New Homeport Island Part 12

The vest hadn't even been started yet, so I had a unique look about me. Dave Miles walked up and paced around me then stood in front of me and asked, "Seriously?" then brushed at my chest as if to brush away sand, but actually trying to get my nipples hard and said, "I'm going to need those too." and he walked out to gather more plant fibers. Tammy glanced over and said, "If you need your toe nails painted let me know." I replied, "Ha..ha... I needed something quick that didn't take too much materials." Athena rushed up and said, "Here...here's something you can wear." and she tossed her panties at me. I took a sniff and watched her turn red, she reached out for them and I said, "Tastes good." She withdrew her hand and glanced back as she quickly walked away she giggled with a smile and noticed I had that fevered look so she broke into a run and hid for a while.

Michael was nearby and he commented, "Whatever works, but I'm gonna' need some shoes." We both glanced at Tim and Tim had already started making himself one. He looked back out us sheepishly and asked, "What?" I replied, "Leather dude, how are we doing on that?" Tim replied as he worked, "Still trying to herd them, but I'll make sure we save the hide for leather."

Mich.e.l.le was in the cabana and strolled out in a sultry manner, she interjected, "I'm wood working now not hunter but we found their burrow..." Tim replied, "I'm a hunter but also a ship builder." Megan blurted out, "d.a.m.n carpet baggers!" and laughed.

Mich.e.l.le added, "They have several burrows right up against a rock face cliff wall. Looks like our pen idea got a lot simpler." We all headed over there with everything we thought we'd need including our drums. We positioned ourselves and started digging in, at the first sight of a snout we started the drumbeat and yipped like American Indians. We figured all we need to do was to keep throwing food near the burrow entrance and pin them in. They would likely feed only at night, but we needed to take one soon and it shouldn't be an alpha or mAtrisiarch. We used some of the line from the first pa.s.s through the rope loom for snares. And avoided the first one we snared after boxing them in, which would likely be an alpha or mAtrisiarch and we didn't know which would be vital, but the third one out we snared and figured it looked like a fair kill. The mountain watch would have to become a pen watch and the boar could not be driven from their nests of burrows without us struggling to find them again.

We knew the fresh meat and the recent advent of the rope loom would drive the productivity on ship construction through the roof and we were preparing our materials to support a dead run of labor.

Once that boar had been smoked and roasted, the crane was complete and moving the ship was our focus and cause for celebration.

Tammy danced the Macarena for everyone's amus.e.m.e.nt and laughed and giggled. She enjoyed her new more flirtatious persona as did we all. Athena tweeted out melodies on her ocarina. And the men and I modeled our new island made clothing in a run way fashion show with Mich.e.l.le and Tommi as the announcers.

Then the feast was served. Triple rations of bread, full fish meal and even a hand full of leeches. Tammy gave a benediction to the meal, "Oh he who hath landed us here, in your wisdom, and hath brought forth a feast. Please grant us one day of peace.

Give us this day a ration of bread that we may sleep without food in our heads. gracias amen."

We sung a cadence as our heaviest gauge ropes pulled tight all along and a crossed our Egyptian style crane and our ties on the ship. Michael called out, "Heave ho, heave ho, as we lift the ship. Yoh ho, yoh ho, as we slack our line to lower." and all line tenders called the appropriate response, "Heave, heave, ho" As Gabriel pulled away he cried out, "Is that really the best you can do?" and he changed our cadence to, "One two lift! One two lift!" a more professional call made us feel as though we'd been a little silly but we had learned 'fun' preserves sanity.

The drilling of holes for the pegs that would fasten the ribs to the keel was now a matter of an awkward contortion. Tim and Gabriel looked like circus clowns trying to position themselves under the ship to drill the holes with gnarled up locker and car keys. Just seeing them under there we made sure the crane maintained a significant load. We would alternate the load to swing the ship closer to the water after we had smoked the hull from the outside if not also the inside.

After the first few days the use of tree sap as glue made it not unusual to see sea sh.e.l.ls stuck to foreheads. Mich.e.l.le decided the sock hats she'd decided we would need were needed now and finished that project quickly. So there I stood with a stocking cap, a vest, and a kilt all of stained burlap, I felt like a gnome in a dress with a glandular problem. But the fashion show helped the women smiled and teased, then rea.s.sured us whatever kind of men we were, we were their men.

Athena helped me bend over under the keel to show me where to apply the tree sap. She nuzzled in close and with a grasp on one of my ankles she grasped my wrist and guided me as though I were blind. I would have felt that odd, but she whispered instructions in my ear and was breathing heavily which made me tingle all over. She whispered on the back of my neck, "You're doing good and no one will look up your skirt so long as I am here." I didn't react as I would have expected, her whispers were comforting and her breath made me feel pleasantly numb and the back of my neck tingled. Athena repositioned me then pa.s.sed me some warmed tree sap on a ceramic shard and again instructed me with a whisper, "A little over here... I need to reposition you so I can pull you out if it falls. But you need to spread your legs widely honey, don't worry it's me behind you." Then she moved her hand from my ankle to my a.s.s and slid her hand down to the edge of my kilt and reached up along my thigh and pulled that leg toward her.

