alfvaen | Botober 2022 #2: River Raid (Reply)

Today's prompts are:

Animals: Roquefort dingo
Halloween: Omlette
Meat: a human skeleton with gearsattachments
Clockwork: DARK-GREEN LASER-SHAPED BOAT

Took me a while to figure out what to do with them all, but here is today's Botober story:

Roquefort Dingo looked up as he heard the sound of his quarry passing by on the river. He finished his omelette, wiped his mouth, and then collapsed his tent with the push of a button. In a few seconds it was small enough for him to pick up and put into his slim backpack.

Then he made his way to where his dark green kayak sat camouflaged in the tall reeds. He slid inside, strapping himself in securely, then paddled off from the bank until he felt the current catch the prow and tug it around.

The banks narrowed and the current sped up. The outline of the kayak, custom-shaped by lasers to a tolerance of microns, offered barely any resistance to the water, and soon he was flying along faster than he could run. The river was clear of rocks here, as he'd scouted earlier, so he barely needed to dip his paddle in the water to make minor adjustments to his course.

Soon he was catching up to his quarry, just as it entered the deep shadow of the canyon. He backpaddled to slow down, edging to one side of the freighter to keep clear of its wake, then eased up alongside. He quietly clamped the kayak to a ladder-notch on the side of the boat, then climbed rapidly up the side.

The few guards he saw were concentrating their attention upwards, since it was not unknown for raiders to jump down from the top of the canyon; he crept between the shadows of the deck until he could slip into the cargo hold itself. The box he wanted should be close to the top, since it had been loaded on at their last port of call. Once he found it, it was the work of a moment to use his magnetic lockpick to release the clamps and ease the lid open.

Inside the box was a human skeleton, disassembled and the individual bones set into padded niches. The ends of the bones had had the joints replaced by gears and sockets. He shook his head. He'd hoped those reports had been exaggerated.

The whole thing was much too large for him to drag out unseen, let alone put into his kayak, but he wasn't interested in the entire skeleton. He carefully removed the long leg bones until he could access the skull nested underneath. He could see the edge of the circuitry he wanted through one eye socket, but he wasn't confident he'd be able to extricate it properly under these conditions, so he put the skull into his backpack to deal with later. Then he closed things up again.

Unfortunately, he bumped into a guard at the entrance to the cargo hold. "Hey! What's--"

Roquefort sprayed him in the face and the guard dropped, far from quietly. He heard other alarmed voices and knew he didn't have long. He dashed straight to the railing of the boat, sacrificing stealth for speed as the guards' flashlight beams swung to try to keep him in view. He dropped straight over the edge, missing his kayak by several meters and hitting the cold water. His backpack was sealed, but his clothes weren't, and soon he was soaked to the skin. He kept his head under the water and managed to keep pace with the boat until he found his kayak, which he unhooked and then flipped over so the bulletproof hull was facing up. From the sounds of things, the gunfire from above was scuffing it quite badly, and he winced at the thought of how much the repolishing was going to set him back. But he himself was more in danger of hypothermia than a bullet wound.

He dropped back behind the boat as the canyon turned. They wouldn't expect him to be able to exit the canyon any way besides straight forward, given the strength of the current and the sheerness of the overhanging cliffs. And they were right.

But they were no longer vigilant against raiders from above.

By the time Roquefort had managed to pull himself, shivering, into the kayak again, the sound of gunfire from ahead had stopped, and he saw the red and black flag flying as he rounded the curve. He paddled back alongside and gratefully accepted the rope to let him up.

"Looks like a decent haul," Belshazzar said as Roquefort warmed his shivering form before the bridge heater. "So what did you take for yourself?"

"Nothing worth mentioning," Roquefort said.