Merfolk on Mars

Chapter 5

If waist-long cloaks with layers upon layers of tassels weren't a trend in Brasslantis, then I was going to pretend they were. If that didn't work, I would wrap it around the axes and hide them in a broom closet.

The two cloaks were dull black leather with brown stitching – which perfectly fit the leather requirement. I stood on my tiptoes and used a plain trident to knock them off their hook. They crashed down with a faint jiggle. I paused before picking one up.

"For the love of bubbles," I muttered.

They were some sort of armor that looked decorative. In other words, they were heavy. Still grumbling under my breath, I grabbed several sharkskin bootlaces and stuffed them into a small pouch that I attached to my braided leather belt.

We hadn't even left Sealantis, and I was already beginning to think that wearing nothing but leather was overrated.

With the two cloaks draped over one arm, and the axe in my other hand, I jogged out the door.

It was easy to follow Corvus and Arai's deep voices down the corridor. I caught up to them just as they reached the control room.

"Here," I said, passing Isla a cloak and a couple of leather bootlaces. "We can tie the axes to our backs like a backpack and let the cloaks conceal them."

Relief flooded her face. "Thank you! I was trying to think of reasons for carrying an axe around a city, but I wasn't getting any good ideas."

"Grab a seat, you two!" Arai said. "Corvus, we had better strap our chainsaws into the spare seats."

Isla and I went into the control room. Two pilot seats were in front of the main window, although four more seats were behind. I picked one against the back wall and sat down. Isla sat in front of me and began tying the leather laces together to form one long cord that she could sling over her shoulder.

Corvus stood his giant chainsaw upright in the pilot seat beside Arai and strapped it in. The chainsaw was taller than me. I could only imagine what someone would think if they looked in through the front window.

Arai had a smug grin as the panels began lighting up when he tapped various buttons. Corvus quickly took his seat as a faint vibration could be felt through the floor.

"And here we go! Buckle up!"

All of us already had our safety harnesses on, so we simply watched as long strands of kelp flowed past the window as we rose straight up. Very long strands of kelp.

Kelp apparently did very well this close to the sun. Not only did it keep the water from turning green with algae, but it grew through two kilometers of ocean to get at even more of the light. And it grew so fast you could actually see it getting taller.

No wonder we frequently shipped entire cargo loads of the stuff back to Earth for the health fanatics.

All I could see was kelp.

And yet more kelp.

Were wormholes formed of kelp? I was beginning to think that it was a very plausible explanation.

Suddenly, we broke through the surface of the water, sending droplets of water flying in the low gravity.

"Next stop, Brasslantis!" Arai proclaimed, operating the controls that turned the spaceship towards the green planet below.

"I thought Mars was red," Corvus remarked, once more commenting about his observations.

"It was terraformed several years ago," Isla told him absently, gazing at the view.

"Ah."

The planet quickly took over more and more of our view.

"How do we find this city?" Arai asked.

"Well," I said, "it's floating and cloaked behind steam, so look for a cloud. I don't see any from here."

Isla blandly commented, "The scanners are by your left hand. Just set the filters to ignore everything on the surface. They won't be able to detect the Unobtanium stone, but they can find a floating city."

"Oh." Arai touched a few buttons, and a map appeared on the display with one red dot on it. "We found it! I'll just keep the Leviathan outside the atmosphere until we're closer."

It was less than a minute before a rather bizarre cloud floated below us. If Brasslantis was trying to hide, they were doing a poor job of it. Steam rolled up the sides of the cloud and dissipated into the sky above it. Even if I hadn't known what was inside, it was clear that it wasn't a normal cloud.

"I'm slowing down. Where do we want to land? The buildings are really close together according to the scanner."

"Well, most heroes come in the back door," I said. "What's on the underside of the city?"

"Rubble, junk, leftover scrap metal, and several access doors."

"Then that is our best bet at getting inside unseen."

My fingers dug into the arm-rests as the Leviathan slowly nose-dived towards the city, our downdraft shifting the steam as we passed by it. A ninety-degree turn pressed me into my seat, and I held my breath as we entered the thick mist.

Then we were through the layer of mist, like in the eye of a hurricane, and skimming the rubble.

"Deploying grappling gear. Hang on."

Metal anchor-like hooks shot out, finding plenty of holds to latch onto. The cables tightened and pulled us closer.

I braced myself but was still flung against the safety straps as the Leviathan grated into the metal and debris. We finally stopped.

"We're here," Arai said smugly.

"Did we land or crash?" Isla asked, an edge behind her voice.

Arai spun his chair around to glare at her, miffed at her question. "It was a perfect landing! The hull is designed to take on asteroids – that bit of a scrape wouldn't wipe the dust off the plating."

"Then why didn't you deploy the land gear?" she asked, pointing to a button to the side.

He stared at it in disbelief. "That button wasn't in any of the video games I played!"

My jaw dropped – too shocked to even comment.

Who let this mer-idiot drive a spaceship? Oh, right. Me.

Isla was remarkably silent – possibly fuming – as she got up, grabbed her stuff, and swept out of the control room like royalty.

I gritted my teeth. "Let's get the stone. Isla gets to drive on the way back."

I stomped out of the control room as the two mermen paced behind me with their oversized chainsaws.