Escape from the Drowned Planet

by Helena Puumala

“So friend, granda,” she subvocalized while sitting in her room’s one comfortable chair, with the book open on her lap. “What can you tell me about the writing in this book?”

  “The book is meant to be a guide to the city we’re in, right? That’s what the woman who ran the stall where you bought it told you, correct?” The granda was looking through her eyes, Kati knew, at the book, a little doubtfully.

  “Indeed,” she replied feeling a little doubtful herself. Perhaps the node would not be of much help with written language.

  “Let’s open it to a picture that we are quite familiar with,” the granda suggested.

  Kati flipped about until she came to a drawing of the Portside Inn. The caption consisted of what looked to her like one long chicken scratch.

  “Well, I’d say that the rather interesting squiggle must refer to ‘Portside Inn’,” the granda subvocalized.

  Kati laughed.

  “Yeah, guess what? I had come to that very conclusion myself, kiddo. Got any more good ideas?”

  “How about a picture of a restaurant?” the granda suggested. Kati had the feeling that it was starting to get interested in the project.

  She flipped around in the book until she came to two pictures of the place at which she, Mikal and Jocan had breakfasted that morning. One of the images depicted the outside, the other one the inside, of the restaurant. There were two squiggles under each picture, one long and one short. The long ones were identical; the short ones differed.

  “We’re getting somewhere,” commented the granda. “My guess: ‘Koko’s Eatery’ for the long piece, and ‘Outside’ and ‘Inside’ for the shorter ones.”

  They continued in this fashion all morning, trying to make sense of the writing in the book. The granda admitted openly that the person in whose brain it had spent some time on this planet, more than four hundred years ago, had been unable to read the local script, seemingly a very common state of affairs on the world. Therefore this effort was as new to it, as it was to Kati herself. Except, of course, for the fact that the node had known many other existences inside various sentient brains, and in many of those the host had been literate. Thus it did have knowledge of many different writing systems.

  After the two joined minds had studied the book for some time, as a matter of fact, while they were going through it in detail for the third time, the granda made an observation that Kati thought might be quite pertinent.

  “I think that this is turning out to be a form of writing where, what you and I have been calling squiggles, depict phrases rather than individual words. Or perhaps it would make more sense to talk about constellations of meaning rather than phrases. Let’s take our first restaurant example. Instead of ‘Koko’s Eatery’, maybe the writing should be translated as ‘the place that Koko owns and where you can eat prepared food if you pay for it’. What we called ‘Outside’ would be more like ‘an outside view of the eatery’ and ‘Inside’ would be read more fully as ‘an inside view of the place’, or something like that, if you see what I’m getting at.”

  “Interesting,” Kati subvocalized. “The reader would fill in some of the words then, is that what you’re saying?’

  “Yeah. It is a more interactive process than reading a language like your own, in which sounds are depicted separately.”

  “But how would you write poetry in a language like this? Or novels, even?”

  “Interactivity, my dear young woman. The reader takes a larger role in the process, in fact fills the holes through the use of her own imagination.”

  “That would mean that the poem I read is not quite the same as it would be if, say, Mikal read it.”

  “Right. However, that’s true in your own language, too, to a great extent. So it’s not all that different, really.”

  Kati’s head swam.

  “I’m going to have to take a breather,” she told the granda. “I don’t think I can absorb any more of this right now.”

  “That’s hardly surprising. It’s middle of the afternoon. We’ve been going at this for hours without a pause. You need to eat; it’s way past mealtime.”

  “Hey, those rats! I thought that Mikal and Jocan would come and get me for the midday meal! Where are they?”

  “Who knows? Likely in an alehouse or a tavern, drinking away their boredom. I suggest that you do the afternoon harbour walk; don’t count on them to do it.”

