The Tempest
Class Freighter was powered by 4 Plasma Turbine Pyroclast Engines, which
allowed for a very quick turn of speed once airborne, and four vertical
take-off jumper engines whose purpose is self-explanatory, they could also be
used independently to provide auxiliary power on board while they were on the
surface for periods when the solar converters were inadequate.
But with
only two of the main Turbines on line they couldn’t hope to outrun even the
slowest of the Scav Raiders and they couldn’t take that chance, so they had to
fix them on Alwi.
“Argh!!!!”
Merri screamed from inside the engine housing “You total fuck”
“Is
everything alright?” a deep cultured voice enquired
“Not
really” she replied without looking for the source of the questioner
“Engine
trouble?” he asked
“Damn
you’re good” she snapped facetiously and lifted her head “How did you…”
She left
the sentence unfinished when she saw that her interlocutor was a Visitor.
Visitors
were a Christian sect who took to the stars with the first migrants to visit
new worlds, spreading the word while seeking enlightenment, and they had
established Visitor enclaves in every corner of the known universe, they even
thrived in Mehreen space and they were the least spiritual beings to ever draw
breath.
The
difference between Visitors and the established Christian Church on earth was
its spontaneity, they didn’t wait until Sunday to worship, they did it wherever
and whenever it was desired and it didn’t need to happen in a church, Visitors
worshipped everywhere.
Merri
straightened up and brushed her rebellious lock off her face, though a few
strands remained stuck to her forehead as she perused the man before her.
She thought
him somewhere beyond fifty with his long white hair and short trimmed beard.
He was tall
and disproportionately thin, and wore a full length pale blue robe tied at the
waist with a royal blue cord and this was beneath a full length dark blue leather jerkin, and
he carried a simple roughhewn staff which was undecorated but for a carved
cruciform relief a few inches from the top.
“I’m sorry
Brother” Merri said flushing scarlet as she scrambled out of her oily tomb “I
didn’t realize you were a Visitor”
“That’s ok”
he said “I’ve heard worse cussing than you’ve been producing”
“Oh God,
you heard all of that?” she asked and grimaced
“I did” he
confessed and laughed
“I’m sorry
anyway” she said and wiped her oily hand before offering it to him to shake
“I’m Merionwen Strong, Merri for short”
“I am
Visitor Parham” he said formerly “But people who know me call be Bagg”
After a
short converse involving her detailing the nature of the problem with the
engines and her lack of an engineer he said
“Maybe I
can help”
“I don’t
think God can fix what ails these beasts” Merri said with a giggle
“I would
agree, but he has provided the solution to your predicament”
“You?” she
asked which produced a deep roar of a laugh
“Good
heavens no” he retorted “I am not of a mechanical bent, no my talents lie in another
area entirely”
“Then I
don’t really see how you can help” she said
“Well the
key to everything in life is a question of balance and it just so happens that
God has provided the perfect opportunity to attain balance by placing on Alwi,
the greatest need and the greatest abundance, in short, your defunct engines
and the two best engineers in the quadrant”
“And you
can vouch for them?” she asked
“I can”
“So if
they’re so good how come they ended up on Alwi” Merri asked
“Because
the vessel they were on was bound for Mehreen space, and the neutral zone is as
close as they ever want to get to it, so they disembarked”
“Do they
have a reason for not crossing into Mehreen space?”
“If I was
to tell you that Pulsat Rad is from Prinsloo and Vanzyl is Kesslerian would
that answer your question?” Bagg asked
Merri knew
from her father that both civilizations had suffered greatly at the hands of
the Mehreen so she replied
“It would”
Bagg nodded
and looked at the ground and uttered a short prayer.
“Why don’t
you get then to come and see me tomorrow and we’ll see if we can redress the
balance” she said and smiled smugly at her paraphrasing of the Visitor.
“Why not
meet them now” he suggested and gestured over her shoulder “They’re here now”
Merri
turned around and perused the two figures walking toward them, one was slightly
shorter than the other, who she recognised as a Prinsloovian.
He was
heavy set and had a rough bony skull which raised up like a crown which receded
to give way to a Mahogany scaled brow, cheekbones and jawline which framed an
ivory coloured face, and he had yellow eyes and his entire countenance betrayed
his reptilian ancestry.
His
companion in comparison was slender and although they also owed its origins to
reptilian DNA its scaly countenance was more akin to a fish than a lizard, with
large eyes and pursed lips, and on closer inspection Merri could see its gills.
“This is
Merionwen Strong, Captain of the Tornado” Bagg said
“Good
meeting, I Pulsat Rad, this Vanzyl” the shorter of the two said and clicks and
whirls began to emanate from Vanzyl which were clearly directed at Pulsat
“Ok I
speak” he said and more clicks and whirls followed
“I telling,
I telling” Pulsat retorted and to Merri he explained
“Vanzyl say
we very much like fix engines, very much like join crew Tornado”
“You fix
the engines and you have a deal” she said “on one condition”
“What is?”
he asked
“The
condition is that you don’t have any strange eating habits” Merri explained and
then she observed as the two engineers in waiting looked at each other in what
she supposed was puzzlement until Vanzyl made a long whistling noise followed
by a succession of clicks and Pulsat snorted.
“No, no, we
eat everything” he said and then he and Vanzyl proceeded to investigate the
engines.
“I hope
they meant anything and not everything” Merri said
“Only time
will tell” Bagg said and laughed
“Talking of
food, will you stay and eat” Merri asked
“That
depends, are you a better cook than you are an engineer?”
“Actually
I’m a better engineer” she confessed
“In that
case I’ll stay, providing you let me cook” he retorted
“That was
the best meal I’ve eaten in three years” Malena said as she pushed her spotless
plate away from her.
“At least
three years” Merri echoed
“Mmmm” was
all that Shiyne could manage
“I’m glad
you enjoyed it” Visitor Parham responded
“As it
might make you more receptive to what I have to say next”
“That
sounds ominous” Merri said
“It’s not
at all” Shiyne said and smiled because she knew what was on his mind because
she was a Vann and the Vann were telepaths.
“So what is
it?” Malena asked
“It’s time
for me to leave Alwi and continue my travels” Bagg said
“So I would
like to join you”
“Well I
think I can speak for the whole crew when I say that, providing we can get off
this damn moon, you’re welcome to tag along, as ships cook” Merionwen said just
at the point Pulsat and Vanzyl appeared
“Engines
fixed” the former said
“What
already?” Merri asked “You’ve fixed them both?”
“No” Pulsat
replied
“We fix
four”
“I already
had two working” Merionwen said indignantly which prompted Vanzyl to make a
long whistling noise followed by a succession of clicks and Pulsat snorted,
which clearly denoted laughter in the former and derision in the latter.
“We fix
four” Pulsat repeated and everyone laughed
“So you’ve
done in four hours that I haven’t been able to do in almost as many months”
“We are
engineers” Pulsat said and everyone laughed again
“Then it
looks like we’re getting off this rock at last” Merri said “and we have three
new shipmates”
Then after
the introductions were made Merri said
“Now sit
and eat”
“We eat
here?” Pulsat asked
“Where
else?” Merri said and Vanzyl uttered a soft whistle like a plaintive flute
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