Chapter Five

After sailing for eight hours, Hep and Scroat felt pretty confident on the boat. The seas were calm and the temperature was pleasant. As the sun got closer and closer to the horizon, Poseidon poured them each a glass of rum.

“This keeps getting better!” Scroat said.

“So you’re having a good time so far?” Poseidon said.

“Yeah, this has been great. Feels like we’re making good progress too. How far have we gone today?”

“About fifty five miles.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? We’ve been sailing all day.”

“Well, we might have made sixty five so far if you guys knew what you were doing. We’ll go faster as you get the hang of it.”

“Fifty five miles is a one hour ride! The world is going to end while we’re out here!”

“Well, I guess you’re just going to have to learn how to appreciate the slow groove. This boat’s maximum speed is about 7 knots per hour.”

“Oh, fuck. I’m going to get drunk and sleep for the rest of the trip. Wake me up when we’re in Alaska.” Scroat started to head for the cabin.

“I don’t think so. You’re going to have to take a watch tonight. Your choice, first three hours or the second.”

“Watch? We’re not stopping for the night?”

Poseidon spread his arms and said, “Look around you. Do you see land? Where do you propose we stop? At a rest area in the middle of the ocean?”

Scroat looked around, and the extent of what they had gotten into sunk in.

“Aw, fuck. I call first watch. Hep likes to get up early, anyways.”

“Works just fine for me,” Hep said.

“Good,” Poseidon said. “Now this is real easy. All you have to do is stay awake, not run into anything, and keep the boat pointed on this heading. The last part is pretty easy, the autopilot will handle it for you. You just need to check the compass now and then and make sure we’re still going the right way.”

He pointed out their heading on the compass, told Scroat that if anything he didn’t know how to handle happened, it would be OK to wake him up, and said good night.

“Good luck, see you in a few hours,” Hep said.

“Yeah, three hours and, like, one mile from here. Try not to let the excitement keep you awake. I hope I can keep this speed demon of a boat from running into something.”

“Me too. Good night!” Hep climbed down into the cabin, and shut the hatch behind him.

Scroat noticed it was suddenly very dark, very quiet, and very lonely out on the ocean at night. He looked out in all directions and could see... darkness.

“Awesome. Just fucking awesome.”

He sat down and watched the darkness ahead, looking for lights, icebergs, glowing mermaids, or something. The wind shifted a bit, and the boat picked up some speed. The boat’s motion on the waves was making him sleepy.

“How the fuck am I supposed to stay awake out here? I’m warm, comfy, tired and this oversized bathtub is rocking me to sleep!”

No one answered him. The water lapped quietly past the boat, in a soothing sort of way.

Scroat stood up, and started waving his arms around. “All right! Here I am, shaking the sillies out on a boat at night in the middle of the ocean. Why the fuck not? Not like there’s anything I’d rather be doing.”

No one answered, but talking to himself helped him stay awake. He walked, as much as he could, back and forth across the deck. It took him a few trips before he realized the water the boat was moving through was glowing. In fact, they’d left a phosphorescent trail in the ocean behind them. And at the bow, a few dolphins were swimming along, escorting them for the time being.

“Well, I bet you fuckers think you’re pretty fancy up there, huh? All sparkly and pretending like you’re unicorns of the sea. ‘Oh, we don’t need to sleep at night, we just frolic and sparkle!’ Fuck you, dolphins!”

The wind had picked up a bit, and the waves were getting bigger. Scroat noticed when he nearly lost his footing as the boat moved. The wind picked up a bit more, and Scroat was pretty sure he’d seen lighting in the distance. He was certain when lightning flashed much closer to the boat.

Scroat was keenly aware, all of a sudden, that he was floating on the ocean under a huge lightning rod.

“Who’s stupid idea was this? Hey! Dolphins! Remind me to kick Inktomi’s ass the next time I see him.”

The dolphins squeaked and chattered at him. If he spoke dolphin, he’d know that they’d told him they weren’t about to do any favors for some douchebag that had just called them the unicorns of the sea, and furthermore, if he fell overboard they would personally see to it that he would find out just how hard a dolphin can “frolic.”

Luckily, Scroat could not speak dolphin. He turned and looked in the direction he’d seen the lightning last. To his surprise, he got a faceful of rain. It started slowly, but grew in intensity by the second. Within a couple of minutes his clothes were entirely soaked through. Thunder crashed and boomed somewhere nearby, and the waves grew ever higher. Up the boat rode to the top of one wave, just to careen down the other side. To Scroat’s way of thinking, it was like a salty roller coaster he really wished he wasn’t on.

A wave broke across the bow of the boat, and he noticed he couldn’t hear the dolphins carrying on any more.

“Oh. Fuck.”

Another wave broke across the boat, and Scroat wished he was somewhere, anywhere, else. Thunder crashed again and again, ever closer, and the boat heaved up and down with the waves.

“OK! I want to get off now!,” Scroat yelled at the boat.

He remembered that there was an expert sailor who just happened to be sleeping in the cabin. He struggled to the hatch, opened it, and hollered “A little help, please!”

Poseidon stuck his head up out of the hatch, took a look around, and bellowed “Mellow out!”

Almost instantly, the seas calmed, and the rain stopped. There were a couple distant rumbles of thunder, and that was it.

“Are you going to be all right now, princess?” Poseidon said.

“Yeah, I guess. Jerk,” Scroat said.

“Hey, only an hour to go until you’re off watch. Have a good time!”

Poseidon ducked back below, and pulled the hatch shut behind him. Scroat was wide awake now, and didn’t have any trouble staying awake for the rest of his watch.

About an hour later, Hep came up out of the hatch.

“Hey, go sleep,” he said.

“Did you set an alarm? How did you know it was time to get up? Did you sleep through the heavy weather?”

“Yep, I set an alarm. What heavy weather?”

“Nevermind. Good night,” Scroat said. He went down into the cabin, hopped up into his berth, and fell asleep immediately.

Hep settled in behind the helm, and looked out over the sea. Like Scroat, he wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but figured he’d know it when he saw it. The dolphins were back, playing in the wake of the bow, and he marveled at the glowing water.

He didn’t mind that they weren’t going especially fast. The wind in his face felt just as good as it did on his motorcycle, and the air smelled good, clean. Every now and then, he checked the boat’s heading as Poseidon had show them, and so far the autopilot was doing a great job.

There was a wet thump, followed by several smaller thumps up near the bow of the boat. Hanging on to a lifeline, Hep edged his way forward to see what had happened. The movement of the boat made it very difficult for him to stay standing, but he managed. When he got to the bow, he found a flying fish that had landed on the deck.

“This isn’t really the most hospitable place for you, is it?” Hep asked the fish. It flopped around some more. He picked it up, and tossed it back into the ocean. Then, still holding on to a lifeline, he worked his way back to the cockpit.

He made himself comfortable in the cockpit again, and let his mind wander. He wondered if, perhaps, they should have stayed closer to home for a bit, to see which of his tools were salvageable. He hoped his anvil would still be there, and wasn’t damaged too badly in the fire. Having to heat-treat a three hundred pound anvil wouldn’t be a fun project.

But, those were things he’d have to deal with in the future. If anything was damaged too badly, well, he’d just have to track down Inktomi and demand assistance. It wouldn’t really be a problem.