Teela of Kolander, page 2
Tulorus was no help, laying limp and vacant eyed. Teela had to drag her over the threshold and roll her into the boat, where she lay as she landed like a rag doll. The chest was awkward but she managed to get it into the soft bottomed, rocking boat as well. After crawling over the bottom of the lifeboat she pushed Tulorus into a sitting position and faced the Empress waiting for further orders, but no more commands would be coming.
The Empress' chin now lay limply on her chest and Teela saw no movements that would indicate that she still lived. She looked at the Princess who had just lost her mother but saw only the empty eyes of numbness and shock. Tulorus would realize her loss to late to say good by.
Teela released the lifeboat from the ship and it began to float away from the crippled and rapidly sinking ship. Tulorus' dull eyes finally released their burden of tears as she slid sideways to the bottom of the boat and lay motionless much like her mother on the sinking ship.
Chapter Two
-Adrift-
Teela alone watched as the Barkolian ship slowly slipped beneath the surface, taking her former life down into the sea's dark depths with it. What would her new life be, slow starvation, thirst, and death in the viciously hot sun? She slowly looked around the boat at the endless water and the cloudless sky. The sun was now directly overhead signaling that the day was half over, but how long were the days on this planet called Earth? She adjusted her timepiece to indicate midday, ready for a later comparison.
She glanced around the interior of the lifeboat and grimaced. What did they have to assist with their survival efforts, only the dresses they were wearing and a chest of jewels with which to impress the natives. She saw no food and nothing to shelter them from the sun. She patted the single container of water that she always carried for the Princess. Not nearly enough. Sinking to the boat's flexible bottom, she leaned back against its side, facing Tulorus.
The heat of the sun bore down on them, baking the exposed skin of their arms, faces and lower legs. Though Teela wanted to strip the heavy princess dress off to cool down, she knew she dare not remove it for fear of exposing even more skin to the brutal sun. She and Tulorus sat silently in shock, the gravity and terror of their situation dominating their thoughts. The sun slid sideways until it approached the horizon and the oppressive heat finally moderated into a pleasant cool.
Tulorus moaned and whispered something for the first time.
“Say again, I didn't hear you.” Teela said, skipping the normal subservient form of address.
“I said I'm thirsty, servant. Get me that water. And you will address me as Your Highness.”
Teela handed her the bottle out of habit, but when Tulorus tried to pour it over her face, Teela flared into anger and grabbed it back. “Stop that, you dimwitted excuse for a princess. We both, you and me, may die out here. We need that water to drink not to splash on your foolish face!”
“But I'm so hot.” Tulorus' words drifted off into silence and her vacant stare returned.
Day one of their survival trial passed mercifully into night and Teela glanced at the timepiece on her wrist. It indicated that is should be quite some time before sunset. The days must pass much more quickly on Earth than on Bardonis, but her mind could not muster the math to perform the calculations. Sleep finally claimed them both.
***
The next morning, at sunup, Teela was awakened by a hysterical voice. “Where's my breakfast, servant? And I want that water right now ... right now, do you hear me!” Tulorus' voice was high and tremulous, but she had not moved from her spot.
When Teela heard Tulorus' self-absorbed, demanding voice, oblivious of their dire circumstances, the years of control forced on her by her station, her servitude, collapsed. She wheeled on Tulorus, her angry expression devoid of any subservience. “Shut up Tulorus, you dimwitted waste of space. Out here in this boat, there is no servant and no Princess. We are equal. We are both probably going to die and then we will both be equally dead … we're the same out here. Each of us can have one swallow of water each tenthday during the day to make it last as long as possible, and not a drop more!”
“Well … well … then you will come stand over me to shade me from that awful sun while I drink.”
“No!” Teela said absently mindedly as she held the container for the Princess to drink and then swallowed her own one mouthful of warm water. “Tulorus, you've been on the Empress' ship before. Do you know anything about this lifeboat? Does it have propulsion, provisions, or any hidden components, like maybe tenting for shade?”
“How would I know?” Tulorus said with a child's whiny voice. “I'm so hot. Give me that water!”
“Not yet.” Teela dismissed the request without emotion or thought.
Teela reached over the boat's side and dipped her fingers into the seawater and tasted it. She grimaced at its saltiness. “All that water out there is very salty and we can't drink it. We'll get sick. We have only this one container of fresh water and even with only a swallow every tenthday, it may not last.”
“You will give me your share, then, servant!”
“I don't think so, Your Highness.” Teela used the proper form of address but Tulorus, in her distress, did not catch the derision in her tone.
Teela crawled around the interior, examining each and every surface and seam in the boat. Surely a lifeboat would have survival supplies. She had to physically drag the uncooperative Princess away from the spot on which she had lain from the time Teela had first propped her up in the boat. There, she found a sealed flap of material that covered a cache of survival supplies that might save their lives.
There were several containers of water, a store of food bars, a first aid kit, and a lifeboat cover. She erected the tenting first, providing shade for just over half the boat. She moved the Princess deeper into the shade and away from the newly discovered supplies, placing herself directly over them. The shade lowered the temperature significantly and they rested.
