Smugglers Cove

Which Reality is Rylla in?

On this blog page, below, is Part 9 of the science fiction story Old Time Gaming. In Part 8, Rylla discovered that because of their shared Asterothrope gene patterns, she could establish a weak telepathic connection to Abigail. Rylla begins learning how to use her nanites to transfer new memories into Abigail's mind.

Rylla attends a party at the Sydney mansion of Abigail's parents. Abigail's father, Allen Longfellow, is a merchant who trades rum, wool and other goods that are shipped through the port of Sydney. Rylla wants to buy passage on a ship that will take her to western Australia and she hopes that she can use her telepathic abilities to influence the behavior of Allen Longfellow. 

anti-gravity

At the party, Rylla meets other guests including David Phillips and George White. George is soon going to travel to England in order to attend medical school and become a physician, like his father. David Phillips is the son of a smuggler who illegally imports rum and tobacco into New South Wales while avoiding tax collectors... usually. David becomes aware of Rylla's plan to fund her expedition with gold. George is an ancestor of Georgy White, the woman who will discover anti-gravity hierions in the 21st century... if Rylla is successful in her mission to western Australia.

Part 9 of Old Time Gaming. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8

Upon arriving at the party, Rylla saw that Abigail's prediction had been correct: there were far more men at the party than women. Abigail led Rylla and Liza to the lawn at the east side of the mansion where a group of young people had gathered to watch two men who were playing tennis without the benefit of a court or a net. Abigail pointed to a pair of men who were watching the tennis players and told Rylla, "That's George White, son of the doctor. We've been exchanging letters for years. He's something of a poet."

Liza pointed to a group of soldiers and said, "I'm looking for Captain Doones." She went off to speak to the soldiers.

Rylla could not recall a George White from her previous mission in Australia. Rylla asked, "Who is that he's talking to?"

"That's David. His father is a smuggler. Don't be surprised by anything he says." 

With Rylla following along behind, Abigail walked up behind George. David was saying, "...Spanish silver or opium for tea and silk, so why not grow tea and produce silk here..."  

Abigail put her hands over George's eyes. Speaking in a gruff voice, she said, "Guess who."

George said, "Where have you been hiding, Abi?" He turned around and briefly hugged Abigail.

Abigail introduced Rylla and explained, "I've moved to Parramatta, so you won't be seeing as much of me."

He told her, "I won't be seeing you at all after this week. I'm going to England."

Abigail asked George, "What? I thought you were going next year."

"With the French army defeated, my father no longer fears that I'll get caught up the war. I depart this week."

Abigail took hold of George's arm and asked, "You will write to me? Don't become so busy with your studies that you forget about me!"

David told Abigail, "Don't worry about him studying, he has no interest in being a doctor. I've been trying to get him interested in trade... there are so many great opportunities in London." David could not keep his eyes off of Rylla. "Where have you magically arrived from? I don't recognize you... or your strange accent."

Rylla could feel not the slightest telepathic connection to either David or George, but there in Abigail's mind was a thought about America, so she invented an answer for David, "I grew up in Texas."

Abigail's mother had noticed the arrival of her daughter and now she approached. Abigail said, "Good evening, mother."

Mrs. Longfellow looked at Rylla and asked, "This is your new friend, Elizabeth?"

Abigail shook her head. "This is an even newer friend. Rylla Onway, from Texas." Abigail waved her hand towards the mansion and said, "Liza went off with a group of soldiers."

Mrs. Longfellow suggested, "Maybe there will be a flood of immigrants coming to Sydney from America since they are loosing their silly war against England." News had recently arrived in Sydney of the capture of Washington by British soldiers under General Ross.

Playing along with Mrs. Longfellow, Rylla suggested, "Maybe with the distraction of this silly war, Texas will declare its independence as a new Republic, free of both Mexico and the United States."

"David asked Rylla, "Is 'Onway' a Spanish name?"

