The Unscheduled Mission (9 page)

“The Atackack have several sorts of shamans,” Marisea explained. “Well, shaman is the term we have come to call them. They are all males who for one reason or another do not otherwise fit in to normal Atackack society where in most cases a males exists to service the queen, even if he might live with a female of lower caste during his time off. The Shamanate of the Atackack exists to give those oddball males a position that will benefit their people in other ways.

“Many of us think only of the Atackack mystics like Otackack as shaman,” Marisea went on and then realized, “Oh! You haven’t met Tack yet, have you? Well, anyway mystics are just one sort of shaman. Tellers are another. They are the minstrels and story-tellers of their people. They tend to be itinerant, going from settlement to settlement and from what I have learned are very well respected by the other Atackack.

“The one wearing the bright red sashes is a leader,” she continued. “I’ve never met one before, but I understand the size and number of sashes is an indicator of rank. This one had two crossed sashes over his upper shoulders and one around his waist. I think that marks him as having high status. Anyway, most Atackack leaders are female. As I said, normal males are in service to their queen, but every so often a male has warrior tendencies, so they too are conducted into the Shamanate and then allowed to train beside the female warriors. Some few warriors have the ability to lead and evidently this is one of them.”

“Well, let’s go see what they want,” Park sighed.

“What makes you think they want anything from us?” Dannet asked.

“Tack wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t looking for Iris and me,” Park replied. “Atackack do not take vacations, so unless this is a wild coincidence, he came here because we’re here.”

“I understand the Atackack are primitive and without a technology of their own,” Dannet argued. “How could he have known we were here?”

“They have a technology,” Park corrected him. “All people have a technology. It’s part of what makes them people, but their technology is Neolithic, although I understand some Mer have been teaching them how to smelt copper and iron and those great ants are very quick studies. I know that from our own Atackack students in Van Winkle Town. In any case Tack is a mystic as we said. He has visions and follows them. I don’t know how he does it, and frankly I’m still skeptical that anyone could see the future, but I can’t deny that some of what he has predicted has happened and part of that was our crash landing last year in Kogack territory. He knew where we would be and when, and arrived in time to save our lives. So however he does it, if he wants to talk to me, I’ll talk.”

“Greetings, Parker Holman and Iris Fain,” Tack told them through the Mer torc he still wore as soon as they came within hearing range. May I present my colleagues, Teller Kracitok and Colonel Gractic? They have joined me in my vision quest.”

“Very pleased to meet you gentlemen,” Park replied politely and, in turn, introduced Dannet and Sartena, adding, “You already know Marisea, of course.”

“Of course,” Tack gave her an odd half-bow. “I trust your esteemed father, Taodore Waisau, is well?”

“Quite well, Revered Otackack,” Marisea responded formally. “Thank you for asking.”

They continued to talk about inconsequential things for half an hour or so before Tack finally got down to business. “Parker Holman,” he told him, “it is essential that you and your party return to Van Winkle Base.”

“We will in a week or two,” Park replied. “There’s nothing much going on at the moment.”

“That is only true at this moment,” Tack nodded, “but such moments do not last. You must head back now.”

“Why?” Park asked, feeling perversely stubborn.

“Someone is coming to our world and the Savior Strangers must be there to meet him,” Tack replied.

“Savior Strangers?” Dannet asked.

“Us,” Park sighed, indicating himself and Iris. “Or at least Tack thinks that’s us. I understand there is some reasonable uncertainty about that.”

“Not anymore, Parker Holman,” Tack responded. “We have long since passed the point where anyone else might have filled that role. If my vision is at all true, then you and Iris Fain are the Savior Strangers and you must meet the one who is coming.”

“So we’ll meet him when we get back,” Park shrugged.

“That would be too late,” Tack replied. “You must be there when he arrives and to do that you must turn back now.”

“Park, we’ve been gone long enough,” Iris reminded him, “and you know Arn is probably having a fit because we turned our radio off when we entered the mountains.”

“If we hadn’t,” Park replied, “he would have kept trying to get us to return. Turning it off in the mountains at least looked natural since we could claim the mountains got in the way of our signal.”

