From Sand to Nand

Chapter Eighteen

Pei fastened the last of the rope to one of the pulleys. Once everything was secured in place, he tested its range of motion. When he turned the steering wheel, the wooden arm swung appropriately about the mast, which rotated in its threaded socket. The sail, however, was not yet in place, and the upper deck still needed dozens of hours of work. Below deck were two stories: one for rowing and sleeping quarters, and one for storage. There was enough space to accommodate over one month of food for the 100 passengers that would experience the maiden voyage of the Gracevita. According to the group's calculations, they would see land directly west in Davau within 9 days of departure.

Each day, the crew commissioned to build the ship would monitor their progress. It felt liberating just to imagine the distance she would take them all. The group grew very close and often discussed what a privilege it had been to be stranded together. They had, after all, each played a significant role in the projects that contributed to developing Caranos into a small civilization. Now that it was all ending very soon, many were a bit unnerved to say goodbye. After one previously failed attempt, this vessel would finally prove worthy of the sea.

The week of the captain's abrupt suicide lit a proverbial fire under everyone. People who didn't see what happened were initially taken aback by the news. Even those who were most outspoken against the captain were saddened by his loss. The community felt like it had lost a great leader, one who really cared about their well-being.

***

The funeral was more opulent than any other that ever took place on Caranos. Polished metal placards, flowers, letters, stone cartouches, and gifts piled all over his stationary cement coffin atop a lone hill elevated next to the community.

"He will watch over us now."

"Just like he always did."

Speech after speech, memory after memory, people stood by the fallen man's grave to say their goodbyes and final thanks.

The following few days were quiet. People didn't speak to one another as much, but everyone seemed to work with increasingly more effort. It wasn't clear who finally broke the silence by bringing up a major subject on everyone's minds. Somehow, a serious conversation started about the construction of a sea vessel and the problems that doing so might create. It escalated into a full-blown project.

Peter, one of the Elevation's original crew, interjected to refocus the group. "Okay, okay, okay, wait..."

It took a moment, but eventually, the room fell silent.

"A lot of us want to do this, which is great!" Peter exclaimed. Peter had been elected to be in charge of the project. "Then, let's try to be more broad and less narrow. It's true that building this thing will prove very difficult and—I can't stress this enough—dangerous."

"Okay, so what do we do?" asked one man.

"Clearly, we all want to build it. Alright, fine," Peter said. "Let's consider a backup plan."

"What? You mean building multiple ships?" another man asked.

Peter replied, "Either that, or we could have a fleet of smaller, paddle boats alongside us on the journey—in case something goes wrong."

McSchmitt, still red-eyed but fully invested, added, "Okay, but we should all agree, how many are going to go? How many paddle boats? Who will be where?"

"We've got over 200 who are certain they want to go," Peter calculated. "We already have about 10 paddle boats—"

"But those only hold 5 people at most," Pei interjected.