Chapter 15: New Alliances

Perdition Island Day 7-8

Darren POV:

Things are becoming very interesting as several groups are currently on the move.

Max and his crew of Tiny, Jasmine, Annie, and Lonnie are ‘sailing’ (Or, learning how to?) around the South end of the island, determined to sail around the entire island. They decided to leave a still sulking Lucinda behind, supposedly to ‘guard’ their ‘cave-ground’ and all of their stuff.

The truth of the matter is that both Jasmine and Annie just needed to get away from her for a while and asked Max to leave her behind.

Even Athena wanted to get away from her and eagerly jumped into the boat, taking her position on the bow as their lookout!

The upside of sailing was they were all able to look forward. There was a moderate wind out of the West-Southwest, so, it seemed they were going to get ‘tacking’ practice, right from the get.

Max seemed to remember his ‘ropes’ as he had them paddling (facing forward, not using the oarlocks, facing astern) with the sail still rolled up until they had the wind nearly at their backs. When they finally had the sail raised and were under ‘wind-power’ they all raised a cheer!

Max was anxiously watching the mast and boom, checking that it would hold up under the stress of propelling their large boat. He told everyone that eventually they would want to add a jib on the front, to take advantage of a strong tailwind. He warned them that if the wind got too strong, they may have to take in some sail so as not to over-G the narrow 4” mast.

They were already moving much faster than they could ever paddle or row!

Lonnie was manning the rudder, which he found was harder than he expected, being without his right hand. Since their boat didn’t have much of a keel, it was keeping him quite busy, following Max’s commands. Max explained that the very short, 4” rib down the center of the hull, while acting like a keel, was in actuality a poor substitute.

When they finally made it to the East side of the Island and the boat heeled over as they turned North, there were some nervous moments until Max laughed, “NOW we’re sailing, my friends! We may want to skootch over to the high side, just to make y’all feel better, but, I fully expected this to happen! Lonnie, it’s your job to try and keep us on course. You’ll get a break when we have to paddle ... eventually.”

“Aye-aye, Cap’n!” Lonnie chortled.

JB and I started laughing when little Athena turned and put her right paw up by her head in a mock salute! Annie damn near fell overboard she was laughing so hard.

Even Max was impressed and gave her a salute back, chuckling himself.

They were all having fun and even Tiny, who was nervous since he wasn’t a very good swimmer, was smiling. “This sure beats the hell out of paddling, I’ll give you that. Just how much more can this tub lean before YOU get nervous, Cap’n Bligh?”

“About 20 degrees more. If we get even close to that, we’ll have to take in some sail. Trust me, I don’t wanna have to try ‘un-swamping’ this thing any more than you do! That’s the biggest downside to not having a deeper keel.”

Annie asked, “Couldn’t we make one?”

Max shook his head, “Not really. We’d have to cut a hole in the hull, drop a keel-board into it, then have to figure out a way to seal it again. We don’t want a keel when we’re just paddling in shallow water, so it would have to be removable. I also just don’t wanna take a chance of fucking up our boat.”

Lonnie chuckled, “So, beggars can’t be choosers, eh Cap?”

Max laughed, “Something like that! I just hope our sail holds up. We may need to reinforce the mast with some more angle iron. This ain’t bad for our first attempt, though.”

It was only about an hour later, when they came up on the place where Mario’s group had originally landed. Annie was looking around to see if she could see any sign of her friend, Lolita. They had done a nice job of hiding their boat, and I couldn’t even see it, or any signs that this was somebody’s camp.

I was proud of Annie for not saying anything and simply allowing her crew to sail past the mountain divider, obliviously.

Max did make a comment, “With this cliff here, this would be a great place for a camp. I’d bet there are caves not too far from the beach!”

Annie’s eyebrows rose, but she just smirked at Max, nodded and let it go.

Since they were a good half-mile off shore, they soon saw Marek’s boat up ahead on the beach and what looked like a party going on. Another few minutes later and they saw a large group of people pointing at them and waving.

They waved back and discussed whether or not to get closer to see who all were there. Athena started barking like crazy and I could ‘hear’ her tell Annie, “Hey, that’s my Mom and Dad up there! Can we stop?”

“Is it safe? We don’t know who might wanna steal our boat, or hurt us!?”

Athena ran into Annie’s lap, “I just checked. Dad said his ‘Peeps’ are good people and he personally guaranteed we wouldn’t be messed with! Okay?”

