Escape from the Drowned Planet

by Helena Puumala

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  The Seabird arrived at the docks of Portobay, The Sickle Island, late in the afternoon.

  All the other boats docked at Portobay were small, local fishing vessels and the arrival of a large, oceangoing ship had brought a small crowd to the harbour to welcome it, in spite of the brisk wind which Captain Lomen was making use of to bring his boat in smoothly and swiftly.

  The passengers had all crowded onto the deck to watch the town approach, no doubt to the annoyance of the crew whose members had tasks to perform. Kati and Mikal had snagged a spot near the rail where they were not much in the way of the working crew. Having spent as much time as possible on the deck during the crossing so far, they had learned the places where their presence was the least obnoxious to the workers around them. Now they were the focus of a group made up of all nine passengers; this time even the secretive Voit, who travelled alone, was in the group, as were Ren, and his brother, Con. Susana, Mae and Evo were there, too, the women nattering at each other as was their habit.

  Their continual prattle left Evo in a silence which also seemed habitual to him. Kati had wondered about the man at times during the trip so far; he seemed rather saintly to her, considering the good-natured manner with which he put up with his wife’s habitual absences, and the continuous chatter between mother and daughter. He appeared to escape by sleeping a lot; he never made it to breakfast, and often spent the afternoon hours in his cabin—and since he was not a reader and never plucked on a musical instrument, Kati had to assumed that he slept much of that time. Of course Mea found excuses to desert her mother for a short while, and spend a bit of time in Evo’s cabin; Kati presumed that it was this habit of hers that kept Evo as malleable as he was. She figured that Mea and Evo had the most active sex-life of anyone aboard The Seabird, and she included Jocan and Rosine in the count.

  Rosine, of course, was busy at her job as the crew brought The Seabird into the harbour and then the dock, so Jocan was hanging out with Kati and Mikal, just like all the other passengers. He appeared a bit upset about something, and Kati wondered idly if the young lovers had had a quarrel. She was not going to inquire, however; if the boy was old enough to have a love affair, he ought to also be mature enough to handle the things that accompanied love affairs—like lovers’ spats.

  “Looks like it’s a pretty place,” she now commented to Mikal, and to all within earshot.

  They had come near enough to distinguish individual buildings. Small business establishments faced the harbour, and the inevitable market square created an open space about half-way along the street fronting the docks. Behind these, and climbing up the hill were more businesses, and, farther up, houses. Beyond the houses, on the peaks of the hills up which the houses climbed, were a dozen or so constructions that looked like wind turbines to Kati. They were the first items obviously highly technological that she had seen since arriving on the planet. Below them, the hills, and everything on them were draped in greenery and flowers; apparently this was a fertile and productive island, even though at first glance, and from a distance, it had looked like only a barren mountain side rising from the ocean.

  “The inhabitants have worked hard to make it attractive,” spoke up Con, the member of the brother duo who had not gotten sea-sick.

  “You’ve been here before?” Mikal asked, glancing at Con curiously.

  “Yeah, I did a bit of wandering a while back.” Con replied, somewhat vaguely.

  “Then you know what those towers on the hills are,” Kati said, directing her words to him.

  “Yeah. They’re called windmills. It a pre-Disaster technology and they make Portobay the most comfortable place on this whole world.” Con sounded enthusiastic.

  “How is it possible?” Kati asked. “I thought everything was destroyed, or submerged under the ocean.”

  “Oh, there’s a treasure trove under the sea, all around this island,” Con said, “and the folk of Portobay have taken advantage of it. The city that existed around the hills that now make up the Sickle Island, had a population that numbered in the millions before The Disaster. The Sickle Islanders have been diving for things they need for four hundred years, and they’re not even close to exhausting the metals and other goods that were in the city to supply its inhabitants’ needs.”

  “Do they trade their finds with the still intact continents?” Mikal asked.

  “Hardly at all.” This was Captain Lomen’s voice; the Captain had come to stand with the passengers, to watch the island and its port, as the ship approached it.

