"Enough! I yield!" Jake pleaded for mercy between laughs.
His two attackers relented, but only after shaking themselves, sending sparklets of water flying everywhere particularly aimed in Jake's direction.
When the two calmed down sufficiently Jake gave the orders for the day.
"I'll take you back up to the ship where you can help me load and unload the containers of water. That way there'll be more room in the pod for the water." Jake picked up his hat from the edge of the lake where Kay-o tossed it earlier in play and wrung it out once more.
The work of loading, unloading, filling, reloading and unloading again took most of the day. By the time they were finished both of them were exhausted. Jake took very little time for sleep on the way to the planet. They both piled into the pod for one last trip to the surface, one more swim, and to pick up Kay-o.
"Let's spend the night, Jake." Arr suggested. He was concerned about Jake. He looked dead on his feet. "You won't be any good to us if you collapse." Arr couldn't fly the ship well enough to get them back to the station as swiftly as Jake brought them.
When Kay-o failed to respond to his master's whistles and calls Jake gave in to Arr's suggestion. The dar-dolf was no doubt out hunting fresh meat. They could leave him, he'd be safe enough here while they finished the stay at the station. However, they did have fifteen days and Jake had to admit he was beat. They climbed up in the tree house for one of the best rests of their life.
On board Jake's ship the communication system answering response light was blinking. A message had come in and it was being stored for retrieval by the crew. It was from the Super at Galnon Station #41. It was short and desperate.
They opened the crate in the commissary.
It was mislabeled.
It contained flour, not water!
Please hurry! People were starting to die.
Chapter 25
The next morning Kay-o woke them with his huge booming calls.
They both came sleepily down the tree and headed straight for the lake. They indulged themselves in a real bath this time.
When they finished Arr got his gathering bag from the tree house. They went to get breakfast before leaving. As they were gathering they got the idea that it would be great to take back extra for the people. They would be like the prodigal sons returned if they not only brought water, but also fresh fruit and vegetables. It wouldn't take much time to gather a couple dozen of everything that was in season. Then they would be on their way.
Four hours later the three were back on board reading the transmission from the station. Jake had the ship headed back at full speed within moments.
Chapter 26
69.85 hours later they established orbit once more above the Galnon Station. Jake and Arr agreed to the same arrangement they made at Arr's home planet. Arr would stay on board and help load while Jake shuttled the water down in the pod.
"Don't worry if I don't return right away from delivering the first load." Jake shoved in the last container the little pod could hold. It was practically bulging at the seams. "I hope there'll be someone in fair enough condition to help me unload and distribute, but if there isn't I'll have to do it himself." He climbed in the pod. "I might even have to administer it." He warned before closing the hatch.
They had tried to raise someone at the station ever since they received the news from the Super, but with no luck.
*****
It was going to be nasty, Jake thought. No one even came to meet the little pod. He hefted a large jug of water over each shoulder and headed for the nearest cubical.
The first people he found were dead. There was evidence they tried drinking the water used to process the galnon crystals. It was like drinking water with ground glass in it. They died a horrible death. The next group he found was too weak to hold their heads up. He gave them as much water as he safely could. He left the jug in hopes they would revive enough to drink more on their own. He did the same with the next house and the next until he ran out of jugs.
*****
"I need you more on the other end than here." Jake stumbled slightly with exhaustion from the heat and exertion, as he pulled himself from the pod. "I'll keep shuttling the water down. You'll have to administer it."
"How bad is it?" Arr asked, as he helped Jake reload the pod to capacity.
Jake shook his head. "Bad - real bad. Brace yourself kid, I haven't found any children alive."
Neena! She was all he could think about on the ride down in the pod. Arr cringed inside. What if something had happened to her? But the Darills were used to a hot climate, he kept telling himself. She would be all right. She had to be all right. But could any living being survive without water for four days in such heat?
The moment the pod set down he jumped out and swung a jug over one shoulder. In spite of the temperature he ran for the Darills home.
