Scene 46

The Land of Hekata, atop a tepui

Two days later we all gathered together to discuss our options. The Captain let us use his office for our meeting.

“Ms. Swan,” I asked, “any luck with the radios?”

“No,” she answered. “Whatever it is that’s stopping reception is constant. Maybe I could figure something out if I was back in the lab with all my equipment, but not here.”

I turned to Greg. I had sent him with a small team to examine the compound for any type of transport.

“All Jock and I found was a small boat down by the river,” he answered. “It won’t hold more than a few people. It was probably an escape craft for the Lieutenant.”

“We’ll keep that as one option. A few people could take the boat and seek help. How did they get the slaves out?” I asked. “There wouldn’t be much profit if you couldn’t transport them elsewhere.”

“We searched the Lieutenant’s office for any information,” said Jock. “Apparently, there is regular traffic to and from the compound to either bring in new slaves for training, or to ship out others to be sold.”

“How many will that transport hold?”

“We don’t know for certain, but we found records in the last year for shipping out up to twenty slaves. Since the transport is by boat, the size of the craft is limited to what the river can accommodate, say maybe up to forty.”

“Even forty isn’t large enough to take all of us and the captives. When is the next scheduled transport due?”

“Tomorrow,” Greg answered.

“Well, then we caught it just in time. It looks like we need to plan a little piracy operation.”