PYRA AND THE TEKTITES

by Rebecca Melanie Sunquist

 

Part 17:  Back To Europa

 

...in the previous episode, Pyra and Flanagan and Doctor Mairead O'Rourke were captured by Tektites on Pirate's Cay.  With their fate in the balance, Ichthia arrived and claimed the trio, taking them away with her. 

 

Secure in the cargo hold of the Mockingbird, Pyra floated in zero gravity against the harness that held her in place.  On the other side of the cargo hold sat Flanagan and Doctor O'Rourke.  They seemed to be dozing--after all, there was nothing to do until they arrived at their destination, presumably the Aquarium.  Pyra wished they were going to Ceres.  Maybe she could run away again, and this time go home. 

 

I promise to pay more attention in math class, she thought.

 

But Flanagan would be confined for a Ceres year.  It was all her fault. 

 

She looked at Flanagan again.  He and O'Rourke were sleeping now as they floated just centimeters above the deck.  O'Rourke's head rested on Flanagan's shoulder.

 

If only there were some way for them to escape.

 

There was but one way in and out of the cargo hold.  Pyra tried to remember hearing the snick of a lock as Lay By, Ichthia's assistant, shut them inside, but there was only the sound of the hatch closing.  Lay By had not locked it.   

 

Pyra pulled the main strap of the harness through the buckle and freed herself.  Very carefully she stood up in the zero gravity and let herself float toward the hatch.  She had no idea what she would do once she was outside the cargo hold, or where she would go.  In space, there was no place for her to escape to.  But at least she was doing something.

 

As she reached the hatch, it opened unexpectedly.  Startled, Pyra tried to stop, and instead she collided with the bulkhead.  There was no place for her to hide.  She watched helplessly as a familiar face peered around the corner of the hatchway.  Long yellow hair, blue eyes, and a blue outsuit:  Chlorine Collingsworth had gotten herself on board the Mockingbird.

 

"What are you doing here?" Pyra whispered furiously. 

 

"You said you were a---"

 

Pyra shushed her with a wave of her hand, and, after making sure Flanagan and O'Rourke were still asleep, pushed Chlorine back through the hatchway.  Softly Pyra closed the hatch behind them.

 

They were standing in the gangway that connected the Mockingbird's three cargo holds, their hands clutching stanchions to hold themselves in place in the zero gravity.  For the moment, they were alone.  As far as Pyra knew, only Ichthia and Lay By were aboard the spacecraft, and both were likely on the bridge.

 

"You said you were a pirate," Chlorine finished.

 

Pyra shook her head.  "I ran away from home, that's all.  But what are you doing here?  You're supposed to be taking care of the vegetables on Pirate's Cay."

 

"Beans and tomatoes are so boring," said Chlorine, and then she laughed.  "It's so brutal, what you're doing.  I wanted to come along and see."

 

"Does Ichthia know you're on board?" asked Pyra.

 

"No, of course not."

 

"Chlorine, we have to get away from her.  She's going to make Flanagan work for her for a full Ceres year, and I don't know what she's going to do with Doctor O'Rourke."  Pyra began pulling herself along the row of handles in the overhead toward the galley.  "And I don't even know where we're going."

 

"We're going to Europa," said Chlorine, following closely behind.  "I overheard her tell that man to set the course."

 

"She's still after a Unicorn Stone."

 

They reached the galley and ducked inside.  In the cooler they found plastic bottles of water with straw-lids, and decided to share one.  Very carefully they sat down at the table and strapped themselves to the bench.  The bottle floated back and forth between them as they took turns sipping.

 

"I don't think it's the Stone," Chlorine said dubiously.  "Ichthia said something about a life form they found on the moon."

 

"Omigod, it's the morrikaru.  She's going after one of them for her Aquarium.  We have to stop her."

 

"What's a morri-thing?" asked Chlorine.

 

"They look like a seals," answered Pyra.  "They saved me when I fell into the ocean."  Seeing Chlorine's puzzled expression, she added, "It's a long story.  Right now we have to figure out how to stop her."

 

"There's nothing we can do," said Chlorine.

 

"No, we can figure this out.  I mean, Ichthia has to have a way to get down into the ocean and capture a morrikaru.  That means . . . "  Suddenly Pyra's face brightened.  "That means a submarine of some kind.  And it has to be aboard the Mockingbird."  She began to unstrap herself from the bench.  "It's probably in one of the cargo holds.  We can disable it.  Come on!"

 

Pyra and Chlorine pulled themselves along the gangway toward the cargo holds.  The hatch to the first one was still closed; Flanagan and Doctor O'Rourke had not yet awakened.  The second hold contained a large aquarium already filled with water, and containing some sort of stringy green and brown plants and several small, colorful fish.  Briefly Pyra considered breaking a wall of the aquarium, so that the water would spill out and Ichthia would have no way to transport the morrikaru.  But it might also make a mess that would cause the Mockingbird to crash.