Annie giggled, then said to her crew, “Let’s check them out! I don’t think they pose a threat to us. It might be good to see what they know?”

Max looked at Annie and Athena, “Normally, I would say no. But, with our little protector with us, I guess it should be alright. Is it safe, Athena?”

Athena jumped over onto his lap and started frantically licking his nose. Max chuckled, “Okay, okay girl! We’ll do it. Lonnie, guide us toward them and Tiny, help me take in the sail. I just know we’re going to get some questions about our amazing sailboat!”

As they got closer Jasmine gasped, “Holy shit! That’s Chen and Marek in that group! We found him!”

Lonnie huffed, “And I see that other group has my old ‘Buddy’, Murdock in it! We also found George’s group! This could be interesting. I just know they’ll have a whole bunch of stuff we might be able to get them to trade with us. I’ll also bet he sweet-talked Ibera into giving him stuff to make one of his famous ‘stills’ with. His Daddy used to be a notorious moonshiner. That sucker has forgotten more about making homemade booze than most people will ever know!”

Tiny smiled, looking at Max, “And best of all, Cap’n ... you can trust him not to fuck us over.”

Max suddenly looked nervous, realizing there were three of Lonnie’s former assassin buddies there. He looked Athena in the eye, “Are you SURE we’re gonna be safe, Little One?”

While Athena licked him and wagged her tail, Annie giggled, “She says we’re perfectly safe! Trust her!”

Brad ‘contacted’ JB and me, saying this was about to get ‘super-interesting’.

All of the goons, but Hugo, were with Marcy and coming this way, looking to get payback on Marek and company for killing Vincent.

They had to swim around the northern cliff, and since Hugo was still nervous about using the ‘spear-raft’, they left him behind. Precious wanted to go too, but her leg-wound dissuaded her, so she stayed behind with Elmer, Hugo, Lola and Cecelia.

The four of us decided to all get together, go to present time and let our cameras tell the story ... this is it.

(We’ll narrate telepathic conversations as needed!)

When Max and his ‘Minnow’ had landed and dropped anchor, they quickly drew a large welcoming committee.

Athena immediately bolted off the bow and was creating quite a commotion barking like crazy and running around with Naomi and Blaine’s dogs, Zeus and Hera. All three commenced to chasing each other and with wagging tails, seemed to be having fun. Annie got together with Naomi and the two of them were chatting incessantly about how much they loved their little four-legged friends.

And about how smart they were! Just as they started getting underfoot, both girls called them and all three dogs quickly ran over to them, sat down and stopped barking.

There were some amazed comments. Especially from Marek’s group, who were getting their first look at the islands first pets.

Annie and Naomi, when asked where they came from, both just said they ‘found’ them near the beach.

It became apparent that only Annie ‘believed’ she could truly talk to the dogs. She was amazed when she discovered she could talk to Zeus and Hera, too. Naomi ‘felt’ she could talk to her dogs, but, as yet, didn’t fully believe it. While the ‘guys’ were all inspecting Max’s boat, Annie and Naomi walked a bit further away, up on the higher ground, to talk more privately.

Annie had been listening to Zeus and Naomi, then asked, “Ahhh, so you can talk to them too?”

Naomi looked stunned, “What? What are you saying?”

Annie giggled, “You can’t ‘hear’ them talking to you? Close your eyes and tell me what comes into your head, okay?”

Seconds after closing her eyes, they shot open, widely, “Holy crap! I CAN hear them! All three of them! You’re dog’s name is Athena and she’s Zeus and Hera’s pup!?”

Annie grinned, “Yep! She somehow knew Zeus and Hera were here and wanted to see her ‘Daddy and Momma’. Max was leery about stopping with so many people here, but, Zeus assured us there wouldn’t be any problems.”

“Wow! Blaine thought I was crazy when I felt like I knew what they were thinking, sometimes, but, now I know I really can! Thank you Annie. I can’t wait to see if Meredith, Margo and Ruthie can too. Something tells me they can, but, like me, they just didn’t believe it! That explains why they always do what we ask them to.”

Annie looked at Zeus, “Do your ‘Peeps’ know you scared away those giant buzzards?”

“NO, and please don’t tell them? We just want them to think we’re mostly normal.”

Annie giggled, “Your secret is safe with me! Your little girl already showed her abilities when she saved our butts. She turned into a 7’ tall firebreathing hell-hound! It was great!”

