Ginnie Dare: Troubled Waters
Or, How Ginnie's beach vacation got ruined.
Years ago, my kids started asking to read stories I had written. In an effort to write something that wouldn’t result in a need for their therapy, I came up with the character Ginnie Dare. If you’re from North Carolina or possibly Virginia, you are probably familiar with the name Virginia Dare. She was the first English child born in the British colonies. The colony she was born into was “lost”. There’s an outdoor play put on every summer in Manteo, NC. It’s not about her so much as it is the “Lost Colony”. I won’t get into the details, but I’ve linked to the wikipedia article. It’s a good read.
There are two Ginnie Dare novels; Ginnie Dare: Crimson Sands and Ginnie Dare: Blockade Runner. In them, we discover that the author has a strong anti-authoritarian bent. And we also discover a plucky teenager with a penchant for solving problems using her brains and occasionally a blaster. It’s definitely a frontier series set in space. Think Nancy Drew meets Firefly. This story takes place after Ginnie Dare: Blockade Runner.
Ginnie Dare luxuriated in the feel of warm water caressing her legs. The paddle board supported her weight and she stared up into the azure sky of Poseidon. This was her last day on the planet before she had to be back on the Helena, her family's space freighter. They were going to head out on a run for Rafe and she didn't look forward to leaving.
"Wake up, Dare! There's time for sleep later." Leo's deep tenor voice would one day be a deep bass.
She sat up and looked at the boy she'd gotten to know over the last month. She was pretty sure she loved him. The thought of leaving him and this planet made her stomach hurt. "I'm awake. What's for lunch?" Not all of her stomach pain was from emotions.
His teeth flashed white against skin darker than hers. His long reddish brown hair was tied back, and he wore a black skinsuit with long sleeves and pants. It would keep his body temperature constant no matter the water or air temperature. "I've got some conch and spot fish in my bag. We’ll build a fire and have a cookout. I've got a secluded beach that I was saving for our last day." He stood and pressed a button on the small pole he held. It lengthened and sprouted a paddle on each end. Feet planted firmly on his board he began moving through the water with even strokes.
It had taken her nearly the entire trip to master the basics of paddleboarding. When she stood, it didn't feel like she was immediately going to pitch over. Once she had her paddle extended, she began to follow him. She knew he was taking it easy on her. Not too easy, though. She had to work to keep up.
The air temperature was a balmy twenty-five degrees. The legs and arms on her suit lengthened and began cooling her body. After fifteen minutes of moving, she could feel the current helping her along. Another fifteen minutes and small waves pushed them towards shore. They weren't big enough to ride in, but they moved her enough for her to rest her arms. She was in the best shape of her life.
Her board grated to a halt on the fine black sand. She jumped off and dragged it the rest of the way in, well above the high tide line.
Leo was waiting for her, smiling. He held a catch bag in one hand and a shoulder bag had fresh water and a few treats. He also held the collapsed paddle and his spear gun. "You're doing great, Ginnie. Stay here another month, and you'll be a pro."
She smiled and blushed a little at the praise. "I wish I could. I'm going to miss this. And you." She stepped up to him and gave him an awkward hug. It wasn't their first.
He dropped his implements and took her in his arms. "I'm gonna miss you too, Gin." He sniffed a little.
She looked up and saw his eyes were moist. "We'll keep in touch, though. After this next run, I'll ask Dad if I can take a leave of absence. Maybe I can come back here for three months next time."
He nodded and reluctantly let her go. "My parents would be glad to set up a place for you. You could help on the farm."
She'd done some work harvesting fish and kelp with him over the last week. It was hard work, harder than any shipboard duty she’d ever had, but it was fun, especially doing it with Leo. "Deal." She wasn't sure Dad would be over the moon letting his fourteen-year-old girl spend that much time alone with a boy he knew she liked. It helped that he knew the family and liked them. She'd make that jump when the time came. "So, lunch?"
Leo smiled crookedly and picked up his things. "Right this way." He wheeled around, and they walked towards the tree line. The soil here produced some odd vegetation. It was reminiscent of some Earth species she knew, a little like a cross between a palm tree and bamboo. It looked like wood on the outside but had large hollows inside. Those hollows captured rainwater and could convert saltwater to fresh. On a world with so little standing fresh water, that came in handy.
"Where's this lunch spot?"
"About a mile in. It's an old archaeological dig site. The scientists had to build a huge structure to cover it. They got what they wanted and left the structure behind. I've visited it a couple of times. Even weathered a mega-cane in it once."
