The Great Escape Chapter 9, Part 3 of 6

The Great Escape
Chapter 9, Part 3 of 6

"Well, we trusted each other completely then, and I've seen no reason to change my mind since."

"Excellent. It worked out better than I had hoped. Though I disapprove of deposing elected chiefs as a rule, this was justified. Ezra, we should start the plan to salvage your spaceship."

Thus resolved, they returned to the group.

"Calliope," Mirselene said, "Ezra has something to tell you that you may find interesting."

Calliope politely turned to him.

"We lied to Belena about my spaceship crashing in the forest," he announced. "I crash-landed in the ocean, south of the Mariner Settlement."

"You did?" Calliope was astonished. "We heard and saw nothing. How far south?"

"I can't say, but it was where the flat land was about twenty miles wide. Crossing from the beach to the forest took two days, and I was injured and moved slowly."

"This is amazing. Why did you set out for the forest, and how did you know where to find the Woodlanders' Camp?"

"I had help. This was something else we didn't tell Belena. Two Herder girls rescued me from the sea and helped me across the plain to the forest camp."

"Good heavens! The runaways that Solange made such a fuss about some months ago. Ezra, you are full of surprises. Well, why are you telling us this now?"

"Because we plan to salvage his ship," Mirselene said, "and we need the Mariners' help - in exchange for a proportion of the salvage."

"I see. You need us to dive down to the ship and bring it up what?"

"Well, lots of things," Ezra said. "I'd like my clothes, especially underwear. I have tools, books, knives, forks, plates, and cups, all useful things. Water bottles. Blankets. A mattress. Some electronic equipment might still work. I dearly wish to retrieve my heavy machinery, but that may be impossible. The medical kits from the escape pods would be useful."

"If everyone agrees, I propose to split the salvage equally between the Woodlanders, the Mariners, and me. I will get the final word on individual items.

There are some things I need for myself and some things I've promised others." Ezra didn't mention his weapons, which he didn't want others to know about, still less ever to use.

Calliope considered a moment, just for effect.

"Of course, the Mariners will be happy to help. Just guide us to the place. We'll take rafts and dive from those if it's a long way from the beach."

"There's a problem, Calliope," Ezra admitted. "I was too dazed to know exactly where it was. It just looked like an endless beach. I'm sure I'd never recognize the place again."

"Well, just ask those Herder girls. They're good at tracking. They'd probably remember."

"That's another problem," Mirselene added. "The girls aren't with us anymore. Also, they fear the Herders and don't want to risk getting captured."

"I see," Calliope said deliberately. So, there's a hollow spaceship somewhere in the ocean south of our settlement, but you cannot tell where. Why did you reveal this secret to us now?"
Mirselene smiled.

"Well," she said, "we were hoping you might know a clever way of finding the ship without the help of Wildchild and Tamar."

Calliope and Ferne looked quizzical at the name 'Wildchild' but didn't probe further.

"Any ideas, Ferne?" Calliope asked.

"Only one: flotsam."

"And what in the world is 'flotsam'?" Mirselene asked.

Ferne explained:

"Anything that floats on the sea and gets washed up onto the beach - seaweed and driftwood, usually is flotsam. Because we know the tides and the currents, we can guess where they originated. If there's anything on Ezra's ship that became detached and can float, like clothing, it will probably be found on the beach northeast of the wreck, depending on how long the wreckage floated and how far out to sea the ship is."

"I can't tell you exactly," Ezra said, "but I think I swam about one hundred feet before I reached the beach and passed out."

"We could check the beaches southward for twenty miles or more and, if we find something, search the ocean nearby. But that job would take more of the workforce than we can spare. As for searching the ocean without having any debris as a clue - well, there's not enough workforce in all Samothea to complete that task in a decade."

"Sorry, Ezra," Calliope said, "but I agree with Ferne. I'll ask the tribe if anything has been found and organize a search of the beach south of us, but I wouldn't get your hopes up."

"Even so," Mirselene said, "Wildchild and Tamar may return soon and lead us right to the spot, so I think there's a reasonable enough prospect for us to formalize an agreement now." Ezra and Casti shared a smile, knowing how much Mirselene loved to make formal treaties. "I, for one, accept Ezra's proposed sharing out of the salvage."

"Yes, I agree we should make a treaty," Calliope replied, "but I wonder why the Woodlanders are to receive a third of the salvage when they won't be doing any of the work."