“That’s a very slim story, Park,” Iris told him. “It might have worked before we got the satellites up and going, but now there’s no one on Earth with whom we can be completely out of touch.”

“I knew there was a reason I didn’t want to launch those things,” Park shook his head.

“You were the one who insisted on launching them,” Marisea reminded him.

“Nobody’s perfect,” Park retorted.

“So I’ve heard,” Marisea laughed. “So I guess we ought to start heading back.” Just then there was a sort of crooning, purring sound from the top of the buggy and Cousin suddenly jumped down and ran up to Marisea. “Cousin? What are you doing here?”

“A stowaway?” Iris smirked and added, “Naughty little Cousin,” not sounding at all displeased.

“No!” Park told them firmly. “We are not taking her back with us.”

“We can’t abandon her here,” Marisea insisted. “We’re hundreds of miles away from her home.”

“That’s not my fault,” Park replied. “We’ll just have to take her back.”

“That would make you unfortunately late,” Tack told him.

“Why?” Park asked. “It’s on our way back.”

“You should go further south before crossing the mountains,” Tack told him firmly. “That is your fastest course.”

“Is that a part of your vision too?” Park asked skeptically.

“No, Parker Holman,” Tack replied, giving the odd gesture Atackack made when laughing. “The mountains are much lower and easier to cross to the south, or am I mistaken that your craft travels faster over a level surface?”

“But the little varmint?” Park protested.

“What of it?” Tack asked. “Iris Fain and Marisea Waisau seem quite fond of it and I understand that pets are common among your kind.”

“Would you like to meet Cousin, Tack?” Marisea asked holding the little primate toward the Atackack.

“Cousin is a term of kinship, is it not?” Tack asked.

“Yes,” Marisea nodded. “Cousin is possibly the closest living natural species to Humans and Mer. See her little hands?”

“I see,” Tack agreed, but as he approached Cousin she hissed at him. “But I do not think she wishes to meet me,” he told Marisea as he backed off a step. Cousin calmed down.

“That’s strange,” Marisea commented.

“Not necessarily,” Sartena told her. “It could be a difference in scent. Tack might smell like an enemy to her while we smell more like family.”

“We really don’t have time to take her home?” Park asked Tack.

“I am afraid not,” Tack responded. “I do not think you will do wrong to indulge your women’s desire for a pet.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Park responded. Then he rounded on Cousin, “and as for you little lady…”

“Park, be nice,” Iris told him.

Park took a deep breath and finally continued lamely, pointing his index finger at Cousin, “No going into space until you get out of high school.”

Cousin gave him her crooning purr and reached out to clasp his finger in her hand.

“Looks like you have a deal,” Dannet chuckled.

“Yeah, and we’ll see how long that lasts,” Park grumbled.

As Tack had informed them the mountains to the south were only about five thousand feet high, well rounded in shape and easy for the buggy to cross at speed. “Maybe we ought to radio ahead,” Park finally decided, “and see if anything is up.”

“You mean you may as well get over Arn’s shouting now, while we’re still several days out?” Iris asked lightly.

“Well, actually I meant since we’re already on our way back it won’t bother me when he tries to tell us we’re needed there,” Park chuckled. “I don’t mind following orders so long as it’s something I’m doing anyway.”

“Arn hasn’t actually tried to give you a direct order in a long time,” Iris pointed out.

“No, but he does like to get his way and can be fairly emphatic about it,” Park replied.

“Talk about guys who like to get their own way!” Iris laughed.

“Well, yes,” Park admitted, “but I’d like to think I’m a better loser.”

“You aren’t the base commander and de facto mayor of Van Winkle Town,” Iris pointed out. “You don’t lose face when you have to back down.”

“Well, yeah, I guess,” Park admitted. He turned on the radio and called into the base.

“Where have you all been?” Velvet Blair demanded once the connection had been made.

“What is the base IT expert doing on radio duty?” Park countered.

“It was my turn,” Velvet replied “So?”

“We’ve been all over the place,” Park responded, “and before you ask, we turned off the radio because we were supposed to be getting away from it all.”

