Chapter 6: Ella

As I reached the M’goo settlement, someone saw me and called out. A moment later, D’Monds met me and invited me to his structure.

“So, Brian, is the waterfall fixed?” he asked.

“I believe so. I will check tomorrow that it’s stable before I can say it’s done.”

He smiled and nodded.

“You big magic!”

“The waterfall had almost died out. I arrived just in time to fix it.”

“You come in time.”

“It should continue to protect you for a long time,” I said.

“All M’goo owe you a life-debt.”

The mention of a life-debt made me cringe. I felt uncomfortable with others owing me over such trivial things. I’d fixed something they already had, so I’d changed nothing. The balance of power hadn’t changed.

“You hungry? We eat!” he said.

“Sure.”

Before long, food arrived and conversation ended. I sat and ate with D’Monds.

The next morning, I woke to the sound of knocking on my door. It was unfortunate, because I’d been dreaming of a rescue party complete with coffee. They were just about to revive me with a cup of my favourite beverage before the noise pulled me back to reality.

“What is it?” I called out.

“Brian, you come quick,” said the voice outside the door.

I got up and washed my face before stepping out into the daylight.

D’Monds stood there with his niece, Ella.

“We must talk,” he said.

I followed them back to his structure, where we sat under the porch.

“Brian, last night my niece broke your magic.”

“What do you mean? Has the waterfall stopped again?” I asked.

“No.”

I turned to Ella. She kept her eyes downcast and wouldn’t look at me.

“You said you’d call your friends and leave the M’goo,” she said.

“Yes, I did.”

“But we need you here. You stay with M’goo,” she said.

“What did you do?” I asked.

“Come with us. We go see,” said D’Monds.

I had a bad feeling.

We left the settlement in the cave’s direction.

We arrived at the cave entrance.

I soon saw what she’d done.

The communications array was a wreck. She’d smashed it all with a rock or something. Broken tripods and antennas lay strewn about the area.

I sighed.

“D’Monds, you’re the leader of the M’goo. What is your view on this?” I asked.

“You friend of M’goo. She do you wrong.”

Ella was fidgeting nearby, agitated about all this.

“I need to call my friends,” I said.

“We need you here. You stay with M’goo!” she said.

“I already fixed the Big magic. I’m no longer needed here,” I said with all the calm I could muster. I didn’t belong here.

“But I, I need you here!” she said with a stutter. D’Monds looked at his niece with surprise.

Hmm, so that’s what she wants.

I looked at D’Monds and he shrugged.

“Ella, I have a home, and a family. I miss them and they miss me,” I said.

She looked up at me. Her body was shaking, trying to face the reality that I wasn’t available. I don’t recall when I gave her the impression I was.

A moment later, she turned and ran towards the settlement. I watched her leave, feeling annoyed.

I found D’Monds had placed his hand on my shoulder. He sighed.

“Sorry she cause you trouble, Brian.”

“I can fix this. Please don’t tell others about this. It’s because of me she did wrong,” I said.

He nodded.

“Can you stop her from doing this again?” I asked.

“I’ll put two M’goo to guard it. Only you can come here.”

“Fair enough,” I said.

D’Monds left me by the cave and left for the settlement.

I picked up the debris that used to be the communications array and moved them into a pile near the airlock. She’d done a good job of demolishing the communications array. She’d dashed my hope of a speedy rescue along with it.

I called Ivan on my communicator.

“Ivan, I need a new communications array, please,” I said.

“Confirmed, Captain. It went offline during the night. I have a replacement ready for you in engineering,” replied Ivan.

“I’ll be coming to fetch it now,” I said.

“If you could please return the damaged array, I will recycle the components.”

“Acknowledged,” I said.

I stepped through the airlock and fetched the grav sled. I soon had all the broken components loaded, and I took them inside for recycling.

“Attention, Commodore,” said Ship.

Jem sat on the sofa, waiting for just such an update. She hadn’t slept since Ship picked up the partial distress call from Brian.

“Go ahead, Ship,” said Jem.

“I detected the distress call again,” replied Ship.