Miselene smiled but didn't answer.

"Calliope is right," Ezra said: "the Woodlanders shouldn't get any share at all. So, here's my new proposal: the Mariners get one-third, as before, and I get two-thirds. After all, it's my ship."

"I suppose that's fair," Calliope had to agree.

"In which case, I give one-half of my two-thirds to the Woodlanders."

Calliope laughed, and the other women laughed with her.

"All right. I'm sorry. I was being greedy. I'm not very good at being a chief."

"Nonsense, Sister," Mirselene said. "You're doing very well indeed. Much better than I did on my first day. I know how tempting it is to exercise your power, but you must use it sparingly.

Don't worry, it'll get easier."

"Thank you, Mirselene. Ezra, I accept your proposal: "A third of the salvage each for us, and you decide who gets what."

"Actually," Ezra added, "the Woodlanders will be doing a lot of work. Mirselene, I want to construct some apparatus to make salvaging easier. I will need about two-inch diameter bamboo poles between three and six feet long, dozens of them, strips of cloth, balls of twine, lots of waterproof glue Angela makes, and some wooden paddles. I'll let you know at the next meeting if I need anything else."

"I will arrange it, of course, but what will you need all that stuff for? How will it make it easier to salvage your ship?"

Ezra's answer was enigmatic:

"I'm going to teach the Mariners how to breathe underwater."

Sex with Cresi

The Mariner envoys returned mid-afternoon, with time enough for chores, bathing in the river, and settling down for dinner animated by all the questions that could be asked after Calliope told the tribe where Ezra's spaceship had landed. She enquired if anyone had found anything unusual, artificial, and relatively new on the beach. No one came forward, but all the tribe promised to keep their eyes peeled for Earthside flotsam. There were also volunteers for an expedition to scour the beach south of the settlement on the following day off.

Everyone was strongly encouraged not to say this to the Herders. This wasn't out of fear that the Herders would salvage the ship themselves but because they might steal the booty, so irresistible was the lure of old-Earth technology.

Another lively conversation concerned the hut arrangements; now that Kalyndra and Devon were bedmates, Cresi was temporarily moving in with Ezra. With some compromise and bawdy joshing, accommodation was re-arranged, and Cresi moved a bag of her belongings into Ezra's hut. When the dinner plates were cleaned and it was time for bed, Cresi came into Ezra's hut smiling and, as always, looking happy. Devon had a naturally sad face, even when she wasn't unhappy, but Cresi had a naturally delighted face with a joyful soul.

She was a pretty girl with frizzy silver-blonde hair, a round face, pale blue eyes, and a cute ski-jump nose. She had a habit of raising her chin, exposing a delicate pale neck. Medium height with a small frame, she had small firm tits and round buttocks. She wiggled delightfully when she walked or ran and was wiggling now as she pulled her skirt off, undressing for bed, not wanting to talk first or be undressed by him. Taking his cue from her, Ezra also undressed, and soon they were lying naked together on the bed.

Like Devon, Cressi had her ideas of how she wanted sex, as Ezra soon found out. Sex with Cressi was like sex with a wildcat - without the bestiality, of course.

The love-play was gentle at first, with soft kissing, stroking, and fondling. Then Ezra discovered how ticklish Cressi was. He made her laugh so hard she couldn't breathe. She flailed around wildly on the bed until, like a cat who'd had enough of playing, she turned on Ezra and scratched him hard across the chest. He sat up, looking so comically shocked that she leaned forward and bit him on the forearm as well, just for emphasis.

"Ow!" he said, holding his arm. "You vixen!"

She laughed as he pounced on her, pushing her to her front. He pulled her arms behind her back and, with one hand, held her wrists tightly while he walloped her bottom. Cressi was laughing hard. She liked the spanking so much that she spread her knees wide and pushed her bottom up, bucking in time with the assault. When her buttocks were red, the tiny pink slit between them was dripping moisture, and Ezra stopped smacking to taste her nectar.

He pushed his face hard into her bottom and sucked on her pussy-lips. Her juices smothered his mustache and beard. After a bit of a while, Cressi was purring like a contented feline. He let go of her arms, turned her on her back, and lay on her. Cressi opened her eyes and her legs.

It was a frantic fucking, with constant changes of position as Cressi wanted to try every possible stance. She used her claws whenever she climaxed. She even managed to scratch him with her toenails. They finished with her on top, which seemed to be every Samothean woman's preference.