Zeus chuffed, “I’m gonna have to have a word with her. She always was a bit overzealous. Apollo is even worse!”

“I’d like to meet the little guy sometime.”

“Well, we’re about to have a ‘Family Reunion’, he just told me that he and some of his ‘Peeps’ are on their way over here!”

Meanwhile, Max was holding court, explaining his sail design.

Blaine was impressed, “I’m trying to come up with a design for a sail, myself. The way you used that angle iron looks like it’s working really good. You wouldn’t happen to have any extra you could part with, would ya?”

Max grinned, “Well, maybe ... Lonnie tells me you might have a still going? I might could trade four pieces for four bottles of some hooch, if you’ve got any?”

Blaine chuckled, “He knows me well! I’ll tell you what. If you could deliver it, I’d be willing to give you eight bottles and two large bamboo casks of raspberry wine for your ladies! Whadya say?”

Lonnie’s eyes lit up, “You talkin’ eight bottles of that white lightning you cooked up before?”

Blaine was nodding when Lonnie slapped his back, “Hot damn! YOU got yourself a deal. Max, that shit will knock your dick in the dirt faster than you can believe! Eight bottles will last us for quite a while. It mixes nice with Coke, too! Hee-hee, you just won’t taste the Coke much! The girls will love that wine, too. What else are you fixin’ to cook up, old buddy?”

Blaine just grinned, “I’ve got some vodka going, but, it’s gotta sit for a month or so, and I’m working on some Tequila. The girls found me a bunch of agave plants, so, that’s in the works too!”

Lonnie smiled at Max, “See? This guy’s fixin’ to open his own damn liquor store! Maybe we should look into moving a bit closer? Blaine, right now we’re clear on the north end of the other side of the island,” he said, pointing South.

Blaine chuckled, “You mean South, don’t you?”

That caught everyone’s attention, especially Marek’s. He had been talking to Jasmine, catching up on all the latest, including Franklin’s untimely death before hearing Blaine’s question.

Lonnie huffed, “Well, our compass says that’s south, but, the sun rises in the East, doesn’t it!?”

Blaine nodded, fighting back a laugh, “On Earth it does! But, as you must know by now ... this ain’t Earth! I’ll let you in on a secret Ibera told us. This planet revolves the opposite way around it’s sun than the Earth does. SOOO, the sun rises in the West here! I guess she didn’t tell you guys that?”

“SON-OF-A-BITCH” several different voices chanted. “You guys must have REALLY been licking her pussy!” Lonnie chortled, “She never told us that!”

The rest of Blaine’s clan showed up and Steve Fitzhugh heard the last comment, “No, but that’s why ‘the Boss’ here told us to just be really nice to her! It paid off in spades. That’s why we were able to get what we needed for Blaine’s still. Especially the acetylene and torch so he could braze his copper tubing together.”

Peters chuckled, “I can’t believe you got a torch. Did you get any rods for like, welding steel?”

“Yeah, it wouldn’t be as good as an arc welder, but, yeah, I could probably do that. I’ve only got three bottles of acetylene, so, I’d have to be frugal so I didn’t use it all up.” Blaine explained.

Jasmine had gone back to talking with Marek and Chen when Chen exclaimed, “Franklin got a WHAT!? Where is it, do you have it with you?”

Jasmine blushed, “No, we didn’t want to take a chance of losing it if our boat tipped over. He called it a tray-something or other. It also had that card game, Euchre, in it somehow?”

Chen’s mouth fell open, “A Treyukravat? AND IBERA REALLY GAVE HIM ONE!?” He shrieked, shaking his head, absolutely gobsmacked, while Jasmine was nodding.

His outburst caught everyone’s attention.

Max walked over closer, followed by Blaine, Steve, Tiny, Peters and Annie.

Max asked, “Franklin said you might know how to use it? How is it you know an alien language?”

Chen hesitantly gathered himself, “Well, I guess I don’t have to keep it a secret anymore. I used to have abilities like Jonah! I could look into somebody’s eyes and make them do anything I wanted them to!”

Almost everybody’s eyebrows raised.

Chen just nodded, “Don’t worry, I don’t anymore. When that bastard Jonah killed my boss, I lost ALL of my ‘gifts’. But, when I had them, I discovered a ‘Super-Top-Secret’ organization within the CIA that almost nobody knows about. They have been working with some aliens, known as Greyzarians for over 40 years!

