Paul Kater - Bactine

“Of course. What’s eating away at you?” The woman had an uncanny eye for that.

Daniel told her about meeting Huajo early that morning.

Xandree looked at Daniel for a while before speaking. “Seigner Dogom ko Tzuy often is out there. He is an insomniac. The ghost winds alone know how he survives without sleeping normally. He is also troubled by the pain in his bones. Everyone knows about him. And Daniel… if you need to talk about the other thing, you can talk to me too.”

“What other thing?”

“The reason you did not sleep this night. You always sleep. There is something that kept you from it, and that is a worry. It is not good to carry your worry around. Talk about it, to get it out of your way.” She looked Daniel in the eye. “Your secret is safe with me. If you want to talk.”

Daniel nodded. “You are right. There is something that’s bothering me.” He sighed. “I may take you up on your offer. Thank you.”

Xandree nodded. “I’ll be here to listen, Daniel.”

Ulaman and Xandree had almost had to beat Daniel off the ship in the days that the Pricosine was being loaded up. Daniel had become paranoid for a while, with the encounter of the beige suit.

Ulaman had explained that he’d had a good talk with the Seigner. It had nothing to do with the stranger; instead they had discussed Daniel and his work. “The Seigner seems satisfied with you, Daniel. You will be stuck with us for a while longer. He said he will confer with the president of the Society if they should bring in more people like you.”

Daniel was relieved to hear that Clelem had not mentioned a thing about the incidents around his daughter being on board.

“Bring up the gangway!” Ulaman yelled into his tube. “We’re leaving!”

The crew worked their routine, and soon the Pricosine’s bow pointed towards the wide open ocean again. Daniel stood at the bow, enjoying the freedom. The wind bashed at his head and took all the troubled thinking away from him. They were heading for the city of Cathru with a load of wheat, half a cargo bay filled with jugs of wine and a stack of large chests containing household merchandise.

The first day went by with the only thing worth mentioning being fabulous progress. The Pricosine was cutting through the water at phenomenal speeds. Compared to a shuttle, Daniel considered, this meant nothing, but the thrill of seeing the water speed by, seeing the water’s wildlife rush by, that was something you could never experience in space.

At the end of the second day, Ulaman called Daniel up to the bridge. “I should tell you that overnight we are entering the part of the ocean that gives us most trouble. The pirates are very active here, so sleep quickly and be awake.”

This was not the news Daniel hoped for, but he was glad he was prepared. He thanked the skipper and went to lie down. He was up and dressed long before dusk. He was wearing his military uniform, which was loaded with material he might need for combat. He’d had to become creative: the chemical substances from the water had rendered most of his normal weapons useless.

He was walking the watch, Brinno walking with him. The sailor’s trained eyes were scary. “Daniel, there.” Brinno pointed to the far distance where the faintest of light was. “Another ship.”

“Pirates?”

“No. They don’t attack at night.”

“Right. Good to know.”

Pirates attacked when a large ship was cornering a difficult strait with a treacherous current, Daniel learnt. He was not sure where the ship suddenly came from; it could have fallen from the skies for all he knew. The cries from the crew were clear enough though. As the Pricosine came out of the strait, the short grey ship was upon them. Its sails had the colour of the water and from its bow protruded a kind of ram that approached the hull of the Pricosine at speed.

Lidrin, on the bridge, cursed his entire vocabulary out loud as he tried to turn the giant ship in an attempt to make the damage as small as possible. Avoiding the ram, he knew, would be impossible. This was all he could do.

Daniel ran to where the pirate ship would reach the Pricosine first, blessing his enhanced body for making it a quick trip. As he reached the spot, the ram dug itself into the hull, making the large ship shudder. Several sailors toppled over as the impact was harder than was expected. Daniel spotted men up in the assailant ship’s masts, swinging blocks on ropes, throwing them over to the rigging over his head. The men swung over to the Pricosine, uttering loud screams. The first one to land on the deck was close to Daniel and had every reason to regret that. Daniel drove his armoured fist into the man’s chest and did not even take the time to watch his victim fall.

A total of thirteen men swung over from the pirate ship. Daniel noticed that there was a small positive thing about their attacked: it was focussed on one spot, so there was no need to protect the whole ship. It also delivered the problem however that the attack was fierce and massive.

The sailors fought well. Daniel however made all the difference. Even when one of the pirates, who had landed high up in a mast, threw down handsful of some strange dust that made the sailors sneeze and gasp for air, Daniel continued the battle. His body simply shut off the intake of external substances and functioned on the air in the pockets of his arms and legs.

He grabbed a piece of rope and flung it upwards. It hit the pirate in the stomach. The man’s descent to deck was fast and ended hard. Only three pirates remained, and they made their way back to their ship. Daniel watched them go. Going after them was an option, but he was curious what they were going to do. The battle was won, after all.

The pirates quickly released a kind of bolt at the front of their ship which unlocked the ram. The current that came from the strait immediately pushed them away from the Pricosine and seconds later the gap was already larger than a man would be able to jump.

Daniel turned and looked at the state of the men who had fought so well. Nine of them were wounded but able to walk. Ulaman, who had left the bridge, was covered in red spots, clearly coming from the now dead pirate that lay at his feet. The other men were not injured at all, as by some miracle.

As they started to tend to the wounded, a loud noise, as the tearing of wood, made Daniel look up. He walked to the side of the ship and was just in time to see the remains of the ram fall into the water. It had left a large, gaping hole in the hull, just above the waterline.

“Ulaman, we have a problem,” he said.

The captain agreed. “We have to do something about this. If we leave this the way it is, the scum only has to wait for heavy weather and they can fish us up for ransom. Or worse.”

“Will we have that chance?”

“In this area the weather is almost as unpredictable as-” the captain looked for Xandree “-a woman.”

“That bad,” Daniel understood. His mind was already running. “We’re to fix that. Have Bilk and Stroro bring hammers and nails or whatever you use to fix up a ship.”

“Daniel, don’t be a fool, we have not enough material on board to fix a hole that big.”

“Just you wait.” Daniel ran off and made his way into the cargo bay that held the large Polychlon chests and trunks. He methodically started to tear up four of them that would supply the largest pieces. He hauled them up and dropped them onto the deck, where Ulaman stared.

“Where did you- Don’t tell me-”

“Don’t ask, Ulaman.”

The men put together two pieces of plating that should be large enough to cover the hole. As one group went below deck, making space in the cargo bay so they could reach the opening from the inside, Ulaman arranged for a life boat to be lowered.