Chapter 27
They cremated the dead. The Super and Neena were among them. There was no time for mourning. Jake found out from one of the workers that the Super contacted The Company the day Jake and Arr left. They were sending a replacement supply ship. It would arrive in two weeks from the date of contact. The next four days Jake and Arr felt like beasts of burden. Jake found some salt and soda in one of the houses. He put the 'mislabeled water' to good use. He felt like a short order cook making pancakes by the dozens to feed the hungry workers. The fruit was disbursed in limited quantities. They didn't want anyone to get sick. Everyone needed to keep all the body fluid they could.
When the supply ship arrived with a substitute medical staff on board they found that Jake and Arr had not lost a single patient since their return. The regular medical staff, which were nursed with the rest of the workers, were very complimentary of Jake and Arr's heroic efforts.
"We came across the original supply ship floating loose in space." The captain of the replacement vessel sat over a cup of coffee filling in Jake and Arr. "All the crew was dead. The stores were gone. The ship totally stripped. I got that itchy feeling I get when the Helavites are around. Sure looked like their work to me."
"Damn them!" Jake slammed his fist into the table.
Arr didn't join in the conversation. His thoughts were elsewhere.
Chapter 28
Jake woke up to the sound of Arr weeping softly. He was sitting on the edge of his bunk with his head cradled in his hands. Kay-o was awake too and he huddled at Arr's feet with his head in Arr's lap.
It wasn't fair. But then again, who said life was fair. A boy sees his parents killed. He lives to see his brother die in his arms and now an innocent child, that touched places in his soul that he could not fathom, had died.
Jake rose wearily coming to the boy's side. He sat down by Arr and put his arm around him. Arr turned into the embrace burying his face in Jake's shoulder and sobbed. His pain was almost palatable.
Arr's words were muffled as he spoke into Jake's chest. Still he was sure he heard them correctly. "I want to kill all Helavites!"
"You and every other decent person in this galaxy, kid." Jake squeezed Arr's shoulder affectionately. "One day someone will tie a can to their tail. We'll find out where their hideout is and we'll all go after them."
Arr looked up wiping at his tear stained cheeks. "So many people and Neena. No one should have to die like that."
Jake saw his opportunity to make a point he wanted to for months with the kid. Somehow he felt ever since the ice planet that he needed to justify his actions to the boy for being a mercenary. He never felt this way before. Jake figured he was who he was. If you didn't like it, then tough! However, the kid's opinion of him was somehow more important than the rest. He knew that Arr looked up to him. He felt that esteem had fallen a bit after his first battle.
"No one should have to go without something as basic as water," Jake explained. "That's the reason I fight. Maybe one time it's for water rights. Last time it was for the galnon crystals here. The crystals could have been used for blasters or something
even more lethal, but because I fought they're being mined for industrial purposes. Everything has a price and someone that will pay that price to have you fight for it. I try really hard to be on the side I feel is right."
Arr looked down and brushed his tears from the dar-dolf's head. "I understand now Jake."
Jake gave him a squeeze around the shoulders. "You think you can go back to sleep?"
Arr nodded and lay back down on his bed. Jake pulled the sheet up over him. Kay-o put his head on the edge of the bunk and that was how Jake found them in the morning.
*****
The original crew of the station never went back to work. A new Super and ship full of workers arrived two weeks later. The original crew was taken back to The Company headquarters for a rest.
The loss of all the children in the small colony was a devastating blow.
Jake and Arr took their severance pay, bonus pay and the heartfelt thanks of all. They loaded the few possessions they brought down to the planet's surface and headed toward Arr's home world for a little R&R.
Chapter 29
The month long rest on the Henu planet did them all a world of good. Arr was smiling once again. Kay-o's hair grew back to a decent length. They all recovered from their ordeal at Galnon Station #41. Jake came back from a trip up to the cruiser one day to announce that they were on the move again.
He played back a message picked up by the communications system from a man he had known almost all his life. Someone he worked for in the past, Andrew Daily. Andrew was a friend of Jake's dad.
