Traveling Salesman: Astronomgonist

Chapter 14

"No!" Phenny screamed.

His scream startled Watch, Jinger and Gerry. Watch and Gerry went up the ladder from the yacht up to the fort. Gerry had the key in his swimming trunks to the room Phenny and Harrodean were in. He unlocked the door.

Gerry raised a brow. His eyes widened in astonishment. "What a bummer?"

"Whoa! What do we do?" Jinger and Watch said in unison.

"Don't just stand there! Do something!" Phenny shouted. Her body was sand, but with the consistency of packaged sand.

There was a steel framework supporting the landing jetty and crane which was usually used to hoist supplies aboard the fort. Gerry and Phenny carried Harrodean's body and put it on the platform attached to the crane. They strapped her body down to keep her immobilized as Watch operated the crane lowering her body toward the yacht. Gerry and Phenny went down the ladder. Watch lowered her body close enough to the yacht where Gerry and Phenny could retrieve it. They lay the body with great care on the upper deck.

"What happened to her?" Jinger asked.

"I don't know." Gerry shrugged.

"What do you expect keeping us prisoner in that room for two years?" Phenny said looking at Gerry and Jinger.

"You had fresh food, a fridge, a bathroom, a place to sleep. It's like having your own pad up there," Gerry said nonchalantly with a shrug and a half-smile.

"Yeah, one locked from the outside," Phenny scoffed.

Watch stepped onto the yacht, wiping his brow. "We should've taken them to Hargot in the first place."

"But you wanted to keep the girl," Jinger pointed her finger in Gerry's bare chest.

"Nothing wrong with having a spare, babe," Gerry grinned.

"Yeah, some spare," Jinger said folding her arms, shaking her head glaring at Harrodean's granular body.

Watch interjected. "We'll take them to Hargot and maybe we can still get a bounty for them." He untied the yacht from the dock. He started the yacht and steered it in the opposite direction toward the City of Hargot.

Harrodean coughed. Her body returned back to normal. Phenny sat her up. "Are you alright, sis?"

"Yeah, I think so. What happened?" She used her brother for support to stand on her feet, but she slipped and fell down on her bottom. Her legs turned back to packaged sand. "Am I cursed?"

Her brother picked her up in his arms to sit her upright and her legs started to dissipate.

Jinger went to the lower deck and got her a blanket. She draped it over Harrodean's dissipating legs. Underneath the blanket her legs became corporeal again. Harrodean threw off the blanket.

Gerry grabbed Harrodean by the arm. "What the hell is this? Are you two trying to play a game with us? I bet you and your brother cooked up this scheme to get us to let you out."

"No, we didn't," Phenny said his brows furrowed, pushing Gerry away from his sister.

"I'm going to pound your face in," Gerry lunged at Phenny. Harrodean jumped in front and Gerry withdrew.

"Gerry, don't." She put her hand on his chest to stop him. "I don't know what's going on here. But if we wanted to scam you, we would've done it two years ago. And you wouldn't have seen it coming. I must be sick or something."

Gerry grinned. "You're lucky I still have a crush on your sister." He glanced at Phenny with a scowl.

"No, you're the lucky one," Phenny said balling up his fist at his side scowling back at him.

Jinger groaned through clenched teeth. She went to the lower deck and came back with a bottle of water. She opened it. She squeezed the bottle, squirting the water on Gerry. Gerry stumbled backward. The water had splashed on Harrodean, and her arm became sand. Harrodean gasped.

"Jinger, you've gone crazy. Give me that," Gerry grabbed the bottle from her.

Phenny quickly picked up the blanket and put it on Harrodean's arm. Her arm returned to corporeal again.

"Everybody stand back. No one who has any moisture on them come near her," Phenny said swinging his arm backward, accidentally smacking Gerry in the mouth and knocking him overboard.

"I can't swim!" Gerry shouted with a screech, waving his arms overhead.

"You're wearing swimming trunks and you can't swim?" Jinger asked.

"Just because I'm wearing swimming trunks doesn't mean I can swim!" He shouted still waving his arms.

"No, I'm not going to swim out there and save you. You can kiss off, Gerry. You better learn to dog paddle!" Jinger shouted back, her arms folded. She went down to the lower deck.

"Save him, Phenny." Harrodean told her brother.

"Are you kidding me?" Phenny raised a brow. "Do I need to remind you, he and his friends kept us imprisoned for two years?"

"Do I need to remind you we deliberately got ourselves caught by them?" Harrodean said sitting down, a bit short-winded. "Don't let him die."

Phenny groaned. "Alright, I'll do it for you." He jumped off the yacht and swam toward Gerry.