CHAPTER 17 - SEA

Later that noon, the group was taking a bus ride to the beach to witness the previously-mentioned jetski race. Lai was wearing a new pair of visor-like sunglasses, this time mirrored and with even larger prongs, not having bought one on Cocytus thanks to that planet’s dim sun and simply not finding one he liked.

The bus itself was very quick, so the transit was over quickly. The expanse of the beach was not as yellow as the deserts of New Arizona, but was instead a pale off-white, and the sand itself was very fine. Kayden bent down to feel a handful of it in his hand, and it felt almost soothing. The surrounding area wasn’t too crowded, and the scene overall resembled Alacrity’s coast, except with more people lazily lounging around.

They walked along a winding path of the same concrete-like material, which was mysteriously completely clear of sand. It turned out that the tiles vibrated ever-so-slightly, causing any errant grains to quickly drift off the path like startled ants.

A few outdoor stands with colorful, perforated metal seats were hastily set up beside the shoreline, seemingly not more than a few hours beforehand.

"Finally, ssome adjusstable chairs…" Nheka said as she pulled a lever on the side of one of the seats, and it extended its back while swiveling sideways to become something resembling a couch, while at the same time sliding forward as to have room to transform in such a way. Kayden raised an eyebrow as this happened with a series of clicks and clangs.

"Yea Kayten, have ya seen how diverse this planet is, this only makes sense," Lai chuckled.

"I suppose it does," he said as everyone sat down.

***

Kayden was watching the shiny jetskis dart across the surface of the water through a pair of binoculars chained to the seat, but then Lai’s datapad pinged. The relmai tapped his human friend’s shoulder.

"It’s bhrom Amani," he said as he looked around. "Too crowded here. Go down with me. Everyone else too," he continued as he glanced at the message. "Bhaking important."

Nheka in particular let out one of her whine-sighs again as she lifted herself off the bench.

Once everyone was in the shadow under the stands, surrounded by pillars, Lai quickly translated the gist of the message.

"Amani says he got important inbho. The thieves are likely to drop off the crates on the nearest hydro-farm cluster, A-28-B, just sixteen kilometers bhrom the coast, using a bribed maintenance boat, so they can be picked up at a later date or sold right there."

Kayden said. "Well then. I feel we need to get more intel than that. Lemme think…"

***

Half an hour passed, and Kayden returned to his group (who had resumed watching the race) with a box containing a fully-programmable RC boat, perhaps the length of his forearm, a cheap camera, a fairly large microphone, a spray can of waterproofing paste, and a roll of duct tape.

Lai pushed up his sunglasses and muzzlepalmed upon noticing all of that. "Kayten, you’re an idiot ibh ya think that tiny thing can float from here", the relmai pointed to his seat, "to there…" he pointed to the horizon, "Programmable or not. Congrats on wasting your money on a toy!" he said as he shook his head and laughed.

"No no no. Ray spent a few years on their life on Raindrop the ocean-world and has a license for small watercraft. We talked it out. They will– oh fuck it you’ll understand when we get back and you’ll regret clowning on me."

Kayden pulled the cyborg by the hand and walked back down from the stands and along a pathway to an outdoors motorboat rental, little more than a dock with many watercraft, from tiny dinghies to seaship-yachts, and a small booth. Ray paid for a small 2-seater inflatable, white, wedge-shaped, and with a large engine at the back.

"Are you sure the water won’t short you out?" Kayden said as Ray lowered themself into the back seat, which had the controls, and the boat noticeably tilted backward under the weight of their metallic body. Both of them were wearing puffy orange flotation vests.

"Waterproofed my body, do you remember? Sealed."

"Oh right," Kayden shifted forwards a bit. "Don’t like how it’s leaning. I don’t feel like going for a swim today, you see? Wait here."

Soon he returned with what looked like a discarded shopping bag filled with sand, and placed it at his feet, serving as a counterweight. The inflatable was now oriented properly.

"I’m ready, let’s go find them," Kayden said.

Ray gave a thumbs up and set the motor to max throttle. The dinghy rushed forwards like a bolt of lightning. It certainly looked fast while stationary, but this speed surprised Kayden regardless. The wind howled in his ears as the spray of saline water irritated his eyes.