“Does it include his coordinates?” asked Jem.

“Negative, Commodore, but the signal is continuous. I should get a fix on his location soon,” replied Ship.

“Once you do, change course to intercept,” ordered Jem.

“Confirmed,” replied Ship.

“Can you reply to the distress call?” she asked.

“Confirmed,” replied Ship.

“Once you get his location, acknowledge receipt and tell him we’re on the way. Suggest he cease broadcasting, as hostiles might track the message back to his location,” said Jem.

“Confirmed,” replied Ship.

Jem felt jubilant. Soon Brian would be back with them, where he belonged. Her mind began dreaming up several welcome celebrations.

“Attention, Commodore. I have a fix on his location. I’m adjusting course to intercept,” said Ship.

On the tactical display, the map of the star systems highlighted a single system.

“Commodore, the message also has an ID for the vessel, a Baglogi star cruiser. My logs report it lost in action, long ago,” said Ship.

“Wow!” said Jem.

“I’ve responded to the distress call. We should arrive in about three days,” said Ship.

“Thank you, Ship.”

“Commodore, it’s what the Captain would do for any of us.”

She smiled. Now they were on course, Jem had no reason to wait alone on the main bridge.

She returned to her cabin to get some much-needed rest.

Two days passed. My new communications array was working. I’d even got a reply from Ship.

I now had to bide my time with my hosts until rescue came. I did my best to avoid Ella, and thankfully she paid me the same courtesy.

D’Monds and several others were friendly to me, and the rest didn’t know if they should fear me. I didn’t care either way, since I’d not be here much longer.

Ivan was always friendly and provided intelligent company. So it was that I visited with Ivan. Once inside the airlock, I proceeded to the main bridge.

“Good morning, Captain,” said Ivan.

I smiled.

“Good morning, Ivan. How goes the repairs?” I asked.

The tactical display turned on, showing an annotated schematic of the vessel.

“I have adjusted priorities based on the fact I am to remain planet bound,” said Ivan.

“That makes sense. I have a new project you can help me with,” I said.

I raised up my arm to show off the bracelet.

“The device on my wrist is a teleporting device, which brought me to this planet. I can’t remove it from my wrist. Can you help me?” I asked.

“Please go to engineering, where I can scan it,” said Ivan.

“Be careful, as I don’t know how it works.”

“I will use the lowest scan setting, Captain.”

I took the elevator to engineering.

“Captain, if you could stand over here, please,” said Ivan.

I stood beside a scanner probe device and waited.

“The readings suggest the device is inert.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“There’s no power signature, suggesting your last jump depleted the device’s power cell,” replied Ivan.

“Can you get it off my wrist?” I asked.

“Is it attached to your skin, or unable to get past your hand?” asked Ivan.

“It seems attached,” I replied.

Ivan didn’t respond for a minute.

Then a maintenance bot arrived, carrying a small container.

“This is our best lubricant. Apply it between the bracelet and your wrist to break the resistance,” said Ivan.

I took the lubricant and followed Ivan’s directions.

A few minutes later, it loosened up a little.

“I can move it!” I cried out.

“Work it until you can slide it over your hand. Use more lubricant.”

I did just that. It was slow going. Either my hand had swollen or the bracelet had shrunk. But I wasn’t willing to accept failure.

Within about half an hour, the wretched thing was off my hand. It was tight, and my hand hurt.

I gave it to the maintenance bot.

“Make sure no one else ever puts that device on their wrist,” I said.

“Confirmed.” The maintenance bot left.

My next stop was the medical bay, where I applied salve to my wrist and hand.

“Thank you, Ivan,” I said.

“Thank you, Captain.”

“What?” I asked.

“If you hadn’t put on the bracelet, you wouldn’t have arrived on this planet and restored my auto-repair. I would cease to be,” replied Ivan.

“That was a hidden side effect that I hadn’t expected,” I said.

“Because of you, I can continue to protect the M’goo. Your arrival and intervention has done significant good.”

“That bracelet could have sent me anywhere. I’m glad it turned out well,” I said.