Princess Rescue Inc (38 page)

Her
eyes were wide. She turned a keen glance on each of them. They nodded.

“My
name is Eugene Ryans. I am the civilian leader of our team. This is Lieutenant
Perry, my military counterpart,” Ryans said making introductions. He waved
politely to Perry who straightened and nodded.

“Pleased
to meet you,” Perry smiled. “We were told you make many things and you would be
the ones to talk to about reproducing some of our tech.” He tapped his gun.

The
inventors bowed. The wife was blushing. Her husband smiled. “We do our humble
best.”

“Well,
the Kingdom is under attack and the King asked us to aide in this war. We're
going to pull out some of our technology to upgrade the King's soldiers.”

“Why
we've wanted to do that for ages!” the wife said jumping up and down excitedly.
“Haven't we Martin?”

The
husband chuckled. “That we have. We've been working on a self powered cart.” He
went over and brushed aside a tent of parchments before he picked up a model
and carried it over.

It
was a turtle shaped vehicle, with six wheels and a chimney. “Steam powered?”
Ryans asked looking it over. They had even built in a dragon's head into the thing.

“Steam?”
the husband asked confused.

“Water,”
Ryans replied. He pointed to what was obviously the boiler. “You heat water
here, and then when it gets hot it pushes this which turns this.” He pointed to
the gears and then to the wheels.

“You
know of this?” the wife asked amazed. He smiled.

“I
had a toy train when I was five.”

Ryans
was amused by the da Vinci couple's steam toy. He explained about steam tech,
including weapons, trains, and other things. They were at first bemused, but he
pulled out a laptop from the bag he had been carrying. They were amazed by it.
“Steam?” the wife asked. He shook his head. He pulled up a video of his nephews
at a train show. The da Vinci's were amazed. He explained the principle of a
piston, which they easily grasped, then the power of steam and valves. He
cautioned them about having a governor to regulate the flow of steam to keep
the boiler from exploding. This got them excited. Mr. da Vinci explained that
they had had a boiler explode when it became red hot when left unattended. He
left them, amused... They were oblivious, chattering, drawing, and writing.

“Wait,
wait...” Martin said. He pulled them back in for more talks.

Ryans
found out that they were responsible for many of the local advances in the past
ten years. The two of them had created Archimedes screws to use in the fields
to irrigate crops that were hard to irrigate due to location. They had also
engineered a primitive hand pump made out of bamboo and leather for deep water
wells. Recently they had updated that design to be powered by animals on a
treadmill or wheel. They were the ones responsible for the treadmills in the
castle kitchens, the ones with the animals that turned the spit. They had
created many of the cranes used in the city, and pioneered the first water
pumped fire brigade, though they used lead pipes to direct the water.

The
husband was actually a child survivor of a wreck, which surprised him. Perry
came along and nodded. “Not safe after dark boss,” he murmured. Perry quietly
pointed out a mugger which made Ryans nod.

“Gotcha.”

<==={}------------>

Sergio
asked about the remarkable lack of organized religion in this, a feudal
society. Zara explained that when the Europeans first came, others were already
here. She related the story of a lay priest who had organized his flock into a
small village in the forest. When he had seen the animals he had said they were
in the devil's playground and had tried to exorcise them. He was leading a
sermon when a
basilisk
attacked, the priest tried to exorcise it while
his flock fled but was cut down. Sergio winced.

“After
that the survivors fled and were taken in by a small group of survivors living
in a hill fort. They had been living in hardship for some time, seeing their
numbers dwindle. The survivors were of a different religion. Another group of
gaijin’s known as Huns were also taken in a month later. When the people began
to fight over religion, Herod, the leader of the clan at that time put an end
to it. He decreed that anyone may worship as they choose and none shall oppose
them.” She shrugged. “That's how it came to be.”

“Ah,”
Sergio nodded. Wanda did as well. “I take it Herod was an ancestor of yours
princess?”

She
nodded smiling. “But of course. He is known now as Herod the Great and wise. He
founded this Kingdom.” She waved proudly. “He was once a Roman slave as a child
on Patria but rose to become a great leader.”

“Thought
so. Smart guy. I wish I could have met him,” Sergio smiled.

<==={}------------>

Doc
pointed out a mongoloid. A lady in waiting told them he was a merc. His people
came on horses; they were one of the few that brought any in number. They still
spoke their own language and were nomadic, preferring to stay on the steppes.
From time to time they traded or raided villages on the outer borders with the
steppes. They made excellent guards and soldiers.

Doc
speculated on the various people. Even American Indians were represented. Ryans
explained to her about the vortex, that it moved along the magnetic ley lines
of the planet according to a pattern they were not sure about. It was possibly
linked to solar and magnetic activity. It was also attracted to concentrations
of magnetic objects, such as the meteor in Canada, and Bermuda.

“Yeah,
but why so many Europeans? Why not more Africans or American Indians, or
Chinese?” Doc asked.

He
frowned, thinking before answering. “Well, I'm not sure about the Asians, we
don't have a fair enough sampling for comparison remember,” he cautioned. She
grimaced and then reluctantly nodded. “But as for the others, I have a
hypothesis.”

“Oh
do enlighten me,” Doc said, lips pursed then smiling. “I'm all ears.”

“Well,
civilizations differ, as do population density. What I mean is that you've got
a lot more people in a modern medieval society versus in an Indian village,” he
said. Her eyes widened then she looked thoughtful.

“True,”
she finally said and nodded.

“Same
for African villages. It doesn't hold water with Chinese or some other cultures
though. I'm not sure...”

“But
you're right, we don't have sufficient data,” she replied and nodded once more.

“And
there's one other point, it... I mean the vortex preferred to stick around
Bermuda half the time or the magnetic poles. That's why I built the platform
there in the Atlantic,” Ryans said with a shrug.