"Damn it, I forgot to buy goggles!" He yelled as he squinted and held onto the seat with one as best as he could while covering his face with the other. "Too late to turn back, anyways!"

The ocean was a very rich blue, and fairly calm. Occasionally, the speedboat had to swerve and go in wide arcs, according to Ray this was to avoid larger waves. Larger seaships were occasionally seen in the distance, and they gradually got rarer and rarer as the dinghy gained distance from the coast.

This continued for about fifteen minutes until the floating farm became apparent on the horizon. It somewhat resembled the now-banned oil drilling platforms of antiquity, except a lot lower and shinier, with its deck outright touching the surface of the sea and being readily accessible. This kind of facility was fully automated, but Kayden saw a nondescript little boat, much like theirs but clearly less built for speed, docked to it. Nevertheless, it was too far away (around 100 meters) to make out any people.

The watercraft was then stopped in its metaphorical tracks by its pilot. With hands shaking from nervousness, he took out the toy boat and duct-taped the webcam and microphone to it after activating them, firmly and with several layers of tape, then sprayed the whole thing down with waterproofing.

"Yeah don’t go further, if we could see them they could see us. Ray, did you finish the program?"

"Finished: ten minutes ago."

"Wonderful, go at it then."

Ray placed their hand on the contraption, touching all three components of it, and gave it back after two seconds.

"Done."

Kayden leaned from the edge of the dinghy and very carefully placed the smaller craft down onto the water.

The cyborg took control of it, and the toy-boat-turned-surveillance-drone zipped towards the platform, leaving a trail of foam behind itself and jumping on every small wave like a flying fish. It clearly wasn’t meant to sail on the open ocean, especially with such a heavy load, but it was doing fine.

"Is the feed still working?" Kayden said.

"Confirming," Ray intoned.

"What do you see?"

"I see the sea."

"Thanks, very helpful!" Kayden sighed.

"Toy ungot close enough yet. Patience needed."

"You know, transfer the feed to my pad please."

After ten seconds, an executable file appeared on Kayden’s datapad that could let him watch the boat’s view. And indeed, it was very low to the water for obvious reasons, with dark blue taking up half the screen. But people were definitely visible on the platform.

"Don’t get too close, I think that’s a pistol one of them has holstered… Yeah uh, turn up the mic’s sensitivity, we can clean up the waves when we get back… juuuust a bit closer. There. Stop the boat. Okay, turn it turn it. Just a bit mooooore. There! If it gets turned by the waves, correct please."

Ray gave a thumbs up.

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The camera was now aimed at the people talking. One human and one tall genemod resembling a human but with six arms, all wearing flotation vests. Their speech was audible.

"Is that all of them?" The human said.

"No. Apparently Roni took the last batch of artifacts with him when he ran like a scared mouse," his interlocutor replied.

"Yeah don’t worry we’ll try and disperse the crates this time. Just gotta wait for the grunts to arrive to pick them up in twenty," he waved to the crates placed on the surface of the farm. "You know, I have a strange feeling about remaining here, let’s go," he then pointed to their vehicle and started walking towards it. The genemod followed.

Kayden and Ray looked at each other as the smugglers approached their getaway vehicle.

Beads of nervous sweat began coalescing on Kayden’s face. "Okay, he said twenty. Minutes, presumably. We wouldn’t ferry all the crates in time by ourselves. But I have a plan…"

Ray heard out Kayden’s plan and hesitantly nodded.

The cyborg rotated the speed-dinghy by a few tens of degrees and once again went full throttle, making its engine roar.

The smugglers’ boat, which was currently just being started up, still adrift at a slight distance from the farm, was fast approaching, and only getting faster. Its two passengers turned to look at the curious sound of a motor, their faces marked with terrified expressions. The human was beginning to pull a gun.

Kayden closed his eyes and screamed as the wedge-shaped prow of the speedboat rammed into the smugglers’ bulkier and rounded vehicle like a grown-up version of a bumper car. There was a huge splash of water that coated the two amateur sleuths’ eyes and cameras for a few moments before the aftermath became apparent.

One boat was overturned, it wasn’t the one Ray rented. The two occupants, an Asian man in his fifties (Kayden recognized him as the man who went into the maintenance corridor back while the Celestial Harmony was still docked) and a blue-skinned, hairless, eight-limbed genemod, were floundering in the water. A splash was heard as a pistol sank into the abyss, never to be seen again.