Ginnie's jaw dropped. The tropical storms on this planet were epic. Any structure above the surface had to be incredibly strong to withstand it. Most settlers went deep under the water's surface to take refuge. "What was that like?"
"A week of being scared out of my mind." There was that grin. "Joel was with me, like a good big brother. It's not something I'd do again, but I'm glad I did it. The surfing right before it was epic. The fishing afterward was tremendous." Huge schools of shark-like fish followed behind the storms, like vultures. They were good eating.
They picked up the pace, and soon the shelter was in sight. It was larger than she'd imagined. She reckoned it had to be a few thousand square meters. The metal was likely the same metal star ships were made out of, and the clear stuff was made out of some kind of dense crystal, also used in making ships that had windows.
"How long has this been here?"
"At least sixty years. Poseidon wasn't settled until fifty years ago. Before then, there were several scientific expeditions. I don't know too much about this one, but watching dusty old history vids isn't my favorite sport." Leo grinned.
Ginnie made a mental note to seek them out later. History wasn't her favorite subject either, but her ship's AI, Brad, could make almost anything interesting. "Okay."
When they got closer, she saw that the domed building rose five meters in the air. It was shaped in such a way as to provide little resistance to the storm winds. The metal beams were as wide as she was. The crystal windows were thick but perfectly clear. They distorted the view quite a bit, but let plenty of light in. Ginnie and Leo circled around to the widest point and walked up to a door. It had the remains of a palm lock. Wires were fused to an alphanumeric pad.
Leo's brow knotted. "That's new."
Ginnie walked up to it and poked at it. She reached into a pouch at her waist and pulled out a palm-sized slate. With a tug, she pulled a wire free and adhered it to the exposed surface. "Sloppy too.” She ran a program on her slate, and in thirty seconds the door hissed open. She tucked the wire back into the slate and the slate back into her pocket.
Now Leo was looking at her jaw agape. "Good work, Gin. I knew you were handy with that thing. You'll have to teach me your tricks when you come back."
"That's a deal. You said the lock was new?"
He nodded. "It wasn't ever locked before. As early as last winter, I could get into it with no problem."
There were no signs of people. "That isn't professional work, so it's no one official. Let's eat; then we'll disappear. No one will know we were ever here."
He smiled and swept his arm outward. "Ladies first."
She went in and looked around. There had once been a sense of order to this place. She saw ports for laser grid projectors and other hi-tech archaeology gear. Two skycranes and some other equipment used to do heavy lifting had been gutted. The ground itself was level, the same black sand as the beach. A few sheets of composite were laid down to make places to pitch tents and stack things they didn't want sinking into the sand. She could make out scorch marks where fires had been built more than once. No smell of smoke hung in the air. That meant there a mechanism for letting in fresh air.
Leo squinted and looked around. He walked over to a sandy patch and squatted. "I reckon the last time someone was here was about a week ago."
She started to walk over. "How do you know?"
He pointed at some lumpy sand. "This is their latrine."
She frowned. "Whoever it is, they didn't take good care of the place."
He jogged over to one of the composite covered areas. "They did leave us some firewood." A small stack of logs sat near its edge. They were made from local trees that had been shredded and mixed with kelp and chemicals to burn hot and slow. He started to build a small fire to make their lunch on.
She joined him and found a grate they could put over their coals to cook on. It was clean, though it showed signs of heavy use. "Who do you think stays here?"
"Drifters probably. A lot of folk move from job to job when the weather's good and hole up when it gets ugly. They're usually harmless, though Da says they're not to be trusted with the keys to the subs. Leastways not right away."
They grilled the fish and shellfish and Leo produced some local fruit from his bag. In addition to the fresh water, it was simple but still felt like a feast. Shipboard food was good, but she would miss this. They lay back and looked up at the sky through the crystal ceiling. Soon she found herself leaning on his shoulder. She'd miss that even more.
After what seemed like only minutes, but what must have been an hour, she heard a noise. It was the door opening. She sat up and reached for the spot where her gun would have been. All she came back with was her paddle.
Leo moved towards his bag. The spear gun wasn't a great weapon, but it would hurt.
She found herself wondering why they both reached for protection. It was probably the sense that they had violated someone else's space. It was public property, sort of, but someone had claimed it. She stood, wanting to face whoever it was on her feet.
The group was small, five people altogether. The leader was a tall boy with pale skin and a bald head. His skin had an odd iridescent quality she soon realized was due to scales. He'd been modified to work in the deeps. Slits on his neck were functional gills, but he could still breathe air. He wasn't the only one. Three of his cohort were likewise modded. It wasn't uncommon to see someone like them, but it was the first time she'd seen a person like that up close. They were all dressed in skinsuits with blue and green swirls and had large bladed knives on their belts. She was grateful to see they were otherwise unarmed.