  “My cargo-master has tried again and again to buy items that would be useful on one of the continents or the other, or both. But the Sickle Islanders will not let anything out of their hands if they think that they may be able to find a use for it on the island, now, or in the future. What that means is that almost none of the finds leave the Island—you can always imagine a local use for things, regardless of what they are.”

  “So, if the submerged city provides most of what this place needs, they don’t have to buy much from anyone else?” Kati inquired.

  “You’ve got it.” The Captain shook his head. “They’re not much good for my livelihood, except for the wine that they make, and which they are happy to export. However, just for a few casks of wine, we would not bother to come here; the reason why we do come is that this is a very convenient stop on the sailing route between the two continents.”

  “It’s a good stopping place,” said Con with a grin. “The wine is good and the women are beautiful.”

  “The men must be something else, too,” muttered Jocan. “At least Rosine has found one here that she prefers over me.”

  Captain Lomen turned to gaze at him, his face serious.

  “You have to understand, my boy,” he said carefully, “that Rosine comes by Portobay on every trip we take across the ocean. You’ll be leaving us when we get to Oasis City, and she will be turning back and sailing this way again. What ties she has made here on Sickle Island are the lasting ones for her. Don’t expect her to set them aside for your sake. Unless you mean to make her your life partner.”

  Jocan stared at the Captain, clearly surprised, for a moment. Then he swallowed and nodded. Evidently, he got it.

  Kati leaned over to squeeze the youth’s shoulder.

  “Life is full of lessons,” she said to him kindly.

  “That it is,” Commented Captain Lomen, staring at the approaching shoreline. Then he turned and left the passengers, going back to where he could supervise his crew as they prepared to tie up the ship to the long pier that the ship was nearing.

  *****

  “Oh, look!”

  They were on solid land at long last. Kati, Mikal and Jocan had made their way through the curious, as well as the folk who had an actual reason to be waiting for The Seabird on the pier, and were now standing on the street that fronted the harbour. Kati was pointing to an open shed by the roadside which had about a dozen, shining, two-wheeled machines standing in it, separated by wooden posts.

  “Those look like bicycles,” she said. “Wonder who they belong to?”

  A local passer-by stopped to look at her curiously.

  “They are free for the public to use,” he said to her. “Mind you, hardly any of our visitors know or care to use them, even though they certainly are allowed to. Most of them have never seen a two-wheeler, much less ever ridden one.”

  “Are they another of the bounties of the submerged city?” Kati asked, heaving the rucksack that she had been carrying by hand onto her back, and heading towards the bicycles.

  “Oh yes,” said the local.

  He was a young man, older than Jocan, but not as old as she herself was, or Mikal. He was slim with olive skin, and dark hair.

  “Can you ride a cycle?” he asked her curiously as he and Mikal and Jocan followed her to the machines.

  “Learned to as a child,” she answered, with a laugh. “It’ll be wicked here, though, I think, considering that this place i
s built on hills.”

  She pulled out the machine nearest to her. Then she stopped in surprise, testing the machine by sitting on it and bouncing a bit. She got off again and lifted the thing; it was amazingly light. She had no trouble hefting it; she could have done it one-handed.

  “Wow, man,” she said in amazement. “It doesn’t weigh anything. The cycles that I’ve ridden were much heavier than this. But it feels solid enough.”

  Meanwhile Mikal had moved to the bicycles, too, and pulled one out from its niche.

  “Want to go for a little spin, Kati?” he asked with a big grin.

  “Sure,” she said. Then, turning to Jocan, she added: “Wait for us here, okay, Jocan? This really is going to be just a short spin. I’m not quite ready to tackle the hills yet.”

  She got on the cycle and rode off, down the street, and Mikal followed her.

  Jocan and the local young man watched them disappear behind a building. The young man turned to Jocan, looking at him curiously.