Afterward, Cressi curled up into a ball and rested against him, demanding to be held and stroked, breathing deeply.

The following day, she was ready to go again, her hand on his erect rod, the hungry feline glint in her eyes. They fucked sweetly and slowly without scratching or biting.

Ezra tried not to compare his bedmates, but as they lay basking in post-coital contentment, watching motes of dust dance in the shafts of light that beamed through the knotholes of the hut walls, he reflected that, so far, only Annela and Cressi wanted morning sex. Kalyndra enthusiastically responded to anything he desired, but she never initiated morning sex, and his other bedmates only ever put up with it. That's as far as his reflections went: Cressi wanted to be up and doing, but they were already late for breakfast.

Mariner technology and Earth technology

After the morning chores, Juniel surprised Ezra at lunch: a fantastic piece of luck.

It was the hottest part of the day, and those members of the tribe who weren't hungry were sheltering from the sun in their huts. For those who were hungry, Ezra was always the first to sit at the table under the awning by the boat, picking dried fish, sweet potatoes, and beans.

Odette, the adolescent, a black girl with a huge smile, sat next to her best friend, ten-year-old Juniel, the sharp-eyed beachcomber. Odette nudged her friend and whispered. Juniel shook her head, but Odette insisted, and, at last, Juniel went to her hut, returning a few minutes later. She went over to Ezra and spoke to him.

"The flotsam Madam Calliope was talking about: what would it be like?" she asked.

"Anything from clothes to small plastic items, maybe a bag."

"Anything like this?"

Juniel reached into the pocket of her dress and brought out a small copper-colored metallo-plastic object, like lipstick or a lighter. As soon as he saw it in her hand, he recognized it.

"Juniel, that's my penknife. It must have fallen out of my pocket when I scrambled up the beach after my ship sank. I wish you could show me where you found it."

"I think I know where it was," Juniel said. "I walked with my mum, Aunt Althea, and Odette. We stopped many times, and I saw it sticking out of the sand."

"You never told me you found anything like this, Juniel," her mother Leanne said. "What is it, Ezra?"

"It's a penknife. An electronic knife with a laser blade. May I have it, Juniel? I'll show you how it works - if it still works."

"Will you give it back when you're done?" Juniel asked.

"Of course."

"Darling," Leanne said, "if it's Ezra's penknife, you should let him keep it."

"Do I have to?" she asked him.

"No. I lost it, you found it: it's yours if you want it."

"It's pretty, and I've got nothing like it," she explained.

"I understand. However, it's precious to me, and it can be dangerous. Will you let me repurchase it from you?"

"Why is it dangerous? What can it do?"

"It can do lots of things. It can cut leather, metal, and even stone. It can start a fire. It can also stick together anything that melts with a joint we call a weld."

She handed the knife to him, saying: "Show me, please?"

The pen knife had a lid with a key ring at one end and a diamond point at the other—the stem in between had four ring dials and a button. Ezra twisted the dials in an order that unlocked the device. He pressed the button to activate the laser-blade. A slight red glow appeared out of the diamond and then died.

"It seems to be working, but it needs power."

He twisted the dials to release the lid and expose a small hook, which he pulled with his fingernail. A small black umbrella appeared, unfurled, and turned inside out. He pointed it at the sun for a few minutes. Lights began to appear on the dials, and the base of the diamond glowed red, then orange, yellow, and through the rainbow until the whole diamond was white.

Ezra pushed the solar panel back in, replaced the lid, and twisted the dials again. When he pressed the button, a red laser blade about three inches long and half an inch wide appeared.

"Ooh!" said the wide-eyed Juniel, speaking for all the women. "What will that do?"

"Let me show you," he said, leading her to Calliope's boat. The unrest brought the whole tribe out to see what was happening, including Calliope, who had been dozing in her ship.

"Madam," Ezra said, "can I adjust your boat?"

"What kind of adjustment?"

He pointed to a jagged piece of the hull sticking out at the top corner of the makeshift entrance. This caused the tarp to hang crookedly at that point, risking holes being poked in the waterproof sheet whenever a high wind jostled it.

"I'd like to smooth off that edge."

"Go ahead if you can."

With a touch of showmanship, Ezra made a strong blue laser-blade, two inches long, holding it up for all to see, saying:

"Stand back, everyone, at least ten feet, and don't look directly at the blade when I cut."

To be continued