The only person who wasn't modded was a girl who looked to be a year or two younger than Ginnie. She was too young for such a radical procedure.
"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" The leader put his hand on the blade at his hip.
Leo had his spear gun on one shoulder. "I'm Leo, and this here's Ginnie. We were just finishing up lunch."
"How did you crack my code?" The unmodded girl spoke up.
Ginnie smiled. "It would have been hard for almost anyone else. It's kinda what I do. You do good work."
The girl's scowl deepened. "Thanks. I guess."
"So you broke into the building. Have no troubles admitting to that?" A girl in her late teens with spiky blond hair stepped in front of the leader, drawing her blade. Her pale blue eyes flashed with anger.
"Tams, stand down. This doesn't have to get ugly." The leader held a hand to his chest. "I'm Junka. This is Tams. That there is Mista." He pointed to the youngest. "That's Hubbard." He flipped his fingers at a boy a good half-meter broader with black hair. "And that there is Bartok." The final member of the party looked to be Junka's brother. They were strikingly similar, but Bartok had a long blond ponytail. "The ladies make a good point. You broke in here. You need to make reparations."
Leo held out his hand. "We didn't break anything."
Bartok sneered and pointed at their lunch site. "You did use our wood and our gear. We'll take your boards in exchange."
Ginnie took a step forward. "I'd hardly call that fair. If you want some money, we can get you that. Take our boards and there's no way to get home." They did have comm units, but she wasn't sure if they'd work this far out.
Tams tsked. "I think rich boy here can find a way to get you two home. And his Da can surely afford to replace 'em."
"If you know who my Da is, then you know it's a bad idea to pull a stunt like this. Your mods mean you work for outfits like his. He won't take kindly to you shaking down his son."
Hubbard cracked his knuckles. "Maybe he wouldn't like it that you were messing about in our territory, thievin' like."
"That's a chance I'm willing to take. Da's a fair man, and I'll take my lumps from him. I won't be bullied by drifters though." He leveled the spear gun.
"Easy, Leo." Ginnie put her hand on his shoulder.
"Listen to your girlfriend there, Leo." Junka pulled his blade. "You spear one of my people and it'll be more than your boards we'll be taking."
Leo lowered the weapon. "We're going to need to find another solution then. You're not getting the boards."
Junka stroked his chin. "Tell you what. We'll settle this the old way. A fight. Whoever wins gets to decide how this plays out."
Leo looked from Junka to Ginnie. "Are you okay with that?"
Ginnie frowned. "Violence doesn't solve anything, but if it's that or give up our boards I guess it's a fight."
Junka drew his blade and flipped it to the sand between Ginnie's feet. "Fine. Then it's you and Hubbard."
Leo's jaw dropped. "That's hardly fair. He's got... a lot of kilos on her."
Ginnie smirked at his not wanting to take a guess at her weight.
Hubbard smiled. "We're what you'd call the injured party. We set the terms. Don't worry. I won't break her."
Ginnie retrieved the knife and tucked it into her suit's belt. "He's right. I'll break him first."
Junka's gang ooohed at her bravado.
"Here are the terms. You and Hubbard stand in the middle of that pad." He pointed to one of the composite squares, about three meters on a side. "Whoever touches the sand first loses. Whoever's knocked out first loses. You fight until one of you loses under these terms."
Ginnie nodded.
Leo looked at her. "He'll break you in half. Let's just give them the boards. We can find another way home."
Ginnie put a hand on his chest and kissed his cheek. "Don't worry. I've got this." She thought about the training Jon had given her and her shipmates. She thought about gun fights against pirates. Hubbard was a big boy, but Ginnie felt her chances were good. She reached into her pouch and pulled out a band to pull her hair back. Once it was in place she walked confidently onto the mat and stood in its center.
Hubbard bent over and came up into a handstand. He walked a few steps, dropped into a roll, and came up on his feet. That turned into a series of roundhouse kicks. He wasn't just big; he was fast and agile. He took his place on the square and nodded at her. "I'll make this quick, girly."
Ginnie grinned wickedly. "Giving up already?" He had a moment to look confused before she stepped into his space and delivered a flurry of punches. None of them hit him, all meant to distract him from a vicious kick to the knee.
