Paul Kater - Bactine

“My dear Mr. Slindris, why don’t you drink up and go to your room,” Clelem said with a smile. “You must have had a busy day.”

Yes, that he had. Gaguran nodded, picked up the glass, with both hands to be safe, and emptied it. “I will… take my…” and what was that last word? As the glass fell over and rolled away from him, he remembered. “My leave.” Gaguran did a valiant effort to get up and fell to the floor.

“You two, pick him up,” he heard his boss say.

Two men, who Gaguran knew to be security persons, picked him up from the floor. “Hey.. hey…” he tried to retain some dignity as he was hanging from strong arms.

The men carried Gaguran through the house, towards his chamber, and threw him on the bed. A moment later Clelem came in.

“I think we need to have a little talk, Gaguran,” Clelem said as he pulled up a chair. “About this.” He held up something that was red and silver.

“Whuffe…” Gaguran tried to use the sound as an excuse for ‘what is that?’. His mouth was not very cooperative all of a sudden.

“After our rather disconcerting talk about your visit to Dogom ko Tzuy and the fact that the man called something had gone missing, I took the liberty of searching your room. And this is what we found. In your coat pocket even. It is, as you can perhaps still see, a ruby with a silver ship on it. It matches the description of the missing item too closely to make this a mistake.”

Clelem looked at the small object. “Really nice, I have to admit. I had not thought, dear man, that you had taste.” He slowly put the ruby in his pocket. “Too bad you had no chance to enjoy it.” He got up and patted the pocket. “I will see that this is returned to its rightful owner. And you, Mr. Slindris, should consider yourself without a job. I cannot have someone on my team who steals.” The man turned and walked off.

The two men picked Gaguran from the bed and dragged him through the corridors, to a seldomly used exit. After a short and painful journey through the garden, they reached a spot that was not too far from the floater, but far enough to not get on it.

Gaguran was by now completely paralysed. There was nothing he could do when the two simply shoved him over the side of the hill. He fell, hit the ground and started tumbling down. Before he was halfway down the hill, he was unconscious.

Somewhere in the shrubbery a man saw Gaguran take the dive. He took a hydger and made a call.

“Mr. Zacharias, I wish you a good evening.”

“Good evening to you, Seigner Dogom ko Tzuy. To what do I owe this late night call?” Daniel had not expected a call from the ship owner at all.

“It seems that Seigner Dandra ko Galem has officially ended the work contract with his serving man,” Huajo said. “One of my operatives, who happened to be around, saw that the poor man was thrown down the hill without much ceremony.”

“Thrown down?” Daniel could not believe it.

“Yes, very much so. He is at my house now, severely wounded and still unconscious. I thought you would like to know about this.” Huajo had a satisfied expression on his face. “It seems that our plan is still in effect, be it with some special interludes.”

“Obviously. Thank you for informing me, sir. I appreciate it. Do you think it would be reason enough for me to pay you a visit?”

Huajo shook his head. “As long as my guest is still not responsive, I would suggest you spare your feet, preacher. I will let you know when he is with the world again.”

Daniel nodded. “In that case, you are right. Thank you, Seigner, and have a good night.”

“Good night, Mr. Zacharias.”

“I told you,” Rayko said softly. “You are a preacher. The Seigner said it too.”

Daniel was sitting next to her, on a couch in the living room. He had carried her over there, as she was fed up being in bed. “No, you are both wrong.”

“They are both right,” said the senator from his chair. “You are just not ready to admit it.”

“By all means of good, sir, I am a trained soldier. That is far from being a preacher.” Daniel closed the hydger and put it back on the table.

Rayko looked at Sygra and shook her head. “He is impossible. You are in luck, Daniel. I would kick your shins again if I could.”

They had agreed to address each other less formally.

“And you have to be careful, young lady,” Daniel tried to come back. “If I am a preacher, you may have to listen to what I am saying.”

“Huh. Only when you are preaching. Not when you are spouting nonsense. So what did this message mean? Did my father tell the mouse that he could pack up and leave?”

“In a way, yes.”

“Good thing that the Seigner has his spies everywhere,” Rayko said. “For a change.”

“Spies.” Somehow Daniel was not surprised.

“Oh, you ignorant,” said Sygra. “All the large ship owners have spies everywhere. It is a part of the game, I think you can say. They all are very distrustful among each other. If you are not inside that market, it can be very entertaining, Daniel.”

Daniel failed to see the fun of that. “I don’t like spies.”

“It is something of real life, Daniel. And it is getting of time. Maybe you should carry miss Dandra ko Galem back to her bed.” The senator smiled as he said the words.

Rayko coloured, Daniel saw it as he looked at her.

“It would be good, indeed,” Daniel agreed.

“And nobody asks me?” Rayko wondered.

“You are sick and in pain, Rayko, you have to be the patient and do as we say,” Daniel grinned with a wink.

“I will not do as you say,” she grumbled. “But fine, if you want to get rid of me, then best take me to bed again. But be careful. Please.”

Daniel lifted her. Carefully. “Are you okay like this?”

Rayko had hoped to put an arm around his neck, but that proved too painful on her ribs. “I’ll manage.”

Daniel carried her out of the room. Sygra smiled again, the more as he enjoyed the comments that came from the corridor.

“Watch out there, Daniel.”

“I am watching. I know what I am doing.”

“You don’t. Now, stop and — no, don’t do that. I can open the door — owwww…. you open the door.”

“I told you I know what I am doing.”

“Oh, you, be quiet and put me in my bed. Owww!”

The next morning, Daniel’s hydger rattled while he was still in the dining room. He recognised the symbol of Huajo. “Good morning, Seigner Dogom ko Tzuy,” he answered the call.

“Mr. Zacharias, I had an interesting conversation just now,” Huajo said, his face conveying a smugness Daniel had not seen from the man before. “Our friend, Clelem Dandra ko Galem, just talked to me. He has retrieved the object that I had mentioned was missing. He seemed a bit disconcerted that the person who had stolen it from me had ‘escaped’ before he could punish the person. He apologised and offered to hand me the object back.”

Daniel grinned. “That is an interesting chain of events we are facing, sir. Have you agreed on something with him?”

“Oh yes, I have, Mr. Zacharias. I will meet Clelem at the shipyard where his new Pricosine is being built. I have asked him if he would be willing to show it to me, and he agreed to that. The meeting will be tomorrow in the morning. Oh, one moment, please…”

The man in the tiny display was looking at someone and talking for a few moments.

“Oh. I just had the disappointing news that my guest, Mr. Slindris, has passed away. Apparently his being cast down the hill was with more peril than we anticipated.”

“Oh, I am sorry to hear that. He could have been very informative.” Daniel really felt bad, hearing that Gaguran had died.