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On Monday morning just after dawn, a knock came on Dave’s door.
“Rise and shine!” said Al cheerfully as he looked in. “Linder has decided we’re crossing over to the mainland today.”
The announcement gave Dave a shot of adrenaline. He was wide-awake in the twinkling of an eye.
“Have they scouted a landing site for us yet?” Dave asked.
“Yes,” said Al. “Linder went over yesterday in one of the Boston Whalers with some of the naval personnel, and they’ve chosen a preliminary site for the colony, almost directly across from us. Why don’t you fellows head down to the wharf? I’ll meet you there after I rouse the others.”
After a hurried breakfast, the two roommates finished packing their belongings, carried them down to the wharf and stowed their supplies in their dinghy. Dave sat on the wharf, dangling his legs over the edge, waiting for the others to arrive. The morning was bright and clear—ideal for sailing. With a gentle wind blowing out of the north they ought to make the crossing without much trouble.
Al and the others arrived and stowed their gear. A truck came with additional supplies for each dinghy.
When this cargo was offloaded, Linder gave the signal to embark. The dinghies began to leave the quay in single file.
With the Boston Whaler for support, Dave watched as the first of the 180 sailors from Socrates dormitory set off to cross the channel. He sensed everyone’s spirits were high. Maybe they would go down in the history books as the ones to make momentous discoveries in this new world.
Soon it was their turn. Glenn cast off as Dave raised the sail, and Al steered them away from the quay to take their station in line. Their dinghy, The Pitch and Toss, was heavily laden and sluggish. Nevertheless they were able to get out of West Harbor easily, clearing Lighthouse Point without tacking. Even though the day was fair, the swell was rougher than any they had previously encountered. The name chosen for their boat took on a connotation none of them had intended. Both Glenn and Al became seasick, and they alternated between leaning over the gunwale and lying miserably on the mound of supplies. Dave, who was less prone to motion sickness, was left by himself to keep the dinghy on course.
They completed the crossing in about two hours. The Boston Whaler, worrying them like a dog herding a scattered flock of sheep, led them to a single island at the foot of a shallow bay. The island was shaped like a boomerang, with the apex pointing west toward the mouth of a creek. At low tide, the creek flowed around the island on its way to the retreating sea. The drop-off on the seaward side of Boomerang Island, as they named it, was steep enough that the fleet of boats could be moored there without grounding as the tide ebbed. The anchorage wasn’t ideal, since the boats were exposed to an east wind, but it seemed the best that the coast had to offer.
The armed naval personnel scouted the small island and took up guard positions. The colonists in turn unloaded supplies as rapidly as possible, and late in the afternoon, the Boston Whaler escorted fifty dinghies back to Halcyon. Al was taking their dinghy back, and as Dave said goodbye to him, a pang of fear gripped his heart. There was no escape. A door had closed. They were committed. With about 130 colonists and only ten dinghies, only a few could retreat back to the safety of Halcyon if disaster struck.
Dave didn’t have long to think about the danger, since they had to work quickly to set up their campsite. After the navy personnel chose a command center in the middle of the island, at the apex of the boomerang, Linder allotted the rest of the expedition four campsites that were arranged in a ring around the naval camp. The naval personnel worked efficiently and set up a solar powered communication center that would provide contact with Halcyon.
As Dave set up their tent, he was surprised to realize that the vegetation here was much like home. I’m forgetting this is a new world. It’s so similar to home; I was thinking I’m just on another camping trip.
He looked at the vegetation with new eyes and recognized ash, beech, and oak trees. There were also plants Dave didn’t recognize, but he wasn’t sure if they were truly alien or simply less familiar plants from home. Near the shore was a low shrub, with shiny leaves like holly and beautiful red berries. He looked at it briefly. It had a pungent but not wholly unpleasant smell.
The tents erected, Linder and the naval commander, Glenn MacDonald, called everyone together. MacDonald addressed the group. “I want to stress that we need to be very careful in this new environment. Although many of the plants appear familiar, we’re going to take no chances. We’ve brought two dogs and several rabbits along, and they’ll try all of the local food before we do. After the food passes that test, a small number of volunteers will try the food for a week before we inflict it upon the whole company. Any questions?”
Dave thought wistfully about the departed boats.
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But his fears appeared unfounded. Game was plentiful, and the dogs didn’t get sick. They explored the immediate area of the mainland near the island. They followed a creek for several hundred yards into the abundant woods that surrounded Boomerang Island. A plant, which looked identical to the potato plant from home, grew in abundance in the sandy soil along the bank of the creek. The rabbits thrived on it.
The next few weeks passed quickly as they built their colony, which they named Botany Bay. Daily hunting expeditions and the abundance of white-tailed deer meant that meat was never in short supply. But the deep, narrow creek that flowed around Boomerang Island made crossing to the mainland difficult, even at low tide. So the colonists constructed a bridge over the creek and tidal flats. Dave worked long and hard driving wooden poles deep into the mud and securing the bridge to the supports.
Even though they had seen neither natives nor dangerous carnivores, Macdonald insisted they build a stockade with a fifteen-foot palisade on a promontory overlooking the creek. After Dave’s team finished building both the bridge and the stockade, they moved on to build other structures: smokehouses, dormitories, and a large dining hall. Botany Bay began to look like a small village.
Every Friday all the radios would be tuned to Blackmore and Hoffstetter’s joint broadcast from Halcyon. The colonists were heartened to hear that not all of the force field equipment had been destroyed, and Hoffstetter spoke confidently during the broadcasts of having them home by Christmas, or by next summer at the very latest. Everyone’s spirits lifted at the prospect.
By the time the stockade was complete, Botany Bay had already grown to almost 600 inhabitants, as more and more recruits from the dorms Schopenhauer and Socrates were trained to sail and then ferried to the mainland.
Most of the trees in the vicinity of Botany Bay had been felled and used in the construction of the first buildings. A cry for wood from Halcyon had also been received. Clive Henderson, now the Governor of Botany Bay, decided that a lumber camp was needed farther up the creek. It could be used to supply logs for the construction of a large cookhouse on the mainland, and also to meet Halcyon’s need for wood. Dave was chosen to join the construction crew for this new undertaking.