by Paul Kidd
Shaani slid down a backstay and landed on the deck. She pushed through cowering crowds of tribesmen and stuck her head into the control cabin.
“What’s minimum safe distance?” Xoota yelled over her shoulder.
“Ten kilometers.”
“Did you just look that up?”
“I can’t turn on the computer, or the thing might get taken over.” Shaani checked the trip meter. It stood at eight point nine. “Ten Ks. Then we need all sails down and hit the decks.”
Eleven kilometers from the blast zone, there was an outcrop of rocks. Xoota steered the ship and parked behind the rocks. Sails were dropped. The villagers ran into the boulders to take cover. Xoota parked the ship stern on to the distant starport and dropped her sun lenses down over her goggles. Wig-wig and Budgie hid themselves belowdecks. Rustle put on his three pairs of sunglasses and sat on deck, grinning eagerly away and hoping for a magnificent big bang.
With her own dark goggles on and strapped into her armor, Shaani tied down everything on deck.
Long minutes passed.
The lag became a tad embarrassing. Some of the villagers peeked their heads up out of the rocks. Xoota strapped herself into her armor, checked that fire buckets were filled and ready, then edged over to stand beside Shaani.
They both looked to the east, toward the starport. Nothing was happening. There were clouds blowing out to sea, butterflies flapping through the grass, but no boom.
Xoota hesitantly cleared her throat. “I suppose—”
The eastern horizon flashed a brilliant white.
Seconds later the ground rumbled. Everyone who had ears felt them stab with pain as air pressure slammed across the plains. Dirt burst from the ground as the shock wave hit the rock outcrop. The tops of the Sand Shark’s masts whipped in the sudden breeze, snapping stays and cables. Xoota and Shaani hit the deck, holding tight to the planks.
It was hard to hear. There was a horrible ringing sound in deafened ears, a distant rumbling as the explosion did its thing.
Shaani lifted her head to look at Xoota in inquiry. “You suppose what?”
“Oh, nothing.”
Well, they were alive. Benek’s army was gone. The clone hordes were incinerated. As was the treasure horde of the ages, a whole starport full of ships, armor, power plants, engines, force field generators, sonic fences, ray guns …
Shaani seemed to be thinking along similar lines. She lifted a finger into the air. “Rustle found some goodies. And I did nick a glove off Benek’s armor.”
“Oh, wacko.” Xoota sat up. “So at least we got some treasure.”
“And Wig-wig’s high score on the computer game remains unchallenged.”
“That’s true.”
A huge mushroom cloud rose to the east. Actually it was damned impressive. The fallout would nourish lots of colorful mutations among the local wildlife for many years to come. So again, that was something.
Xoota frowned. “So no broadcast power. Meaning the desalination plant no longer works. Meaning Watering Hole is toast.”
“No, no. I’ve had an idea on that score.” Shaani sat on deck to watch the atomic cloud spreading overhead. “The teleporter unit. The controls on the side let you set it to act as a filter. So we wire the doors open. Then set it to only teleport water molecules, not salt. Then we chuck one end in the sea, and the other end pours pure water out into the pipeline. Sends it happily all the way over to Watering Hole. QED.”
Xoota looked at her with a level eye. “Do you know how much trouble we could have saved if you’d thought of that earlier?”
“True. But look at all the fun we would have missed.” The rat waved a hand. “And Rustle did get to eat Benek’s head.”
“True, true.” Xoota stood and cracked her back. She felt as though she could sleep for a hundred years. “Shall I put the kettle on?”
Shaani brightened. “That would be spiffy.”
They had a well-found ship and a vast world to explore but not right that minute.
Overhead, the mushroom cloud spread magnificently up into the atmosphere, bowling off toward the sea. Xoota watched it rise. “Are we in danger here?”
The white rat twiddled her fingers. “Oh, it’s only a little fallout. Don’t be such a baby.”
“Mmm.” Xoota headed down to the hold. “Even so, let’s head downstairs until this one blows over.”
After all, they couldn’t all be lab rats.