Eric Olafson, First Journeys (Vol 2)
Copyright© 2018 by Vanessa Ravencroft
Chapter 26: Where are they?
“Hey, Eric, are you asleep yet?”
I opened my eyes and looked at an Elly. “No, I couldn’t really sleep. I was thinking about Ninio and Potsema and that human I still don’t know his name. You’re Deadan, right?”
“No, I am Plemo. Deadan went to look for them and now he is gone for almost 40 minutes. The human’s name is Rodney Barack.”
“I guess I have slept after all. Aren’t the instructors concerned?”
“Both of them sleep as well, and I didn’t want to alarm them and get the others in trouble if they just forgot the time.”
I got up. “We might as well see if we can find them. This spaceport doesn’t look so big. How much time do you think we have?”
“About two hours.”
“I think we better make an effort; otherwise, they do get in trouble.”
I could not put it into words, but I had an odd feeling that the missing cadets weren’t late because they had a good time somewhere. I adjusted my weapon belt and checked the charge on the TKU and dialed the setting to four. Plemo made a sound like a balloon losing air, but then checked his blaster as well.“You’re right, bad things happened already twice today.”
The spaceport was well lit but quiet. The Yokuta did not have any spaceships on their own, and this facility had been used by their Nogoll masters. I was sure this would change soon, and perhaps one of the businessmen was a representative of Arthur’s, and one of these would soon open up. I wondered what the local Rib burger would smell like.
Plemo and I walked down the concourse. It was not like a Union spaceport with lots of businesses; it had been a military installation, and most of the doors had steel shutters before them, perhaps storage rooms or offices of some kind. We finally reached the end of the long corridor where the entrance doors were. Outside was the road leading to the city in the distance. “Do you think they took a taxi or something and went back to town?” I asked Plemo.
He moved his ears and wrinkled his trunk. “I would not put it past Ninio if he was determined to get music, but I would hope he was smarter than that. They had strict orders not to leave the port. Besides, we should have run into Deadan by now. He certainly would not have done that.”
I heard a metallic noise and turned. It came from a metal door to the side that was not completely closed. A sign in Yokuta writing above it. The door kept moving and repeating the metallic sound, as if it was animated by a draft of wind. “Can you read that?”
Plemo squinted his eyes. “Only partially. I don’t know all Yokuta glyphs. It says something about Train, Wares, Connection, and if I read that right, it says something about shop or shops below.”
“I bet that is what Ninio deciphered too, and that is where they went, unless they went the other direction from the lobby.”
“No, I am sure they came this way. Besides, the other corridor leads to the boarding gates and the landing field.” He then went straight for the door.
“Slow down, Plemo. I don’t have a good feeling about that.”
“I think they took a train to town and found out it isn’t running back because of the festivities or something like that.”
It was a plausible hypothesis; still, it would not explain Deadan not coming back. Unless these trains only ran in one direction or something like that, or they simply got lost. My hand rested on the butt of the blaster as Plemo opened the door. “It’s just a flight of stairs leading to reason to get nervous,” he said.
A cool breeze wafted from the open door; the walls were naked gray concrete, and we could only see to the first landing. The light came from long tubular lamps on the ceiling; one of them flickered erratically and emitted an electric hum. I had the urge to turn around and tell the instructors. I would have felt better if two marines in destroyer suits were going down those stairs instead of me. I could not explain why I had this strong feeling of something being very wrong. Our friends could be in some sort of trouble, and any delay could make it worse; on the other hand, I would be responsible for them being reprimanded if it turned out to be nothing. Both the Elly and I went slowly down the stairs. As we reached the first landing, the door on top fell shut with a heavy thud, and the lights went out.
Interlude 25: Distant events, present
Olnatar had been celebrated as a hero, as the one defeating a huge alien ship.
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