Hubbard was able to lift his leg enough for the kick to land against his shin. If Ginnie had been wearing hard-soled shoes it would have done more damage. As it was, the kick was solid, and he winced. He brought his hand back to slap her in the head.
She grabbed his elbow and hooked her foot behind his ankle, trying to use the leverage to push him over. He lost balance momentarily but recovered and trapped her hands with one of his own. He turned, forcing her to move with him. When he released her, she stumbled towards the edge of the pad.
Ginnie bit back a curse and kept herself from falling off. A foot scraped behind her and she fell flat on her back and to one side. The kick, intended for her backside, passed her shoulder. As it did, she grabbed the heel and pushed her head and heels against the ground helping her to press his leg higher. He lost balance and she heard a satisfying thud.
Ginnie kicked herself to her feet and frowned when she saw Hubbard was already up. He was fast. She wasn't trained to be a defensive fighter. Take your opponent out in the first thirty seconds of the fight. That was Jon's mantra. Any fight that lasted longer than that would be a contest of stamina. After a long morning of being on the paddleboards, she didn't have much.
Her hands went to the knife at her belt. She didn't want to draw blood, but it could serve as a good distraction. She drew it sheath and all, a split second before he pulled his. She dove into a shoulder roll. When she came up facing him, she threw it at his head. She wasn’t particularly talented with thrown weapons. It missed, as she’d intended, but it was a nearer miss than she would have liked. She was glad she hadn’t thrown bare steel.
He watched it go past and she leapt at him, putting everything she had into the punch. The first two knuckles of her right hand connected right under his ear. He went down on one knee, stunned from the blow. She brought her knee up into his ear, twice. His head was solid, but she knew that a punctured eardrum or even just the disorientation from a hard blow to the ear would play in her favor. She intended to finish this fight now. She chopped his neck just below the jawline with the edge of her right hand. She hoped that the gill slits were as sensitive as they were on most fish.
He groaned and clutched at his neck.
"Are we done here?" She danced back, assuming a more defensive posture but ready to strike if needed.
Once again, Hubbard showed his speed. He stood and crossed the pad faster than most people half his size could have.
Ginnie removed the paddle from the pouch at her side and dropped to one knee. When he was within two steps, she pressed the sensor that would extend the side facing him. The paddle's blade hit him in the solar plexus. The other end was braced against her foot. She used his momentum and the pole's leverage to throw him. When he was at the apex of the arc, she pressed the other sensor. Forced to extend to its full length, the pole threw him a good two meters.
He landed in the sand near one of the latrine pits he and his friends had created.
The pole clattered to the ground beside her. "I guess we are finished now." She looked to the group’s leader.
He clapped slowly and nodded. "I'm a man of my word. You beat one of us, so now you and your friend can go. Take your boards. You better go fast though. Hubbard doesn't like to be bested, and to keep them you'll have to outrun us."
She looked at Leo and saw the panic in his eyes. She scooped up the pole she had dropped. It was a bit warped from being put to unintended use. Without a word the pair ran towards the door. As Ginnie moved, she tossed Leo her pole.
"What are you doing?"
"Taking out some insurance." She fished her pad out of its pouch. "When we get outside, you'll need to help me hold the door shut if they decide to chase us."
He nodded and the lopsided grin made its appearance.
Once out of the enclosure, they closed the door and threw their weight against it. Ginnie attached her pad to the door's locking system and accessed the security program. There had to be some way to open the door from the inside. She saw a similar keypad was attached to the system at another node. They both tied in to a central locking program. A series of dull thuds came from the other side of the door.
"Hurry, Gin."
She scrambled the codes, added a handful of digital strings to it and encrypted it at the highest setting her pad would allow. Anyone using the keypad would have to type seven hundred characters in the right order. If they were connected like she was, they would need to crack the encryption in order to change the code or open it via a pad. With that done, she engaged the lock. A series of twelve loud snaps sounded from around the door's frame.
"Locked." A grin grew to mirror his. She accessed another section of the shelter's system. A loud rushing sound came from above. "Now, let's go!" She turned and ran. She made it to the water's edge before he did and began to pull her paddleboard off shore. They were a hundred yards from the beach before he caught up.
"What did you do?"
"I noticed that the environmental systems were still online. Otherwise there wouldn't be any fresh air and the whole thing would be a giant greenhouse. I used the fans to make a bit of a sandstorm inside. It should make it harder for their tech to connect and get them out."
His jaw dropped and he nearly fell off his board. After a few minutes he recovered. "Remind me never to cross you, Dare."
They shared a laugh, but didn't stop paddling until they were back to the boat safely.