1899- Journey to Mars

Billy said, “Well, I trust you, Ekka, and if you say to, I will.”

Ekka asked Bixie, “Can you follow them in your mind?”

“Dey be comin’, but don’t see us here in dah mountains. The evil man’s not one tah give up, though. He be meanin’ tah kill all of us, and take de heart of de Arcadia.”

Billy said to John, “If you can delay our fight for a couple of weeks, perhaps we can come to an accord.”

John thought about it, then said, “We are in agreement.”

“Good, now grab a chair and buckle up, all of you.”

Bixie said, “We be goin’ to dah red world, don’t we, Billy mon? We be goin’ to save the India mon?”

Billy’s eyebrows went up, “Yes, we are.”

Bixie said, “Den you best be hurryin’. The Koothrappally mon, he be in big trouble.”

Guthrie added, “I would like to add that the Kraken has found us.”

[ 22 ]

Guthrie knew every seam, every rivet of the Argent. He had personally overseen her construction in the box canyon at the back of Master Gostman’s property, what the man referred to as his “back forty”. Single-handedly her construction would have required ten years of labor, but Father Tesla detached a team of his Model II robots to assist with the effort. The Model IIs, though far inferior to Guthrie himself, still did not require rest or sleep. Together he and the robots assisted Billy in forging and constructing the greatest ship the Earth had ever seen, and the bulk of the construction had taken place over the previous three months. Although according to Master Billy she was not nearly as large as the Arcadia—a ship that had demised long before he himself was created—the Argent was much more powerful. Also, unlike Merkham’s Arcadia, the Argent could defend herself.

Guthrie leapt to the ship’s tactical station as Billy took the pilot’s seat. “Master Burroughs,” Guthrie spoke into a narrow tube at his workstation, “please begin loading the torpedo bays.”

“Aye aye,” the voice called from belowdecks.

Guthrie also knew the armaments of the Argent. The ship was equipped with three Howitzers, two torpedo bays and dorsal and anterior laser cannons, the diamonds Billy Gostman used were from the former friend of the hero Denys Jay-Patten, Master Cecil Rhodes, the namesake of the new country of Rhodesia. Rhodes had interests in the great Kimberly diamond mine and with what was practically slave labor had brought forth from the bowels of the Earth two of the great gemstones. Master Gostman had, for Rhodes’s benefit, alluded to using the diamonds in a monument to the former hero of the Arcadia adventure. He used them instead as the focal points for the two most powerful weapons on Earth, both of which were housed in the Argent. Yet, they remained fully untested. When questioned on it, Master Gostman proclaimed, “When we return from this mission, I intend on making the Argent into a real monument. We’d have to dedicate it to someone. Why not the crew of the Arcadia? Or at least those who didn’t make it.”

Guthrie replied, “Excepting, of course, the estimable Dr. Conklin. Correct?”

“Right,” Billy had agreed.

In the sky above Ceylon, the Argent flew upward from the canyons into the open sky and the Kraken turned and punched forward to grapple with her. Before she could close, Burroughs tinny voice emerged from the cockpit speakers: “Torpedoes loaded.”

“Firing aft torpedo,” Guthrie calmly stated, and flipped a small lever.

A finned steel arrow flew from the aft section of the Argent and struck the Kraken with a concussive fury that rattled both ships. The range had almost been too close.

Billy spun around to look out the rear window of the bridge.

“I don’t think we so much as dented the damned thing,” he said.

“Dad!” Dakota exclaimed. “What about the laser cannon? We could hit it with that!”

“And it could blow us apart,” Ekka exclaimed.

“Dinnae fash yourself, laddie,” Ian said.

“What’s that mean?” Dakota replied, and scratched his head.

“I think it means shut up and sit down,” Carter stated half-jokingly. “I’ve known Scotsmen in my time, and Ian’s brogue can be downright unintelligible. I think their language is based on sheep talk.”

“That black ship is closing with us,” Ekka said. “Any advice, Bixie.”

“I’ma tell you only ta one ting, and dat be ta run!”

“Wisdom from heathens,” Guthrie whispered.