“I also discovered another organization in Russia that also works with a different race of aliens called Gromoriks. I infiltrated both groups! I learned both languages and made friends with a few Gromoriks. That device, called a Treyukravat, is like a two-way radio that communicates with their spaceships and their ground crews. Now, don’t get me wrong, those guys can be real, evil, bad-assed bastards. If they would have known I had psychic powers, the motherfuckers would have wanted to dissect my fucking ass! One of my ‘powers’ was that I could make myself look like any living thing I ever saw. I made myself look like them and that’s how I was able to make friends with them. It made it much easier to spy on them and learn their secrets.”

Max huffed, “Well then, can you use that thing to get us off this planet or not?”

Chen looked like a bobble-head, “Maybe? I could also accidently get us all into a world of shit! Their technology is centuries if not millennia beyond ours. BUT, they are also, physically, very weak fuckers. Tiny there could probably whip 10 of them in a fist fight, all by himself ... IF they didn’t shoot him with their ‘ray guns’ first. They are part laser and part ... well let’s call it a particle beam. It’s adjustable, so it could just knock you on your ass or blow a ten-inch hole clean through you!

“Let’s face it, Franklin was a moron thinking that thing was going to save us! The only way we could ‘cop’ a ride back to Earth would be to have something to offer them. Like Jonah! THAT would guarantee us a ride back to Earth. The thing is, just how much luck have any of us had in killing Jonah? And THEY would want him captured ALIVE, to be of any use to them. SO, what do you all want me to do?”

Annie started giggling, “So Ibera wasn’t lying when she tried to tell Franklin he may not want that doo-hickey?”

Chen nodded, “Well, she probably knew that Franklin didn’t know Gromorik, so he wouldn’t have even been able to open it! I would like to see it. You see, there are many different ‘models’ of that thing. If it’s a newer model, it has a ‘scanner’ feature so we could just listen in to see what’s out there. Otherwise, I’ll have to manually scan the many different channels they use. I don’t want to broadcast until I know more about who I’m talking to.

“IF ... we were to find the ‘right’ Gromoriks, MAYBE I could try and work out some kind of deal. It will take some time and patience to be sure we contact some ‘less mercenary’ Gromoriks who might want to trade ‘information’ instead of actual persons. We need to be careful. The good thing is, the battery in this device recharges just by laying it out in the sun. One of the things us ‘Earthers’ are going to get turned onto back home is advanced solar technology. Both groups of aliens have perfected very efficient ways to create electricity using solar energy!”

He laughed, “That’s just one of the reasons why the government has been so intent on keeping them a secret! The crooked bastards want to make money off all the technology they’re giving us! If I hadn’t gotten fucked by Jonah, I was about to file a bunch of patents, myself!”

He was interrupted by the three dogs barking and running like crazy toward another boat approaching from the South.

It was Lolita, Mario, Enrico, Sonny and Markus with another little dog standing on the bow.

It was pure white with gold colored ears.

Mario and Markus were a little tentative, seeing the large gathering, but Apollo had assured Lolita that they wouldn’t be messed with. Lolita, like Annie, was able to mentally talk to Apollo. She had a good bit of difficulty convincing her brothers and cousins it was safe, having to be careful not to give her ‘secrets’ away.

As they continued to approach, there were some rude remarks being made by those who didn’t yet know these guys had broken away from E Norm and Vincent’s ‘Clan’.

Blaine, at Naomi and Annie’s ‘urging’ was planning on giving them a chance to explain their situation, though, he was secretly hoping this wasn’t Elmer’s plan to start some shit.

That was the common theme: nobody liked or trusted Elmer anymore! And they all logically assumed his group wouldn’t have gotten much of anything before leaving, therefore making them desperate.

Most of the assassins knew the newest arrivals and Blaine was the first to help them ashore. “How are you boys doing!? What’s your dad been up to?” Blaine asked cordially, but suspiciously.

Mario shook his head, “Well, since we got Lolita back from that damned giant buzzard, we’ve been good! As far as Dad is concerned, I have no idea. Ibera let the six of us go off on our own so we wouldn’t be Uncle Elmer’s indentured servants! I haven’t seen him and actually hope I never do again!”

There were many stunned looks.

Blaine asked, wide-eyed, “Lolita got captured by that huge Condor that Ibera warned us about? No shit!?”

Annie came running over and gave Lolita a hug, “And she wasn’t the ONLY one! I got snatched up too! I still can’t believe we escaped alive!”