Welcome to Percotran -Part XL

By Richard Davidson

“I swear there was an island here.”

Swig wasn’t the brightest guy in the world, but he knew how to read an Orthronoscope, and it was as if the island he’d identified last night had simply disappeared.

“That’s strange...”

“What?” asked Kasheeba.

“First, I got an echo, where I was suddenly tracking a torpedo sub identical to this one, which quickly disappeared; and then I read the same island, .05 degrees West of where I read it before, which also disappeared.”

“Are you sure you know how to read an Orthronoscope?”

Swig was quite nearly devastated by that question. He’d been traveling with Kasheeba for years, and wasn’t it always he who found energy sources, and in slower times, large schools of fish? He would remember her hurtful words the next time there was a Pailfish Supper.

A fish head drifted lazily by.

“I think we’ve lost them.”

“Oh really?” asked Kasheeba, freeing her left arm enough to point at the fish head.

“Doesn’t that seem to indicate there was an Autrioselon here recently?”

Swig had to think about that.

“No.”

“And why not,” she demanded.

“We’re surrounded by sharks, several of which are over thirty feet long,” was, in his mind, a sensible retort.

“There’s something funny about this,” mused Kasheeba to a nervous Swig.

“I’m not laughing,” he said, predictably. He really was quite nervous.

“Can you compute the direction the island was traveling?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Well, please do so, and then follow that course at top speed.”

“We’re surrounded by sharks, several of which are over thirty feet long,” he answered.

“You just said that,” Kasheeba noted, “There’s something funny about this.”

“You just said that,” answered Swig, and added, “and I’m not laughing.”

“Can you compute the direction the island was traveling?”

“I already have.”

“Follow that course at top speed,” they both said, in unison, their eyes growing a bit wider.

“We’re surrounded by sharks, several of which are over thirty feet long...”

“Will you stop saying that?” Kasheeba was losing control just a bit.

“Saying what?”

“The sharks!”

“We’re surrounded by sharks, several of which...”

“Stop it!”

Kasheeba was desperately trying to think.

“Can you compute the direction the island was traveling?”

“You’re not going to believe this, but we’re already locked onto the coordinates, and traveling at top speed.”

“But we don’t seem to be moving!” Kasheeba had never been this close to blind panic.

“We’re surrounded by sharks, several of which are over thirty feet long.”

“My God, we’re trapped in a bubble in Time!” shrieked Kasheeba, “and it’s getting smaller!”

“We’re surrounded by sharks...”

She clamped her hand over Swig’s mouth.

“Don’t speak anymore.” she was assuming control of the situation. “Can you compute the direction the island was traveling?”

One of the sharks had the torpedo sub in its mouth, and was trying to bite down. The hull was creaking and moaning fiercely.

“We’re surrounded by sharks...” Swig blurted, as Kasheeba took her hand off his mouth to work several pertinent controls. She was trying to build an acceleration wave in the Iombic Chamber, which could possibly give them a major burst of inertia.

“Can you compute the direction the island was traveling?” she was really getting tired of asking that question.

We’re surrounded...” just as Swig started to repeat the obvious for the ten millionth time, the interior of the sub glowed blue, and shot through the entire length of the shark, ripping it to shreds, and then there it was.

The island they’d been seeking.

“We’re surrounded...”

“If you say another word about those sharks, I’m kicking your ass right here,” Kasheeba interrupted.

“Can you compute...” she started to say, and stopped herself short.

“And who’s gonna kick your ass?” Swig asked, boldly.

“Shhhh!” ordered Kasheeba, “I see him.”

“Where?”

“2106.54W, 14.788S,” she answered. Swig turned his Long Range Visualizer to those settings.

“What’s that he’s doing?” asked Swig, fascinated.

“It looks like he’s swordfighting a monkey,” answered Kasheeba, who never thought she’d ever be saying that about Alexander, or anybody else for that matter.

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