Guardian Awakening (11 page)

On the morning of the sixth day they broke camp and left their oasis.

The weeks went by. They had settled into a routine, each day bringing them closer to their goal. They eventually reached a range of hills on the edge of the great plain and had to climb them. Sometimes the going got difficult, and Tristan worried that Aesia might fall and damage her weakened leg.
 

After a couple of days, they had reached the top of the last band of hills. Tristan looked down, glittering in the distance and catching the sunlight was a large lake or sea stretching in either direction as far as the eye could see.
 

“Now that is something I had not thought of. A sea between us and the beacon.”

Aesia came up behind him and took his hand. “Maybe we can walk round it?”

Tristan sighed. “Maybe.”

They reached the shore late that afternoon. They sat down together and looked at the barrier before them. Tristan lay back in the soft, warm sand and cursed out loud, “Bugger!”

Aesia leaned on her elbow and looked down at him. As he looked back into her eyes, he noticed that they were no longer blue as the sky on a cloudless day. They were turning dark blue and had started to get green flecks in them.
 

“Your eyes are changing, there isn’t anything wrong is there?”

“Changing, how?”

“They are darker, with green flecks.”
 

She caught her breath. He felt surprise, disbelief and hope in her mind before she suddenly shut it off.

“What? - What was that?”
 

She hesitated for a moment before answering him, “It’s what happens to the females of my species once they were paired and mated.”
 

He sensed a half-truth and a frown passed his brow. “Are there any other changes?”
 

She shook her head and her long hair brushed his face. She squeezed him tight rolled over and pulled him towards her. Much later, Tristan walked over to the water’s edge and tasted it. No hint of salt, so it could be a small freshwater sea or a large lake. If it had been salty, he would at least have a clue as to what they faced. Aesia’s direction finder indicated the beacon was directly in front of them when they faced out over the water. He walked back to where she sat watching him.
 

“We have two choices, it seems to me,” Tristan said. “We either walk round, or I build a raft and sail across.”

She looked at him. “Which do you think will be quicker?”

“I really don’t know. There is no way of knowing without having an idea as to how big it is.” He checked the computer. He had estimated there unit of distance was just under a mile. “We are 350 miles from the beacon so assuming 30 miles a day then 12 days sailing maximum” He spoke half to himself.
 

“Tristan, what did you say”

“I was talking to my self sorry. If the maximum distance we have to travel is all on this lake it would take us around 12 days sailing”
 

“So which is easiest then?” she asked.

Tristan smiled. “Again, it depends how large it is. It will take me several days to build a boat, but if the shore runs back around us, we could be retracing our steps. If we try to walk round; then, of course, which way do we go, left or right?” He paused for a moment. “I think a raft gets my vote.”

Aesia looked doubtful, “Tristan, I have never been on raft, or a boat for that matter.”

Tristan looked out over the water. “Well, as you pilot small spacecraft I am sure you won’t be seasick, especially as it’s calm… for the moment anyway. “I will build a raft, and we can try it out. If you really find you don’t like it then we will walk. How’s that?”

Aesia nodded. “All right, that seems fine to me. Let’s start tomorrow. The sun is still warm, I am sure we can think of better things to do this afternoon!” She smiled shyly at him.

“You’re insatiable!” He smiled.

Aesia lay on the warm sand looking up at the stars, Tristan asleep next to her, exhausted after their lovemaking. She thought about what he had said to her.
Her eyes were changing?
She knew he had sensed her unreasonable surge of hope before she had locked it down. That is all she needed, her body playing tricks on her. Preparing itself for something that can never happen. A sigh shook her. “What a strange universe this is.”

The next morning Tristan started building a raft. He cut down several small trees and used vines as lashings. After a couple of day’s hard work, he had a serviceable raft with lashed trunks and cross members. He used the laser on low power to cut holes through the deck trunks to the cross members so they could be stitched and pegged together. It had to be really strong, as from experience, he had to expect and prepare for the worst at sea.
 

