Slumrat Rising Vol. 5 Chap. 81 Wet Milage

Slumrat Rising Vol. 5 Chap. 81 Wet Milage

I don’t think I can be blamed for being happy. Anyone would be happy. This is huge. Nobody else managed to do this.

Truth indulged in a little self pity. He ordered the Fire Bird to start sweeping up and down the coastline, to keep the base from figuring out they had been spotted. Except, of course, they hadn’t been spotted. They had just been inferred with a high degree of probability. But even that wasn’t the source of his misery.

It was the fact that they were almost a hundred kilometers off-shore. A big, seemingly impassable wall wasn’t scary. Any fixed defense can be overcome. It’s not having anywhere to stand while he did the overcoming that was doing his head in.

I traveled all over the country. Pulled on the intelligence gathering of Siphios for some things, and Jeon for even more. Used my own likely unique understanding of magic to figure out what Starbrite was up to. And now I can’t do anything with that information. I want to riot. I want to riot, and generally throw a fit.

It just felt so damn petty. He could go get a boat of course, but that would be worse, not better. He would still stand out, only this time, he would be moving even slower. Could he swim there? Eventually, sure. It’s just the not-so-minor detail of it being a colossal pain in the ass. Even if he succeeded, once again, where would he stand? Where, exactly, would he do his work from?

Did he have to tread water or something? No way, right?

Right?

Truth groaned, loudly, then started getting naked. This uniform had been really useful, and he didn’t want it soaked if he could help it. Midway through unbuttoning the shirt, he paused. He was about to do something very dumb again. Maybe, this time, how about not?

Hey, Perks?

Yes?

If I were to, hypothetically, jump off this bird and into the ocean, doing my best to protect you against my chest, would you be okay? Physically?

There was a pause.

I think so. I have never fallen so far. I feel a great deal stronger these days, so I am not afraid. Yet, my appetite is less. It is very strange.

And here it was. Perks was on the accelerated course to being a demon. Fantastic. Well. It wasn’t a bad thing.

Can you deal with the water okay? You won’t drown or anything?

I won’t drown. I can swim, you know.

Really? I thought you were a desert snake?

I have never seen the desert. But I know I can swim a little.

Oh, neat! Well. Hitch a ride for now.

Mmm.

“Start flying back up the coast line. I’m going to jump off at a certain point. Once I do, you just keep flying until you reach the place where we turned around last time, then return to base. If anything comes up, especially anything that might threaten you, take all necessary actions in accordance with your bindings and return to base.”

“Yes Sir.” The bird had been raised from birth by the military. It knew when not to ask questions. Truth waited until they were roughly parallel with the assumed-island, and jumped.

You know how appearances can be deceiving, right Perks?

I do. I don’t think they are now, though.

Truth declined to answer. It was embarrassing to argue with a snake. It was even more embarrassing to lose an argument with a snake. He would just have to endure.

When I swim, I just wriggle my whole body through the water. You are splashing around a lot. Is that normal for humans?

Yes. Well, it depends, I think, but this is the only way I know how to swim. Oddly enough, his memories of his past life as a sailor didn’t include memories of swimming. Which seemed insane, but what did he know? Maybe not knowing how to swim was normal for sailors in that other life.

The swimming technique he knew came in part from training in the Army and in part with training in the PMC. It was not... elegant. Or efficient. It was designed for soldiers wearing boots and heavy clothes to cross rivers or survive unexpected disasters. It was not intended for stealth or speed. Eighty kilometers, a brief, comfortable stroll on land, turned into an endless, miserable slog at sea.

What was even more maddening was that it was almost impossible to keep on course. They were far out to sea now. The waves were a meter tall, more when measured from the base of the trench to the peak. He just plain couldn’t see the “nowhere” he was aiming at. Worse, he realized the wind and currents were pushing him southwest.

I don’t suppose you have a way to track our destination, do you? Truth asked.

I do not. Where are we headed, anyhow?

Truth explained what he could. So you don’t see anything?

I do not. The air tastes strange, but I think that’s the ocean more than anything else.

Does it taste salty?

Yes, but there are other things as well. There is a very unpleasant taste roughly to the right of you, but it’s so widespread I have no idea where it’s origin is. It’s just drifting everywhere.

Do you think you could pin-point it?

Not really. Like I said, it’s spreading everywhere. You could start swimming a bit more to your right. We might learn more.

Swearing softly, Truth adjusted course. He was in elite physical condition, but swimming was shockingly tiring. You didn’t just swim with your legs. You swam with your whole body. Everywhere got tired. The wisdom of boats became steadily more obvious. Boats were good. You didn’t have to swim all day if you had a boat.

I think the bad taste is getting stronger.

What does it taste like?

Like burnt things, rotting things, and pine trees. And a bunch of things I don’t have names for. Sometimes the old man who looked after me would rub something into his hands. It smells a little like that. But a lot of the burnt smell. The biggest thing is that.

Truth couldn’t imagine what it might be. He just kept on swimming.

The sun was setting when he banged his toes against a hidden rock. He thought he had kicked a fish for a moment. Soon, he got his foot down on it again. He could feel the cool algae and the barnacles poking at him. And yet, when he looked down, he couldn’t see the rock.

Truth had a sudden, terrible moment of empathy for all the people he ghosted past. It really wasn’t nice.