"Rylla giggled and said, "I'm not sure. My father told me that it is an ancient Chichimeca name." Rylla took hold of Mrs. Longfellow's arm and slipped a small piece of gold into her hand. She asked Mrs. Longfellow, "Could you introduce me to your husband?"

Mrs. Longfellow turned and led Rylla across the lawn while saying, "If we could win free of our dependence on Spanish silver, wonderful changes would become possible." Walking around to the front of the mansion, she looked at the gold nugget and asked Rylla quietly, "Where did you get this gold, Texas?"

Rylla laughed and replied, "Je ne viens pas du Texas."

Mrs. Longfellow said, "Si ce n'est le Texas alors Luisiana?" They reached the front steps of the mansion where Allen Longfellow was greeting some late-arriving guests. After the guests went inside, Mrs. Longfellow pushed the gold nugget into Allen's hand and introduced Rylla to her husband. Then she told him, "Elle parle comme une parisienne."

Allen held Rylla's hand and she immediately established a telepathic connection that allowed her to see the surface level of his thoughts, which were concerned with gold. They went inside the mansion and he told Rylla, "I had an interesting conversation with the Governor today."

Longfellow led Rylla up the stairs to the second floor. As they climbed, she said, "Let me guess. He spoke to you about shipping gold to England."

Longfellow took Rylla into his study and closed the door. "MacQuarrie would not tell me why he suddenly wants to secretly send gold to London. My guess is that someone found the wreck of an ancient Spanish Galleon." He held up the nugget and inspected it closely. "The Spanish shipped refined gold. Where did you get this nugget?"

"I can't say. However, I have more and I'd like to arrange passage out of Sydney."

"MacQuarrie insisted that the existence of gold in Australia must be kept secret."

Rylla shrugged. "That's not my concern. I'll make a written contract with you. I want to buy supplies to equip my expedition to the west coast of Australia." Rylla had been worried that most of her gold might be needed to bribe a ship's Captain into taking the southern route around Australia, but now she could see in Allen's mind that the St. Habbenshynn was going to be taking that route outbound from Sydney in just a few days.

Allen sat down at his desk and began writing on a sheet of paper, drawing up a contract. "How large is your expedition?"

Rylla replied, "Not large. I want to reserve two passenger cabins and some cargo space." She handed Longfellow a list of supplies that she wanted to purchase.

He looked down the list and commented, "This looks like supplies for a small army."

Rylla laughed. "There is a small French settlement on the west coast, but no army and no soldiers."

"You are smuggling supplies for the French?"

Rylla sat down across the desk from Allen. "Mr. Longfellow, I'd prefer not to tell you everything I know. As long as I can pay for your services, what else matters?"

"I try to keep in the good graces of the Governor. I hope you are not planning to do something that will anger MacQuarrie and undermine my working relationship with him."

"Forget what I told you about the French settlement. If MacQuarrie asks why you are doing business with me, tell him that I'm a crazy woman from America who want's to settle in western Australia."

Longfellow shook his head and waved the list of supplies. "I won't even try to understand what you are really doing, as long as you can pay for all these goods." He glanced again at the list. "Most of these are items that the Captains of ships routinely stock up on before a long sea voyage." He read from the list, "Half ton spool of 5 gauge wire." He looked at Rylla and asked, "What is it with all these requests for wire that I'm getting? Is every rancher now keeping pet Lorikeets?"

wire bird cage

Rylla could see in Longfellow's thoughts that he had begun importing wire from England at the request of sheep farmers. Often wool shipments arrived at the docks in Sydney with the wool bales bound up by wire. Rylla had been warned by Manny to bring wire to the west coast for use in fencing. She told Longfellow, "Strong wire has many uses. Is it in short supply?"

Longfellow shook his head and replied, "I have this much in my warehouse, but I've never sold so much to one customer before." He set down the list of supplies and finished writing the contract. He read the contract out-loud and emphasized a line in the document that explicitly said Rylla would not reveal to anyone that she was spending gold in Sydney.

