After
engaging the Tornado’s four vertical take-off jumper engines the Tempest class
freighter landed softly on the apron at Cranack and when the freighters ramp
lowered the Tornado’s APMTV, (All Purpose Multi Terrain Vehicle), nicknamed the
“Stroller”, followed on foot by Asti,
The
name Stroller was an ironic one because when Shiyne or Merri were behind the
wheel it did anything but stroll, the moment it came to a halt Asti paused
before remotely closing the ramp and then climbed aboard, and as the Stroller
pulled away
Malena
looked long and hard at the blackened scars on the Tornado and said
“Let’s
go and give Pulsat and Vanzyl the bad news”
It
was mid-morning when they reached the settlement, and everyone was surprised
when the Stroller pulled into the yard.
There
first port of call was to find their crewmate Visitor Parham, known as Bagg,
who was staying with his brother Trebreh, who was also a Visitor, and his wife
Xandra and her brother Ale who was Bagg’s boyhood friend.
As
they disembarked from the Stroller Malena turned around and perused the two
familiar figures walking toward them, surrounded by children, Pulsat Rad was
slightly shorter than the other, and the heavy set Prinsloovian was
unmistakable, with his rough bony skull raising up like a crown above his
Mahogany scaled brow.
He
was clearly enjoying himself, his smiling ivory coloured face bore testament to
that and his yellow eyes were twinkling.
His
friend Vanzyl was slender and although they both shared reptilian ancestry
Vanzyl was more akin to a fish than a lizard, with large eyes and pursed lips,
and of course gills.
“Good meeting again” Pulsat 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
ask, I ask” Pulsat retorted
“Vanzyl
say why you early back?”
“It’s
a long story” Malena replied and in response Vanzyl made a long whistling noise
followed by a succession of clicks and Pulsat snorted.
“Yes,
Yes, I ask, I ask” Pulsat retorted
“Where
Captain?”
“That’s
another long story” Mal replied “Come and sit with us and we’ll explain
everything”
The
Strollers arrival had been met with mixed feelings by the children of the
village and Pulsat and Vanzyl, a sign that it would soon be time for them to
leave was not well received by the children and there were vociferous calls of
disappointment when Pulsat and Vanzyl had to join the crew, but their
displeasure didn’t prevent them from walking with their friends to the
courtyard and hugging them when they got there, and the two engineers were
reminded of how sad they would be leaving the “small humans”
After
the greetings were over with the first task was to introduce the injured
Andraxian, Ambor Etra, to them who was confined to a stretcher and discharged
her in Xandra’s care who they knew would ensure she got the bedrest she
required.
Once
Ambor was settled, as she had been clearly tired by the journey, the crew told
the tale of the meeting with Merri’s cousin Dwynwen, and what brought her to
the Eikon Cluster, the mistaken identity which lead to Merri’s abduction and
the subsequent rescue, and the perilous voyage to the rendezvous.
Vanzyl
started clicking and whirling agitatedly.
“I
do it, I do it” Pulsat said to his Kesslerian friend, and Vanzyl whistled and
clicked again and Pulsat snorted.
“Tornado
shot?”
“A
little bit” Mal replied and Vanzyl became very excitable and clicks and whirls
began to emanate from him 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 the group he explained
“Vanzyl
say we must look”
“There’s
plenty of time to do that, we’ll look later” Malena said
Then
there were more Clicks and whirls
“I
telling, I telling”
“Vanzyl
say we look now” Pulsat insisted
“Ok”
Mal said in surrender
Shiyne
accompanied Malena as moral support for the journey back to Cranack, she would
have preferred to have spent the time with Terrell, but he was busy attending
to Ambor.
As
she approached the Tornado Mal braced herself and when they had an
uninterrupted view of the ship Pulsat screamed and he and Vanzyl jumped out of
the Stroller.
“Argh!”
The former exclaimed repeatedly while running back and forth, while the latter
stood transfixed while uttering repeated strings of whirls whistles and clicks.
It
was a full five minutes before Pulsat could utter a sentence
“What
kind Holiday, you have?”
Vanzyl
whistled and clicked again and Pulsat snorted.
“Tornado
broken, yes” Pulsat agreed
“Can you fix her?” Malena asked
“We fix, yes” Pulsat said sadly as he realised
it would be some months before they would return to Montrose and their friends.
“We
go Soman soon?”
Soman was where Golbolt Interstellar was
based, which was where they got most of their work and the main reason for that was that the Operations
Manager was Oshwin Lemik and he fought against the Legion in the Shaxon War
with the Skeet brothers, they as pilots and Oshwin as Logistics Commander.
Golbolt
also had an abundance of hardstanding where the Tornado could stand while it was
repaired.
“I
thought we’d just stay on Eirkos while you fix it” Malena said
Vanzyl
uttered a soft whistle like a plaintive flute, then he looked at his friend and
whistled again.
“Yes,
we fix”
So,
over the next three months, while Ambor Etra convalesced amidst the gentle
people of Montrose, the two reptilian engineers worked on the Tornado to get
her back to her best, however they actually got her to beyond her best.
The
rest of the crew weren’t idle either, and took the opportunity of their
downtime to get the inside back up to snuff, although thanks to Oshwin, who
loaned them a clipper called Darios, Mal and Shiyne did some local freight
hauling and the clipper also allowed them to keep the supply of parts coming to
facilitate the engineers repairs on the Tornado, but the Skeet Brothers used
the down time to fly the Spider Hawk to Eikon Major because
they were concerned about an old friend.
