After the ship was moored the crew washed up and made themselves presentable, orders of the captain. At the designated hour, everyone reported on deck and then the whole crew, to which Daniel was counted by now, walked off the long, high gangway, carrying their bags. They would be off again for a while as the ship was cleaned, checked and prepared for a new cargo.
On the quay, to Daniel’s amazement, was a carriage. He’d never seen one there.
Ulaman made them all line up and then walked over to the carriage. After a knock on the door, he came back and stood in line also. Several people who were busy at the docks stopped what they were doing and took a very interested stance.
The carriage opened. Gaguran Slindris stepped out. He was followed by Seigner Clelem Dandra ko Galem, and after him a young woman exited the carriage.
Stroro, who stood next to Daniel, whispered: “That’s the Seigner’s daughter.”
The three came closer. Only Clelem and Gaguran walked up to the line of sailors. The woman kept a distance. Clelem had prepared a short speech in which he cordially thanked the crew for their superb work in saving all the lives of the islanders.
“The comisar of Skarak, the comisar of Zoroon and also the president of the Ship Owners Society have asked me to convey their gratitude to you.” Clelem then nodded to Gaguran, who reached in his pocket and pulled out a leather purse. Each of the people from the crew, including Daniel, were handed a golden and a silver coin. Judging from the response of the other crew members, this represented quite a handsome amount.
After that little ceremony, Clelem returned to where his offspring was waiting. Daniel had a short time to look at the woman. She was small. Her hair was long, brown and overly fluffy. Her dress, made of something deep red velvet and yellow brocade. She was using a fan for no apparent reason, hiding her face behind it. Clelem gave her his arm and escorted her to the carriage, even though it was only a few dozen feet away.
Gaguran trailed behind them and entered the carriage last.
Ulaman thanked everyone for the attention, and congratulated them on the fine bonus. “Enjoy your shore leave, people,” he said, quickly taking off his captain’s hat as the carriage was moving away.
Four people cruised the streets of the lower side of Skarak. Daniel had been picked up by Stroro, Lidrin and Bilk, who would not take no for an answer. There was no need for a no, as there was no question. Daniel was taken out for a night on the town, sailor style.
They had seen an amazing amount of bars, pubs and similar places already, and now they were on their way to the next one. Lidrin and Stroro were loudly singing a rawdy sailor song. Bilk hummed along, for some reason he had not sung a note the entire evening. Daniel was just laughing at the few words of the song that he understood.
“Oh, here we have to go. Stop, stop, here, you big thing,” Stroro yelled out, disrupting the song.
They had arrived at the Tub. The outside of the bar was made to look as a barrel, which added to the looks of the place. Daniel doubted that his fellow men were sober enough to notice that. As usual, the alcohol did nothing to Daniel. The Bactine body eliminated all of its effects.
They moved in, making a lot of noise. It went mostly unnoticed, as the racket inside the Tub was deafening.
The Tub was made for people who love standing at a bar. Or lying over one. The bar consisted of seven circles, one inside the other. There were openings in three places where people could move to a ring more on the inside, or to the outside.
Lidrin found them a spot in one of the outer circles where they ordered large glasses of Lativian beers. As they were drinking, the four had a relaxed conversation, whilst shouting their lungs out to overcome the noise around them.
“Don’t you love this place?” Lidrin yelled in Daniel’s ear.
“It looks like fun,” Daniel roared back.
“Nah, the fun still has to start,” Lidrin commented.
The fun did not take long to appear. All over the Tub, dozens of large concrete tubs filled with ice water came out of the walls. To make things look more attractive, each tub was covered in huge amounts of colourful bubbles.
Many of the people in the bar started yelling and cheering.
“Better stay close to us,” Stroro advised Daniel. “And hold on to the bar. That’s important.”
Daniel accepted the advice. Around them, most of the sailors started a wrestling match. Each one was attempting to dunk his colleague in one of the tubs. Each ‘hit’ was accompanied by loud cheering, after which the wrestling match continued.
The fun continued for about half an hour, after which there was no water left in any of the tubs. It either seeped from the unfortunate sailors (who did not seem to mind), or was over the floor.
The tubs were retracted into the wall and the fun bit was over, leaving the sailors to themselves and their stories and drinks.
Daniel assumed it was safe to let go of the bar. He had noticed that his fellows had done the same, and all others who held on to the bar were left in peace. Apparently it was an unwritten rule in the Tub.
As Bilk was ordering another round of beers, Daniel caught sight of a young man with a very pale complexion, shabby clothes and an unhealthy overall appearance. Among the big and strong sailors, the man stood out like a sore thumb. His instincts kicked in and after excusing himself for a moment, he moved along the round bar so he would keep the young man in sight.
The man moved to the far end of the outermost bar where three men were standing. He reached in his pocket and rolled some small stuff on the bar while talking to the men.
Daniel enhanced his vision, using his electronic eye. “Crap,” he whispered. He recognised the drugs that were on the bar as TSD and Rood.
TSD, officially known as Trero-Sulphur-Dermoxyn, was better known as Toxic Shit you Die of. It was a chemical drug, meant to relax, but often made people die. The drug was made of a selection of waste products. Rood, he knew, was some alien vegetable drug. It put people to sleep as in a coma, and it was unpredictable when they would come out of it. If at all. And the filth existed even here.
“Daniel.” A hand rested on his shoulder.
Stroro had come after Daniel. “Don’t mess with them, Daniel. They are bad news, you don’t want to get involved with them.”
Daniel looked at his sailor friend. “I’ve dealt with them before. I’m a soldier, Stroro, I have to arrest that man.”
“You can’t. You are not here as a soldier, remember than. You are a security man for the Society.” Stroro shook Daniel by the shoulder, hoping that he could make the man see sense.
“Who’s a soldier here?” a loud voice rang out. It was better than a switch. Within seconds there was a silence in the Tub that was scary.
“There is no soldier here,” Stroro tried.
“Oh, right,” another voice said. “I heard your mate there say he was a soldier. We don’t have soldiers in here, right boys?”
There was no more reason to talk. The appearance of the Tub changed considerably in the twenty minutes it took for law enforcement to arrive and clear out the bar.
14. Jailbirds
The line of carriages painted black and yellow was impressive. Daniel had never seen so many of them in one street. The downside of it was that he was stowed in one of them as an official guest of the Skarak police force.
As the caravan started to move, Daniel asked Stroro, who was in the same carriage, why the police had taken so long to get there.
Stroro shrugged. “I think they wait until most of us are somewhat tired of fighting. Makes things easier for