 

In the third and last cargo hold they found a submersible.  It looked just like the hologram Pyra had seen of a submarine, but much smaller.  The hatch on top was open.  Chlorine started to jump up to the top, but Pyra stopped her, pointing to a plastic ladder on the submersible's hull. 

 

"If you jump in zero gravity," Pyra whispered, "you could bump your head on the ceiling."

 

"It's called the overhead," said Chlorine.

 

Pyra shrugged, and began to climb the ladder, with Chlorine following her.  At the top of the submersible there was an opening, with another ladder leading down. 

 

"Close and seal the hatch," said Pyra, when she reached the bottom.  "If we're discovered, that may delay them while we disable this."

 

Pyra looked around.  A narrow passageway led to a  cargo hold in the stern of the submersible.  There she found another aquarium, also filled with water, and a control panel whose indicators suggested that the aquarium might be opened externally to allow something or someone to be placed inside.  So that's how they're going to do it, she thought.  Lay By on the outside, forcing a morrikaru in, and Ichthia at the controls to close the door once it's inside.  Pyra concluded that the other aquarium was not meant for the morrikaru, after all.  She studied the control panel, but saw no way to disable it other than hammering on it, and she did not have a hammer. 

 

She was so focused on the panel that she let out a yelp when a hand touched her shoulder.  Quickly she spun around, and lost her balance in zero gravity, and tumbled against a bulkhead.

 

"Sorry," said Chlorine. 

 

Grumbling, Pyra began to pull herself toward the bow of the submersible.  "Let's see if there's something on the bridge that we can do."

 

"We shouldn't even be in here, you know," Chlorine protested. 

 

Pyra did not respond right away.  When they reached the constricted bridge, she gingerly turned around to face Chlorine.  "There's a whole ocean under the surface of Europa," she explained carefully.  "I fell into it by accident.  There's life down there, Chlorine.  I saw something called an urrglu that eats anything.  It would have eaten me, but some of the morrikaru sacrificed themselves to save me . . . what are you doing?"

 

Chlorine was drifting along the submersible's instrument console, touching dials and levers.  "I don't think you can disable these," she said.

 

"I have to.  The morrikaru are my friends.  They call me Pyra of the Over."

 

Chlorine's mouth fell open.  "They talked to you?"

 

"Well, sort of.  I heard them in my mind.  Chlorine, don't touch anything!"

 

But it was too late.  The lever activated a hydraulic mechanism inside the Mockingbird.  Pyra and Chlorine felt the submersible tremble a little as it moved.  The attitude of the submersible slowly rolled to starboard along the front-back axis, and then there was silence.

 

"What did you do?" gasped Pyra.

 

Chlorine drew away as if she had just found a spider.  "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

 

The submersible continued to roll, but Pyra forced herself to be calm.  "Which lever did you touch?" she asked, and pointed to the one that had been closest to Chlorine.  "This one?"

 

Chlorine gave a little nod, her blue eyes wide with fear.

 

Pyra felt her heart skip a beat.  "Chlorine, that's the 'Launch' lever.  You've launched us into space!"

 

"Can't you do something?"

 

Pyra climbed into the captain's chair, still fighting her own terror.  The console seemed alien to her--if only there were a microphone, a radio, something to communicate with.  Surely the submersible had one, but if so, it was not clearly labeled.  "I don't know.  There's no Videx, and no way to see anything out there.  This is for power . . . but I don't think turning a screw is going to propel us.  Razza razza frackin!"

 

"What's going to happen to us?"

 

Pyra closed her eyes and pressed her forehead against the console.  "I don't know," she whispered.  "Maybe they'll realize what happened, and come back for us.  If they don't . . . "

 

After a moment Chlorine shoved Pyra's shoulder.  "If they don't?" she cried, her voice breaking with terror.  "Then what?"

 

"I guess . . . gravity will eventually pull us to the biggest object out here," Pyra said slowly, sitting up.  "And that's Jupiter."

 

"And . . . how long will that take?"

 

Pyra sighed, with some asperity.  She had been trying not to think about the answer to that question.  What would Flanagan say?  Would he tell the truth?  Is that what spaceship captains did?

 

"It depends on where we are, Chlorine," she said at last.  "It could be in a few hours, or a day.  Or it could be fifty years."

 

"We could starve!"

 

"I think we'll run out of oxygen first," said Pyra.  Her smile flickered against the tears that were starting to form, and she pointed aft toward the aquarium.  "But at least we won't die of thirst."

   

 

Don’t Miss PYRA AND THE TEKTITES, PART 18:  "'INTO THE FIRE'", appearing  on this site on 1 March 2008.

 

PYRA AND THE TEKTITES appears here courtesy of prize-winning writer Rebecca Melanie Sunquist, who has been caring for Adelie penguins in the French Southern & Antarctic Territories since 2003.