“For a snip of a girl from the backwoods—figuratively and literally—you can be annoyingly insightful,” subvocalized the granda tartly. “As a matter of fact, if you really want to know—“ Kati had a feeling he was going to tell her even if she did not want to know, “—you weren’t my choice of a host. Your little friend, Murra, was my choice. He would have been much more manageable as a host than you are. But, when we are unhosted, to coin a term, what you humans call The Brain Planet, the parent to all us nodes, has influence over us, no matter how far away we are from it. Dear Mama, or Papa, however you want to think of a whole planet, refused to let me enter the boy, insisting that you were to be my host this time around. You would take me to Federation territory, Mama said. You would take me away from the criminals.”
“And I would keep you from murdering people.”
“Well, yes. No doubt you get a gold star from Mama for that.”
“And Murra could not have done that.”
“Right. A lovely, easy-going boy, that. I would have had a free hand.”
Kati shuddered. Much better that she was saddled with this wart of a node than Murra. It would have destroyed Murra, she was sure of it.
“Your Mama knew what she was doing,” she subvocalized with certainty.
“Yes.” The subvocalization was petulant, but resigned. “Mama always knows what she’s doing.”
*****
The storm blew over doing no damage to the ship. Kati saw Captain Lomen in the galley when she went there for the first hot meal after the blow. He was jubilant; according to him the ship had made it through the storm marvellously well, considering the time of the year and their location on the ocean.
“I’m not saying that the worst is over by any means,” he explained to her, sitting down across the table from her. “But I wasn’t expecting to get this far into the trip without being blown about in a serious manner. Another few days and we’ll be getting close to the first of the Low Islands. They’ll provide us with a bit of shelter from the storms. Unless the weather’s doing something really strange, things won’t get scary again until we’re past the Islands and have to cross the open sea to the Northern Continent.”
Kati dragged her mental globe of the world into the front of her mind and took a quick look at the geography involved. From what the Kitfi Farseer had told Mikal and her, and also from Dorn’s information, she gathered that the Low Islands were a remnant of a continent, once called the Low Continent (named with this world’s fondness for sticking to the facts) that had lain between the Southern and the Northern Continents, having been something like a large stepping stone between the two. It had straddled the planetary equator and therefore must have been a hot place before The Disaster. Now the islands that were left were basically mountains rising out of the ocean, and according to the snippets of information she had, their climate was tropical but moderated by all the water surrounding them. And the ocean floor was not that far down; it was, after all, what had been land before the devastation.
“How long does it take us to sail past the islands?” she asked the Captain.
He shrugged.
‘’That depends,” he said. “The fastest we could do it would be about a month. And that would be with no stops, and we will do a few stops—we have to, to pick up fresh water, fresh food—so in practice, it will be longer than that. Not more than a month and a half, though, I’d say.”
“Well, I guess we passengers will be along for the ride, no matter what,” she said with a smile. “We can’t exactly decide that we’ve had enough, and grow wings and fly.”
Captain Lomen chuckled.
“No, you cannot do that,” he agreed. “Although I have had a few passengers who, when we reached the Sickle Island, said ‘That’s enough of sailing’, and simply got off the ship and refused to get on it again.”
“Interesting,” Kati said. “This Sickle Island is a nice place then?”
“It’s pretty nice. No beaches, not much flat land, but a nice town built into the hillside and vineyards all over the place. They make some really good wines. The island is sickle-shaped (‘No surprise there,’ thought Kati), and the inside of the sickle is on the leeward side, so the climate there is quite tolerable.”
“Hm. We were drinking a wine called The Sickle Island Red in Delta. It was pretty good.”
“We unloaded a fair supply of it in Delta when we got there during this trip, so we probably made up for what you and your friends drank,” the Captain laughed. “But if you’re interested, I could show you, or direct you, if you prefer, to a nice place or two where the wine flows and the food is good, once we reach Portobay.”
“Thanks. Might take you up on that. Portobay?”
“That’s the name of the town. It’s a nice town; you’ll see.”
*****
“Well, Kati, I saw you getting friendly with the Captain at the midday meal,” Jocan said when Kati saw him next. “Is that a good idea?”
“Is what a good idea?” Her eyes blazed. “I was just talking to him, for heaven’s sake!”
Kati had meant to slip into her cabin without alerting anyone to her presence in the passenger section, but the door of the room across from hers was open, and Jocan and Mikal were in. What the heck was Jocan up to with his comments?
“Jocan,” Mikal broke in, “keep your nose on your own face. Everyone knows what you and Rosine are up to so don’t go questioning other people’s doings.”
Jocan rounded on Mikal even as Kati stood in the doorway looking at them.
“What do you mean by that, Mikal?” he snarled. “What does everyone know about Rosine and me? And whose business is it anyway?”
“Well, well, well.” Mikal’s eyebrows had shot up. “Touchy, aren’t we? Don’t forget that you and I share this cabin so I know perfectly well when you spend the night elsewhere. And I don’t really care what you and Rosine do when you spend the night with her; I’m just saying that you’re not in a position to needle Kati about any of her doings. Get it?”