  *****

  Instead of going to one of the restaurants around the Portside Inn to eat, Kati walked to the nearest market; it had a stall that sold meat pies and sweet fruit drinks prepared by the proprietress in her own kitchen. She lived nearby and her teenage son and daughter brought the pies and the drinks to the market and sold them to the patrons. Kati, Mikal and Jocan had eaten the pastries and found them delicious, the day they had done their shopping, the morning of which day Dorn and Loka had left for River City.

  After eating her late lunch while seated on a bench at the edge of the market, Kati returned to the book stall to see if there were any books that would be of further use in her quest to learn to read the local script. Perhaps she could find a children’s reader, she mused to herself.

  “Did you find the book you bought yesterday to be of any use to you?” asked the woman who ran the shop.

  Obviously she remembered Kati quite well. Which was not surprising, considering that the customers to this stall were a mere trickle, when compared to most of the other establishments. The inhabitants of Delta were not readers, apparently. Possibly they could not afford to be; the book that Kati had already bought had set her back a fair number of coppers. If she had not gotten interested in learning to read the squiggly script, on account of the progress she and the granda had already made, she would not have entertained the idea of buying a second book.

  “Well, I’m kind of new at this,” she said carefully. “I was wondering if you have any beginner’s books, perhaps something that a school-child might use to start the learning process?”

  “You mean, a school-child who was being taught reading?” asked the proprietress.

  “Yes,” answered Kati, biting back a snappy retort to the effect that wasn’t that rather obvious? What did she know after all? Maybe it was not obvious. Maybe all kinds of pupils on this world went to school to learn arithmetic, or art, or history and geography, and never were taught to read.

  “Something like this?”

  The woman pulled out a large book from a shelf under the counter between them.

  “We don’t get much call for these at this time of the year, and they are expensive, so I don’t keep but one or two on hand,“ she explained as she opened it carefully to show Kati elaborately drawn pictures of common daily activities, with long chicken-scratched captions underneath each picture.

  Kati flipped through parts of the book.

  “What do you think?” she subvocalized to the granda.

  “If you’re serious about learning the lingo, yes, this would certainly help,” the granda subvocalized back. “It’ll cost a pretty penny, though, at least a silver, I’d say.”

  “How much?” Kati asked the stall manager.

  “I’ll let it go for a silver,” the woman said thoughtfully. “If I don’t let you have it, it’ll sit on my shelf until next spring, most likely. In the spring when students begin classes we sell them for a silver plus four coppers, but I don’t expect to get that much at this time of the year.”

  Kati parted with a silver, and took the book back to her room at the Inn. She knocked on the door of Mikal and Jocan’s room but received no response. Probably the granda was right and the two of them were whiling the day away nursing beers in some drinking establishment. From what she had observed that was a fairly normal pastime for the folks of Delta, when they were not at work.

  “Well if most people can’t read, I guess it makes sense that they’d gravitate to where they can socialize,” she muttered to herself as she prepared to go for the harbour walk.

  *****

  Th
ere was a large, ocean-going vessel docked in the port.

  As soon as she was quite sure that she was not hallucinating the ship, Kati hurried to the Port Control Office to check with Maric, the clerk.

  “Yes, indeed,” said Maric with a grin, after ostentatiously checking his notes. “The Seabird will be sailing for Oasis City on the Northern Continent in three days. It will be carrying a load of wood to the Oasis City and will also take on paying passengers, subject to the Captain’s approval. Shall I make a note to tell Captain Lomen, when he drops by tomorrow, that three people are looking for passage to the Northern Continent?”

  “Please do that,” said Kati.

  She watched curiously as Maric wrote squiggles on a note pad of fine paper on his desk. A clerk, obviously had to be literate even in this society. She wondered if he was getting paid a premium for his knowledge and skill.

  “Do you know at what time tomorrow the Captain of The Seabird will be coming by?” she then inquired.

  “Probably in the morning. I’ll tell him to be on the lookout for you, your man and the boy. You’ll be negotiating your passage fee with Captain Lomen; we in this office have nothing to do with that.”

