Lightship Chronicles Chapter 2 : Rescue Hoppers Page 2
"Do it... now! Tell them!"
"OK, all right. I will. Uhm, so-ahh...OK-um-ahh... wait, what do you want me to say?"
Shaking his head frustrated and annoyed.
"Listen. Just repeat... what I say... exactly what I say... and scream... loud. Got it?" Ricio forces the words through gritting teeth, clearly in pain.
"Yeah, sure, OK."
Ricio repeats himself and Andee relays the message word for word as it is told to him. Immediately he notices the rescue corps below turning and rushing back down.
"Hey, they're going back!" Andee reacts shocked.
"Good, they got the message."
"I don't understand. Don't you want to be rescued?'"
"That's... what where're doing. You... and the hoppers... are going to rescue me."
"Who are the hoppers?"
"You'll see. Can you... get me.. out of this... stupid bubble. Just be careful... slower this time... my chest feels like it's... being ripped apart."
"Sure." And with that Andee gently tries to help Ricio rise to his feet on the chair, but the pilot immediately screams in pain.
"Stop, stop, something's wrong." Breathing heavily. "Help me... open my suit."
Andee helps undo the zipper pulling it down from the top of the left shoulder down to the pilot's right hip. He then lifts up the flap to reveal the chest. His former white linen undergarment is now saturated in crimson red with blood.
"Punk! Goddamn punk! My ribs... are probably broke... I'm bleeding all over... I'm going to punking die here. Damn! Why did I have to... show off! On my first race. Idiot! I'm so stupid."
"Hey, hey, calm down. You're just going to bleed worse if you get agitated, OK?" Andee tries to console him.
"You're right. Where... the hell... is that damn... hopper? How long does it take... to fly a couple of kilometers?"
Andee looks at the injured pilot confused. Has no idea how to respond.
"Are there any rescue corps down there?" Ricio suddenly asks.
Andee leans over the edge of the small rock outcrop he is on... "Nope. They're gone. I'm sorry but I don't understand why you sent them away. You're bleeding. If they don't get to you soon, you'll bleed to death. Why don't you want them to help you?"
Releasing a painful deep breath, and mumbling mostly to himself, but audibly; "Why the punk did I have to be rescued by a Carpati?"
Andee stares hard at Ricio in his capsule. Even bleeding and half dead, this Bitani has nothing but disdain for the man trying to rescue him simply because he is Carpati. Calm and collect as Andee is most of the time, he can now feel a hint of rage bubbling in his veins. The thought even flashes through his head; 'Why am I helping this Bitani?'. Flustered Andee looks away and just stares out into the distance.
Ricio for the first time turns his head and gets a good look at Andee. He studies him for a moment.
"Hey man."
Andee, now with a glare as hard as stone, looks back at Ricio.
"My name is Ricio... and... and I'm sorry. I'm angry, I'm.... frustrated, in pain. I did this to myself, and you... you came here to help me. I'm sorry... for being a punk to you. You deserve the opposite."
Andee releases a deep breath. He is clearly surprised by Ricio's apology.
"OK. So what do we do now? I don't know how to help your injuries... and stop your bleeding."
"I know, and... that's OK, but... the dammed hopper... should have been here... by now. I don't understand... why they are not coming."
Andee leans over the edge again and looks down.
"The rescue corps are back! They're trying to climb up here. You'll be OK."
"No. Punk-faced sons of ghimurs!" Ricio yells irate, then groans in pain. "I can't believe... this bull. Are they seriously... not sending a hopper... for me? Do these idiots know... who my father is? This is unreal... They're going to let me die up here." In addition to the pain, Ricio is now beside himself with rage and shock.
"Who are the hoppers? What can they do that the rescue corps can't?"
Ricio stares hard at Andee.
"You're a good guy. I'm glad... you're here to help me."
"But I can't help you. I don't know how to help you. I don't know anything. I don't know who the hoppers are. I don't know what to do. If I did, I would do it. I would help you. But I don't know anything." Andee all of sudden sounds desponded. He's frustrated, but mostly with himself. He feels inadequate, even a bit dumb for not understanding, not knowing, what this pilot is saying, or even expecting from him.
"The hoppers are... they aren't they... they are it, machines."
Andee just stares at him without any change in expression.
