Petrogypsies by Rory Harper

Author:Rory Harper [Harper, Rory]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: DarkStar Books
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

It went quick from there. Ten minutes later we watched from lifeboats as Miz Bellybutton started a whirlpool dive to the bottom.

I’d never seen Sprocket swim. For that matter, nobody on the crew ever had, either. But he had calmly trotted to the break in the railing where his gangplank was laid when we were docked. He ran off the side of the ship and splashed into the water and floated quite comfortably at about his eye level. Couldn’t steer worth a damn, though. No rudder, and his stumpy legs were mostly useless as propellors. Razer and a couple of the guys brought their lifeboat alongside him and scrambled up his side. With their weight, he sank noticeably deeper in the water.

A couple of seconds later, Razer came back out with some rope. We moored Sprocket and all of the lifeboats together. Razer stayed on board Sprocket, half poked out of a hole in his top. Nobody else was invited aboard, though. We was afraid of swamping Sprocket.

Not much to do after that. Nobody even bothered to suggest that we try to row ashore, fifty miles away. At least not with the rising swells. The hurricane was coming. We mostly just waited for it to hit and hoped it didn’t drown us all.

Beside me in the lifeboat, Doc hefted a small leather bag in his left hand. We’d found it hanging from a strap around the chief’s neck when we searched him to make sure he didn’t have any other weapons on him. The chief had been real unhappy when we confiscated it. It contained dozens of emeralds. None of us knew anything about jewels, but I suspected the emeralds weren’t junk stones.

Doc squeezed the bag and looked at the chief. “This what everybody’s been dyin’ over, Chief?” The chief stared at the bag dully. “I asked you a question, bud,” Doc said. “We’re all probably gonna drown out here. I’d just as soon know why. This is why you killed Pegleg, ain’t it?”

The chief shivered and his eyes focused. “He came to the Goody Room that night after everything was battened down. He was half-drunk, as usual. He had a gun. When I got the chance, I tried to take it away from him. We rolled around and busted open a couple of cans. I guess the Muracon-E was one of them. I managed to knock him out. I thought he was dead. I decided to dump him over the railing, but when I carried him topside, it seemed like no matter where I turned somebody was in the way. It was dark enough that nobody spotted us. I carried him over my shoulder, but I kept having to dodge behind a pile of casing or stumble away from the side of the ship to keep from being seen. It was a nightmare. I just couldn’t get rid of the damn body. Finally, I ended up near the wellhead. I could hear voices coming toward us from both sides.

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