2569 A.D.!
THE DULARNIAN QUEEN
AN ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN
By Jerome B. Bigge
Chapter Nineteen
The derelict was "old", the seaweed at its sides and coating its bottom leaving no doubt that it had been drifting perhaps for years now in the Pacific currents. It also appeared now that those who had once lived aboard had attempted at one time to rig some sort of a crude sail, but the remaining few torn tatters of this yet flying from the crudely lashed yard left little doubt in my mind that this too had been done a considerable time before.
"Get into its `lee'," I told Diane, then having to "ex- plain" just what the "lee" of a ship was as she gave me a puzzled expression. Such would make boarding the derelict much easier...
I leaped up from the bow of the longboat as the sailor in the bow held on with his boathook. grabbing for the railing as my husband put his hand under my boot sole to hoist me up and over. The derelict rolling in the waves, with only a few feet of free- board, it being obvious that it floated only due to some sort of a cargo it had once carried that had been buoyant enough to float even when waterlogged. A quick look at the deck as I climbed up over the railing leaving no doubt that the ship had been drifting for some time. A sense of "death" filling my mind leaving no doubt however that those who had been aboard still were "here"...
"Anyone aboard?" my Prince asked, taking my hand as I now reached for him. Diane following, the others staying behind, a number of low mutters leaving no doubt what they thought of this! The words "death ship" audible now to me over the sounds of the waves lapping up against the weedy hull of the drifting derelict.
"Not on deck," I answered, aware of my "feeling" that those who had sailed on this strange ship were still "here" somewhere! Diane now joining us, looking about, her hand on the hilt of her sword. Her pert young breasts pushing out against her uniform. I recalled what Bob had said once about sending girls off to war. On the other hand I think men sometimes fight better for a woman.
"Any idea who built this?" my husband asked, looking about. The derelict rolling slowly in the waves, drifting towards land. The North Star holding off, smoke drifting up from her funnel. Captain Wood holding position on us by use of the screw and jib.
"No one in North America builds ships like this," I said, trying to remember what "sort" of people built ships like this. My knowledge of naval history better than that of most Scribes.
"Looks like they got caught in a storm," he ventured then. The snapped off masts, the attempt to rig some sort of sail only additional proof. It appeared to have once been square rigged.
"I think its a Chinese `junk'," I said, remembering now!
"All the `way' from over there," Diane breathed softly.
"That would be five, six thousand miles, wouldn't it," Paul said, looking out at the western horizon from which this ship had come. I suspected that it had not come simply drifting across. The forces of wind, wave, and ocean currents could have kept it drifting for years before it finally reached the coast of Dularn.
"Further, I think," I answered, trying to remember it now.
"There is a boat," Diane observed, standing before it.
"They `stayed' with the ship until the `end'," I answered.
"I don't think I want to `look'," she said, looking at me.
"`They' cannot harm you," I spoke, seeing her nodding back.
I pushed the door to the stern cabin open, the wood sticking a bit from the damp. They had been dead for many months, perhaps even years. The bodies were considerably decayed, semi-skeletons from which the clothing still clung. There had been one woman, a slave girl judging from what remained of her attire, I observed.
"I feel.., oh!" Diane gasped, suddenly vomiting on the car- pet that covered the deck! The remains were not pleasant to look upon. They had been dead for a long time in a small enclosed ca- bin. The effects of sea air, the hot summer sun, had done the rest. I suspected that they had probably died from thirst, al- though there was of course no way of telling at this point now...
"The ship's officers," I said, looking about the cabin for a log book or anything else that would tell where they came from.
"I'll check the forecastle," my husband smiled, nodding to Diane, who still looked pretty "green" just then as she stood there looking at the decayed bodies of the two ship's officers and the slave girl who no doubt had once belonged to its captain.
"She's `neck chained'," Diane breathed, "looking" at her.
"A free woman would not be so clad," I told the midshipman. In life she had been dressed in a sort of halter and short skirt. The bodies of the two officers were lying there on the deck, while that of the captain and the slave girl were side by side in a bunk fixed to one side of the cabin. There was what appeared to be dried blood around the bodies, but it was hard to tell now.
"They must have died together," Diane observed thoughtfully as she stood there watching me search through the contents of the various storage compartments for anything like a log book. It was I thought to myself possible, given the appearance of things.
"Help me look for a log book," I said, looking up at her.
"They must have killed themselves," Diane said to me.
"Slit their wrists," I guessed, taking a quick look.
"A different `culture' than ours," she breathed back.
"Midshipman, help me look!" I "snapped", annoyed now!
"You won't be able to read it, your majesty," she said.
"Let your Queen do the `thinking' here," I snapped back!
"There is a kind of `book' here," she said, opening a desk.
"Yes, I think this is it!" I breathed, the language totally "alien" to anything I'd ever seen before. More like the writing of the ant-like Lorr of Mars than anything wrote by human hands!
"Perhaps there are Scribes...," Diane said to me then. I nodded thoughtfully. I might even ask the help of the Imperials.
"Find anything?" my husband asked, stepping into the cabin.
"A log book of some sort," I answered, Paul telling me that he'd found more bodies in the forecastle, in pretty much the same condition as these here. The bodies in their bunks, now rotted and semi-skeletal much as these were here. The crew having num- bered six judging from the bodies that he'd found there forward.
"There could have been `more' lost overboard," I answered.
"You want to take `that' in tow?" Captain Dan Wood spoke. The tone of his voice leaving no doubts how he felt about it... The boat's crew having wasted no time in telling everyone what we had found aboard the derelict, the tale no doubt growing even more fantastic as it passed through the ship. Given the natural superstitious nature of sailors, the results were as "expected"!
"It's not that far to Sana," I answered. We could beach the derelict there inside the harbor. I would send people from Arsa- na, those of the "learned" castes to study the ship, to learn of "where" it had come from, what "sort" of people had sailed on it.
"We have a spare anchor rope, we can run it out a port astern and fix it to the junk's foremast," I answered. Back in the days when I sailed with a prime crew and good officers, I wouldn't have thought anything of doing something like this now!
"She isn't going to sail very good towing `that'," he said.
"I plan to use the steam engine and the jib," I answered. The engine would do the "pulling", and the jib would help keep the ship from being pulled up into the wind while we did the tow- ing. While the derelict would be a "slow" tow, we really didn't have to tow it that far, and I was sure that we could get it to Sana, although probably not by sundown now as I had first hoped.
"I've heard there's dead people aboard it," he said to me.
"They've been dead a long time now," I smiled back at him.
"Whatever your majesty wishes," he answered with a shrug.
"I'll take command," I snapped, rather "annoyed" just now.
I watched the rope slowly "tighten" between the North Star and the derelict, Diane waving as she stood there on the wreck. The crew of the North Star muttering among themselves, obviously terrified of towing a ship full of dead men like we were doing... The steady beat of the engine comforting as I started taking up the strain, aware that any sudden jerk could snap the rope or more "likely" pull the derelict apart and send it to the bottom!
"You're good," my Prince smiled, standing there at my side.
"Experience," I smiled, moving the repeater ahead a notch.
"The crew's pretty `scared' of that thing," he added now.
"Bunch of `bumpkins' afraid of their own shadows," I said.
"Life with you is one adventure after another," he smiled.
"I usually lead a pretty boring life," I smiled back at him.