  Kati already knew that from the information Dorn and Loka had given Mikal, Jocan and her. She thanked Maric and left, wondering if she could find her errant companions to tell them the news, or if she should just wait until they showed up at the Inn.

  She had decided to spend some time with her new book in the room when she was stopped by Mistress Ana on her way inside.

  “Your friends were here,” she said, “looking for you. They asked me to tell you to go to Jo’s Tavern and Eatery; that is where they are supping tonight.”

  Ana had a slightly amused expression on her face; it set the warning bells in Kati’s head clanging.

  “Are the rascals drunk?” she asked Mistress Ana, rolling her eyes.

  “Somewhat,” Mistress Ana replied. “Not enough to be obnoxious; just enough to be rather silly.”

  That seemed to be all that she was going to say. Kati went back outside and set off towards Jo’s Tavern and Eatery. She had not eaten at that particular establishment yet, but Dorn and Loka had pointed it out to the three of them as one of the reliable, nearby restaurants; this one having the tavern part open to the eating area, the wait staff crossing from one to the other at will.

  She walked into a noisy hubbub as soon as she opened the door. Jo’s was clearly a busy place, even at this hour of the late afternoon, and in Delta’s winter.

  She scanned the place; where the heck were those two?

  “Can I help you, Mistress?” One of the waitresses had stopped to talk to her on her way with a tray filled with empty tankards.

  “Yeah. My friends left word that I was to meet them here. A man, and a boy with red hair and pale skin. I don’t see them....” She was studying the tables with two men, each, at them, without success. Jocan should have been easy to pick out with that unusual colouring; where were they?

  “Oh, they’re in the back of the room,” the girl said, confidently. “Just walk there and you’ll see them. There’s another couple of people at the table with them.” The girl went on her way towards the kitchen with her empties.

  Kati did as suggested. She made her way among the tables, zigzagging to avoid patrons who had pushed their chairs away from the tables, and others who were communicating with their arms as well as their mouths. At the back, she spied Jocan’s red head at a corner table, and then Mikal’s golden brown one. With the two, there were two young women, and all four were laughing uproariously at something one of them had said.

  Damn! What the hell did the two of them think they were doing? Had they taken to chasing skirts together in this back of the beyond place? Surely Mikal, a grown man and a Federation Peace Officer, had more sense than that!

  Kati tamped down on anger that suddenly was overwhelming her. Her first impulse was to turn around and walk away; what did she care whether they found out about the ship today—or ever! But—she, too, was an adult; she had an obligation to behave in a civilized manner. However, the two of them would feel her disapproval, she decided. It was one thing to socialize and get a little tipsy; it was entirely another to get drunk and pick up local women!

  She continued making her way among the tables, chairs, and patrons, towards the corner. Jocan had his back to her but Mikal saw her coming. He got up and fetched another chair from a pile next to the wall and set it beside his. Jocan turned to greet her and the two young women at the table gazed upon her curiously.

  Kati sat down primly on the chair that Mikal had provided, and lay her elbows upon the table.

  “So did you party guys remember to check the harbour this afternoon?” she asked, with an edge to her voice.

  “Oh, no,” Jocan said, rising, “I guess I better....”

  “No need,” Kati interrupted coldly. “I already did it.”

  “That’s why you weren’t in your room when we came by,” Mikal said with a cheerful demeanour. “I presume Ana gave you the message.”

  “Well, now that you’re here, Kati, I guess we can eat,” Jocan said, looking a little anxious. “Maybe I can go and see if I can find the waitress who was serving us.” His rear had left his chair again.

  “Oh, let me come with you Jocan,” the younger of the women at the table said, also getting up. Kati realized that she was not much older than Jocan was.

  Whether or not that was a good thing she could not at the moment decide.

  The two of them rushed off in search of wait staff and Kati was left at the table with Mikal and the second, slightly older woman, a dark-haired, pretty , tiny thing that made her feel big, gangly and awkward.

  As suddenly as her anger had come it melted away, leaving her with a taste of ashes in her mouth and wanting to cry, she did not know why.