“I was just teasing her,” Jocan muttered sullenly.
Kati did not like the way this was going any better than she had liked Jocan’s original question. To have Mikal defend her right—to do what?—had definitely not been what she was looking for. Not that she had been looking for anything!
“Whew,” she said aloud, mopping her brow. “What exactly happened here?”
Mikal laughed.
“Sorry,” he said. “It looked like the two of you might be getting into a spat and I thought I’d forestall it. Maybe it wasn’t called for.”
Kati did a full body stretch, reaching for the ceiling, and then the opposing walls of the cabin.
“You know,” she said, “Captain Lomen said that we’ll be landing at Portobay, Sickle Island, pretty soon. I think it’s a very good thing. We can all get off this boat for a little while; get out of one another’s hair. I think we’re starting to have cabin fever, all of us.”
“Cabin fever? What’s that?” queried Jocan. “I’ve never heard of it.”
“It happens when you’re stuck in a small space with the same people for an extended period of time,” Kati explained. “It’s hard on the nerves; folks get irritable with one another, start making a big deal of small things, picking at nits, and so forth.”
“Thinking of small spaces; Kati, I believe we’re allowed on the deck again.” Mikal got up off the bunk he had been seated on, brushed by Jocan and grabbed Kati’s arm. “Let’s you and me go get some fresh air and leave Jocan to dream of Rosine.”
It was the best idea Kati had heard in days.
*****
“So is it true that you’re having a thing going on with our Captain?” Mea asked Kati the following morning at breakfast.
Kati rolled her eyes. She was perfectly aware that all the eaters around her and Mea were listening to the exchange curiously.
“No, I don’t have a thing going on with the Captain,” she denied flatly.
Then, with a sigh, sh
e asked Mea: “Did Jocan start that rumour?”
“Not really.” Mea eyed Kati inquisitively. “A number of people saw you talking with Captain Lomen yesterday, and I guess it occurred to a few of them that they had seen the two of you in conversation fairly frequently. I guess they just assumed that it meant something.”
“An attractive young woman, seen chatting with the unmarried Captain. The rumours will fly.” Susana had brought her bowl of cereal to the seat next to Mea, and she sat down with a smile for Kati.
“Baseless rumours,” Kati said shortly.
“I think a lot of us are wondering about you,” Susana added in a kindly tone of voice. “At first I assumed that Mikal and you were a couple, and I suppose that it was a common assumption. But you are obviously not. For all that Mikal nursed you when you were sick—I heard about that later, once I was well, of course—he’s bunking with Jocan and you’ve got a cabin to yourself. The explanation for that, I understand, is that you two were thrown together by circumstances, and have actually only known one another since you’ve been on our world.”
“And the reason why you’re sticking together is that you’re both looking for a way off this planet,” Mea threw in.
“Since you’re not committed to Mikal in any way except for this one purpose, I think everyone tends to assume that you’re free to form other associations as you please,” Susana continued. “So some people get a little over imaginative, and they pair you up with the Captain before you have had a chance to even consider the possibility.”
Kati stared into her cereal bowl. Minutes ago she had been very hungry. Now, with only a couple of spoonfuls eaten, she was not. She was annoyed.
“Look.” She realized that she would have to attempt an explanation. “Thing is, I’m just not the sort of person who can enter a romantic relationship knowing that it has no future. And before Mikal and I escaped from the slave ship I promised those who I got to know there, that if I made it to civilization I would get help for them, too, one way or another. So I’m not in a position to even think about anything in terms of a lasting relationship.”
“Ah.” Susana stared at her. “You keep astonishing me. Jocan’s been telling all these stories about your exploits during the time he has known you; how you three evaded capture by those who were chasing you, and all that involved. Then you save me from impending death using talents that even you claim not to understand, and now you are saying that you won’t get involved in a relationship because it might interfere with your ability to keep promises that you made to those in distress.”
“Don’t make me sound like a frigging saint,” Kati objected crossly. “I do what I have to do. And I do it the best way I can, that’s all.”
Susana chuckled.
“No, my dear young woman, that’s what is so refreshing about you. You’re not in the least saintly, just quite amazing.”
Kati began to spoon up what was left of her porridge. She had just seen Mikal and Jocan enter the galley with Captain Lomen, and she was determined to leave the dining area before they decided to join Susana, Mea and her, at their table. She had a sneaking suspicion that the conversation would only get more irksome when that happened.
*****
She was right about that. However, since she had managed to finish her food and slip out of the galley while the three fellows were still gathering up their breakfasts, she was enjoying the morning air on the deck while her friends had their chat about her. If her ears were burning at the time, she never mentioned it to anyone.
“Good morning, ladies,” the Captain greeted Susana and Mea, laying his tray on the table in the very spot that Kati had vacated only moments ago.
Jocan took the vacant seat beside him while Mikal sat on the opposite side of the table, beside Susana.
“Good morning, Captain,” Susana said brightly while Mea echoed her. “And good morning, Jocan and Mikal. It’s good to see that you all have good appetites this morning.”
Her eyes were on their trays; the Captain’s had a plate heaped with meaty breakfast fare, Jocan’s was similar, and just as full, while Mikal had opted for a somewhat lighter helping.