Kayden grinned and laughed maniacally. "HAHAHA! WE GOT YOU FUCKERS! Ahem. I am Kayden Reynolds of New Arizona, that planet whose heritage you plundered a few weeks ago. You see my friend, Ray? He has the zapper you so thoughtfully gave to your blackmail victim,"

Ray silently pulled out the electrolaser from their chest compartment and nonchalantly aimed it at the genemod, whose expression was that of utter disgust and humiliation.

"So you are to remain here until the cops arrive. Ray, don’t call them yet, I gotta finish."

Ray nodded, and the smugglers said nothing.

"Yeah and try to escape, and we either fry you with it or we run you over with the boat, repeatedly, until you stop breathing. In either case you are at our mercy. So don’t try anything, bastards. Actually… actually heh. I have a better idea. You have superiors, right? Tell me their names and all other personal info. Now. Or we will drown you. You don’t wanna sleep with the fish, do you? Speak up," Kayden rambled, chuckling intermittently.

The blue genemod stammered incoherently while his partner in crime tried to climb onto the overturned vessel. There was a loud crack, a deafening bang, and a flash of artificial lightning as the inflatable was popped in an instant by Ray’s electrolaser, with the motor and the torn-apart hull submerging into the depths, to join the gun. The climber fell back into the sea with a splash.

"One more such attempt and the next shot will be to your vest. Cough up the names. Five! Four! Three–" Kayden shouted.

"WAIT! I WILL TALK!" The human yelled. "Just please don’t kill us! We are lieutenants of the Sharkteeth Syndicate. I am Suyun Umarov. The other man is Frusse Mitchy–"

"The superiors, moron. I don’t give a fuck about you, the police can find that out. Who is your boss? Say it say it say it. Ray, if he doesn’t tell us within five seconds, pop his vest and then shoot him in the legs until the battery runs out."

"Fine fine fine just please don’t…" he was crying, "Our boss is named Mara Grusson. We haven’t been initiated to the higher leadership–"

Ray suddenly chimed in. "Result of facial expression analysis: 55% chance of second clause being untrue. Be truthful, please."

Suyun gulped. "And her boss is Debby Andez. His boss is Akshaya himself."

"...Akshaya? That Akshaya? Parsai?" Kayden said. "Didn’t he flee to the Hegemony… I guess you’re not just smugglers, but also spies for a fascist regime. Where do these people reside?"

"Mara is, last we checked, eating at a cafe in this city. Debby is residing in Mayisle on New Arizona. Akshaya’s location is confidential even to us."

"Result of facial expression analysis: 15% chance of each clause being untrue."

"Well then, that's better. You know, we got what we wanted. You may live," he paused for a little bit, "in prison. Ray, call the cops on them. If any of that is a lie, it'll probably surface."

"You will regret this," Frusse snarled. "Oh you will so regret this. You’re fucked, and so is that bucket of bolts."

"Yeah yeah sure," Kayden said and rolled his eyes.

"I’m telling you… this will be the end of you and your friends," he tried to spit at Kayden, but the glob missed wide.

Kayden reached into the ballast bag and threw a handful of sand into Frusse’s eyes, then another into Suyun’s. "Shut up."

They stayed quiet until, on the horizon, a vessel a bit larger than a yacht appeared, speeding towards the platform. Kayden waved as Ray backed up the boat a bit. The police seaship was colored neon blue, with white and lime green stripes helping it stand out from the water. It stopped right next to the farm installation.

A tan-skinned man in a light blue jumpsuit walked up to the edge of the deck. "Suyun Umarov and Frusse Mitchy, you are under arrest! You have the right to remain silent."

The policeman and what appeared to be an android with a screen for a face, displaying an unchanging :| expression, went down in a dinghy not unlike the one that Ray had destroyed earlier, but larger and with five seats. They pulled out the two smugglers and handcuffed them to the seats. Kayden was a little nervous.

"I must ask a question, citizen. How did you stumble upon the scene of the crime?"

Kayden thought for a brief moment, putting on as inconspicuous of a poker face as he could, and said "I and my friend were just visiting and decided to see what a hydro-farm looked like because I never saw one in my life– you see I’m from a desert planet– so we rented a boat and went to the closest one. When we approached, we stumbled upon these guys and performed a citizen’s arrest. Unfortunately, they resisted during the fighting and their own boat was destroyed and we apologize for it. That’s it."