"They're like lightships, but bigger, more complex,... can carry a lot of people, and... they don't just float... they can fly."
"What?" Is all Andee can say.
"Look... to the south edge... of the city wall. There's a large... stone castle there. You can probably... only see... the high walls from here. If a hopper was coming... it would be coming from there. Do you see one... flying this way?"
Andee looks up. He knows the wall Ricio is talking about, he's seen it many times, but he's never seen a flying machine anywhere near it, and there certainly isn't one there now.
"Uh, no, there's no flying machine." Andee than looks up over his head scanning the sky in a circle as if trying to follow the path of a fast flaying bat. "There's no flying machine anywhere?"
"Without a hopper... I'm dead. It's... the only thing fast enough.... to get me out of here. My chest... it's crushed... They're just going to leave me here... me.. the son of... just so that the Carpati don't..." Ricio cuts himself of and closes his eyes.
"Hey, hey, don't close your eyes. Come on don't give up." Andee leans over and glances down over the edge. The rescue corps have made hardly any progress. They are struggling up the rocks. At the rate they are moving it will take them hours to get to the wreckage. "They're coming. They'll be here soon. Don't give up man. Stay awake and talk to me."
"God my chest hurts. My eyes... they're heavy."
"Talk to me man, talk to me. Tell me about the hoppers. Flying machines? That's amazing. I heard about them, but everyone says they're a myth. Do you really have flying machines?"
"Yeah we do, but they stopped... using them as rescue corps... in the races years ago, before you were born... probably."
Andee looks at him half disbelieving.
"Why? If you have flying machines why not use them?"
"Apparently... some Carpati stole one... and caused mayhem, so they stopped... using them, and forced... the older Carpati.... to pretend they don't exist."
Andy shakes his head in disbelief. "But you still have them?"
"Sure."
"What do you use them for?"
"You know... I can't tell you.. what happens... up in the city."
"Why? I don't get it. Why? I've heard this all my life. But why? What's up there that us Carpati have to be so denied to know? If I knew those things, I could save you now. If I knew medicine like your doctors I could help you. Why do you keep knowledge hidden from us? What are you afraid of?"
Ricio, just shakes his head with a sad disappointed look on his face. He doesn't know what to say. Andee, frustrated, turns away and looks towards the western edge of the Carpati township which is only partially visible.
"Can you... get me out of this capsule? I don't want... this to be my coffin." Ricio finally comments after a long break bringing Andee back around.
"But you're bleeding, you'll bleed more."
"What difference... does it make? I'd rather bleed out there."
"But I don't want to cause you do die. Maybe your hopper will come."
"They're... they're not coming. They don't... want you guys seeing one... I guess even if it means... I die, but I'm not dead yet. I'm sure... I have at least a half hour left in me. Maybe the corps... will get here in time."
"How do you know you have half an hour?" Andee su
ddenly perks up.
"I do. Now get me out of here."
"And if I move you, it won't kill you?"
"You mean... instantly? No man. Pull me out of here... I'll be fine... for a while."
"Half an hour?"
"Half an hour, an hour, sure. You going to help me... or interrogate me?" Ricio snaps at Andee through gritting teeth of pain.
"Yes, yes of course and I'll carry you down to the corps, maybe they can save you."
"What... what did you say?" Ricio suddenly stops his attempts to move and frowns at Andee.
"If its safe to get you out of the bubble, I can carry you down to the corps, in..." leans sideways to look down the cliff, "about ten minutes."
"You're joking."
"No, not at all."
"Look... where we are. How are you... by yourself, going to get me... down with no gear?" Ricio replies with dismissive disbelief.
"How do you think I got here in the first place?"
Ricio quickly does a look-around spinning his head side to side ignoring the pain.
"Good point. How the hell... did you get here?"
"I climbed down from that outcrop." Andee answers pointing up to the stone platform high up above them.
"What? You're bulling me." Ricio looks shocked as he stares at the distant outcrop above.
"No bull."
"From all the way... up there? Where's your gear?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about. What's gear?"
"Of course you don't. You came all the way down... with no gear... from there?"
"I did. I've been climbing these stones since before I could walk. I can climb anything. In fact, if its any help, I'm the current Ghimpour champion."
"Ghimpour, I've... I've seen that. Quite cool actually. Very acrobatic... and athletic. And you really think... you can go down the rest of this mountain... with me on