“That
also helps explain the concentration of Europeans,” she said nodding, then
paused. “So ships and planes that disappeared in the triangle?”

“Some
may have come here, but most were probably hit with EMP from the vortex and
were lost... and the weather around the vortex could have knocked them down to
the bottom of the ocean,” Ryans replied. He for one wouldn't want to be in a
wooden or metal ship or aircraft getting repeatedly struck by bolts of
lightning.

She
shivered. “Not a good way to go. Lost, confused, in pain, with a million miles
of ocean around and on your last gasp of gas.”

He
nodded. “Yeah. Nasty.”

As
they settled in, princess Deidra acidly commented about courtiers and ladies in
waiting swooning over the Terrans. Charlie shrugged it off. “It's actually to
be expected, we're something new and exciting. Celebrities,” she said. She'd
noticed some of the younger generation were now emulating the Terran dress and
style. Many were forgoing the layers of makeup and clothing, scandalizing the
older generation. That amused the hell out of her, but apparently most of the
other Terran's didn't care, they were too busy with their various projects to
notice the growing rift. Deidra noted her little sister and ladies in waiting
following Ryans around and stormed off.

“Jealous?”
the chemist asked Doc.

“Well,
will wonders never cease,” Doc murmured watching as Deidra chased the other
women off and then chewed out Ryans for not working. He looked abashed and made
a hasty retreat.

“She's
gotta stop being a shrew sometime. Being a bitch isn't exactly helpful to her
cause,” Charlie said sighing.

“You
attract more flies with honey than vinegar you mean,” Doc said smiling.

“I
must have missed that one,” the Queen said, startling them. They turned and
stepped aside, nodding politely to her. She smiled graciously, taking in the
sight of Deidra standing in the courtyard fuming as Ryans retreated. She
sighed. “She does have my temper and tongue, more so now than ever.” She shook
her head and walked off, with ladies and guards following in her wake.

<==={}------------>

“Medical
emergency! Barracks!” Ryans started, then looked up. “Damn it, we need a crash
cart stat!” he heard over the radio.

Lips
pursing he went at a trot to see what the hell was going on. Lewis rushed up
the path carrying a duffel. She knocked a pair of men to the ground as she
passed them. “Damn it,” Ryans swore, then keyed his radio when people blocked
the path. “Six to five, status report.”

After
a moment a voice answered. “Ah, is this on?”

“Who
the hell is that?” the Gunny said looking around. He looked up to Ryans'
window. “We've got a situation here boss. Perry is down.”

“Fuck.
Be right there,” Ryans said rushing out.

He
arrived at a run just behind Sue. The Gunny stopped him near the door. A crowd
was beginning to form at the door. “What the hell happened Gunny?”

“Some
idjet gave Perry some chow. He took one bite and dropped thrashing. Waters is
on it.”

Ryans
peered over his shoulder to see a mix of bodies. The Master Sergeant was busy
doing CPR reps on the Lieutenant. Sue elbowed him aside and stuck a giant
needle right into the officer's chest. The Gunny and Ryans winced.

“Adrenalin.
Shit hurts like a sumbitch but it might get him over it,” the Gunny muttered.

“Poison?”
Ryans asked.

“Yeah
think?” the Gunny snarled, giving him a '
what are you, stupid?
' look before
going back to watching the show. Lewis continued to use the respirator on the
officer, carefully timing the squeezes of the bulb. “I induced vomitting right
away to try to get it out. Some may have stuck in his mouth.”

Crap,”
Ryans grimaced. Doc checked his pulse and then nodded, looking relieved. Lewis
seemed to sigh explosively at that.

“Looks
like he's through the first hump. Shit's potent I guess,” Waters said coming
over. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Fucker who gave it to him is dead. When
we went to help the Lieutenant he tripped and fell in his own mush.”

“Oh
he did did he?” Ryans asked. He knew damn well it wasn't the truth. He just
wasn't sure if he should quibble about it or not.

Waters
held up a hand. “God's honest truth. I know, I'd like to get the bastard behind
him. But well...”

“Water
over the dam, Master Sergeant,” Ryans nodded.  He would have liked to have
had a living man to interrogate but what was done was done. He stepped aside to
let a team get by with a stretcher. The team worked quickly to transfer the
officer to the stretcher then pick him up.

“Doc?”
he asked as they exited. She paused.

“He's
alive. For how long I don't know. I can't even tell you what it was. Neurotoxin
possibly. Maybe something else but I doubt it. Paralytic definitely. Lewis
pumped his stomach with the hose so I'll get this to Charlie.” She held up a
small vial with brownish food bits in it.

“I'll
do that Doc, stay with the patient,” Ryans said, taking the vial.

“Yeah,
I dunno about this damn world,” Sue growled, walking off at a trot.

<==={}------------>

He
was waiting outside the medical tower when Doc came out an hour later. She
looked tiredly at him, then ran her hands through her hair.

“He'll
live. He's stable and comfortable. Whatever did that was a short term thing.
Charlie's checking a blood sample against the food sample now. It's definitely
a neurotoxin, nasty thing. Locks up the muscles. The victim strangles to death
unable to breathe.”

“The
Catawba,” a burly guard said wrinkling his nose. They looked over to him. “An
assassin's weapon. It is widely known. At one time it was used to cull animals
for the harvest. After an hour the flesh was pure of the poison.”

“Well,
that's good to know,” Sue said smiling. She gave the guard a wary look. He
shrugged.

She
turned her attention back to Ryans. “Senji and Tau had an antidote but it's
some holistic thing. I had Charlie check it; it's a plant that saps the poison
out. We made a tea and doused him with it. Seems to help. He's going to have a
hard time talking for a while.”