them had been tasked with taking Marie at any cost.

  Rex could not let that happen.

  As he parried and thrust, Charlotte moved behind the pirate and, suddenly, wrapped a stolen jacket around the man's head. Astonished, Rex knocked the pirate's sword away and tackled him to the ground. Hooded by the jacket, the man was no match for the larger Rex and was quickly subdued.