Wormbender's Circus

Sebastian got himself a coffee and sat staring at the surrounding landscape. He could not remember when he had seen any place that seemed so full of menace. In one direction all seemed grey, the horizon shrouded in mist and rain, as if concealing some grim secret. In the other direction, the volcanoes still loomed large. He could make out two or three at least that were still erupting. The whole ship quivered continually with their awesome power, a raw primeval threat against which human ingenuity could do nothing. The storm, also, showed no sign of abating, or, indeed, of moving. The lightning continued to play around the Semiramis with unabated ferocity, and the rain continued to sluice down. It was not the best place to be stuck with engine trouble.

But at the same time, an indefatigable spark of excitement still glowed within him, refusing to be quenched by mere circumstances. He was, after all, in a place he had never been before, indeed it was not certain whether any human beings had ever come here. He was somewhere in the far depths of space, unimaginably far from Earth, the solar system and all that was familiar to him. The adventure was beginning, and the boy he had once been had not been left behind as he thought, but had come along for the ride, however perilous, however short that ride might be.

Igor continued to make steady progress, but between welding and reshaping damaged panels, re-establishing severed connections and replacing destroyed circuitry, it was going to be a long job.

Sebastian was just thinking of going for a nap when something on the monitor caught his eye. He looked closely, but he couldn’t see exactly what it was: a movement at the horizon, something out there in the rain. He remained in his seat, tensed, staring. The impression of movement remained, unchanged.

Casey, passing by, saw him gazing intently at the screen. “What’s up?”

“I don’t know,” said Sebastian. “Something out there’s changed. Look, can’t you see something moving?”

Casey stared. He shrugged. “It’s just some interference in the system while Igor’s out there patching things up.” He cruised away in his dented saucer.

Sebastian remained watching the screen. With the passage of time, the movement he saw became gradually more distinct, and at the same time more recognisable. He hit the intercom button.

“Casey, that movement I was telling you about. I can see what it is.”

“Well?”

“The tide’s coming in.”

“What!”

Casey was at his side in an instant. “Oh crap.” He called up Igor. “Igor, progress report. Quickly.”

“I’ll be finished in another twenty minutes, boss,” Igor announced. “But there’s a bit of work to do inside the engine compartment yet.”

“Igor, we need to be mobile as soon as possible. Prioritise all work to get us off the ground in minimum time.”

“Okay, boss.”

Casey and Sebastian watched helplessly as the image on the screen showed more and more distinctly the approaching breakers, streaks of white against the sombre grey background. Casey called up the central memory for an event projection. The memory examined the lie of the land and the current speed and direction of the wind to calculate the likely current strength and direction. The Semiramis would float, but she would not be stable. If the water became deep enough, she could easily become capsized. Otherwise, she would simply be driven onto rocks and smashed to pieces.

The sea was a mere two hundred metres away and approaching fast when Igor finished work on the outer hull of the ship. He still had a great deal to do.

Relentlessly the sea advanced, waves crashing down on one another, the water’s edge creeping closer. The pounding of the waves joined the cacophony of the storm and the eruptions. Before long, water was lapping round the base of the ship. Then, just gently, she moved. “Did you feel that?” said Sebastian, his voice betraying a state of panic.

“Of course I felt it,” Casey snapped. “What’s that damn robot doing back there?”

Waves began slamming against the side of the ship, one after another. With each one, the ship scraped over the sand. Then the scraping became more indistinct, and in a few minutes the Semiramis was afloat, rocking on the waves.

“We’ve got to try and keep the ship on the bottom as long as possible,” said Casey. “We need some ballast.”

“Like what?” said Sebastian.

“Like seawater,” said Casey. “We simply open the cargo ports and flood the hold.”

Sebastian looked at him aghast. “Flood the hold? But what if she doesn’t take off with all that water in her?”

“She should do. She’s a cargo ship after all, and a gutsy one at that.”

The ship lurched sideways as another wave slammed against her.

Sebastian was flung to the floor. For a long moment it seemed as if the ship would not right herself. Then slowly she resumed an upright position.

“We are rapidly running out of options,” Casey said grimly. He reached for the control panel and opened the cargo ports. The sea flooded into the empty cargo hold, pulling the ship back down on to the bottom. Now the waves simply pushed the ship across the sand. When the hold was well flooded, Casey closed the cargo ports.

The move was a temporary remedy, no more. The power of the incoming tide was still pushing the ship along, and the monitors showing the view astern indicated a jagged black reef stretching out across the sand, right in their path. Already white foam was licking towards it, and had Casey not flooded the cargo hold, their destruction would now be imminent. It was, still, not far off. Igor continued to work like a robotic demon, edging his way through the confined spaces in the engine compartment, making the repairs essential to putting the Semiramis back into space.

Before long, the reef was under water, its presence betrayed by the foam breaking over it. And the Semiramis was being shoved toward it. The waves slamming against her side were getting bigger, and then suddenly she slewed around, heeling over steeply. She was afloat again, drifting towards the reef.

The movement had sent Igor crashing over in the engine compartment. He struggled upright and continued working.

“Igor, what gives?” Casey barked, one eye on the monitor.

“Nearly ready, boss,” Igor replied. “Just a few more essential connections to make.”

Now every wave seemed to threaten to dash the ship on the rocks, and still her two human occupants could to nothing but wait.

Sebastian looked out to sea.

“Casey!”

A huge wave appeared, rolling effortlessly towards them. All of a sudden, the bold adventure was turning sour. Death appeared to Sebastian as a surfer, hanging ten on that perfect breaker, fluoro board shorts clinging to those bony hips, and he wished he could take back all those thoughts he had had about how exciting it all was and just go home.

“Igor!” Casey bellowed.

“One moment,” came Igor’s voice. There was an unendurable pause. “Clear to go,” he said matter-of-factly.

Casey stabbed a control and the thrusters lit up. They strained to lift the Semiramis from the sea, while still the great breaker rolled on, threatening to engulf her. She lifted, slowly, painfully, seawater draining from every orifice, and the breaker slammed against the bottom of her hull and instant before crashing onto the reef. Wipe-out for the Grim Reaper, thought Sebastian.

The ship shuddered and continued to rise. Casey opened the cargo ports, turning her this way and that in the air to drain the hold.

“Okay,” he said, when he was satisfied that the ship was drained as completely as possible. “Let’s get out of here.”