From her new position, reclining low in the bottom of the boat, she noticed areas on the floor of the boat that were more rigid than the rest. There was a flexible but stiffened structure under the center portion of the boat. Following this difference with her hands, she discovered another flap of material that covered the controls to a simple autopilot and a propulsion unit of some sort beneath the boat. Teela paused for a moment and looked over at Tulorus, who was moaning and talking to herself. She will be no help at all.
Which way to go? Which way was land? Scanning the horizon and noting the position if the sun, she realized two things simultaneously. This sun always moved across the sky from morning to evening in the same direction. When they had been heading for the water just before crashing, the sun had been in front of them. But when they finally had crashed, had it been morning or evening? The fates help me! I got to think!
She closed her eyes to help her think and mumbled out loud. “The sun was in front of us … we crashed … we took a while to get the lifeboat ready … I looked up and the sun was overhead … then it moved into evening on our first day.”
“What are you mumbling about, servant?” Tulorus said through cracked lips followed by whimpering.
“Shut up Tulorus. You wouldn't understand anyway. Let me see. Yes! It was morning when we crashed!” Teela grinned and hurt her own dry, cracking lips. To find the land, they must travel away from the sun of morning and toward the sun of evening. She grit her teeth and with a little experimentation, activated the propulsion unit and steered the ship toward the setting sun, a decision she knew, that could mean life or death. A small indicator light brightened and began pulsating as the boat began to move at a pace no faster than a person could swim. Well, it'll have to do.
As day two passed into night, she studied the timepiece on her wrist. On Bardonis, the day was divided into ten equal parts, a tenthday. Her clock indicated it should have been quite some time yet before sundown, so Earth days did move much quicker. A rapid calculation indicated that each tenthday on earth was only six tenths of the ones on Bardonis. What a useless piece of information. She thought.
She laughed a little as sleep once again claimed her.
***
Teela awoke on their third day adrift when Tulorus punched her in the stomach and tried to pull her off her position guarding the water containers. Teela's temper flared and after kicking Tulorus away she jumped on in a blind rage, straddling her with her legs. Then she grabbed her by the throat, choking her with all her strength. Tulorus thrashed and Teela felt a surge of primal glee that shocked her so deeply she released her hold and retreated to the cache of water and food.
She sat, filled with shock at how easily she had resorted to violence and she remembered the vision she had suffered as the ship crashed; the Princess on the floor, dead from choking, with her sitting astraddle her. What is the matter with me? Tulorus probably doesn't deserve to live, but I'm not a murderer either.
Tulorus retreated, crawling to the opposite side, and sat hugging her knees as her face moved through a myriad of expressions. She began to talk and gesture to people who weren't there. She whispered and she hollered. Her rants were interspersed with whimpers, tears, and random arm movements.
From deep within her own shock, Teela stared at her, more curious than concerned. She figured that they were drinking enough water to stave off dehydration, at least so far. The signs of dementia she saw in Tulorus must be associated with fear and suffering, or possibly Tulorus' weak mind. She looked out across the Earth's seemingly endless sea at dawn of that third morning and wondered how long it would be before she too would become just as crazed.
Day three and the next two passed into night with Tulorus periodically muttering to herself between long bouts of sleeping. Day or night made no difference in Tulorus' behavior and Teela had felt forced to remain awake to protects the supplies. She had watched Tulorus sleep for years, wondering how one so empty of intelligence and feelings could be a princess. Now she watched her as just another of the many dangers to their survival, barely even a person, just a peril. Teela's reserves were running thin.
***
At midday on the sixth day, Tulorus crawled out into the sunlight and jumped up screaming about the heat. She stripped off the servants dress she had been wearing, followed by all her underclothes. Teela crawled out into the heat and tried to pull Tulorus back into the shade, but Tulorus danced and twirled and began to throw the clothing into the sea in spite Teela's efforts to stop her. They struggled about the boat, a naked princess and a servant in a princess gown, one laughing and singing, one desperately grabbing at clothing as it sailed out into the sea. Teela collapsed, winded and frustrated. Why am I trying to save her, she's an idiot and any Empire would be better off without her.
Old habits die hard, however, and she got back up and finally managed to push the deranged, naked princess back into the shade. After all, they had been together for four long years. For good or ill, Tulorus had been Teela's only companion for all that time. Teela drifted close to sleep as she watched Tulorus blithely crawl back into the burning rays of the midday sun and lay over the boat's side to stare at the horizon. A wheezy, dry and humorless laugh escaped Teela's throat. She is so going to regret exposing her nether regions to the sun like that.
Suddenly their boat was pushed violently forward, tilting at a frighteningly steep angle. They rose higher and higher, only to suddenly drop and slam down hard onto the ocean's surface. Even in the haze of her exhaustion, Teela knew a very large wave had just passed under them. The boat seemed undamaged and their supplies were intact, but Tulorus was not.
That wave had changed something in Tulorus. Even after her eyes had resumed they normal size and she had stopped screaming, she stopped even asking for water, not that there was much left anyway. As day six passed into a much cooler night, Teela knew that she would not be able to remain awake this time to protect the last of the water and food bars.
