| To Saralinda: Part 2 |
|
|
|
To Saralinda: Part 4 |
Keith looks up as I enter. “What did you get?”
“The whole shelter layout, Cap’n.” I wave the blueprints at him. “Sorry it took so long. The Royal Scribe was a little talky.”
“No problem. Coran was getting a little nostalgic on me, too. He said he remembered that doll. Allura used to carry it everywhere she went, and cried her heart out when she lost it.” His expression becomes very serious. “It meant a lot to her. I think she’ll be really pleased to have it back.”
“So will I, Keith. So will I.”
He quirks an eyebrow at me. I ignore him and spread the plans out on the little table in front of us. “Okay, according to the Royal Scribe, King Alfor and his family stayed in the northeast quadrant of the shelters.”
Keith nods. “That’s exactly what Coran told me. But after King Alfor died in battle and the Queen was lost as well, he had to assume authority as regent and look after Allura. He didn’t move into the royal chambers out of respect for his King and Queen; he stayed in a room nearby instead.
Four months later he had to order the refugees to move because a bombing raid created some serious structural damage in that area. They all took up residence in the southeast quadrant, because it was the closest. The main corridor connecting them is....” He traces the route with his finger. “Here. And Coran thinks Allura lost the doll during the move from the northeast quadrant to the southeast one, so if Saralinda is going to be anywhere, it’s going to be in this region of the shelters, somewhere within the full eastern section. That doesn’t look like it’s going to be too hard an area to search through.”
“I don’t know about that, Keith. Remember that this is how the shelters looked when the first castle still existed. The second castle came up out of the ground to take the place of the first one.”
“I know. I asked Coran about that. See this double-dashed line going all around the perimeter of the castle? That’s the boundaries of the new castle while it was still concealed underground. None of the shelters fall within that area, so they should still be relatively intact.”
“What about the drop shields that formed the outer skin of the castle, the silo around the Flying Fortress? Will they be in the way?”
Keith shakes his head. “No. According to Coran, they countersink the whole way underground back to the level they originated on when he made the launch. The problem is going to be getting past all the reinforcements that were set up when this castle was built in the Fortress’s place. But that’s what blowtorches are for.”
He rolls up the plans again and gets to his feet. “I’m going to give these to Pidge, and once he converts them to CAD format he’s going to cross-reference them with the current layout to help us find the safest route into the shelters.”
Wow. He is seriously into this project. I never should have underestimated the determination of Good Sir Keith to please his Princess. Maybe I’ll let him take the bike for a spin when all is said and done. Maybe he would even ask Allura if she wanted to ride along. After all, if he’s gotten bold enough to kiss her, the sky could very well be the limit.
Saralinda, you’ve got to be down there, do you hear me? Please don’t let me down. There’s too much riding on this...
Pidge takes one more scrutinizing look at the 3D floor plan on his laptop display. He traces his finger across the touch pad and the image begins to rotate on the x-axis.
“Okay Lance, there it is. All finished. Got the scanners you want it loaded into?”
“Right here.” I hand them over and he sets them on the table beside his laptop, links everything up via split cable and begins the upload.
“So what’s Keith looking for down there? Archives, an old database, treasure maybe?”
“It’s treasure, definitely.”
“No kidding. What is it - gold, diamonds...?”
“A doll.”
He gives me a funny look. “A doll...?”
“It’s a very special doll. An antique heirloom. It used to belong to Allura when she was a little girl, and she lost it back when she was hiding in the shelters below the castle.”
Pidge gets dewy-eyed briefly. “Awww, and Keith’s going to try and find it to give it to her as her birthday gift, isn’t he? Isn’t that just like him.”
“You know it.”
He looks over his shoulder at the clock on the wall. “He doesn’t have a whole lot of time to look for it.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Will he need any help?”
“I’m going down with him. Don’t know if he plans to ask anyone else.”
“Probably not. He won’t want to have too many lions grounded because the pilots are off hunting for lost toys.”
