“Easy,” said Wayne to Captain Tomann. “Let’s get her back to the ship. I can talk to her there.”

“So be it, then.”

“I’m Wayne Nystrom. Your name is Rita.”

“That’s right.”

“We need to talk.”

She just looked at him, warily.

“Come on.”

Wayne and Captain Tomann each took one of her arms and led her back to the Old Laughing Lady. She said nothing, but did not seem particularly scared. Wayne wondered why she was being so cooperative.

Steve strained against the oar in the dinghy. N ext to him on the middle bench, Jane was also working hard. As they rowed for the coast of Jamaica, they were facing away from the ships. Swaying on the gentle waves, each ship sent its masts angling high against the blue sky.At such a great distance, the few buccaneers Steve could see on deck were mere specks. None of them had taken any notice of the dinghy.

“It’s just as well we’re getting away,” said Steve, breathlessly.

“What do you mean?”

“We told Hunter we could take care of ourselves with the pirates, but we didn’t really do too well. Since we don’t know where either one of the robots is, we don’t have their protection any more. We’ll be safer on dry land again than in the middle of a bunch of pirates during a fight.”

“I think we handled ourselves just fine for a couple of people from our time.”

“Well, I guess.” Steve shrugged. After that, they used their energy only for rowing. Jamaica wasn’t too far, but their progress was slow.

15

Every so often, Steve glanced over his shoulder to make sure they were heading in the right direction. Finally, after a long time, he realized that they didn’t have to keep rowing to reach the shore. He let out a deep breath of relief and shipped his oar.

“We can take a break.”

“What? We can?” Gratefully, Jane shipped hers, “too. “Are we there?” She turned around to look.

“Not yet,” said Steve. “But the current and the tide have taken us. We couldn’t row our way back out now if we wanted to. So we might as well take it easy.”

“I know people must have seen us go overboard, but I guess nobody saw us rowaway.”

“No one who cared, anyway,” said Steve. He looked back at the big ships. The first two pirate ships were still grappled to their prey. However, the Old Laughing Lady had pushed off again and was under sail, leaving the other ships behind. On its present course, it would pass them some distance away on its trip back to Port Royal.

He turned around on the bench, to face forward toward Jamaica.

“What’s our next plan of action?” She turned on the bench also, bumping him with one shoulder.

“It looks like we’ll have quite a hike back into Port Royal, so that’s going to take up the rest of the day, I think.” Steve looked down the coastline as far as he could.

“Are we going to land near the spot where we first c appeared, do you think? Along the Cagway?”

“I’m afraid we’ll have a much longer walk than that. We’re going to land outside the Cagway, which means we’ll have to walk the entire length of the peninsula. Or maybe we can get a ride on a farmer’s cart or something.” He looked up at the sun in the west.

“What’s wrong?”

“I doubt we have enough daylight left to reach Port Royal.”

“We might have to camp out on the way.”

Jane glanced at him. “Camp out? Just…out in the woods?”

“I don’t know if we’ll have any choice.”

She was silent for a moment. “Well, it’ll be warm enough. But I guess we should contact Hunter with the transmitters at some point. Since his receiver is internal, it won’t matter if buccaneers are with him; they can’t hear it.”

“Yeah!” Steve grinned. “I forgot about those in all the excitement. But let’s wait until we land, so he can home in on a fixed location.”

“He won’t have a way to reach us here, unless he steals a boat or swims.”

“He won’t have to,” said Steve. “We’ll arrange to meet him on the docks.”

“Sounds good to me.”

They relaxed a little and let the water carry them in toward the shore. Steve finally felt a release of tension. They were about to land safely.

“You know,” Steve said. “I feel pretty good, really. I actually survived a sword fight with a real pirate, even if I did have to jump overboard to get away.” He laughed. “Not exactly a success, but I’m still here.”

“I’d say it was a success,” said Jane, smiling at him. “Thank you for stepping up and facing him. I… never went through anything like that before.”

“You’re very welcome. And thank you for dropping this boat down to rescue me.”

“And you’re welcome in return.”

Steve grinned at her. He wanted to put his arm around her, but he didn’t know if that was a good idea or not. After surviving the attack on shipboard, he felt closer to her than ever. Still, he wasn’t sure how she would take such an action, and they had to work together for a long time yet. Instead, he just looked ahead to the shore, which was growing closer all the time.

Finally the dinghy ran aground in shallow water. Steve and Jane jumped out into the surf, throwing spray on themselves, and pulled on the bowline. Steve’s feet sank into soft sand and he struggled for traction. The dinghy, freed of their weight, came farther forward. Their clothes, which had finally dried out in the sunlight, became drenched all over again. Then the dinghy got stuck once more.

They waded out of the water, up onto an empty beach. For a moment, neither of them spoke while they caught their breath. By then the sun was low over the water in the west. The breeze was cooler than before.

Steve reached for his communicator. He didn’t feel it. Worried, he looked down where it should have been.

“What’s wrong?” Jane asked.

“My communicator’s gone. It must have come off when I hit the water.”

“Uh-oh.” Jane checked for hers quickly, then looked up at him. “Mine’s gone, too.”

“That must be it, then,” said Steve. “It’s a long jump from the deck of that ship. We hit the water hard.”

“Hunter won’t have any idea where we are,” said Jane.

“He may have seen us in the boat,” said Steve. “Otherwise, all we can do is get back to Port Royal and head for the docks. He’ll probably get there first.”

“Yeah.” Jane nodded. “Shall we go? We have a long walk ahead.”

Hunter lay motionless on the deck of the Sidonia. Around him, the fighting had finally stopped as the Spanish crew surrendered. Then the combined crews of all three ships examined their new booty. As night fell, they lit torches and celebrated again. Hunter, concerned that any further action he might take would violate the Laws of Robotics in ways he did not comprehend, did not move, though all of his senses were still operating.

Around him, the buccaneers drank more rum, whooped and fired pistols into the air, and staggered around the deck singing.

“Hey, mate,” said a drunken buccaneer. He leaned over Hunter, his head and shoulders a dark shadow against the stars in the clear sky above them. “You hurt bad, are ya?”

“No,” said Hunter.

“Well, here.”

Hunter felt the buccaneer and a couple of his companions lift him under his arms and pull him up into a sitting position against a rolled sail. Then, hoisting tankards of rum, they wandered away. Hunter remained where he was, gazing across the deck to the dark, open sea beyond it.

The three ships were ungrappled again and under sail for Port Royal. The night weather was so good that little work was required. Hunter could see the torches burning on the decks of the other ships in the distance. All three buccaneer crews were celebrating their excellent fortune; even the man at the helm of the Sidonia had a tankard in one hand.

Even in his uncertainty, Hunter was still alert for MC 2 or Rita on board the ship. As usual in the dark, he was using voiceprint, heartbeat, footsteps, and even breathing patterns to identify the humans within in his hearing. These supplemented his infrared vision, which was only useful for detecting people in his line of sight.