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supplies, I found some-thing for my own belly as well, and after I eat I
get groggy and sleepy for a little, and, well, I guess I just dozed off. I
still feel like a stuffed turkey, but it was well into daylight when I woke
up. I decided to fight off any idea of getting some more snoozin' and get back
here. Fact was, I was worried that you'd cut out. Then I heard the boat
whistle. All the crew of that cop ship got back aboard pretty fast, and they
got up steam and pulled out. I got real nervous that they'd made you and were
takin' off after you."
"Yeah, that gave us a turn as well. Went right on by, though."
"Well, I figured that, since word was that one of the small ships that come in
sometime today had seen
some other ship on their wanted list a ways off to the east. Some kind of
big-time smuggler craft the way they talked, sounded like drugs or somethin'
to me. Whoever it is, they want 'em as bad as they want us, and the cop
captain pulled everybody out and took off as fast as he could get up steam.
Seems these crooks pull the shell game at sea so you can never be sure which
boat's got the goods, and they figured this one was steamin' for a pickup."
"Interesting. Well, at least it gets them off our backs for the moment, but
don't think there aren't more of them around and if the posters have hit even
a little spot in the middle of nowhere like this, you can bet we're marked.
Did you remember to bring the sack with the food?"
"Oh, yeah. Did better'n that, really. Come over here and look over the side.
I'll need some help with it gettin' it all aboard."
Brazil was astonished to find not the meter-square aid kit container but a
full-blown plastic dinghy filled with cartons. "Good lord! They let you get
away with all this!"
"Well, they didn't stop me, anyway. Truth is, there was a lot of furry types
and all in the cop crew, and this was one of the supply shipments due to go
out to their boat. They left it there at the dock in their rush to pull out,
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so I just kinda slipped into the water and took it instead."
"Great. You're sure it's not ammo and two thousand cop-ies of my wanted
poster, though?"
"It's food, Cap. Maybe not all of it's useful, but a lot is. Nothin' looks
exactly like it did back home, but fruit and veggies have a habit of lookin'
pretty close, and there's flour and some kinda meal like cornmeal and other
stuff like that. I checked after I got out of the harbor but before I got too
far away to go back. I
figured I better let them cops get some distance, I didn't want 'em suddenly
rememberin' that they forgot this and comin' back for it. They might not see
me in the water, but they'd sure as hell see this raft and figure it got loose
and floated away."
"Good work, Gus! And quick thinking! This is a real break in a number of ways.
If they needed this enough to come back for it, they'd have turned around by
now. The company people won't miss it because they'll assume it was taken
aboard the cutter, and the cutter might not come back this way for weeks or
even remember it if and when it does. Now, if we can only get this aboard and
get enough wind to get out of this cove, we're good for the distance."
"How's that? You mean you can't get out of this place?"
"Not without some help from nature, or what passes for nature on the Well
World. Come on let's get started getting this aboard so if and when something
comes up we don't have to dump it or get stuck until somebody finds us."
"You're ridin' a bit low in the water, ain't you? It looked kinda different."
"Yeah, we, ah, took on a little water, but I don't think it's serious. We
might have to get on the pumps later if it proves a real problem, but I'm not
worried about it now."
Gus slid back over the side and positioned himself on one side of the raft.
"Cap, my arms can't lift their shadows, but I figure I can get under it and
get it balanced, I can lift it up on my head. You'll have to grab it and pull
it aboard, though. Anything that falls in, I'll try and get afterward."
"Good enough. I hope can do it. I'm strong for my weight, but I'm only
sixty-one kilos or so."
I
"Huh? What's that in pounds?"
"Old English measure? Jeez, I barely recall. About 135, I think."
"Well, you're not a ninety-eight-pound weakling, so you'll have to do. I'll
help if I can. With this flat tail and a head as hard as my mother always said
it was, I should be able to give it a little oomph."
The first two tries didn't make it, but they lost only one carton to the water
and it floated nearby. On the third try he was aware that Terry was now awake
and watching them. When Gus came up again, Nathan grabbed the rope affixed to
the raft and pulled up and back with all his might. After almost getting it,
he felt it start to slip away again, his arm muscles aching, but suddenly the
raft and all its contents came up onto the deck almost as if they were
weightless, causing him to fall over backward.
He got up, rubbing his bottom and reflecting that there certainly was no
energy protection against friction burns, but he knew what had happened. Terry
had seen the prob-lem and had added a bit of power to the equation through
him. The whole raft was now securely on deck.
Gus retrieved the lost box in his gaping mouth and brought it aboard, then
deposited it with the others.
There were two very large puncture marks in the carton, and some white stuff
was coming out of one of them.
"Whooo!"
Gus gasped. "That's more heavy work than I've done since I got here! You wanna
do inventory on it or what?"
"Might as well, as long as we're still becalmed," Brazil responded. "Besides,
if there's anything here ready to eat, I can stand something, and so can she."
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This was where the Well's data helped him, although he was barely aware of it.
Among the cartons were a number of suspect items, but he instinctively seemed
to know which ones to keep and which ones to discard. Gus had been right most
of it was more than useful.
"We're going to have to get this below fairly quickly," Brazil said at last.
"Most of it, anyway. We'll leave these three on deck. It's a bit damp below,
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