Paul Kater - Bactine

Daniel did not object; he was cold. He put on the coat and didn’t mind how it would smell after giving it back. He followed Warlem through the transparent tube and into the large hall with the fountain. The young man led him to a sunny terrace.

Ugidra, Clelem’s wife, was sitting there. As the two stepped onto the terrace, she got up. Her face was red, her eyes puffed up from crying. “Mr. Zacharias…”

“Warlem told me what appears to have happened, my lady,” Daniel said. He had trouble getting his head together and saying the right things. “I am sorry if I say dumb things, I am quite tired, but can you tell me what happened?”

Ugidra nodded. “I know. I understand. And I appreciate that you came to listen to me, very much.” She then offered him a chair and told him that Rayko had indeed disappeared without a word four days earlier. “She has never done that, Mr. Zacharias. The day before she had one of her arguments with her father before and she was very depressed after that, but-” Ugidra looked at Warlem “-that has happened before.”

“Regularly,” Warlem confirmed. “And that leaves me stuck with her goffeesh.”

“Golfdish?” Daniel asked, wondering if he had heard that right.

Warlem sort of nodded. “Her pet.”

Goldfish, Daniel thought, typically the pet for a stuck-up girl. “Warlem told me nothing of her things were taken as she left. Disappeared.”

“Indeed. She would never leave without some of her things.”

“And you have tried to contact her on the hydger, I assume?”

“Yes. Someone in the staff is trying to call her every hour, but no one has heard from her.”

So her hydger was responding. Maybe he could do something with that.

“Mother, do not forget the recordings,” Warlem reminded her.

Recordings? Daniel was surprised.

“Ah, yes, how foolish of me.” Ugidra reached for the oversized locket she was wearing and opened it. The left side was a display like Daniel’s device had, just smaller. She did a few things with the incredibly small controls on the right side and handed the locket to Daniel. “If you touch the left side, you will see what Warlem means.”

“We have one of the most amazing things in our house, Daniel,” Warlem said with some pride, “it is a device that can store moving images. There are not many of them.”

Daniel looked at the young poet for a moment and touched the left side of the locket. The small display came to life. It showed, in black and white, a view of a part of the garden, probably behind the house, and a door. The images were moving, be it not smooth. They looked jumpy, as if the recording had been made only a few images per second. For several seconds nothing happened, except shadows jumping. Then Daniel gasped. A cloaked figure, the cape wide and billowing in the wind, carefully moved towards the door. The person, whoever it was, fumbled with the door, then disappeared inside. The jumpy movie stopped.

“Can I see that again?” Daniel asked. He had seen it well, he just didn’t believe it. Warlem did something to the thing and Daniel watched the short movie again. As it ended he handed the locket back to Ugidra. “Do you have any idea who that is? And when this is recorded?”

She shook her head. “No one who has seen this-” she shook the locket “-knows who it might be. The recording is of the evening before we noticed Rayko gone. She was just… gone… the next morning.” Tears started rolling down her cheeks again, as the pain bit her again.

Daniel told them that this was the same person who had lured him to Maliser Park and stunned him, on the evening of the soirée. “I don’t know who it is either, but this person seems to hold a grudge against your husband, lady Dandra ko Galem.”

“Can you find my little girl for me, Mr. Zacharias? I will pay you anything. Grant you anything. As long as I have Rayko back.”

Daniel took in a deep breath. “I can’t promise anything, my lady, but I will do what I can.”

“Thank you, Mr. Zacharias, thank you, thank you. If you need funds, or anything, just let me know about it. I will transfer my hydger sign to your hydger; if there is anything I can assist you with, you must call on me. Day or night.” Ugidra and Daniel exchanged numbers on their hydgers. Warlem also told Daniel that he could call on him at any time. The poet was very concerned about his sister’s well-being, and wanted her back home again too.

Daniel got up. “I should go home now, my lady, and refresh myself.” He was near keeling over now and all his built-up knowledge of the planet’s etiquette had crawled away in a dark corner.

Ugidra got up. “Mr. Zacharias, I insist that you do so here. I will immediately arrange for a guest room with a private bath, and I will have food sent to it. Warlem, can you see to that?”

The poet got up and walked into the large hall after just a nod.

“Lady Dandra ko Galem, I thank you, but your husband will not be pleased to see me. He was not very friendly earlier today already.”

Ugidra smiled. “He won’t know you are here. Please take my word for that, Mr. Zacharias. The house is very large, and the servants know when to be silent.”

Daniel was not in a mood to argue. Deep down inside he was glad he did not have to travel back to his own place. He was not certain if he would still be awake to get out of the carriage.

A male servant came to the terrace. “If you will follow me, sir…” He guided Daniel through a few corridors, reaching a room that looked like a luxury suite of one of the famous Stardrift Hotels Daniel had once read about. The floor was covered with brown and orange carpeting, the walls were a soft beige and the bed in the room was large and inviting. As the servant showed Daniel around in the bathroom, another servant brought a tray with food.

Daniel was impressed how fast that all was arranged. The servants left him, he wolfed down most of the food and considered the bath. It did not take him long to decide that the bed now was more important. He threw his clothes off, rolled into the bed and was enveloped with a black nothing within seconds.

Waking up was a strange experience for Daniel. The smell, the sounds, the softness of the bed and the light created an ensemble that confused his still groggy brain. Slowly he sat up, stared around the room and only then he recalled where he was. In the house of his former employer. Without the man knowing it. He fell back into the pillows and sighed. A firm rub of his face brought more activity to him.

Daniel got out of the bed, found his way to the bathroom and filled the bath. The water, running quickly, was hot and inviting. As the tub was filling up, Daniel peeked out of the window, over which a curtain had been drawn. It was light. He had no idea what the time was. He kept the curtain closed and disappeared into the bathroom for a while, soaking and cleaning himself up for the first time in far too long. Heaven, if something like that existed, he mused, had to be like this.

He resisted the urge to fill up the tub again. Instead, he rubbed himself dry with a large white towel. It carried the sign of Dandra ko Galem that he had also seen on his hydger. He put on the bathrobe that lay on a side table, neatly folded up, and went back into the bedroom.

To his surprise he found his clothes, washed and dried, lying folded on a chair next to the bed. His hydger was lying on top of the stack. It made him wonder how long he had been asleep. He had not heard anyone come in and go around the room. As he was dressing, he noticed a sheet of paper on the table that was against the wall, near the door.

’Mr. Zacharias. Please ring the bell when you are awake. It is the cord next to the door. Thank you.’ it told him. The handwriting was simple, as was the message.