Attack on Port, Retribution Needed…
“Spacer, wake up, we got problems!” Spacer had been deeply asleep after a hard day helping harvest and replant the swamp roots. Someone was pounding on the door of the main house and Kali was screaming at them to go away. He heard yelling across the village and found Two Bob at the door with another of the Shore Patrol.
“Spacer, we got intruders stealing the swamp roots. Big hairy guys with black glass swords. The guys’ got psy powers ‘cause we tried to drive them off, but they’re buffered.” As Spacer pulled on his tunic, he saw a fire beginning close to the dock. “Damn them, we just got those huts rebuilt.” The alarm gong sounded, and the fire brigade began forming the bucket line to the beach. The intruders were running down the dock to their small ship carrying the last of that day’s harvest. The fire was a distraction but he and Two Bob ran towards the dock in an impossible attempt to catch the ship. The only fishing boat in port had been cut loose so sailing after them was impossible. The rowers in their narrow boat propelled the sleek craft quickly to the waiting sailing ship. The dawn wind would put them far out of reach.
“Those thieves are probably the ones George and Mack traded with and they’re hungry,” Two Bob gasped. Spacer and the Shore Patrol members joined the bucket line, and the fire was soon out but not before it had destroyed several of the huts. Several people had been burned badly because they had been asleep.
“Spacer, can I set up a ward in the main house? They need to be sheltered.” The medic said. “We have a couple really bad ones. The sick bay is too leaky, and we may get more rain in the morning.”
“Set up what you need,” Spacer said. “If Kali gets in your way tell her I can find another place for her to work.”
“I’ll put her to work. She only talks mean.” The head of the medical department hurried after the stretchers.
***
Boats hurried to the far speaker hut on the hill above the village and sent a quick message to the Southmost far speaker. They needed to be warned about these raiders. He also had them ask that word of the raid be sent to Blackie in Amaurot. The negotiators had to be aware of these new thieves. Port folks should not be blamed for this latest raid for food.
“Jesse, can you get me a count on how much of the swamp root they got?” Boats called to the head of the team that managed the taro swamps. “We are going to need help from both the Pins and the Regals if we are going to survive this next damp season.”
“They got most of what we dug yesterday but missed what we had curing, or the tens people took to their huts,” Jesse replied. “Good thing we started doing the divide up or we’d have nothing left. They got a barrel of raw alcohol too. Hope they know how to thin it down or they’re going to have some problems. They had been carrying off the baskets for a while before the night watch saw them.”
“Night watch had its hands full while they were doing it, too,” The two women who had been on night watch came up from the far side of the village dragging a large, dead reptile. “Never seen one of these before but it came lumbering into the square sniffing like it was hungry. We chased it off to the beach, but it turned on us. Thought we’d never get it killed.”
“Another distraction, damn, those guys are good,” Spacer said. “They must have someone who knows how things run here. Has anyone checked on George? Could he have gotten loose?”
“I’ll get someone on it this morning, Spacer,” Joe Marine was angry. “Not fair to change the way we do things like this. Make us look like a bunch of littles, not grown fighters.” Joe had a reputation for always following the regulations of the transport ship as his father had taught him. The use of distractions was not in the book. Spacer could see the big man was disturbed.
“We’re dealing with some bad folks, Joe,” Spacer said. “We’ve been here a while, and the rules may have changed. We may have to change, too.” Joe looked thoughtful.
“You may be right about that, Spacer, using an island for a brig ain’t in the book and these hand lights just won’t work anymore. Guess the situation may call for some changes to the book.” Joe shook his head and walked away.
“Somebody hit him on the head?” Boats said.
“Nope, his hand light went out and won’t come back on,” Spacer said. “Quite a shock for someone with no imagination.”
***
“Spacer, Utopia confirmed the warning and warned us these guys are what they call renegades,” Boats had gotten a message from the far speaker. “One of the Pin’s that stayed said they’re people who won’t do what the lords say so they get driven into the wilds. They hope the carnivores eat them but now it looks like some of them have survived.”
“Survived pretty well from how well they raided us,” Spacer said. “Jesse says they got most of the harvest including what was loaded up to be cleaned.”
“That little boat they rowed was fast and the ship they were sailing had a big sail. We’ve got problems,” Boats shook his head. “Hope Julie and Blackie can get us some help. Here comes Lisa Beth, you’re in for it now.”
“Maybe I should just resign and let her run the place.” Spacer joked.
“You know, asking her what she wants done might be a good thing,” Boats suggested. “Since she thinks you are not doing things right, ask her what she suggests.” Spacer grinned at his executive assistant as the head of the children’s nursery marched into the Bridge.
“Wipe that stupid grin off your face, Spacer Wrightson and fix this problem!” Lisa Beth yelled. “How am I supposed to feed these littles if you keep letting these hoodlums run the swamp?”
“Afternoon, Lisa Beth, what’s a hoodlum?” Jesse had just walked up to the Bridge porch. The black mud of the swamp field covered his legs and feet. “Sorry about the littles getting so dirty this morning. They all joined in when some of the moms were helping replant the roots. Good lessons for them, I think. Get them ready to help grow our food.”
“You are a hoodlum, Jesse Trooper,” Lisa Beth turned on the man, but he just grinned at her. “You got sent to the swamp for busting up the gin still and should never been put in charge. We need more discipline not less. Henry ran things like you should, Spacer.”
“Well, now we know what she wants, Boats,” Spacer looked at his exec. “Not the way I would do things, but we know what she wants.
“So, I should tell you to shut your mouth and go take all those littles to the shallows and clean them up. Stop bothering me and do your job! That the way you want things done, Lisa Beth, no asking, no getting you help, just yelling and demanding? That’s the way Henry would’ve handled this.” He turned to the boss of the swampy areas where the roots were grown.
“Jesse, can you get a few of the crew to help Lisa Beth so we don’t have any of the littles drown, please?”
“Sure thing, Spacer, we made the mess, we’ll help clean it up. Been wanting to teach some of them how to swim in the deep. Living on an island, they need to be good at that.” Jesse called some of his crew to come and get cleaned up with the smaller children of the care center. Most of the adults in Port loved to have time with the children and rarely had the leisure to do it.
“Still want to do things like Henry did, Lisa Beth?” Spacer asked. The woman did not answer but walked quickly away from the office.
***
“Seems as if we’ll have an old folks home here the way the younger folks are talking,” Elder Garza joined Spacer on the porch of the Bridge a few days after he had begun his inquiry. “Most of the young families want to move to the new land if we get permission, or they’re talking about seeing if Refugio might take them. That last storm and the raid scared ‘em.”
“I heard that from Boats’ daughter last night,” Spacer said, “she said not having any bread or hard tack makes it harder to get the littles’ to eat. She’s been working with Lisa Beth since we have so many needing watching. And she’s about to add to it.”
“Even my stories about the hard times that first few years are not discouraging ‘em,” Garza said. “My own family is talking about moving. Some don’t mind living here if they can get food, but that last storm hit just before all the plants in the pots were ready to harvest, that changed some minds.”
“Well, we can’t make the plans to move to the new land until Blackie and Julie get word from Utopia,” Spacer said. Garza slowly rose and stood gazing at the people dragging tree fronds to repair their huts. The fires from the raid had left smoke damage where there was no fire damage. The small huts stunk. Just rebuilding the burned ones was not enough.
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