Longfellow said, "I need to speak to the supercargo of the St. Habbenshynn. As far as I know, they only have one passenger so far, but it is not a passenger ship. If there is room for you onboard, it won't be luxurious conditions. If the St. Habbenshynn does not have any available passenger space then you will have to wait for another ship. Not many take the southern route. And then there is the matter of payment. You intend to pay the full costs in gold?"

"Yes, Mr. Longfellow, that is my intended form of payment."

"With no gold in Australia, there is no set price... so we will now establish the exchange ratio." Longfellow pulled his most recent edition of The Times out of a drawer and read from the financial page, "Sixteen pounds of silver to a pound of gold." For the contract, he'd calculated prices in pounds of silver. Now he wrote down the the cost in gold and said, "My price is going to be two pounds of gold for two passengers, a pound for the two horses, and 30 pounds for all these supplies... a total of 33 pounds of gold. Pure gold. If you pay in nugget gold, there will have to be a correction made for impurities. I'd guess 50 pounds of nuggets, but, I need to inspect them."

Rylla nodded and said, "And I need to inspect the supplies." With her telepathic linkage into Longfellow's mind, Rylla felt confident that he was not going to cheat her. "Tell me the location of your warehouse and I can bring the gold there tomorrow." They signed the contract and Longfellow shook Rylla's hand and then took her back downstairs. Rylla found Liza with a group of young men that included David Phillips. 

Soon David asked Rylla to dance and they moved into the dance hall where mostly older people were dancing. As they came into the room, the music ended and talk and laughter filled the room. David asked Rylla, "Was that a piece of gold that you gave to Mrs. Longfellow?"

Rylla wondered how he had seen the gold. "You have sharp eyes."

He laughed and said, "I can smell gold."

Rylla wondered if this was Maria Green, returned and now in David's body and again trying to derail Rylla's mission. Frustratingly, Rylla had no telepathic linkage to David. She warned him: "Don't speak to anyone about gold. If you do, the Governor might throw you in jail."

David laughed again. "MacQuarrie would celebrate if he had a source of gold. He can't stand having to use Spanish silver coins." The music began again and they joined the dance. Rylla significantly taller than David, but he moved with confidence. Occasionally during the dance they had a brief chance to speak. David asked Rylla, "Are all the girls in Texas as pretty and tall as you?"

"I don't know. I've never been to Texas."

"Then where are you from?"

Rylla replied, "Est-ce que c'est vraiment important?"

David laughed and said, "Une belle femme mystère." The music for that dance step ended and Mr. Longfellow approached with another man who he introduced to Rylla as Charles Akins, the supercargo of St. Habbenshynn. David asked Longfellow, "Do you know how Miss Onway arrived in the colony? I can't figure out where she is from."

Longfellow shrugged. "I suspect she is a Huguenot refuge."

Akins told Rylla, "We will be able to accommodate you as a passenger on the St. Habbenshynn. Who is the second passenger?"

Rylla explained, "I've asked Captain Doones to go with me."

Akins looked at Longfellow and asked, "Who is Captain Doones?"

"A newly arrived military engineer. The Governor has assigned Doones the task of building stone bridges and improving the Western Highway." The music was starting up again and Longfellow took Akins back across the room to where their dance partners were waiting.

David took Rylla by the hand and led her outside. It was now dark and the tennis players were gone. As they walked across the lawn, he said, "George is taking the St. Habbenshynn for the first leg of his trip to England."

George and Abigail were sitting on a bench and discussing his impending departure. David called to George, "Guess who will be joining you on the St. Habbenshynn."

George looked at Rylla and stood up. "You are going to London?"

"No, sir. I'm only going as far as the west coast of Australia."

"You can't be serious!"

Rylla explained, "I take seriously the idea that the west must be settled... the sooner the better. I intend to live the rest of my life in western Australia."

David suggested, "You must know something about the west... something of value." He gazed speculatively at Rylla and almost spoke about the possibility of finding gold in western Austrailia. "I doubt if you intend to deal in whale oil."

Rylla told David, "I just like adventure."

Abigail said, "You'll have plenty of adventure dealing with the natives. Do you expect Captain Doones to protect you?"