Suyun’s expression twisted into a scowl. "HE LIES! HE WAS–"

"You have the right to remain silent. Anyways. That explanation…" the cop squinted, "...makes sense," he chuckled almost inaudibly.

Kayden guessed that the police suspected that something fishy was going on, but chose to not press the issue, considering that at least four high-profile smugglers were busted.

Several other policemen pulled up in another dinghy and started loading the recovered crates into it. Kayden looked to the side and laughed as he saw a boat first start approaching, then suddenly turn around and leave. "Ray, our job here is done, let’s get the hell out of here!"

The toy boat was not seen anywhere, Kayden guessed it was sunk by the waves. A worthy sacrifice.

***

The race was over, and the stands were empty. They considered simply messaging Lai with the recent course of events, but decided that wasn’t dramatic enough, so they simply asked him for his location, after returning the boat and the vests to the rental.

He was in what looked like a hastily set up outdoors beach bar for relmai. Members of said species were sitting on folding chairs around garishly-colored tables, in front of a counter staffed by a black relmai with some vending machines behind him. Thumping music with incredibly screechy vocals, that sounded like a stampede of caffeinated rhinos, was playing from a boombox set up nearby at volumes Kayden guessed were one decibel below the legal limit, and unusually-gently-pulsating, swiveling rainbow lights were set up around the area, casting blotches of color over everything.

Kayden navigated this landscape of audiovisual pandemonium, covering his ears while the patrons gave him and Ray weird looks.

"DO YOU HEAR ME?!" Kayden tried to out-scream the ‘music’ as he finally found his friend, who had just finished downing the fourth glass of some glowing neon-orange beverage. Tiik was sitting at the other end of the table and was also clearly completely smashed.

"YES I DO!"

"CAN YOU GO WITH ME? MY HEAD HURTS STAYING HERE!"

Lai and his partner reluctantly stood up and followed Kayden to a distance where the volume was more tolerable. They both stumbled with every step.

"My ears still ring," Kayden said, "Anyways, we caught them they were escaping as we found them using the boat as a spy but we literally rammed their boat and they fell into the water and Ray threatened the two motherfuckers with a zapper until they gave us all their superiors’ names and then the cops were called and took them away," he took a breath. "WE FUCKING DID IT! OH MY GOD I JUST REALIZED WE DID IT! WE FUCKING FOUND THE CRATES!!!"

Lai tried to take off his sunglasses, but dropped them on the sand. It took three tries to finally grasp them again. "Yeeaaaa I don’t understaaand much, talk slower dumb-ASS…" he nearly fell over, "Erm. Congrats, Kayten! Do I– I dhink I should tell Amaniiiii…"

"Um. Not in this state please. He can wait. Where’s Nheka?"

"She went swimming. Shooooould be back now, dunno, caaaaaalll her or somethiiiing."

The two walked off. "Felt like I wasted a few minutes of my life and a few cell layers of my eardrums."

Nheka was just laying on her side in a relatively empty part of the beach, quietly watching the foamy waves break against the sand. Kayden recounted the events to her, in a more clear and reserved way this time. She was as expressionless as usual, and still spoke in a monotone, but Kayden could somehow tell she was very relieved and happy.

"I wass worried that you would not come back…" then a hint of a glimmer was seen in her eyes, "Alsso, you have more far resstraint than me… I would have drowned them…"

"I think our, ahem, quest is done now. We can just relax."

Kayden sat down beside her, watching the idyllic sea, and so did Ray. Finally, this nightmare of stress was over. Kayden breathed in deeply and focused on the ocean. It felt different from the one in Alacrity, probably more beautiful and, though it wasn’t noticeably different from here, endless. On such a planet, if you were to sail constantly in one direction, you could do so without ever seeing land. The global ocean of Kāmohoaliʻi held the vast majority of the planet’s biodiversity too– the underwater ecosystems were more vibrant than any other advanced-biosphere planet’s. It was also inhabited by sapient beings, not native ones but rather various aquatic genemod morphisms as well as some alien enclaves. They lived very much apart from the land-dwellers, had their own culture and administration, and generally liked being left alone. Alas, there wasn't enough time left in the stay on Kāmo to properly explore them.