a few weeks. That was the last her family had seen of her.
“The folks on board are good for me,” she said, scratching her arm. “They accept me. So I am good for them. I love it here, and I can go to places and bring little things for Ombra.”
Ombra, Daniel knew, was the woman who was waiting for Draiky to return home whenever the cook was away on a voyage. “That’s nice.”
Draiky grinned. “Sometimes she curses me for bringing so much, but I know she likes it.”
Daniel laughed about that. “Do you already know what you will bring her this time?”
The cook shook her head. “No idea. Nothing from here, that’s for sure.”
“Maybe you have a chance when we reach Britna the Red,” Daniel said, getting up.
“Doubt it,” Draiky said, “been there a few times and it’s not worth going ashore. Boring place.” She scratched her arm again.
“You should see a doctor about that,” Daniel pointed at her arm.
“Nah, had it forever. Doctors don’t know what to do against it. I’ll live.”
Daniel wished her a good day and went to the bridge again, hoping to learn a few more things about the planet and the ship.
Four days later they were in the harbour of Britna the Red. Smaller barges, some under sail and some with men pulling long oars, worked to get the silk offloaded. The Pricosine was too large to moor at the quay.
Daniel climbed back on board the Pricosine after visiting the town. As he stepped off the rope-ladder, Bilk grinned widely at him.
“How often did you fall asleep?”
The fame of the town was wide spread, obviously, and Daniel’s experience spread it even wider. “It was bad,” he told Bilk, who nodded in agreement.
“We all know,” said the alien with the strange spotted skin. His expression was clear. They all had tried to convince Daniel that a visit was not worth the trouble.
“I know now also. Next time I’ll listen,” the security man said.
“Better not be so dumb,” a voice behind him said. Xandree grinned. “They will take you for a bragoon one day, you should know that.”
Daniel was not sure what a bragoon was, but coming from Xandree it did not mean much good.
“At least you had a good day to head out,” Bilk said. It was indeed a nice and sunny day.
“True. I’ll go and make a round on the ship,” Daniel said. It was not necessary here in the harbour, but it would not hurt. As he was reaching the stern of the ship, he saw a lone figure sitting there. He stepped off the walker-bike and sauntered over. To his surprise it was Draiky. She seemed to work on something.
Daniel made sure that he was approaching her loudly, as not to startle her. He saw a sketchpad on her knees as she turned around and looked up at him.
“Hi,” she said, and turned back to her sketchpad.
“Hello. Do you mind if I spy on you?”
She grinned loudly. “There must be more worthwhile things or people for you to watch. But I am not stopping you.”
Daniel sat down next to her and looked at the paper. It was a drawing of the nearby ridge of mountains that had a very remarkable shape. And it was an amazing drawing. “You are good, Draiky.”
“Is nothing. Just some scratching to pass the time.” As if it reminded her, she scratched her forearms. As her sleeves were rolled up, because of the nice weather, Daniel saw large yellow and orange spots on her arms.
“That does not look good,” he remarked, trying to make it sound casual.
She shrugged. “Glandrine rash. Rare and untreatable. But you get it at birth, not otherwise. Everyone’s safe from me.” She snickered.
“Glandrine? What’s that?”
“I don’t know the fancy words, Daniel. I just know that everyone who is born on the planet has it. It grows inside us. They say it’s from the water. It’s in our skin and it stops us from getting sick and stuff.”
Daniel nodded. With strange chemical compounds in the water that would dissolve metal, there was bound to be some effect on human bodies too.
“When we die, the doctors take the glandrine layer from our skin and store it somehow. When people get hurt, there is a supply of it so they can fix people.”
“I see.” It made sense, although the practice sounded a bit odd. But then, if the stuff was so good that it could save lives, why not. Out in space there were far weirder and worse practices. At least here they waited until people were dead before stripping their skin.
Draiky returned to her drawing and fell silent. Daniel quietly got up and left her working on the drawing that was becoming better all the time.
13. A night on the town
After unloading the silky material in Britna the Red, they received quite a large amount of food and drinking water. These supplies were definitely needed if they were going to have lots of extra mouths to feed on board.
Ulaman plotted their course and they set sail for the island where a large group of people were waiting to be rescued. That was only two days sailing, and it was obvious why the people had to be evacuated. The island had fallen victim to a nearby rift that had started to stretch itself. Many parts of the island had been torn apart already, and the rest was just waiting for that fate to happen.
The refugees came in their own boats, large and small, and Daniel worked as hard as everyone else to get the people to safety. The sea floor shuddered several times as the rescue operation was going on. Strange waves appeared on the surface. The tremors were not strong enough to make the Pricosine notice, which was a good thing. Getting two thousand people with their belongings and a load of animals on board without proper means was a task in itself.
The people were calm during their evacuation, and that was the biggest help the crew could ask for. The loading of the people and animals took two days and meant hardly any sleep for any of the crew. Also Draiky and Xandree pitched in where they could.
Ulaman had the three leading people from the island on the bridge and had asked Daniel to be there as well.
Daniel understood that. Ulaman, being the captain, now was responsible for several thousand heads, wanted to make sure that there was an independent witness who could state that he had done things by the book. Seigner Clelem would insist on that.
“I hope,” said Ulaman, “that your people will be able to find a good place to stay. We’re about to sail, and if the winds are with us we can make it to your new home in 3 to 4 days. If there is something you need, or you have a problem, call on me.”
The three people thanked Ulaman and promised that they would keep the hindrance for the crew down to the minimal amount they could muster.
“We will come and check up on you,” Ulaman said. “Everyone of the crew will be taking part in this. We have heard that you have several stoves and furnaces with you to make food, is that right?”
“Yes, captain. We can make for our own food.”
Everything was in order. The three left the bridge and Ulaman started giving orders through his tube.
Skarak was coming back into view. The crew of the Pricosine were shattered but happy and relieved that the move of the people had gone well. As soon as they were in hydger range, Ulaman reported to Clelem about the journey and that all people had been rescued and safely in their new town. Daniel, Lidrin and Xandree were present at the ‘conference call’.
“Excellent work, captain Ulaman,” Clelem said. “You have done an outstanding job. My compliments to the crew. They have all deserved a gratification which I will allow for personally.”
Daniel was perplexed. That was a boss one would love to work for. The cheers from the crew, when the word was spread, made it clear that they all thought so.
