Cracks in the Spires

22: Search and rescue.

They had some trouble extricating Lolly from her exploration of the junk in the cave so it was mid-morning by the time the Warrens came into view. Kiri gasped as Jan exclaimed

"Spire shite." Lolly leant over their shoulders as they stared in shock at the scene of devastation. People were swarming everywhere in frenzied activity. There were boats out on the lagoon and work parties clearing debris from what had once been fields of crops. It looked as though the field walls that retained soil had been washed away in several places and there were large dark brown smears of soil leading down to the lagoon. He swallowed at the sight. As he brought the craft lower people looked up and waved then returned to their work. Now they could see several houses had damaged roofs and there was a burnt patch where one of the groups of acacia trees had been.

"How does anyone survive out here? It's not even the storm season. Those fields have been destroyed. Will they salvage anything from them?" Kiri asked

"I don't know. I've never seen anything like this at this time of year. People will have gone into the tunnels so they'll be all. We might have some food rationing this winter if they though."

He landed the skimmer by their tunnel. Grandma Heta came hurrying over though no-one else stopped what they were doing. She caught Jan in an embrace

"Thank goodness you're safe. We were so worried that you'd come to grief in the storm."

"No we had no problems. Taking off was a bit exciting but we sat out the night safely enough in the Cave. The storm wasn't this bad further south."

"It was terrible. One of the worst we've had even in the storm season. Jan how much charge have you left?"

"About two thirds full, why?

"The storm struck while people were still out on the island. The last raft didn't make it back. Four people are still missing. It was five but they found Gulio's body an hour ago." Heta' voice trembled "Arn and Per are two of the people still missing. Ben's distraught, he and Claude have been out searching since dawn. So have a lot of other people. They can't find them in the lagoon. It looks as though they must have been swept out. They could be anywhere. Can you take the skimmer up? You'll have a better chance of spotting anyone from up there. It's impossible among the reeds. You could be a metre from someone and not see them."

Jan nodded, he opened the door of the skimmer and stuck his head inside; after a moment he spotted what he was looking for, emergency flares. He turned to Heta

"Will someone watch us from the lookout?" She nodded "Good, if I see anything I'll drop a flare to mark the spot."

"I'll come with you. Two sets of eyes are better than one." Kiri turned and got back into the skimmer

"What about me. I can look too."

"No you stay here."

"But I want to help."

Heta intervened. "Mik won't leave the jetty. He was crying all night. I think he'd be very glad if his friend kept him company."

Kiri reached back and got the two plastic birds that Lolly had brought from the cave. Heta took them, momentarily distracted from worry and grief, she smiled

"Varlon really missed his calling. He should have opened a junk store for children."

Jan paused in scrambling back into the skimmer

"We'll find them. I promise you."

"Thank you Janvier. I'll go and tell the lookouts to watch for flares. I'm sure the searchers out on the water will work out what you're doing." She frowned "Wait a moment, I'll get you some baskets. If you're over open water the flares will sink. In baskets they'll float for a while."