"Daily is one of the richest men there is in the solar system, maybe several solar systems," Jake explained to Arr, as they shuttled up to the ship in the pod. Arr had confided in Jake that riding in the small craft was much more bearable if Jake kept up one of his running commentaries. "He even bought a planet - named it Madelor after the only woman he ever loved, his wife Madeline." Jake banked the pod for entry into the bay.
Arr was clenching the arms of the seat so tightly that his hands were beginning to ache. He tried to concentrate on his friend's narrative.
"She died twenty years ago in the outbreak of the Naruvian Flu. A lot of good people died the first year before the doctors developed a serum." The little pod decelerated coming to a smooth landing in the bay. "Madeline left Andrew with a three year old daughter named Sarah. The two of them plus servants and Sarah's menagerie live on Madelor."
Arr crawled out of the pod. He always felt like kissing the ground each time he made the trip safely. He envied the fact that Jake took all space travel in his stride. Speed and flight excited him rather than frightening him. Arr wondered if he would ever get used to it.
"Andrew's spoiled Sarah rotten indulging her every whim including her collection of animals. Last time I saw the Daily's was right after I got Kay-o. By the time I left Sarah had her father convinced she couldn't live without a dar-dolf of her own." Jake shook his head, turning a droll grimace on Arr. "She's incorrigible, but I cut her a lot of slack 'cause I like Andrew."
They both made for the pilot platform. Jake gave the computer the coordinates.
"Daily didn't say what he wanted, only to come as soon as possible! It was AN EMERGENCY! There's a window at Outpost #26 that we can use to skip from this galaxy to the next. We can be there in three days."
"A window?" Arr cocked his head questioningly. The windows he was familiar with were in buildings and ships.
It was a long time since Jake came up with a word his young friend didn't know. "It's a tube through space that gets you there a whole lot faster."
The look on Arr's face was still one of puzzlement.
"Just wait. You'll see." Jake sent a message to Andrew telling him they were on their way.
*****
On arrival at Madelor they were escorted by a servant to Andrew's study. The building was like nothing Arr had ever seen before. It exuded wealth. Jake enjoyed watching Arr out of the corner of his eye as the kid tried to take it all in. He was ogling like a little boy at his first alien circus.
"Jake," Andrew greeted him with a warm handshake at the door to the study. "I was so relieved you could come."
"This is my new partner, Arr of the Henu," Jake introduced.
Andrew nodded in nonchalance. "Can I offer you a drink?" He moved to the large assemblage of bottles and glasses on the far wall.
"Thanks, I'd love one." Jake knew Andrew kept a private reserve of expensive imported Canadian whiskey. "Arr?" Jake asked.
Arr was gazing up at the painted ceiling in wonder. Cherubs and unicorns glided across a landscape of vibrant blues and greens. Arr shook his head in the negative.
Andrew handed Jake his drink and turned to Arr. "Perhaps you would like to wait outside." It was not an offer it was a dismissal.
Arr started to rise. Jake threw out a restraining hand. "He stays," Jake stated flatly. His tone brooked no argument.
"I just thought he might be more comfortable outside....," Andrew commented with disdain.
Jake knew that Andrew would have finished his sentence with '....with the other animals,' if he thought he could have gotten away with it. Jake was surprised at himself for never noticing before that Andrew held a prejudice toward aliens.
"He's my partner, as I told you when I introduced him," Jake said bluntly. "If this is a business call he has a right to hear. If it's a social call, I would hope you would show him the respect you would show me after all our years of friendship."
"Of course Jake, I'm sorry if I offended you," Andrew said, to Jake rather than Arr.
Jake didn't miss the slight, but let it pass. He and Andrew went back a long way.
"So, what is it business or social?" Jake removed his restraining hand from Arr's arm. The kid hadn't caught the insult until Jake stood up for him. Andrew was a billionaire, but Arr was the rich one in personality.