Captain Lomen laughed.
“Hard-working sailors and growing boys need their victuals,” he said cheerfully. “And I hope you are eating your share, Mistress Susana. We were all pretty worried about you during your illness, you know.”
“Oh, I know, Captain,” Susana responded. “Mea here has let me know, time and time again, how inconsiderate I was to cause such worry and fear.”
“Oh, Mama, that’s not nice,” Mea protested. “I have not been nagging you. And you did truly scare us all.”
“Just teasing, Mea.” Susana patted her daughter’s hand. “So Mikal, the one time I asked Kati what it was she did to fix me up, she was pretty coy about it. She said that she didn’t really understand it herself, and that it had been your idea that she might be able to do it. Well, explain, please, if you can.”
Mikal took a sip from his water cup and speared a piece of tuber on his (two-tined) fork.
“Kati has some PSI powers, it turns out,” he said before bringing the tuber to his mouth. “Do you know what that is?”
“Controlling matter with the mind—something like that, isn’t it?” was Susana’s response.
“I thought it had to do with the ability to read minds, pass information from one mind directly to another,” said the Captain.
“Seances,” added Mea. “Mediums contacting the dead loved ones of mourners, finding lost objects and such.”
“Okay,” Mikal agreed in between bites. “You’re all correct. Those are all aspects of PSI powers. And there’s more to them than that, too, but I guess you’ve made it clear that you know what I’m talking about.
“Next question: are you familiar with the Federation translation nodes?”
“I am,” Susana answered. “They are live things, implanted into the heads of people, and they grow to mesh with the person’s nervous system, making it possible for that person to learn to understand and speak foreign languages very quickly and accurately.”
“You are well-informed.”
Mikal looked towards the other three in the group, they each nodded their heads, acknowledging that they too had heard of translation nodes. Good, Mikal thought to himself. This was a good sign for his and Kati’s purposes; if there was this much familiarity on this drowned world with Federation concepts, they had to be reasonably close to Federation territory. They would find the beacon they were searching for.
“We’re not complete idiots, nor are we completely out of touch, even on this benighted world,” commented the Captain. “Although it is pretty clear that we’ll never get to the stars on our own; not after having endured the devastation of The Disaster.”
“Making it to the stars is not all it has been claimed to be, in any case,” said Mikal. “We in the Federation haven’t found paradise; we just have to deal with problems on a grander scale than do people who know only a single world.”
“However, getting back to Kati...,” Susana prompted him.
“Getting back to Kati; her translation node is a rather unique one. The nodes can be and are passed from a person to another person at death, but usually they pass through only a few lives and then return to their spawner, The Brain Planet. Every now and then, however, one remains with the sentient races for a much longer time, millennia sometimes. These nodes are known as granda nodes and they have an accumulation of knowledge that they have gleaned over all their implantations, and are prized for that knowledge. Kati’s node is one of those.”
Mikal stopped talking to shovel food into his mouth.
“And...,” Prompted Susana as he chewed.
“It occurred to me that the granda node might have the knowledge to use Kati’s PSI abilities to figure out what was wrong with you, and to correct the problem. So I encouraged Kati to give it a try, and it turned out that I was right. That’s it.”
Mikal returned to hi
s eating.
“That’s it?” This was the Captain. “Pretty big ‘it’.”
“My thought exactly.” Mea was rising from her chair as she spoke. “However, I must leave and go check up on Evo. He likes to sleep in; doesn’t eat breakfast. But—well, a wife’s work is never done.”
She picked up her dishes to take them to the wash-up counter on her way out and left. The others forgot her as soon as she was gone.
“But if Kati can’t explain how it works, I guess we’ll never really know what ‘it’ amounts to,” Susana said thoughtfully.
“I don’t really think it matters,” Mikal responded, “since none of the rest of us could ever do what she did, anyway.”
“That’s about it,” commented Captain Lomen in a mournful voice. “That brand of healing is never going to be the one we use every day.”
*****
“Expect the gossip to be more about your healing abilities than about the lack of your love life,” Mikal said to Kati later on, when he had found her on the deck, staring into the distance where the water met the sky.
“What?” Kati dragged herself out of thought to pay attention to him. “What are you talking about?”
“Oh, you were the topic of conversation at breakfast, this morning,” Mikal answered. “Thought that you might want to know what everyone is talking about.”
“What everyone has wanted to do, lately,” Kati said sharply, “is pair me up with our Captain. I tried to dissuade Susana this morning from entertaining the idea.”
“You must have succeeded. She was off that topic, and into your healing abilities.”
“I guess that’s a little less annoying, but sometimes I wish all the gossips would find someone else to talk about for a change.”
“Oh they do that too.” Mikal grinned at her. “Jocan and Rosine are a favoured topic, too, believe me.”
“But no-one talks about you?”
“I guess grown men on their own are boring,” Mikal laughed. “We’re only interesting if we can be linked to an attractive woman.”
“Oh well. Maybe you can find an attractive woman on Sickle Island,” Kati teased. “I hear there are some such there.”
Escape from the Drowned Planet Page 30