Hilda - Lycadea by Paul Kater Read Free Book Online Page A

of the ship. "Suck an
elf..."
    William hurried over, took Obsi from her
hands and put an arm around her shoulders. Together they stared
into a giant open... space. Everywhere they saw lights, all around
the ship but also under it. They were definitely in space.
Somewhere. "Can you find the moon, Hilda?" the wizard asked.
    The witch looked around. And again. "Uh. No.
Where is it?"
    "Where is what?" Rebel had come over to them
after making her round of the ship.
    "The moon. We tried to find the moon."
    "Ah. I guess it is still near the Earth.
Problem is, from what I can see, is that we're not. Near the Earth,
I mean."
    "So where are we?" William asked.
    Rebel bit her lower lip for a moment. "I am
not sure. Not about where we are, nor when."
    "When?" Hilda and William asked together.
    "Yes. The ship is still trying to work that
out. When we jump, we usually don't just move to another place, but
often we also end up in another time."
    "And the ship is working out where we are?"
Hilda started to worry very much now. This was just too much.
    Rebel simply nodded. "No problem, it always
pans out. But let me I find you quarters to sleep while we're
here." She winked and disappeared.
    Hilda shuddered. "I wish she wouldn't do
that."
    One of the sailors who passed them by said:
"You'll get used to it over time."
    "I hope I don't have time for that," Hilda
muttered, frantically patting Grimalkin.
    Rebel popped into existence again, making the
witch and wizard jump. "Hey, it's okay, it's only me," she said. "I
found you a nice room. Come, I'll take you there." She reached for
Hilda's arm, but the witch slapped at the hand.
    "Ease up, Rebel. We're not used to your
disappearing act, so go a bit slower!" Hilda did not feel at ease
at all, still feeling very weird.
    Rebel raised both hands. "Sure, whatever you
want," she said. "I'll hold out my hands, and you both take one
when you're ready." She understood that this all was a bit too much
for the two new passengers on the Mimosa. William took one of her
hands. Then Hilda took the other. "Here we go, okay?" Rebel asked.
After both had nodded, they popped away from the deck.
    "So, where are we now?" Hilda asked as there
suddenly was a room around them. Secretly she admired this moving
trick.
    Rebel said: "I moved you to your cabin. It's
really easy to get to the deck again, just step out that door, turn
left and keep going until you see the door out. You'll recognise
it, there's a sign 'exit' over it." She then stared at Hilda. "You
can read, can't you?"
    Hilda stood up to her full length. "I
certainly can read. I am a witch."
    "Okay, no reason to get overly excited. We
run into all kinds of folk, and you'd be amazed how many can't
read. So I'm just making sure out of habit." Rebel then showed them
how the beds worked, what buttons to push and which ones they
should avoid at all times.
    The cabin was almost entirely white, with
beds that came from the wall on the press of a button. The light in
the ceiling went on and off by simply telling it to do so. Hilda
had too much fun doing that, so William had to keep a hand over her
mouth as he had run into the wall a few times too many. There was a
display unit in the wall ("Sorry, no really usable movies in the
thing," Rebel apologised) and she showed them how to use the
communication system, which was merely a small glass-like circle in
the wall which lit up blue when touched.
    "When it's blue, you just tell the ship who
you want to talk to and the ship will try to find that person. When
you hear the other side, just talk. Touch the thing again and the
connection is cut."
    Hilda frowned at that. "Is that like a
crystal ball?"
    William grinned as the comparison was
actually quite good. Rebel looked blankly at the witch, obviously
lacking knowledge about crystal balls. He sat down on one of the
white chairs at the white table, the only pieces of furniture that
did not disappear in the floor or the wall, and asked: "And how do
we go about getting some