Water was not a problem since the lake was drinkable, so he concentrated on making a storage area for food. The next day he and Aesia fitted the mast. He used twisted vines for rigging and constructed a small cabin so that they had shelter if the weather deteriorated. One of the waterproof sheets would be used as a sail, and the other one as a spare. At the end of the fourth day, he had a sea worthy craft. The fifth day, they loaded everything onto the raft and lashed it all down. Tristan was not going to take any chances, and, since Aesia was not a strong swimmer, he found some bark that was similar to cork, cut it into strips, and tied them together to form a life jacket.

There was no tide, as the planet had no moon. So Tristan had to dig away the sand around the raft to get it to float. There was an offshore breeze most of the time, so, once the raft was floating, it was a simple matter of hoisting the sail and steering it with the rudder he had lashed to the stern. The raft worked perfectly. He checked to see if Aesia was all right with it. She seemed a little dubious but was willing to continue.
 

For the first three days the journey proved uneventful. Tristan had made some fishing line with the wire he had used for animal traps, so he tried his luck and caught several small fish. He used the laser on low power to heat one of the pans and grilled them. They tasted a little muddy, but did at least make a change to their usual fare. It did rain one day, but the shelter kept them dry.

The morning of the forth day dawned bright and sunny. As Tristan expected the further south they travelled the warmer the weather. Tristan was holding the raft close to the wind and making good progress. He had just mentioned to Aesia
 
how much easier sailing was compared to walking when the raft lurched. It caught her off balance she staggered and fell overboard. She immediately bobbed on the surface coughing and spluttering. A large black shape emerged from under the raft.
 

Tristan’s heart leapt into his mouth, “Aesia stay still don’t kick or splash.”
 

“Why Tristan?”
 

“Just be still Aesia now!”

The black shape moved around the raft. Tristan pulled on the rudder spilling the wind from the sail and splashed it in and out of the water to attract the creature.

“Tristan what are you doing is there something after me?” Panic gave her words a sharp edge.

 
The creature nudged the raft several times and actually lifted it out of the water. Tristan grabbed the laser pistol and fired as the shape swam from under the raft. The water boiled round the beam and with a flick of its tail the creature disappeared. “Aesia?”

“Tristan I’m over here. Please get me out of here!” She was by this time quite a bit astern of the raft. Pushing on the rudder and pulling the sail round to catch the wind Tristan turned the raft without taking his eyes off Aesia. If he were to lose sight of her now he would have difficulty finding her. As he had only scared the shark like creature away he did not know how much time he had before it came back.
 

“Come on, come on you lumbering cow.” Tristan muttered under his breath as the craft slowly turned. The wind filled the sail and the raft surged forward. As he got closer he spilt the wind from the sail and turned towards her. He raced to the side “Grab my hand Aesia,” She kicked forward as the raft drifted close and reached for Tristan’s out stretched hand.
 

Tristan noticed a black shape moving up from the depths under her. His fingers brushed against hers, he lent further out holding a rope with his other hand. Their fingers locked together. He pulled her forward then released his grip to grab her wrist. He pulled and stood up lifting her from the water. They fell together in a heap on the deck just as the gaping, teeth filled jaws of the creature broke the surface. Robbed of its prey it turned and banged against the raft.

Tristan was glad he had stitched and pegged it together, or they would both have been floating in the water and eaten. Aesia lay on the deck gasping.

“Are you all right,” Tristan asked as he pulled her up to a sitting position.
 

She nodded “Yes I’m fine but what about that?” The raft shook again.
 

“I will get rid of it.” He reached for the laser and after a couple of attempts finally drove the creature off.

Aesia decided that perhaps she didn’t like boats after all. When they finally made landfall a day later, Tristan could sense her relief as she stood on solid ground. Perhaps one day he would take her for a real sail on a pleasant lake with no monsters, and maybe she would change her mind.

