“So when you told me about this plan,” Ruby was saying, “you said this was … a boat.”
Sam nodded. He was looking out at the river. Slowly, he raised the binocuscope to his eyes. Through the double lens, merging into one as his vision grew used to it, he could see the island, covered in trees. It was exactly halfway across the river, between the north and south of the city.
He swung the ’scope this way and that, seeing the foliage pass by his eyes: but could find no sign of a light. Surely a star, a fallen star … its light couldn’t just go out?
“Sam!” said Ruby again. She was standing by the skateboat. It had come to rest by some railings overlooking the river.
“Yes,” he said, putting the binocuscope down, but continuing to look out. The river was calm – perhaps it always was, not being the sea, and therefore not really having waves – but it looked very deep.
“Have you tested the … boatworthiness of this skateboat? In any way?” she asked.
“Boatworthiness?” Sam said, still looking out. “Is that even a word?”
“Riverworthiness. Staying-on-top-of-waterworthiness.” She reached up and pulled his face round towards hers. “How do we know it’s going to float?”
Sam looked at her (he didn’t really have any choice). “Oh yes, I’ve done all sorts of exact calculations. Weight, surface area, marine biology, et cetera, et cetera.”
“Have you?”
“No.”
“Oh.”
Sam looked at the skateboat, and said, “Well, it got us here OK! Didn’t it? All the way from where we live.”
“Yes …” said Ruby.
“And it’s much less far to over there. Where the island is.”
Ruby turned to the skateboat, on which Spock was sitting, looking up at her with quite a strong sense of, “How much of an idiot is he?”
“Come on,” said Sam, going round to the other side of the skateboat.
Ruby came round and stood next to him. “Come on what?”
“Come on, let’s get the skateboat down the bank.”
“How are we going to do that?”
Sam looked at her as if it was obvious. “Ollie,” he said.
And then he leapt, as high as he could, and landed with his entire weight on the back of the boards. The head of the skateboat flipped up, enough, as he planned, to force the front wheels over the railings.
Unfortunately, as he hadn’t planned, the force was also enough to flip Spock into the air.
Sam and Ruby looked up to see the guinea pig flying high in the night sky, looking down on them with quite a strong sense of, “Oh, I see: this much of an idiot.”