“Yeah?” Velvet asked. “Well that’s fine by me, but Arn’s been stomping around the base in a foul mood since you disappeared behind the first mountain.”

“Well, you may tell him we’re on our way back,” Park replied. “Is there anything going on there I need to know about?”

“Not really,” Velvet replied. “It’s been pretty darned quiet if you really want to know. In fact it hasn’t been this quiet since you discovered we were only one of three intelligent species on Earth.”

“That quiet?” Park laughed. “Glad I was on vacation. At least we have some interesting stories to tell, some new samples for the geologists…” just then Cousin jumped up on his lap and put her head near the microphone and made her crooning purr.”

“What was that,” Velvet asked.

“A close relative,” Park replied.

“Huh?”

“Just another one of our surprises,” Park told her, gently picking up Cousin and placing her back on the floor. “Look. Are you sure there’s nothing up?”

“Really nothing, Park,” Velvet assured him. “Why? What were you expecting?”

“Not sure,” Park admitted, “but we got a tip that there was about to be trouble.”

“What sort of trouble?” Velvet asked.

“I don’t know,” Park confessed.

“And where did you hear that?”

“Well, let’s just say it was one of those things that really bothers Arn,” Park replied. “It didn’t exactly fill me with comfort and joy either.”

“Have you been talking to Tack again?” Velvet asked. “That bug really gets around, doesn’t he?”

“Yes, he does,” Park agreed. “Well, maybe you don’t have to give Arn the details, but tell him I suggest keeping everyone quietly on alert, and that we should be back in three days, I hope. If we get delayed I’ll let him know as soon as I do.”

“Quietly on alert, huh?” Velvet repeated. “Oh, Arn will just love that tantalizing hint.”

“Well, he’s likely to know what it’s about before I do,” Park retorted. “Just tell him, okay?”

“Sure, Park,” Velvet promised.

They continued back toward the base as fast as the buggy could carry them. Whereas before Iris had done most of the flying, now they switched off and Sartena was flying the next day when she spotted a large pinkish-grey cloud directly ahead of them. “Should I go under or over the cloud ahead.”

“Go over it,” Iris decided. “It’s not quite noon and we can come back through it when we want to land.”

Marisea had another suggestion, but first picked up a pair of Park’s digital binoculars and looked ahead of the oddly colored mass. “No, go around it. Give it a wide berth, in fact. That is not a cloud, it’s a migration.”

“Migration of what?” Sartenna asked, even as she started to steer toward the western edge of the cloud-like mass.

“
Tawatir
,” Marisea replied, still studying them. “They are what Park calls flying octopi. They fly like balloons on the wind by filling a special sac within them with hydrogen and each year they migrate from all over southern Pangaea to mate in the Sink. I’ve never actually seen this for real, but it’s one of those things we learn about in school. I never realized there were so many of them in a migratory group though. This is going to add hours to the trip.”

“Can’t be helped,” Park told her. She turned and saw he had a camera in his hand. “But you’re right. We can’t go over them because we don’t know when some might decide to rise to catch a better wind or under them for that matter, but they are headed east from here, so going around to the west is our best plan.”

Cousin crawled up to the window of the buggy to see what everyone else was looking at, but after taking one
 
look, she squeaked and ran to hide under one of the seats until Marisea picked her up and
 
crooned comfortingly at her. “I guess Cousin’s seen these before,” Dannet observed.

“She would make a perfect meal for one of the larger ones,” Park replied. “I’ve seen these things attack. They just suddenly deflate and fall directly on their prey. The time I saw it, the flyer was going after a fish or something in the river, but they are boneless and I guess they could survive a fall on land as well.”

They spent the next two hours navigating around the vast group of flying cephalopods, while Park continued taking pictures and movies of them, although after a while he had to admit that aside from the sheer number of the peculiar creatures, they were not as interesting as the one single one he had seen on his second exploratory journey. Eventually they reached the northern edge of the migratory group and continued on toward Van Winkle Town.

Life at the base might have been quiet and uneventful when Park had spoken to Velvet Blair, but by the time they landed, it appeared to be even more frantically active than usual.