Rylla was not at all certain that Doones would be going with her to the west coast. "I'd rather be friends with the natives than fight them."

David said. "That is a wise strategy. The French have always been good at that, better than the English. Think about Samuel de Champlain."

Abigail pointed across the lawn. "I think Liza picked out a soldier to play with." They watched as a couple slipped off into the shadows of the wooded area behind the mansion.

Rylla laughed and asked, "What is the local tradition? By coming out here in the dark have I unwittingly signaled my availability for a sexual romp in the bushes?

Abigail said, "Relax, Rylla. If I wanted to ravish you I would have done it last night."

Samuel de Champlain

Abigail told George how she had slept peacefully, wrapped in Rylla's arms. David asked Abigail, "Does this mean that you are available now, since Patty is no longer in town and keeping you entertained?"

Abigail shrugged, "I go visit Patty as often as I can, so the answer is still 'no'."

Rylla asked, "Answer to what?"

David explained, "I've repeatedly asked Abigail to be my girlfriend, but she always says 'no'. I still have my hopes. Maybe someday she'll brag about sleeping in my arms."

Abigail told David, "Face it, there simply are too few women in Australia. You should broaden your interests and start asking men to be your boyfriend."

David laughed. "It may come to that."

The soldier crossed the lawn and returned inside. A minute latter, Liza came out of the shadows and told Abigail, "Typical soldier.... he ran out of ammunition after just one minute."

Abigail said, "I was surprised to see you with just one... you should have taken the the entire squad into the bushes."

"There is something to what you say, but then they would have to argue and fight over who gets to go first."

David told Liza, "If there is anything I can do for you, just let me know."

"David, I know you... just like your father... you think everything is about money. I'd have to charge you a big fee."

David shrugged. "I just wanted to do you a small favor."

"The word 'small' is not what I want to hear from a potential sex partner."

"We can't all be hung like horses." David turned away from Liza and looked up into Rylla's pretty face and said, "Size is not everything."

___________

The next day, Rylla and Allen Longfellow met at his warehouse. Rylla inspected the goods that she was buying and then handed over two saddle bags full of gold. She said, "About half the gold is flakes and half is nuggets."

A half hour latter, Longfellow had satisfied himself of the gold's quality. He handed the saddle bags back to Rylla. "You still have about thirty pounds of gold there. You should be cautious, there are thousands of criminals in Australia. If you'd like, just leave the gold here and it will be loaded onto the St. Habbenshynn in the morning along with all of these supplies."

"Thank you for your advice, Allen." Rylla handed her remaining gold back to him. Longfellow set the saddle bags in among the piled supplies. Rylla asked, "It is safe to leave the gold here overnight?"

"This warehouse is constantly guarded." He picked up the sack that held his share of the gold and guided Rylla towards the door. "If you are open to advice then please forget about this whole silly idea of settling in the west."

"I'm still hopeful that Captain Doones will go with me." Rylla had developed the idea that Manny was planning to make a duplicate Doones. "Even if he doesn't, I'll be fine. I don't think you can talk me out of this adventure."

"If you want adventure, have the St. Habbenshynn drop you off in Hobarton, in Van Diemen's Land. There is a small military presence there and you'll have some protection."

They stepped out of the warehouse. Longfellow bowed to Rylla. She commented, "I see you are taking your gold with you and not leaving it in the warehouse."

Longfellow laughed. "The Governor has ordered me to make sure that all gold ends up in his hands, for immediate shipment to England." He bowed to Rylla and departed, carrying the gold given to him by Rylla slung over his back.

Rylla walked to where she had left her horse. She was amazed that she had worried so much about how to make arrangements for transport to the west coast, then everything had worked out fine... except for the detail of Manny's insistence that Captain Doones join Rylla for the expedition. Hearing a sound, she turned around and saw David Phillips. Surprised to see him, she asked, "You work at the docks?"

Shaking his head, David replied, "My father has his own private docks, elsewhere. I followed you here."

"Should I be flattered by your attention?"

