Merfolk on Mars

Chapter 20

We eased along the side of the building, hoping that no one would see us.

"Down these stairs and around a corner. Then it should be in the middle of the courtyard."

Corvus went first down the stairs, as per usual. After checking around the corner, he went around it. Isla went ahead of me, and I quickly followed.

"Oof!" Arai tumbled past us, the chainsaw clattering behind him.

I managed to snag the chainsaw's handle and stop it from continuing after the clumsy merman. Arai landed at the bottom of the steps with a crash. Flickers of green light momentarily shone through Isla tasselled cloak. Arai slowly sat up, covered in various odds and ends.

What I had thought were leaves and dirt, was actually a pile of trash that had likely been hastily swept out of sight. The light from the unobtanium stone worried me, although I wasn't sure what it might have done, if it even did anything.

"Are you okay?" I asked, carefully descending the gritty stairs with the chainsaw in my hand. This thing was heavy...

"Yeah. I just slipped. What is this stuff?" He held up his arms, examining the shiny black and brown spots on his coat.

"Looks like gear oil or something. What's in your hair?" Isla asked, coming up beside me.

He raised his hand to his head, where a tangle of thick wires resided right behind the lenses in his goggles. He tried tugging it out, but it didn't budge.

I set the chainsaw down. "Let me see. Oh, it's one of those metal slinky toys." I tried removing it, but his hair was wound around it like a gordian knot. A knot. In a merman's hair. That shouldn't have been possible. I sighed, realizing that the stone had really managed the impossible. "It's completely tangled. Unless you want me to use my axe, it'll have to wait until we get home."

He groaned but got to his feet, likely oblivious about the stone's involvement. "Great. Just great. Let's keep going before someone sees me like this. They'll think I'm an idiot, or trying a new Kardashian fashion, or something."

The sooner we got out of here, the better. We rounded the corner into the courtyard. In the middle sat an oversized slingshot cannon with a shuttle cradled in it.

We eagerly went forward and jogged around it, coming face to face with an irritable looking guard.

We slid to a stop as the man got to his feet.

"What you doing in here? This area is closed until tomorrow."

"Uh, we came to relieve you from duty and allow you to go for tea. We even brought these two men with big chainsaws, just in case."

He squinted at us, like he was having problems seeing. "I thought Donald was supposed to be taking over? Chainsaws? Those are way too big to be chainsaws."

"There was a change of plans," Isla replied. "Didn't they tell you?"

"No, I didn't hear anything. Until Donald or the Chief shows up, I don't plan on leaving."

Arai crossed his arms and huffed, clearly getting irritable with all the delays.

The man turned and squinted at him before getting pale. "Oh, look at how many lenses you have in your goggles! And all those buttons and gears! Sorry, most important sir, I didn't see you there!"

Arai froze in surprise, although the man seemed to think he was just getting angrier. I stared at Arai before it dawned on me – the man thought all of the grease spots were gears and buttons!

"I'll be right on my way! Sorry for questioning your authority, most important sir! I've never seen anyone with so many lenses or buttons before!"

The man scuttled off, glancing back occasionally before he was out of sight.

Arai ran towards the shuttle door. "Come on! Before that Donald guy shows up!"

We piled into the twelve-seat shuttle, which had more in common with a NASA spaceship than a merfolk vessel.

"Let Isla drive it!" I told him as he began to go towards the seat.

With a grumble, he plopped down into another seat. Isla passed the stone to him as she slid into the pilot seat and quickly scanned the controls.

"Can you fly it?" I asked her.

"I think so. It seems basic enough, and everything is even labelled.

Arai unwrapped the stone and gazed at the green glow. "Can we use the stone to magic us back home?"

"No," Isla replied. "It doesn't work like that."

"Why not?"

"It would be too simple."

"Huh?"

"I'm joking. It probably could, but I don't know how to program the stone to do it." Her sarcastic reply left Arai even more confused. "Better buckle up," Isla warned us. "This thing is not meant for a smooth ride."

"Why can't I drive?" Arai whined.

I retorted, "Because you lost the last ship you piloted."

"I deserve a second chance!"

Isla interrupted, "Why don't you make yourself useful and use that stone to make sure the shuttle doesn't overheat?"

I gave Isla a dubious look, if he couldn't pilot a spaceship, I wasn't sure I wanted him playing around with a stone that was capable of almost anything.

Wait. Why did we hand it to him in the first place?

"How do I do that?" He unwrapped the stone and stared at it in perplexity.

"I don't know! Turn it on!"

He turned the smooth stone over in his hands, thoroughly baffled about how he was supposed to turn a rock on.

If nothing else, at least he wasn't whining anymore, although I hoped we got back before Arai made any progress.

"Here we go!" Isla called out.

The force of the takeoff pushed me back in my seat with startling force. I could hear the air whipping by the hull of the shuttle. I closed my eyes, praying that this shuttle was built better than anything else I had seen in Brasslantis.

Our flight suddenly smoothed out, and I opened my eyes to see the blackness of space.

"We're in luck," Isla said, "the orbit of Sealantis means that we are in direct sight of home. It'll make it much easier to get there. This thing's steering ability is rather limited."

I was so glad she was driving.

"Is there a way to return the shuttle once we are done?"

Her fingers danced over the mechanical keyboards and gear controls. "That's what I'm doing right now. It will go back to the launcher it was on previously."

I sighed in relief. "I am so happy to hear that. Hopefully, they won't even notice it was missing."

Things were finally going smoothly.