  “Well, Kati, there was something else, right?”

  Mikal’s voice was gentle, and not in the least bit drunk. He was watching her face; she lowered her eyes to the table. He placed a steadying hand on her shoulder, and that made it harder not to cry for some reason. She swallowed the lump in her throat, and tried to blink away the tears before attempting to talk.

  “There’s a ship in port,” she managed, finally.

  “Yeah, we heard.” He was grinning at her. “Remember how the rumour mill works on this world? It’s not leaving for three days; plenty of time to make arrangement to sail on her.”

  “Oh. Well I talked to Maric at the Port Office; he said that he’d mention to Captain Lomen that we would be looking for passage, when the Captain drops in at the office tomorrow.”

  “That’s good, Kati. You’ve done well, as is usual. What about your reading exercises?”

  “Took most of the day,” she replied ruefully. “I think I made a tiny bit of progress. I also spent a lot of money on another book, a sort of a reader for school children.”

  “Are you learning to read?”

  The young woman across the table from her stared at Kati with her mouth open.

  “But reading is really hard,” she protested. “Hardly anybody bothers, unless you’re going to be a clerk, or a record-keeper, or something like that!”

  “Kati, allow me to introduce Cira. She is chaperoning her sister Sara who went off in search of staff, with Jocan. Cira, this is Kati, the woman who has saved my life a couple of times now, and you know, I don’t think I’ve even thanked her for it yet.”

  “Mikal and Jocan were telling Sara and me about all your adventures,” Cira said, wide-eyed. “You must be an awfully brave woman to help haul a man in a coma to safety through sewers. And then to shoot that bad man in the shoulder before he could shoot anyone else! Wow! I think that if it had been me, I would have crawled into some hole and stayed there!”

  “Probably not,” Kati responded to that, slowly. “You know, you just do what you have to do. I didn’t have much time to think about what I was going to do; I just did what had to be done at the t
ime. My guess is that anyone would do that.”

  Cira shook her head. “I don’t think so,” she protested. “Some of us would run away and hide.”

  She leaned over the table, her eyes aglow.

  “Think about it, Kati. Here you are, learning to read, even though you don’t have to. Nobody’s insisting on it. Why are you doing it?”

  Kati shrugged. “I thought it might come in useful, since we have to travel across much of this world. It’s a way to get information.”

  “So you’re getting yourself ready for other situations that you might have to face, no?” Cira smiled at her. “If I was to find myself far from home having adventures, I’d want you with me.”

  Kati did not know how to respond to this, but luckily, she did not have to. Jocan and Sara appeared at the table with a waitress, all of them laden down with large trays.

  “We thought we’d speed things up by getting food and drink right away,” Jocan said cheerfully.

  He and Sara, along with the helpful waitress spread the bounty from the trays onto the table. The food looked like simple but tasty fare, much like the food in most of the eateries on Delta seemed to be, and there was a glass of Sickle Island Red for Kati and another one for Mikal. The others had new tankards of ale to replace the now empty ones on the table. Grinning her thanks to Jocan, Kati settled in to eating her meal. She felt much better already.

  *****

  The next day, Mikal accompanied her to Nilda’s shop to exchange another gold coin—this one supplied from Mikal’s boot—into smaller denominations. One of the things Mikal had been doing the previous day at Jo’s was sounding out the locals about how much it cost to take passage on a ship to the Northern Continent. He told Kati that the consensus seemed to be that the price fluctuated between a half a gold, or six silvers, and a whole gold, per person, depending on the ship and the time of the year of travel. Since it was winter and slow time for ships and travellers, the timing ought to work in their favour. Captain Lomen was a respected seafarer and his ship was deemed a comfortable one; those facts would tend to increase the fares.

  “I’ll leave the haggling with Captain Lomen to you, Kati,” Mikal said at the end of his explanation, “since you have much more experience with money economics than I do. I’m afraid that since we’re not short of coins, I tend to figure that a gold a person makes perfectly good sense.”