“True. Dexter and Tasia might get a shot at flying the lions if an emergency comes up, though. I doubt we’d be able to respond fast enough, deep as we’re going.”
“Oh yeah, that reminds me. I checked the records on the structural damage reported in that area. The information was updated during the set-up of the new foundation for this castle.”
“Is it bad?”
Pidge nods gravely. “It’s pretty heavy - the rock in that area has a high shale content, which is why it broke up like it did. You guys better be really careful.”
“All right, I’ll make sure Keith knows that.”
Pidge takes a quick glance at his laptop, then settles back against the couch with his hands folded behind his head. “Almost done. So what did you get the Princess this time? More Earth stuff?”
“Mm-hmm. I got her a giant gumball machine.”
“Ever wonder why she’s so into junk like that?”
“She’s always been intrigued with Earth items. I can name one thing in particular she’s been fascinated with ever since it arrived.” I grin at him. “Give you three guesses and the first two don’t count.”
“Is it red, white, black and bigger than a breadbox?”
“Yeah.”
“I know - it’s Starsky’s Grand Torino!”
“What?”
“Haven’t you ever seen Starsky and Hutch? They were these two detectives, and Starsky had this cool-looking red car with a white stripe running along the sides. Hunk has all the episodes of it.”
“You’re joking, right?”
He smirks. “About the guess, but not the tapes. Sven and Hunk and I were watching some of them the other evening.”
“Ah.”
The laptop beeps and Pidge unhooks the scanners. “Here you go. Sure hope you guys find that doll. She’d be so surprised.”
I stuff a scanner into each of my jacket pockets. “Thanks, Pidge.”
“We’re gonna watch some more eps tonight after the party if you want to stop by.”
“No thanks, Pidge.” I give him a wave as I leave the room.
Allura is approaching me with some papers in her hand as I walk down the hall. She’s wearing the same I-got-you smile she had when we first made our bet.
“Hello Lance,” she says cheerily.
“Hi, Princess.” I eye the papers in her hand warily. She follows my gaze.
“These are for you,” she says and holds them out to me. I take them and give the top page a quick scan. Sheet music with lyrics.
“I thought you might want to start practicing as soon as possible.”
“Midnight has yet to arrive, Princess. My fairy godmother hasn’t recalled the coach yet.”
“Still think you’ll get him to do it, do you?”
“Yesiree, I do.” I fold up the papers into thirds. “Nice song, by the way.”
“Yes, it is. I’m sure you’ll do a wonderful job. Your friends will be so proud of you.”
I arch an eyebrow at her. “My friends...?”
“Well, I thought it would be nice to make a little presentation to Nanny for all her hard work. So basically, you’ll be singing her the song and presenting her with a bouquet of roses on my behalf.”
“And how, pray tell, do my friends fit into this?”
“They’ll all be there, of course. I wouldn’t want them to miss it for the world.”
Of course you wouldn’t. Silly me to imagine otherwise.
“You’ll only be kissing Nanny on the cheek, though. I don’t think she’d tolerate anything more than that. But if you want to surprise her, feel free. In fact, I might have to insist. I’m not sure yet.”
Oh cruel, cruel woman. Fine, do your worst. But I’m not going to give you the satisfaction of seeing me squirm this time. I give her my trademark grin and tuck the song into my jacket.
“This’ll be confetti come tomorrow morning, and I’m going to sprinkle it all over the road as I zip along on my new bike.”
“You could get fined for littering if you do.”
I give as casual a shrug as I can muster. “I’ll pay the fine if it comes to that. It’s all the principle of the thing. And speaking of practice, you ought to be practicing pucker-up rehearsals in front of your mirror so you know what to do when the time comes.”
She gives an indignant pout. “I don’t have to do any such thing. I already know what I’ll do to Keith if -” Her eyes suddenly go very wide, and her cheeks turn the kind of red I thought was only reserved for the Captain’s usual choice of clothing.
“Ooh, you...!” She turns on her heel quickly and departs in a huff.
Touché...
| To Saralinda: Part 2 |
|
|
|
To Saralinda: Part 4 |