***
“Land! Land! Oh, I see it! And it has cool water and look, it has sweet cakes! Look! Look!” Tulorus was screaming hoarsely through her raw throat and burnt lips. She bounced up and down on her knees, leaning ever further over the boat's rocking side. Teela tried to focus her vision on Tulorus, but she was so exhausted, that Tulorus remained a blur for some moments. When her vision finally cleared, she saw a naked Tulorus laying across the inflated side of their lifeboat, dangerously close to slipping over. She was staring directly into the sun, just now rising over the horizon on their seventh day adrift.
“No! Tulorus, don't!” Teela shouted through own tortured lips, but her voice had no energy and her emotions were drained. She tried to drag herself toward Tulorus but she was stiff and weak. Suddenly, she felt a surge of emotions, relief and joy at finally being saved. But they weren't hers. They had to be Tulorus'. She looked closer at Tulorus just as she stood up and began to lean over the side of he boat. The First Star! She's going to jump!
“Tulorus! Please don't leave me.” Teela begged. “I don't want to be alone.”
Tulorus smiled back at Teela. “Silly servant. You can't come. This feast is only for me. Now don't forget to clean my dress.” Her eyes cleared for a moment. “Thank you for your companionship all those years … bye Teela.”
In her shock over Tulorus' kind words, their import escaped her notice for a moment. Teela's eyes widened with apprehension when Tulorus' intentions became clear. “No! Don't” She tried to holler, but only a harsh whisper escaped her throat.
Tulorus sighed and giggled a little before she slipped over the edge and into the water without a further sound. Teela struggled to the edge and pulled herself up in time to see Tulorus slowly sinking out of sight, grinning and waving cheerfully back at her like she was in a royal parade.
Teela slid down to the boat's soft bottom and rolled into the shade. She was too numb from partial dehydration and hunger to feel any pity for the poor, stupid, dead princess. But she did have some emotions left for herself and she threw her arm over her eyes and wept, a tearless, energyless whimpering. She was now alone in the middle of an ocean on an unknown planet. How could Tulorus leave me alone? What an ungrateful, selfish offspring of a whore!
As the sun mercifully moved toward the horizon on that seventh day, she stripped out of her princess gown to let it air in the uncovered and sun drenched portion of the boat. Earlier, she had been awakened from her napping by an odor and when she realized it had been wafting up from her, she had been mortified despite her situation. She slipped into the water to cool off while holding onto a rope, but the boat stopped automatically when her weight was removed. The water felt wonderful. After a few moments of splashing she climbed back on board and the boat resumed its forward motion.
She lay back, exhausted from the climb over the boat's side and allowed the hot air to dry her off. She wondered at her lack of feelings for the Empress and Tulorus. They had always been cold and inconsiderate of her but they had been in her life since she was a child. She had barely been able to care for herself when she had begun to care for them.
Teela's eyes popped open in surprise as a stream of images, smells, and even a few names returned to her memory. She sat up so quickly that her head swam with dizziness. She had not been born on Bardonis, she was from the planet Kolander. My memories are returning.
Every servant to the royal family who was from Kolander had to take a foul tasting elixir every day of their lives. The blocking chemicals it contained, maintained the memory wipe and also specifically suppressed their special abilities. Great stars above! I wasn't always a servant.
Memories of hearing other servants talk about her people's special mental talents floated to the surface of her mind. These talents, telekinesis and telepathy, would have begun to appear at puberty when she was between eight and nine. Her talents had never manifested because she had taken the elixir since before her womanhood at arrived. This last thought made her smile, realizing that since she had crashed on Earth, she had been without the suppressor elixir, a complete seven Earth days.
She had never felt special before, never felt strong before, never felt in control before. But she had stood up to Tulorus and endured the sun and waves of an endless sea. She felt her developing psi talents as they opened and widened her senses. The surge of emotions she remembered feeling, just before Tulorus jumped overboard to find cake in the depths of the sea, had been Tulorus' emotions. Teela grimaced at the memory of Tulorus waving to her from under the water.
Her talents were proven to her when she noticed that the swarm of little silvery creatures swimming in the water had come directly to her just when she had thought that she would really like to eat one. They simply swam up close enough for her to grab one.
The princess dress lay in the bottom of the boat away from the mess she made while eating one the little creatures. She jumped into the sea to clean up, splashing around a little before climbing back aboard and letting the sun dry her.
Wriggling back into the dress, even while fully buttoned caused no problems and she realized that she had lost a lot of weight. As she reclined in the shade and dozed to conserve her energy, she hoped she was moving in the correct direction even though she had no idea how far she needed to go. Sleeping was the only respite from the heat, thirst, and the overwhelming sense that death was just ahead, waiting for her.
Chapter Three
-Rescue-
Teela struggled to wake up on the morning of her eighth day adrift. Last night's sleep had been fitful, filled with images of downing princesses and empresses talking to her through lips of blood. She had floated on an endless ocean on a planet she had never heard of while the sun laughed and poked her with fingers of fire. The dreams and images clung to her like static laden loose clothing on a cold morning. Other faces and voices that she could not place, also paraded through her thoughts as she tried in vain to clear her mind and rouse herself from her dark sleep.
