006. Maverick
Gillie sailed through the ancient structures on her little boat. It hung together by wire, rope, and faith; a derelict amidst ruins. Yet it sailed true and never lead her wrong, no scavenger could ask for any better from their boat. She’d weathered many a summer squall, plundered many an untouched wreck, and fended off many a Siren attack from it. She could not live without it; it had become her heart, in a sense.
This was dangerous territory that Gillie had chosen to sail herself into. Far from the sheltered reaches of the Central Affiliation, these were Siren waters. Gillie had no doubt that she would meet one before the trip was done. But she was here nonetheless. There was no choice in the matter. A person needed some kind of collateral to survive in the world. Honest wages weren’t enough for that though. Gillie had heard talk of this place, one of the last outposts of the old age that the Central Affiliation had not set aside as sacred, mostly because they had not found it yet.
Almost everything here in this broken place was worth a tidy sum. The metal plates that covered the wrecked hulks still moored in place would fetch a fair price on the common market. The wiring and electronics in some of the dipolar computers would be desired by some very upstanding technicians. And a single thermonuclear slug launcher, plus a few cases of ammunition, could be fought over for a while. Gillie would be very happy with whatever she happened to lay her hands on.
The wind was quiet today. Gillie had to pole her boat around, maneuvering it through the broken battleships like a carrion beetle digging under a corpse. The war that had caused this had happened a very long time ago. The Central Affiliation’s best guess was 200 years before its founding. Some of the wiser ones figured it was much older than that. In either case, the affects of that war had bled away in most places. This area was supposed to be in a Clean Zone, yet Gillie kept a sharp eye on the radiation counter strapped to her mast. Letting that horrible last weapon of forgotten ancestors rot her to pieces was not how she wanted to go.
A patch of water moved contrary to the rest. It did not escape Gillie’s eye. It could be anything; water dragons were not uncommon out in these remote areas. It could even be a mutie shark, wandering around engraved in pain. And, even if it was a Siren, that didn’t mean anything. Sometimes the creatures would pass on by a seafarer without harming them. Nevertheless, Gillie put a hand to the eight-shot revolver that she kept in her belt.
Long moments passed in the graveyard of leviathans. The patch of water moved in long circles, ignoring the boat altogether for a time. Then, without warning, it submerged. Now Gillie drew the revolver and cocked the hammer. She poled with one hand now, trying to keep moving and get away from whatever that had been.
She glanced over her shoulder, then stopped and looked again. There, not more than two hundred yards away, was the wreck of a munitions ship. Gillie drew in a slow breath, it had been a while since even the Affiliation’s monks had seen something like this. Crossing her fingers, she leaned over and increased the range on her radiation counter. At four hundred yards, well over the ship’s distance from her, it still read clean.
Gillie’s mind raced with possibilities as she looked at her new find. An unbreached, clean munitions ship. Forget metal plates, forget electronics, forget even the launcher. What was entombed within that rusted hulk was worth more than all of those by a long shot. Arc rifles, Spiral war drones, Redeemer lasers, perhaps even a GOD bomb. Gillie shook with excitement. Even just the information about this place, and a set of coordinates, would be worth an insane amount of money. It might even earn her a place as some warlord’s favorite. Gillie liked the thought of that. She would chose silk sheets, delicious food, and warm arms over this beaten existence any day.
Something hit the boat and jarred Gillie out of her daydream. A high pitched sound pierced her eardrums like a spear, and she dropped to the deck in pain. Only one thing made that sound, a Siren. The boat was spun around from the force of the creature’s attack. Gillie nearly lost the revolver in the confusion.
The creature lunged. Gillie shot wildly at it, trying to bury a bullet in its flesh. But it was a wild one, moving fast enough to evade her shots. Its jump missed though, and it plunged back into the water. Gillie took the time to reload her weapon, jamming fresh cartridges in as fast as she could.
