1889: Journey To The Moon (The Far Journey Chronicles) (21 page)

Teach put his head closer to the glass. Odd-shaped indentions in the dust left regular patterns around the lip of the small crater, and angled away toward the far ridge. He leaned back and looked at Billy, his eyes wide. “There be something else out there.”

Billy nodded, “And it ain’t no man.”

“To Merkam!”

“What about Jack Ross?” Billy said.

“The Indian and the Indian can fortify him. This news cannot wait.” They went in a hurry.

[ 68 ]

As Jack Ross approached Abigail’s room, Two Hats and Koothrappally moved aside. Two Hats touched Jack’s shoulder and said, “Hold self tight inside, Iron Hand Jack.” Jack made a barely perceptible nod at the Lakota and stepped to the door.

The air went out of him.

He started to slide down, but grabbed the doorsill with his robotic hand and the metal fingers gouged deep holes in the wood. He straightened after a moment, and then shook as if he had the ague. His normally tanned face was dead-white, and deep anguish made his voice a heartbroken exhalation of air. “Are you sure this is…?”

“Yes.” Koothrappally said in a soft voice.

Jack stood at the doorway in silence for several minutes. When he turned to face Koothrappally and Two Hats, his face contained one emotion: rage. “Who did it?”

“Young pirate.” Two Hats said.

“Teach?” Jack started down the hall, but Koothrappally stopped him.

“No, it was not Edward. Another pirate was on board, hidden since we left Colorado, it seems.”

“Was he captured? Do you have him?” Jack’s eyes were as hard as flint.

“Him no here.”

“What Two Hats means is that Quinlan, for that is his name, cannot be located.”

Jack’s mind reeled. “You know his name and you can’t find him? What sort of tomfoolery is this?”

“Teach was knocked into a stupor, but saw Quinlan, one of his pirate crew, walking away. Somehow, Quinlan found a secret refuge on the
Arcadia
and has resided there all this time.”

Jack said, “Then I will find him and destroy him.” He started down the hall toward the cargo hold.

Two Hats said, “We come, too.”

They started down the hallway and encountered Billy and Teach, who told them of Quinlan’s tracks outside the ship. Jack started to pass them, saying, “I’m going after him.”

Teach said, “Wait! We have to inform Merkam first. Besides, we saw other things out there.”

Ross said, “What other things.”

Billy said, “Tracks. They weren’t Quinlan’s footprints, Jack.”

Jack was shocked, but stubbornly said, “I don’t care. I’m going after that filthy murderer.”

Koothrappally said, “Do you build machines without a plan?” That stopped him. Koothrappally continued, “We meet with Judah Merkam, make plans, and then go after him.”

Ross took a deep breath to calm himself and said, “Agreed.”

[ 69 ]

Judah Merkam seemed to have his full faculties as Ekka released his bonds and helped him sit up. He looked at Ekka, Nikola, and Denys and said, “Other than a pounding headache, I feel quite normal.”

Billy and the others arrived as Denys said to Merkam, “Let us hope this is a one-time occurrence. We need you hale, Jude, and in full possession of your faculties.”

Billy stood close to Ekka. She didn’t look at him, but moved her hand an inch toward his so that the side of her index finger touched his wrist and stroked it up and down in one little, feather-light movement, glad to be near him again.

Koothrappally brought them up to speed on events, and finished by saying, “Quinlan is about, and we cannot abide what mischief he is planning. We must find him before he does damage to the
Arcadia
, or we could be trapped on this airless landscape with no hope of returning to Earth.”

Merkam realized with surprise that his mind was functioning with amazing clarity and speed. He processed the information as fast as Koothrappally spoke it. He stood and said, “We have things we must do. First, we need to make final repairs to those robots damaged in Colorado Springs. The parts brought in the
Ares
should suffice for them. Second, we will free the
Ares
. And third, decide who will make up the expedition that goes after Quinlan.”

Jack said, “I’m going.”

“No, my friend. You cannot.”

“But— ”

“You are essential to the
Arcadia
and our lives. They are in your hands, Jack. The expedition will find Quinlan and bring him to rights for you, and, if possible, back to you for final judgment.”

Billy said to Jack, “If we can’t bring him back alive, we will make sure he can’t hurt anyone else. That’s my promise to you.”

Ross looked as if all the air went out of him. He looked at the others. “I’ll make sure the
Arcadia
can return you home. Find him for me.”

Merkam, “Now let us begin our tasks. I will navigate the
Arcadia
so the
Ares
can be removed from its cage. Ekka and Billy will don the moon suits first so they can exit and loosen the cage.” He stopped and thought, then added, “Be certain to check your suits for punctures in case this Quinlan worked a needle through the canvas.” Ekka nodded. Merkam continued, “Denys, proceed with Jack to repair the robots.”

“Done,” Denys said.

Merkam said, “Edward, Two Hats, John, you will be part of the expedition as well.” Teach, the Lakota, and Koothrappally nodded.

Denys said, “When my work is done on the robots, I plan to take the goliath with me and join the expedition.” He smiled, “Following the tracks of the
Ares
as it maneuvers Luna will be as easy as following a bricked city street.”

“Very well,” Merkam said.

Tesla grew agitated and said, “And what of me? Am I to be useless?”

“You will remain on the
Arcadia
.”

Tesla fumed, “I can help find the killer. I can fight.”

Merkam’s voice grew firm. “I am captain of this vessel, and I command. You will be needed here, inside.”

“Doing what? Knitting?’

“Don’t be childish, Nikola. I know you have courage and could go after Quinlan, but your greatest value to all of us is your mind.”