  “Did you know that your father, or at least, a man who looks like you, and claims to be your father, is here, searching for you?” he asked.

  “What! How can that be?”

  Jocan stared at the local, his eyes suddenly large, frightened. He took a deep breath while the young man beside him waited.

  “Look,” Jocan said, making a quick decision. “He is my biological father, but he is not a nice man. I don’t want him to find me, or my friends either.”

  Then it occurred to him that he ought to get as much information as possible, right off.

  “Is he with a woman?” he asked.

  “Yes,” the local answered. “A short, stocky woman with dark hair, and an unpleasant personality. To tell the truth, I don’t much care for your father, either.”

  Jocan felt a little better hearing those words. It seemed that he had gained a bit of sympathy which might help him, Kati and Mikal in eluding Guzi and Dakra until The Seabird sailed again.

  “How did they get here?” he asked then. “What boat did they sail on?”

  He was trying to figure out how the two of them could have got ahead of them, after Mikal had sent their lifeboat up the river without a paddle, and not much in the way of useful provisions.

  “That’s the really odd part,” said the local. “Nobody here seems to know, and they are not telling. A few days ago they just showed up in town. There haven’t been any ocean-going ships in port for weeks; this being a slow time for shipping. And they were asking about The Seabird, like when was she arriving and so forth.

  “Nobody told them much; we in Portobay don’t much like dealing with strangers who are looking for other people. We tend to assume that when someone doesn’t want somebody else to find him, there’s a good reason for it. And there was something about this red-haired fellow; if I was his son, I think I would run away, too. So when I saw the three of you I thought I’d mention him to you, so that you could be on your guard.”

  “Thank you for that, from the bottom of my heart,” Jocan responded. “Did he and the woman mention that I was travelling with friends?”

  “Yeah. Oh, by the way, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Marco.” The local gave a quick grin, then continued to elaborate on his answer to Jocan’s question: “He seemed to know an awful lot about your friends—what they looked like, what their names were. As much as he knew about you, it seemed. As a matter of fact, I knew who the three of you were the moment I saw you come up from the pier, and I’m sure the same is true of anyone else who has spoken with your father and his companion.”

  “Shit! So someone could be running to them right now, telling him that we’re in town!”

  “Could be, but nobody would,” Marco said with certainly. “Like I said, we don’t help strangers who are chasing other strangers, on this island. We may not stop them, but we don’t help them. I don’t think anyone has even told the two of them that The Seabird has arrived. They’re holed up in Yacko’s Inn, and if they want to know what’s happening on the pier, they’ll have to come out and look for themselves.”

  “So with a little bit of luck Kati, Mikal and I can settle into an Inn before we have to worry about facing them,” Jocan said thoughtfully. “Captain Lomen suggested The Seaview. What do you think, Marco; is that a good choice?”

  “Good enough. It’s a good distance from Yacko’s, too. I can show it to you when your friends come back from their little joyride,” replied Marco.

  Kati and Mikal had just come into view, riding side by side, plainly enjoying themselves.

  “That was absolutely wonderful,” Kati cried as she dismounted from the bicycle. “If I was to be here for a while, I’d be riding up and down hills pretty soon. These bikes are excellent, so incredibly light-weight, but sturdy!”

  “Why the look of doom and gloom, Jocan? Has something happened?”

  Mikal, alert as always, had caught the expression on Jocan’s face as soon as he arrived. Kati, belatedly, took a good look at the youth as she parked the bicycle she had been using; sure enough, Jocan looked frightened.

  “Marco, here,” Jocan nodded at the young local who was still with him, “has been telling me that Guzi and Dakra are here in town.”

  Both Mikal and Kati turned to stare at Jocan and the local.

  “No joke?” Kati asked, her stomach crunching in a painful contraction.

  “No joke.” Jocan shook his head.

  By this time Mikal had replaced his bicycle in its former slot. He turned to stare at the throng of people on the pier, most of them walking towards land. He looked thoughtful, not really seeing what he was looking at.