There was another high pitched squeal to signal the Siren’s attack. Gillie’s head ringed in its aftermath. She barely had time to register the being’s approach, lunging out of the water with outstretched arms and bulging eyes, like a demon from some aquatic hell, ready to do away with her. There was no hesitation on Gillie’s part; she filled the air between the two of them with bullets. The Siren’s head was split down the middle, black blood spewed from it. It fell on the deck, threatening to capsize the boat. Gillie kicked at it, but it did not move.
A large breath escaped Gillie’s lungs. She sat down a moment, regained her strength amidst the rusting hulks. Then she looked over at her prize so newly won. The munitions ship sat at its dock like a rotten log, yet to her it was the most beautiful thing in the world. She holstered her gun, got on her feet, and began to pole her way towards it again, the possibilities still swimming in her mind.
048. Dip
“Let me take a little dip,” Melinda said.
“No,” Dan said. He looked across the galley at her, a gun in his hands, a forced attitude of coldness permeating his being.
“It’s just fine out there,” Melinda said. “Let me go out. I need to wash off. I’m so dry. Please let me.”
Dan didn’t even bother responding to this. It only solidified in his mind that Melinda had either gone off the deep end, or worse, had told the truth about everything else. It was impossible to wash off in salt water, anybody knew that. Something was definitely wrong now. He tightened his grip on his gun and swallowed down the lump that kept forming in his throat.
“Dan, please. You’re being unreasonable.”
Oh, he was, was he? What about Nate? What about Sam? Had she been reasonable with them? Here one day, gone the next. Only where could they go, with miles of water all around them? She had done something with them, she had to have. There was no other explanation. There was no other sane alternative.
“Calm down, Dan,” Melinda said as she held her hands out to plead with him. He wasn’t going to have any of it.
“That’s a little hard to do now,” Dan said.
“Dan, I’ll forgive you for Nate and Sam,” Melinda said. “You just need some help. And I need to get a little wet.”
So she was going to put the blame for their disappearance on him? Typical, expected. He would be the likely suspect. He owned the gun and he was strong enough to put such a insane plan into action. In fact, he even had the motive. Things between Nate and him had not been so great, and it wasn’t any secret that he wanted Sam.
“I didn’t do it,” Dan said, sure of himself.
“Yes, you did,” Melinda said. “Look at me. How could I have done it?”
She had, he knew that she had. It would have been simple to put Nate at ease. His standing with Sam was on the rocks, and he would have welcomed someone to replace her place in his bed. Sam would have been brought down with similar means. She had always swung both ways, and didn’t like Dan enough to go with him on that sort of thing. Oh yes, she had done it. Changed them and dumped them over the side. Well, she wasn’t about to get him. He would ensure that.
Dan saw Melinda mouthing something. For all he knew, it could be prayers to some elder thing, perhaps the one which had birthed her. He pulled the hammer of the gun back. The rocking of the boat threatened to throw off his aim, but he kept his hand steady. She wasn't getting away from him that easy.
“Don’t even think about it,” he said. He wasn’t about to die out here in the middle of nowhere at the hands of something less than human. “I’ve seen what you look like in the water each night. I don’t aim to let you get like that and tear me apart. I’m not that dumb.”
“You’re insane, that’s what you are,” Melinda said. Her voice shook with anger, not fear, he was sure of that. He was sure of so much right now. He’d never been this confident about anything before. It felt good. It rushed through his body like lightning, arcing from nerve to nerve like a storm.
“I imagine I will be by the time this is all over,” Dan said. “I mean, that’s what happens in stuff like this.”
“It’s already happened,” Melinda said. “You’re being unreasonable and pointing a gun at me. That sure seems like insanity to me.”
“Of course,” Dan said, smirking a little. “To your kind, what you did isn’t crazy. It’s normal for you, you sick water kitty.”
“You’re not making any sense,” Melinda said. “Please, Dan, put the gun down. Stop this insanity right now.”
“Whose insanity is it?”