"I'm fascinated by you... and your gold. You can't blame me for my curiosity, can you?"

Rylla heard a whistle. She and David turned and saw three men coming towards them from the docks. One was the Sergeant of the docks: the Governor's port security man who called to David, "Halt!"

The Sergeant took hold of David's arm and asked the two men, "Is this him?"

The two warehouse guards both nodded and one replied, "Yes, Sergeant."

The Sergeant tugged roughly on Davids arm and ordered, "Come with me, lad."

David asked, "Where are you taking me? I did nothing."

"You can explain everything to the Governor. Let's go."

Rylla got on her horse and followed along. At the Governor's house, the Sergeant told her, "You are not needed, Miss."

She said, "Take me along to see the Governor. I'm personally involved in this case."

"Longfellow told me to leave you out of this."

"He's very kind, but I'd like to go with you and David and talk to the Governor."

"Suit yourself."

When Elizabeth MacQuarrie saw Rylla, she followed along and soon they were all brought before the Governor. Also in the room was Captain Doones. After introductions, the Governor asked the Sergeant for a report. "Mr. Phillips was seen trespassing at the Longfellow warehouse. I'd been warned to be watching for him. Earlier today he was overheard talking to his gang members in one of the port dives... making plans."

"Very well, Sergeant. You can go." The Sergeant departed and the Governor turned his attention to Rylla. "Miss Onway, I'm trying to keep the discovery of gold secret. I can't believe you told Mr. Phillips about the gold."

David said, "She told me nothing. I happened to see her give a small piece of gold to Mrs. Longfellow."

Rylla asked, "Did David take anything from the warehouse?"

The Governor replied, "That is not at issue. Tell me lad, what did you see in the Warehouse?"

"Not much. I was listening from the rafters when Rylla spoke to Mr. Longfellow." He looked at Rylla and added, "They talked for a long time about wire and why Rylla wants so much of it." He shrugged.

The Governor told David, "I'd ask you to keep your mouth shut, but I know you would not heed my words. Taking after your father, you've always done just as you please. How did you get into that guarded warehouse?"

David showed off a rip in his jacket. "It was a tight fit... sometime it pays to be small when there is only a little hole to squirm through."

Doones told the Governor, "This won't be the last time that something like this happens. We need a plan for how to deal with everyone who finds out about the gold."

The Governor asked Doones, "Are you suggesting that we make an example of David and administer some horrendous punishment?"

"No. I'm simply making the point that it will be hard to keep the gold secret once we start bringing in wagon loads to the dock."

Elizabeth MacQuarrie asked, "How old are you David?"

"Old enough to take what's coming to me. I may be small, but I'm a man. I still don't understand what I did that is so bad."

Rylla asked David, "Did you tell any of your friends about the gold?"

David shook his head and explained, "It is news around town that Captain Doones has been requisitioning wagons and sending them off to Emu Plains. My friends and I are interested in trade. We'd like to find out what the military is doing with those wagons. It hardly seems likely that the army needs wool." David laughed. "I took it upon myself to follow Rylla to the warehouse." He asked Doones, "You are going to cart gold through the streets of Sydney and try to keep it secret?"

The Governor said, "The gold shipments will be disguised."

David said, "Let me suggest a better plan. Ship the gold through my father's dock."

Governor MacQuarrie looked at his wife and seemed to be thinking. Captain Doones asked the Governor, "What is he talking about?"

Governor MacQuarrie told Doones, "The elder Phillips is a petty smuggler. Some day I'll catch him at his tricks, but David might be correct. We could avoid hauling the gold through town."

Elizabeth said, "I know David's mother. I could ride out to Smugglers Cove in the morning and chat with David's parents."

The Governor nodded. "Doones, you go along. I'll hold David in jail tonight. In exchange for use of the Phillips docks, I'll let David out of jail with a warning." He held his hand out to David while saying, "Just make sure that you and your family don't tell anyone about the gold." David took the Governor's hand and winked at Rylla.

Next: Telepathy 101.

Coming Soon: Part 10 of Old Time Gaming.