I set the rudder to full tilt, latched it down and dropped sails.I set the rudder to full tilt, latched it down and dropped sails. I waited. And waited. Night came. Shipping SDisks are cranky things, and I could wait here for a while, or I could drift out of range. They can also be subtle. If it weren't for the fact that the lights changed and the horizon suddenly went down instead of up, I may not have noticed the change at all. But it is hard to miss the horizon, and the stars, and the lack of neighboring daylight regions blazing away in the million-of-klick distance. When I finally looked up and saw these things, I jumped to my feet, determined my position (Shipping SDisk P009) and set sail. On Pandora, directions are more familiar; I was headed about forty degrees off magnetic north. After a few hours of gauging my headspeed and distance from the SDisk, I spotted my target, a small clump of island off in the dark distance, with a single lantern indicating my eventual landing spot. I dropped anchor and slowly went about closing up the Succubus. This simple daytrip had been short and pleasant, and she had safely brought me to this different shore, and she would bear me home again, if I cared for her. I remembered a phrase I had heard a long time ago- "In Space, like the Sea, your second mistake is the one that kills you." I once again stripped down to my shorts and packed my clothes into the bag; I wandered over her deck one last time to make sure everything was perfect, then jumped over the side. The moment I hit the warm ocean water I knew something was up; there was a definite tug on the bag, and as I clung to it the tug got stronger, so I gave it up; it vanished into the waves. I began to swim towards shore and the waves bore me swiftly. When I clambered out of the simple surf onto the shore I was not surprised to find my yellow bag waiting for me. I retrieved it and walked up to the lantern I'd spotted earlier. There was a little yellow note attached to the tree underneath with a thumbtack. It read in Centaur, her language of choice, "Ken, if you find this note I'm still out getting dinner. Make yourself at home. You know the way. O." I smiled, and made my way along the path towards the rather impressive marble structure that was my hostess' home. I found the doors unlocked and the lanterns lit. The foyer was large and despite the heat it seemed cold, mostly because of the exposed white marble. |