19
‘Come on you Blues! Come on you Blues!
Blues, Blues, it’s all good news –’
‘Reds! Reds! Reds we say.
Reds live to fight another day –’
The shouting and celebrating and the commiserating gradually faded behind us and we left the citizens of Football Island to all their tomorrows. It seemed funny that they’d go on and on doing what they did, playing endless games of football, where the result was never in doubt. And it would never be any different. Some days your team would win, and some days they would lose, or draw, and you would be happy or sad accordingly, and so it would always be.
It’s always strange when you’re travelling, because your days are changing and varied, while the days of those you pass, or leave behind you, go round like wheels, in patterns and habits, and things that were done yesterday are all to be done again tomorrow. And when we got to City Island, our days would be spinning wheels too.
‘Martin!’ Peggy called to me.
‘What is it?’
‘Come over here a moment.’
I went and joined her at the helm.
‘What’s up, Peggy?’
‘Take the sky-charts and show me where we are.’
I did.
‘Now show me where City Island is and how you’d get there.’
I did that too.
‘I thought you just got Gemma to do this,’ I said. ‘I overheard –’
‘I did. I want to be sure you can find the way too.’
‘Well, I can.’
‘Good.’
‘Why?’
‘And you can use the solars, can’t you? And you know how the sails can be hauled in or hoisted, and how to tack and all the rest?’
‘You’ve shown me plenty of times.’
‘OK. Just wanted to check.’
‘Why?’
She was starting to worry me.
‘Because a crew ought to know. I just wanted to be sure you can sail the boat – you know – if anything were to happen … or if I wasn’t here.’
‘But – but why wouldn’t you be here, Peggy?’
‘It’s just standard procedure, Martin.’
‘Well, I know.’
‘OK, well, just to get some practice in, you take over.’
‘What – now?’
‘Yes, now.’
‘Oh … all right. What are you going to do?’
‘I’m going below. I’m going to lie down a little while.’
‘Are you all right, Peggy?’
‘Of course I’m all right. Just a bit tired.’
‘OK.’
‘Just stick to the course we’re on.’
‘OK.’
That was what I said. But I didn’t stick to it. The captain has to use his or her discretion and respond to unforeseen circumstances as he or she deems fit.
Angelica saw it before the rest of us.
‘Martin … Gemma … Alain – look over there.’
In the far sky, about two hours away from us and off to our starboard, was a great bank of cloud. The upper part of it was wide and deep, and must have stretched for a couple of kilometres. But the bottom of it was narrow and swirling, the vapour twisting like a whirlwind and disappearing into nothingness.
‘What’s doing that?’ Angelica said. ‘Something’s sucking it up.’
‘There’s a boat there, inside the cloud,’ Alain said. ‘It’s a Cloud Hunter. Has to be. They’ve got the compressors on and they’re gathering it in.’
‘Wow – isn’t that amazing. I’ve never seen –’
Alain didn’t let Gemma finish.
‘Change course,’ he said. ‘We’ve got to reach it before it goes.’
‘Change course?’ Gemma said. ‘But we’re already running late and Peggy –’
But I think she didn’t want to find the cloud-hunting boat because she was afraid it might be the last she would see of Alain.
‘Yes, well, I’ve got the wheel,’ I said. ‘I’ve been left in charge.’
‘So what? You’re not the oldest.’
‘What’s that got to do with anything? Why does being older give you any more right –’
‘Martin, will you change the course – please?’
Which was quite decent of Alain really. He could have just fetched his crossbow and pointed it at my head. But I’d already decided to do it. It might be his own parents in that boat. We couldn’t just sail on by. I turned the wheel and opened up the solars to max and got the others to help me put the spinnaker out, and in a couple of minutes we were running full tilt, and you could hear the sound of the wind whistling past your ears – and that was the sound of us moving.
‘How far do you think?’ I said.
Alain squinted.
‘They’re two hours away.’
‘That’s what I thought,’ I said, glad to have my estimate confirmed.
‘Can we go any faster?’
‘No, everything’s flat out. It’s an old boat. Don’t want it falling apart.’
He went to the prow and stood at the rail, watching the great cloud bank grow smaller as the unseen compressor sucked it down.
‘Look – there –’
The lower vapour had cleared and we could see the cloud-hunting boat, and the great cloud was now half its original size and shrinking rapidly.
‘Fire a flare, Martin, so they can see us.’
‘If you like … you do it.’
He fired one of the emergency flares into the sky. But I don’t think they saw it. They were still an hour away from us, and no doubt engrossed in their work.
‘Let me fire another.’
‘Alain, there’s only one left,’ Gemma said. ‘What if there is a real emergency?’
‘This is a real emergency!’ he snapped. But he didn’t use the last flare. He left it in the case.
The cloud was going. It was just wisps and traces now, and then it was gone, all folded up and packed away and turned into water in the compressor tanks. And the cloud-hunting boat then raised its sails and opened its solars, and away it went, skimming off on a thermal like whoever was at the helm was a sky-sailor in a race.
‘That is some going …’
We didn’t have a hope. Even if we’d had a faster, more streamlined boat, I didn’t have the skill to sail it in that way, and I didn’t think anyone else on board did either.
‘I’m sorry, Alain, we’re not going to be able …’
He could see it was pointless. He turned away from the prow and nodded at me.
‘Thanks anyway,’ he said.
Then he went below.
Peggy appeared a while later.
‘What are we doing here?’ she said. She knew at once that we weren’t where we should have been. ‘Are we lost already?’
‘We saw a cloud-hunting boat and I had to take a detour.’
‘Oh. That’s why he’s upset.’
‘We couldn’t catch it.’
‘I see. Have you recalculated the course?’
‘Me and Gemma did it. It’s better if we go this way, rather than sail all the way back to where we diverted.’
‘Show me.’
I showed her the new route on the chart.
‘It didn’t look dangerous. It avoids the Forbidden Isles as much as we can. The only islands we come really close to are these.’
‘Oh. The Friendly Isles? We’re going that way?’
‘Yes. I mean, they sound all right. You’re not going to get any problems sailing past an archipelago called the Friendly Isles, are you?’
But Peggy just sighed.
‘You kids still have a lot to learn, don’t you?’ she said. ‘See, this is what worries me. I only have to go and take a little nap, and it all starts getting complicated.’