“Hello out there! Do you hear me?!”
Awareness fought like a champion to regain its seat. Daniel opened his eyes.
“Hello! If you are alive, can you show me so?”
Slowly Daniel sat up and stared around.
“Hello… Here, behind you…”
While his body protested, Daniel turned. He saw a row boat. There were two men in it.
“Hello there. You will have to jump into the water. We can’t get near the Fringy to pick you up!”
Daniel waved. At least he did his best to wave. Then he just let himself roll off the animal that had saved his life. The men in the row boat paddled quickly over to him and dragged him into the boat.
“Are you okay, sir?”
“Never better,” Daniel said, and laughed. The insanity and the hardship of the past days needed a way out.
The men in the row boat took him to the fishing boat from where Daniel had been spotted. They fed him and checked him as well as they could, and then they put him in a bunk. Miraculously, his hydger was still in his possession, somehow it had gotten stuck inside his shirt.
When Daniel woke up, the fishing boat was on its way to port. After more food and a shot of something like brandy, he felt better. The sailors had handed him fresh clothes that sort of fit and he told the captain of the ship about what had happened.
“Good grief, man, it is impossible that you survived that! How did you get on that Fringy?”
“I don’t really remember. It was just there.”
“You, sir, are the love of the power of the waves.”
Daniel had heard that expression before. It meant someone who was very lucky at sea. It made him wonder, after all the things that had happened to him already. At sea.
He tried using the hydger several times, but there was no signal. The captain, upon noticing his attempts, told him he’d have to wait until they were ashore. “Our town is not a large rich one like Zoroon, sir, the hydger signals are very weak here.”
So Daniel had to wait, and spent his hours worrying about the fate of the men and women aboard the Pricosine.
Properly fed, and warm again, he jumped off the fishing boat, after thanking the crew. They had offered to assist him, but all Daniel wanted to do was get in range of a signal so he could contact his boss.
28. You’re out
Clelem took the news in a strange way. Daniel got the feeling that the man suddenly was ice cold inside and wondered why that was. There was no emotion at all. Not even an inquiry after Daniel’s health, or how he had survived.
“I will arrange for the fare for a carriage to take you back to Skarak, Mr. Zacharias. You will report to the President of the Ship Owners Society at once after arriving. Measures will be taken.” That was all.
Report to Seigner Skinsh ko Talush? Why him? Why not to Clelem?
As he sat in the carriage, he had acquired a basket with food for the long trip, he kept wondering about the strange attitude of Clelem. At first he had seemed such an admirable person. The strange way in which he had made his daughter be his personal hostess during the soiree had already struck him as odd, but this last exchange was totally incomprehensible.
No matter from what way he approached the issue, he could make heads nor tails from it, so he went back to worrying about his friends.
The carriage stopped in several places to take in a few more people who were also travelling to or towards Skarak. It surprised Daniel somewhat, as he had never needed to share a carriage, but it did make sense.
It took Daniel little over a day to reach Skarak. Sleeping in the carriage was not too difficult, but he desperately wanted to shower and put on some clean, fitting clothes. Still, he first made his way to the ship-shaped building of the Ship Owners Society.
Varning was there to open the door to him. “Mr. Zacharias. We have been expecting you. How horrible an incident, how tragic.” The man shook his head and quickly went ahead, leading him to the office where Waldo Skinsh ko Talush was waiting for him.
“Mr. Zacharias. Take a seat. Do you need some tea? Sturt? Something stronger?” The man looked genuinely concerned.
“No, Seigner, thank you.” Daniel told his story, while in the back of his mind the wonder remained why Clelem, the owner of the ship, was not there. Perhaps it was the way things were done on the planet, but still it bothered him. The more as only several days ago he had been invited to a party at the man’s house. Again the strangeness around Clelem’s action regarding his daughter tugged at him. Daniel tried to shake it off and focus on the matter at hand.
Seigner Skinsh ko Talush looked at Daniel in silence, after hearing the account. He was pondering and evaluating. “Mr. Zacharias,” he finally said, “it is with no pleasure at all that I have to tell you that Seigner Clelem Dandra ko Galem has asked me to relieve you from your assignment with respect to his ships. He does not feel you are adding to the safety on board, not to the security against pirates.”
Daniel felt the blood pull away from his face. He had successfully managed to repel that first attack. It had almost cost him his life. Because of that very fact, Clelem had invited him to the soiree. And now this?
The president seemed to guess his thoughts. “You are certainly entitled to feeling rage, Mr. Zacharias. I am quite surprised about this decision also, but it is in the end the Ship Owner who decides.” The man went through some papers on his desk until he found an envelope. “I have prepared this document for you, sir. Would you please be so kind to read its contents and tell me if you agree and accept this?”
Daniel took the envelope. “Would you care to first tell me what is in it, sir?”
The president smiled. “Please, first read the letter, Mr. Zacharias.”
Daniel opened the envelope and pulled out the letter. There was only a small amount of text on it.
’Hereby we declare that Mr. Daniel Zacharias will be released from duty on the ships of Seigner Clelem Dandra ko Galem.
Mr. Zacharias’ release is honourful. He will retain his current wages for a maximum duration of six months, starting at the date written at the bottom of this document.
Signed: Skinsh ko Talush, President.’
Daniel read it again, then looked at the man opposite him. “I don’t understand, sir. Seigner Dandra ko Galem is apparently angry with me, to say the least. And then this?” He put the paper on the desk.
Seigner Skinsh ko Talush nodded. “Yes. He is quite angry indeed. He was very much opposed to this statement, but I feel he is in error. You have done what you could. You put your life in danger for his ships and crew more than once.” The man got to his feet. “You are a good man, Mr. Zacharias. I am saddened by all the events lately that have made your life here not a more pleasurable one. I would suggest that you return to your home and take care of yourself. The authorities have already been contacted with a formal request that a search be done for the Pricosine. That is, for now, all I can do. If there are developments, either on the ship or on a new position for you, I will inform you.”
Daniel did not grasp the situation. Did not want to. “I want to help find the Pricosine, sir. The pirate that tossed me, that kidnapped the crew, he owes me. Dearly.”
The president of the Ship Owners Society came from behind his desk and put his hand on Daniel’s shoulder, a sign of affection Daniel would not have thought possible in this man. “Mr. Zacharias, please. You are in no shape to go out again. Please take my advice, go home, recover. I will contact you if anything becomes clear, or when we need you. You have my solemn word on this.”
Daniel gave in. There was no way he could fight back from here, evidently. He signed the paper, watched the president sign it also, and tucked the envelope in his pocket.
“Thank you, sir. I appreciate what you do for me. I really do.”
“That is quite alright, Mr. Zacharias. Be well.”