  “Of course,” he said softly after a moment’s silence. “The false beacon. They returned to River City, and the Temple of the Sons of the Sun.”

  He turned his eyes back to his companions, looking first at Jocan, then at Kati.

  “My mistake. I should have thought of that beacon. It was probably equipped to send a call to Gorsh or one of his partners in crime. It likely didn’t take long for Gorsh, or someone else, to re-equip the two of them and then they were on their way.”

  “With a new flit, new blasters and a supply of coin for bribes?” added Kati wryly.

  “They won’t be bribing anyone here on Sickle Island,” protested Marco. “We don’t get mixed up in that kind of thing, in Portobay. As I said to Jocan here, I’m quite sure that none of the locals will tell them that you have arrived. They won’t tell them anything; the two of them won’t even know that The Seabird has arrived, unless they leave their hole and see it in dock.”

  “Sounds like we’re not completely lost then,” Mikal said, smiling at Marco, but the tension that seemed to have crept into his stance, did not relax.

  “If I may make a suggestion,” added Marco, “I would encourage you people to register at The Seaview Inn right away, just to be off the public streets where those two can run into you if they decide to go out for a walk.”

  “Right.” Mikal was immediately willing. “Which way?”

  “I’ll show you”, said Marco and started to lead the way.

  *****

  The Seaview Inn was a rambling structure that reminded Kati of Mistress Sye’s Inn in the River City. Its office, however, was a small enclosed room, not a desk in a big lobby with entrances to various parts of the establishment, the way the office of Sye’s Inn had been. Marco delivered them all the way inside, where they were greeted by Con and Ren who were also registering for the two nights that The Seabird would be staying in Portobay.

  “Hey guys,” called Con to them the moment they entered. “I was told that there are a couple of strangers in town looking for a threesome like you. Didn’t sound very good.”

  “Yeah, thanks, Con, but Marco here has already informed us,” Mikal answered sounding much more relaxed than Kati felt. He turned to the woman behind the desk and added:

  “Would it be possible to get two rooms next to, or close to, Con and Ren here? Con’s been in town before so we might be a
ble to make use of his expertise in evading whatever trouble may await us.”

  While the woman looked down at her records, Marco turned to leave but said:

  “If I can be of any help, let me know. I work at the Reclamation Project which is at the end of the street.”

  “Thanks. Wait, does this place have a dining room?” Mikal apparently was thinking on his feet.

  At a nod from Marco, he added: “Let’s meet for supper there, Con and Ren as well. Kati, you’re the money person, can we afford to treat?”

  Kati said yes, and the arrangements were made while she turned to the woman behind the desk to pay for their rooms. After the relative quiet of shipboard existence, it seemed to her that she and her companions had just been tossed into a whirlwind.

  *****

  In The Seaview Inn, the rooms opened out from the two sides of a central passageway. Kati, Mikal and Jocan had two rooms next to one another, one with two beds, and with an adjoining door between them. They were across the hall from the room that Ren and Con shared, and the five of them made their way, together, to the end of the passage where the rooms were.

  Kati had queried Mistress Hana, the woman behind the desk, about the bathing facilities as well as the laundry. She was beginning to feel like an old hand as a traveller on this curious world, and was feeling reasonably competent at handling matters, in spite of the complication of Guzi and Dakra turning up on Sickle Island. It was a pity that cycling was not going to be as doable as she had at first thought, not with their old pursuers in town. She was curious to know what Mikal was planning to do; it struck her that it would be nice if they could find and disable—or send underneath the waves—the flit that Guzi and Dakra had used to get to the island. There was not likely to be a beacon with which to contact their off-planet associates, in Portobay; therefore, if Mikal, Jocan and she could maroon them on the Island, they would really be dependent on planetside vehicles for the chase. Of course, that trick had already been tried once and had backfired, but, nevertheless, it still seemed to Kati as the likeliest way for the three of them to assure themselves of a more or less peaceful trek to the real beacon.