"Sarah has vanished." Andrew said without preamble. "She disappeared five days ago. The first day I brought in additional security teams with dogs, but they turned up nothing. The second day I called you." Andrew sat down, rolling his glass in his hand from side to side. It was a habit Jake was familiar with in Andrew when he was upset, but trying to hide it.
Jake shifted forward in his seat. Of all the things he thought he'd hear this was not one of them. Andrew had security everywhere. "Have there been any ransom demands?"
"Not a single one." Andrew sat holding his drink for something to do with his hands rather than put it down on the table next to him. He sipped at it absentmindedly.
"Any of the staff have a grudge against you?" Jake doubted this last, but it was a routine question to ask in such a case. Jake's father always said that once Andrew Daily got hold of an employee they were his for life. He was known for treating his people well. He always paid Jake in gold and up front for his services.
Andrew rubbed his brow in weariness. "Not that I know of." He straightened his shoulders resolutely. "I want her found. I don't care how much it cost! You can name the ticket." He finished off his drink with a single slug.
"We can discuss payment later, first step is for us to make a sweep of the grounds, the whole planet if need be. I also want to speak with the staff. Find out where Sarah was seen last, also where she was supposedly headed when she disappeared." Jake rose placing his untouched glass on the table beside him. "We'll do our best, Andrew."
Jake, Arr and Kay-o started their search for clues.
Chapter 30
Sarah was taken by Hydras. Jake found the telltale pattern of their unusual landing craft in the grass behind the tall hedge that surrounded the grounds. It was all very clear to Jake now and in his opinion almost hopeless. The Hydra were a race of slavers. They dealt mostly in the sale of women and children to households of other alien cultures for servants and bed partners. Their landing crafts constantly surveyed planets for possible victims. The ships were small, silent running and very quick. They probably snatched her before she knew what hit her much less had time enough to scream. The Hy
dra usually kept a home ship at a central location. Once it was full from the deliveries of the smaller landing craft they took the load back to a base to be sorted according to looks and talents. Then they distributed their captives to the far corners of the universe for sale to the highest bidder. Jake didn't hold out much hope for a rescue, but he told Andrew he'd try. They were back on the ship within an hour headed out.
Jake heard a rumor several months ago, on Outpost #45. Some trader thought he saw a Hydra landing craft close to a planet in this section of the sector. It was very flimsy information to go on. However, it was all that Jake had at the moment. If there was a landing craft, then the home ship couldn't be too far away. The landing crafts were definitely short distance vehicles. If they could just find a home ship to follow to their base, he'd be happy. What he'd do after that he had no idea. That would come if they found it.
"What are Hydra?" Arr asked one night, as they sat on the pilot platform surveying the stars.
"First off, Hydra isn't their real name. No one has ever escaped them except into slavery. They say, the Hydra's language can't be learned. So no one knows their real name." Jake stretched and yawned, eliciting a reaction yawn from Arr. "Way back, before my time some slave who used to be a teacher compared them to the mythological beast Hydra. It stuck. The things don't have multiple heads like the Greek monster, but they do resemble snakes or more accurately lizards on two legs." Jake frowned as he remembered the few he saw in the slave markets of the Rigil system. "They live and work in planets that have caves. Strong light hurts their eyes. When they're above ground they have to wear sun goggles."
Kay-o rolled over on Arr's feet for a tummy rub. The dar-dolf had accepted the boy fully over the last few months. Arr leaned over obligingly. "Will we be able to handle a whole base operation?" Kay-o expressed his delight with the rub by rumbling his pleasure deeply in his throat.
"I believe so." Jake fleetingly considered reprimanding Arr for spoiling the dar-dolf, but thought better of it. It had been months since the beast needed to be bribed with a glove. He followed Arr's orders well. "We have one thing in our favor if we find the base. It'll be a small operation. The Hydra are such ill tempered brutes that if you get too many in one spot at a time a battle breaks out. So, they travel and deal their trade in small bands of fifteen or twenty."