Shooting Star Excerpt: The Mystifyer

8/12/2019 Shooting Star Excerpt: The Mystifyer

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The Shooting Star:The Mystifyer

Wolf knew it.

He frowned and sat back in the luke-warm tropical

seawater, trying to think of a plan for Federi. The real problemwasnt the processor, or the ship sinking. The processor was

finished; this ship would hae to be controlled manually. The

problem was the steering, and the dries.

Hed hae to try to resurrect the dries. The solar dries

were bound to be depleted. That left the fuel cell dries. Wolf

meandered oer to where they sat, bulky structures too largefor the water to reach them in any case. How had !irian

managed to disable these"

The bioluminescence threw a dismal green glow oer the

bilges. #t least there was light. He glanced at the lake around

his knees. His prime concern tonight was to keep them from

sinking; in the daylight, things might look different.There was a kind of compounding that you strewed oer a

leak like sugar, and that combined with the e$isting surface and

e$panded with the seawater to make a coating. They sometimes

used this substance to repair leaks on the %olar Wind. &f he

could bring Federi some of it'


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The pumps were another problem. Firstly they had to be

reconnected, too. %econdly they depended on at least a drie

working; probably, on the ()*. Which was fried from the

water, and from !irian disabling it. Without the ()*, no

pumps. Without pumping the water out of the bilges, no ()*.

+h dear

He watched the water swish from one side of the

bilgerooms to the other, erratically like someone rinsing their

mouth. y the moements of the ship he knew it without

haing to go aboe the deck There was a storm building,

probably hundreds of fluffy white clouds in the moonlight at

this point, mirrored by hundreds of wriggly little white heads

on the choppy waes. They could conerge within minutes to a

real hell-raising hurricane. Federi and crew were in for a rough

night. There was no way he was deserting them in this crisis.

#ilyss was doubling up for him on the %olar Wind; shedagreed to let him know when to teleport into the heads and

emerge innocuously as though hed neer left the ship.

He glanced up at the unlikely man without bandanna who

was watching his moements intently. Federi had done it again

een so good at obsering that hed become practically

inisible./(aptain,0 said Wolf, /this is close-on irreparable.0

/1oure not allowed to 2captain me,0 Federi pointed out,

/unless youre 3oining my crew.0

Wolf laughed. /1ou are (aptain Federi now, you

understand,0 he said.


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Federi smiled. /%ay, Wolf. That thing you were inenting.

That mist-creation machine.0

/The 4ystifyer,0 growled Wolf. /(ompletely pointlessinention that0

/Why do you say that"0

/(aptain sure doesnt want it0 He noted with surprise the

slyness that crawled oer his friends face. /Why, Federi"0

/%o he wont miss it" Want me to test-drie it for you"0

/1ou want it"0 asked Wolf in surprise. /&ll bring itWhateer for, Federi"0

/1oull see,0 smiled the )irate. /Think you could build me

a really big one" &ll pay you well0

/&ll do it for friendship0 said Wolf.

/Then &ll gie you a cash gift, out of friendship,0 replied

Federi. /+ur own deices, Wolf. &f & buy it, & own the deice.

5ight"0

/5ight,0 grinned the engineer.

6...7

11

Auckland


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Federi stared at the grey-green waes that were rolling

away wildly underneath the %hooting %tars prow. From where

he stood on his bridge he could appreciate 3ust how fast the

ship was going. 5aindrops splattered across the windscreen

that had been repaired in %amoa; )aean was right, 2flying was

about atmospheric effects, not merely speed.

The ship would be worse off if he slowed down, he knew

this. &t was a pretty bumpy ride in any case; but bumping

across the tops of the swells was better than being tumbled

around in their middle.

Hydrofoils were a must. ut in his minds eye the %hooting

%tar eoled. There was some e$treme material he needed to

get his hands on; super-strong and minimally elastic

telescoping beams; neo-canas sail fabric. Hed seen

something somewhere in the %herman Files, from the heady

days before the *nicate descended' and he was going to turn

the %hooting %tar into something like that. Hydrofoils would

help lift her out of the bumpiness of the water and buffer her.

#nd now hed fetched the 8eil aboard. When hed

brought #damson, he hadnt thought that the man would be

unwilling to hand oer his ile associates. He hadnt thought

hed hae yet another hostage 9 and one that ought to be afriend Hed saed the mans life, for the loe of the 5osetta

:ala$y What was this deal"

ights of a ship appeared in the distance. Federi peered

into the rain. # radar hed not been able to secure; but by now,

with the help of Wolfs programming, he could access the

satellite.


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>othing on the satellite either. 4ust hae been a trick of the

light.0

5ushka smiled and actiated the bu==cam. &t came flyingout of the top of the main mast and bu==ed off in the direction

they thought theyd sighted the boat.

>othing but intense mist, lying under the heay downpour.

The sea was warm; the rain cold. The bu==cam returned.

/>o boat,0 said 5ushka.

@

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Shooting Star Excerpt: The Mystifyer