h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Chapter 14

Life on Heregoesnuthin settled into a fairly pleasant pattern during the three weeks it took for us to sail to Uninhabited Volcanic Island Number 115. Mal Fung Shen, our pilot on the flight to Hawaii, was in charge of the ship's engine, but whenever possible he liked to stand on the deck and watch for flying fish.

Juniper Fect was the ship's resident storm expert, regaling us regularly with tales of historic typhoons and hard blows. When the skies were clear -- which was most of the time -- we let him rattle on, but when the wind picked up and the sky grew dark, we actively avoided him, as if he might bring on a tempest.

Juan Eng Shin, the plane's co-pilot, kept the yacht's emergency helicopter in top shape, but this was hardly a full time job. Scrimshaw was his passion. An exhibit of his work was kept in a corner of the Atlantis Lounge.

One day the lookout drew our attention to two items of interest: a distant green spire in the distance and, at closer range, a very large white ship. "The Great White Whale," he exclaimed proudly, referring to the latter. When we rolled our eyes at this, he explained that that was the ship's name, and that the captain was Dick Mobius, a renegade mariner who had tailed Uncle Floyd for years and tried to profit from whatever treasure remained after Floyd left.

"It's obvious that Mobius thinks we're onto something big," Andrea Doria muttered as she watched the other ship through her binoculars.

"But doesn't he know about the vortex and the sharp reefs?" I asked.

"Oh, he knows about them, but he wants to stay close enough to see how we get around them," Andrea said with a sigh.

And so, after three weeks of sailing, we came to within a hundred yards of the vortex and debated how we would handle the obstacles. The whole world may not have been watching us, but Mobius and his crew certainly were, as was the little tree which we had brought with us. Andrea brought the tree into the deck and began singing to it.

Suddenly her phone rang. It was her doctor, who was pleased to announce that her donor heart was ready. "Sorry, I have to go," she announced to the crew that was gathered on the deck. "If they don't put in my new heart soon, it won't work."

"But who will be our captain for the last leg of our trip?" I asked, beginning to feel weak in the knees."

"Oh, you know yourself that *you* were destined to be the captain, Owen," Andrea said, shaking my hand warmly. "Or should I say Am Ahab?" When I flinched at this reference to certain disaster, she wrote my first name in capital letters on the edge of an envelope and turned it upside down. It spelled N3MO. "From now on, you are Captain Nemo," she said proudly and wheeled her chair over to the helicopter pad, where Juan Eng Shin was waiting to transport her to the American aircraft carrier which waited three hundred miles away.

Thrilling read, I hope that our hero will cope with his position of responsibility.

[Amy P]

Great story so far. Certainly nothing to snark about

" I hope that our hero will cope with his position of responsibility." [The Thinker]

I'm still trying to figure out how to end the story. Happily, my characters seem to take on lives of their own. Maybe they will come up with their own happy endings.