I’ll give Freda her due, she had guts. Without hesitation, she pulled her sword and came at me. I still wasn't free enough to run, and I was out of handy weapons. I'd never get my knife or the gun out of my backpack in time, so I did the next best thing. I picked up Popeye and shoved him straight at her. Both went down in a heap, with twin oofs.
That gave me just enough time to remove the net and dive back into the water. Well, stagger back in. I’d forgot about the stab wound in all the excitement, which in itself is a statement I would never have thought I'd make. The repair systems and almost closed the wound, but I was still leaking fluid - er, blood. However, I couldn't use the leg until internal repairs were complete, and I calculated that with a handicap, I wouldn't be much, if any, faster than a biological Quinlan. I submerged and began swimming, using only my tail as much as possible.
It occurred to me that if they had anyone downstream, maybe with another net, I'd almost certainly be caught and go through a repeat of the confrontation I’d just endured. Leave the water? That would probably result in an extended game of cat and mouse, with me trying to get to the river and them trying to intercept me. Like it or not I was committed. But since I had a head start, I went ashore and took the time to maneuver my sword out of my backpack. If I was to be netted again, I didn't want to depend just on my roamer. While I was at it, I moved the tranq gun to a side pocket that would be watertight, but could still be opened in a hurry.
“My roamer!” A quick radio inventory confirmed the worst - I'd lost my last spider. It should still be well within range, even if the was still back at the fight, so I had to conclude that it had been destroyed or disabled. Nuts. This severely reduced my chances of getting out of a net. Time to reevaluate.
Between losing my roamer and the leg wound, I was at a distinct disadvantage. I queried repair systems, and found that the wound was significant. I was about an hour from full functionality, although fluid reserves would have to be built up as well, which could take a day or two and would require me to eat. This was definitely a good time to disappear, but I couldn’t just park the Manny and leave it. If the upstream thugs came after me, I needed to be able to defend myself. That meant I'd have to stay with the Manny. So, I can look forward to a long boring time at the bottom of a stream.
I took a minute to find a sheltered spot with some detritus piled up and proceeded to bury myself. Without the roamer, I couldn't check if I was effectively hidden, so I’d just have to take my chances.
I waited almost 2 hours just to be safe. This was way beyond the breath holding capability of even the most athletic Quinlan, so if anyone was keeping watch up top, they’d have long since given up on me being in the area. But they wouldn't have to expend much effort with a net. Stretch it across the stream, sit down, have a coffee, wait for the lines to jiggle. Which meant I was going to have to hoof it. There was no way out of this that didn't involve a lot of time and effort and risk. With a sigh, I surfaced, glanced around, and scuttled into the bushes.
Two hours of skulking through forest, getting poked by thorns and sniffed at by random critters, finally paid off. I found myself peering around the rocket a couple of Quinlans relaxing by the stream. They had some ropes pegged to the ground and leading into the water. Three guesses what those were for. The question was, did they have anything I wanted, or should I just bypass them? I rolled my eyes at the thought. Name pretty much any movie with this kind of situation, and the protagonist would alert the pursuers with a bungled burglary, thereby provoking another chase scene and ensuing hilarity. No thanks. I took a moment to look around and plan my route, and headed back into the bush.
After a long and circuitous hike. I finally made it to the river and swam out to where the other three Mannies floated at the bottom, anchored to a submerged branch. Despite the maintenance roamers’ best efforts, the Mannies were accumulating… something. Mildew? Seaweed? Whatever it was, it made them look more like the Swamp Thing than Quinlans. Hugh would have to do some cleanup, when he finally activated one.
I checked inventory and thankfully, Garfield had managed to get all the roamers back to their hosts. I ordered two roamers each from two of the Mannies to jump ship. Mouth open, I accepted the new recruits. One last item money. We each had a fair inventory of the Quinlan coins, and we'd accumulated some Quinlan knives in the various encounters. Being metal, they were highly prized and worth as much as a year's wages for the average Quinlan. A quick frisking showed me that we had seven knives total. I took three knives and a third of the cash from the other Mannies.
This put me in much better spirits. I pushed off from the group and headed downstream. There was no way I can stay in Three Lagoons after the recent shenanigans. I figured I'd swim underwater for a half hour or so, then surface and take it easy while keeping watch for other towns. Being on the Utopia River system now, I would be going east - back into the Garrick's spine segment, where we started. It seemed