Merkam walked to Tesla and put his hand on Nikola’s shoulder. “You are the most brilliant man I know, far above my own station. I believe you are the only one of us capable of simultaneously overseeing every aspect of the ship from stem to stern. You will be needed both in the engine room and command, and quite possibly outside as well. Your quick mind may well be the deciding factor between all of us living or dying.” Merkam added, “And you won’t have time to knit.”

Tesla was taken aback at the compliments coming from his rival and former nemesis. He could tell that Judah Merkam was sincere, and it changed his value of the man. “You are the Captain.”

Merkam said, “Let’s prepare for our tasks.”

[ 70 ]

Billy felt claustrophobic in the modified diving suit and said, “I feel like somebody wrapped me in a wagon tarp and put a bucket on my head.”

Ekka said, “You will adjust. Once we leave the
Arcadia
, we must touch helmets to talk.”

“Because there is no air on Luna. I remember. ”

Ekka and Billy closed the interior cargo hatch doorway as she said, “Stay close, Billy. I know your adventurous spirit leads you to wander.”

“I’m not leaving you. Ever.” Even through the canvas diving suit, Billy felt her touch his arm. Then she pushed the button and the outer door rose with a hiss as all the air left the hold.

The moon’s austere landscape spread before them. Billy felt his heart beat faster as he thought,
I am stepping upon another world.
He followed Ekka to the surface and they moved away from the
Arcadia
so Merkam could turn the ship parallel to the surface.

Billy easily adjusted to walking in the reduced gravity, as did Ekka. They watched as Jude initiated the series of steps to make the moon ship airborne. Billy touched his helmet to Ekka’s and said, “I’ll be right back.” She looked at him curiously, but waved him on.

Billy went to the large black rock and made sure no one could see him. He reached into his gear bag and removed one of the beautiful engraved Colt revolvers. It was the broken one, and try as he had, Billy was not able to repair it.  Now, he thought this might be a better use for it. He put it on a low shelf beside the rock, where the Colt shone in the sunlight.  He reached into the gear bag again and took out the kinzhal, then stepped forward and used the knifepoint to carve deep lines in the smooth black moon rock…

Billy returned in time to watch as the blue sparks and luminescence built on the
Arcadia
’s surface and coated everything around it the same color. The
Arcadia
rose, rotated, and held a stable position that had the caged
Ares
perfectly positioned for the two astron-nautes standing on the moon’s surface.

Billy and Ekka took little time to loosen the cage, and Billy found his gloves didn’t hinder dexterity as much as he thought they would. Billy opened the cage gate, and Ekka entered, opened the
Ares
, and backed it onto the moon’s surface. The lunar dust left a fine coating of gray on the wheels, much like charcoal dust. Billy noticed it was also on the sides and bottoms of his boots. He closed and locked the gate, stepping to the
Ares
as Jude righted the
Arcadia
and decelerated the transmogrifier. The blue faded to nothing, turning the Sea of Tranquility around them to their original shades of gray and beige and tan.

Billy watched as the other men departed the
Arcadia
and walked Luna’s surface to join him by the
Ares
. Koothrappally had trouble, stumbling once, but Teach and Two Hats walked as easily as if they were on the Earth. Ekka opened the side door of the
Ares
and waited for everyone to enter, then, one by one, she touched her helmet to them and explained their mission. “We go after Quinlan, but we must also watch for the other life form that wanders this area. Stay within eyesight of each other whenever we exit the
Ares
.”

They took their places, with Billy behind the cannon and Ekka in the driver’s seat. She nudged the
Ares
forward, certain they could follow the clear prints all the way to the very heels of the butcher pirate, Quinlan.

When they started into the rocky ridgeline, Ekka slowed and eased the vehicle around and over boulders, and across sandy slopes, always advancing higher. Forty minutes later, they were among the largest boulders that spiked the crest of the ridge. That was when Two Hats spotted Quinlan a hundred yards ahead. Quinlan, and beyond him…something else. The Sioux pointed and said, “Him there. They there.”

[ 71 ]

Conklin crouched low behind a waist-high jumble of boulders and stared, transfixed with delight. Sixty meters in front of him, one of the creatures moved across the uneven surface of the low ridgeline.
They need no equipment to breathe in this airless place,
he thought.
Do they even have a respiratory system? It will be so interesting to explore their vitals!
Conklin smiled.

When he left the
Arcadia
, it was pure accident that he came across the tracks beside the small crater. He was no tracker, certainly nothing like the Sioux, but the impressions had been so clear and easy to follow that he had no trouble seeing their direction.

He did have the presence of mind to move to the side of the tracks and parallel them, so if the space alien returned along its previous path, he would not encounter it. He wanted to come on it unaware, so all things were to his advantage. The alien had not returned, but Conklin was patient, and it wasn’t long before he caught movement in the distance and made his way to a vantage point where he could observe the creature.

After that, it was only a matter of working his way through the ridge rocks to get ever closer to the area where it occasionally disappeared and reappeared. Once, when Conklin crossed a high ridge, he looked toward the
Arcadia
in the distance and saw two figures emerge and the ship glow blue. It rose from the surface and positioned for removal of the
Ares
from the cage. He watched the two figures work on the cage, and guessed they might be the beautiful Ekka and the cowboy, Gostman.
They will come,
he thought,
And I will have them, too.
Thoughts of having all the time he wanted to use his scalpels on the tall woman made him lick his lips.

But, first he must prepare, and that meant finding a secure place, hidden from everyone. Conklin knew the moon alien in front of him was the key. He checked Merkam’s map once more to be sure, then smiled and put it away. This was the place. Conklin eased forward through the gray rocks like a shadow.