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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.
@