They collected their gear from the boat and, after a cooked meal, continued their journey. Things were different on this side of the lake; it started to get hotter and dryer as they pushed on towards the beacon.
 

Now Tristan became the one suffering. He had never taken to the heat, and as they walked the land got hot and oppressive. Sweat trickled into his eyes and stung them. The terrain became more desert-like as they pressed onward. The sun beat down, sapping his strength, drying his throat. He was starting to feel sick. They had been walking into the heat for three days now, the sand pulling at their feet making progress even more difficult.
 

The forth day turned out to be the hottest so far. The early afternoon sun burned Tristan’s neck, his tongue dry and rough against the roof of his mouth. His vision blurred and with a groan he sunk to his knees the hot sand burning his bare legs.

“Aesia?” She was ahead of him, the heat hardly affecting her at all, and his shout came out as a croak. She turned and ran back to him.

 
“Tristan.” She dropped to her knees beside him. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, I feel awful I can’t go on.” He fell forward on his face.

Warm water was being poured into his mouth, and as he coughed and tried to sit up his head ached, and strong gentle hands pushed him back. “Rest,” he heard a voice in the distance.

He woke a cool breeze blowing across his face. It was night, and the Milky Way spread in an arc above him. Aesia moved next to him.

“Tristan, are you all right?”

He nodded in the dark, knowing she could see much better than he. “Yes, I was stupid I should have realised in the strong sun I was risking heat stroke.”

“Heat stroke?”

“Yes, the heat from a strong sun can affect me badly if my head is not covered.”

“Oh, how long before you will be able to continue?”

“I’m not sure, I have never had heat stroke before. The best plan is if I keep out of the sun during the day and walk at night, otherwise I won’t be able to get much further.”

“OK we can put the shelter up and rest during the day out of the sun. It’s nearly dawn so we should stay here for now and move tonight.”

“Thank you.”

She leaned over and kissed his forehead “Don’t be silly. You looked after me now it’s my turn to look after you.”

Aesia gave him a sip of water and he fell back exhausted to sleep.
 

He woke that evening,
stretched and looked around for Aesia. She was sitting outside of the shelter watching the stars appear as the sun set on the opposite horizon. She turned as he approached.

“Hello how are you feeling now?”
 

He sat down beside her. “Much better now, thanks.”

“I don’t want to worry you so soon after waking up, but we are getting short of water.”

Tristan turned towards her. “I thought we had a decent supply”

“We did, but you’ve been drinking it. I let you have what you needed during your illness.”

Tristan shook his head. “I don’t remember that.”

“No,” she replied. “You were delirious most of the time.”
 

OK let me check then” He stood and walked over to the rucksack and checked their supply. He judged they had sufficient water for another two days.
 

“Don’t forget, I won’t need as much as you, Sicceian superiority you know.” She smiled.

Tristan returned and sat down beside her. “Right then, I can set up a water trap, but we will need to stay put every third night to collect water.” Tristan knew he needed a lot to keep hydrated. They broke camp and continued their journey. They slept in whatever shade they could get during the day. Most times they constructed a simple shelter using one of the sheets to give them shade. On the third night Tristan set up a water trap using one of the waterproof sheets. He dug a pit with one of the pans at the bottom he then arranged the sheet in a cone shape using some of the plentiful rocks scattered about in the sand so water would condensate out of the ground collect on the sheet then run down and drip into the pan.
 

Aesia was sceptical “That won’t work will it?”
 

“It should, the nights are cold enough. Anyway, if it doesn’t work we - well I have a problem!”

The next morning when Tristan lifted the sheet the pan was brimming with fresh water. Tristan punched the air “Yes! It worked.”
 

Aesia hugged him. “Wonderful!”

They continued the new routine, walking during the cool nights and stopping every third to replenish their water. At least with the many small animals running about the desert food was not a problem.