The softness of her touch aroused me and that was her goal, a little private mockery and teasing, because now I was in a skirt.

She kissed the back of my ear softly with a hush and slid her hand further up my kilt. She whispered, "Turnabout is fair play, you're hard and now you're going to understand." The she penetrated my a.n.u.s with her finger and giggled. I was frozen in shock my body all a shudder, I couldn't speak or even think.

Random utterances hushed from my mouth. She noticed my condition and whisper, "I won't tell, but you're going to let me do this." She slide around behind me and with her finger still inserted she used her other hand to stroke me. We didn't have any privacy; she was pulling a female power play. With a facial gesture to the other women she signaled for them to keep the men occupied and distracted from us. To push them into accepting we needed privacy while simultaneously inviting them to attend to any need I might have for attention. Mich.e.l.le came over and lifted at my neck with her knee by kneeling in front of me and to my right. She pulled back my hair and held me firmly in place. Mich.e.l.le angled herself so that her elbow was pressing in the center of my back causing my back to arch, then put a couple of her fingers in my mouth and said, "Were going to put something else in your mouth soon.

With that the overwhelming s.e.xual tension broke and I got angry, I tried to pull away but Mich.e.l.le pulled my hair yanking me back into place. Then said clearly to Athena, "He's close."

Athena quickened her stroking motions and again I was over whelmed. They both kept ordering me, "Now...now, or everyone sees." The tension was back and near its peak, then Mich.e.l.le pushed deep into my mouth gaging me briefly and I released. Athena called out excitedly, "Robert came. Look everyone! Robert came" Tammy and Tommi stepped around to see me from behind. They inspected me as though it were a wound. The men stepped around the work of the ship to see what they were joking about and once they saw my predicament they darted away.

Athena smacked my a.s.s and said, "Hey, go be the governor." So with trembling legs and a deep sense of shame and humility I walked back to the rocky area where I had built the rope loom and was still trying to derive better tools.

The girls had observed how we were making the holes and made a drill bit from cement. It was my folly that I had only considered the keys, ceramic, and gla.s.s. As they took over the attachment of the ribs the progress increased drastically.

Once all the ribs were in place we planned the night's party, I was planning to make some Capri pants to replace my kinky s.e.x skirt. There would be dancing and singing, some more of the boar we had taken, and now that the girls considered me put in place and under their guidance it was time for a theatrical story telling theater.

I decided to stick with the form I had used on the ship and integrate training objectives. My tale was to be of how the Woodenpeg sailed back to California.

I said in a dramatic panamime like pose, "The ship had been set upon the water using our crane, without a soul aboard except that spirit of the ship, using our crane which we named goliath. It...she, sat there upon the sea awaiting her crew at anchor. They would walked down a pier made of logs lashed together, in a precession march, all ceremonious and dutiful. Her captain appointed by the senate and all trained for navigation in the most ancient of ways, tried and true.

Their maps derived from our navigational circle that had been used as a sundial and farmer's almanac helped them determine the location of the island as a navigational zero. Like the earliest of sailors they struck out upon uncharted waters to distant locations for untold riches. The riches in this case was life in America again. Rush hour traffic, taxes, not having reservations and being turned away, expensive clothing, and...television, movies, book stores, public parks with children, shopping malls, and grocery stores."

Athena interjected, "And bars!!!" and laughed. I continued, "And bars. She awaited her crew chosen by those available deciding who was most ready and fit. Her stores were full of a three month supply of rations as a journey by sail was a horrendous under taking." and then Mitch did a slow drum roll.

I continued, "As the crew walked down the pier, those that would stay behind sung songs of home like where the streets have no name by U2. The crew proud of the task and the responsibility they lay before them strut with pride down a wet pier, in uniforms made here on the island. As the sheets were raise to catch the wind, the beaches cheered for them, our hero's.

Her Captain at the bow and her crew at the stern she charged over the horizon to our home. Upon the seas she afforded her crew a fair fate but favored none. Should any of her crew lose respect for her or for the sea they would surely be lost to the briny abyss.

As night fell the captain and the navigator independently took celestial navigation measurements with the s.e.xtant made here upon her birth place, charting a course nearly two thousand miles northeast.

The rations were carefully monitored by the Cookson, who cooked not much more than water making it fresh but was prepared to cook fish in the mini-still's fire box should the ship's fishnets be called for because of low rations. The water barrels maintained a sufficient supply but in the event of a storm their course could run long." Athena leaned forward and glanced at Mich.e.l.le. Mich.e.l.le looked back the scratched her nose as she looked at Tim. Tim and Michael sitting near each other looked stunned. There was more to the Woodenpeg then they had envisioned. Tammy used the ocarina to start a low soft melody as if to bring the story into a lullaby.

After I finished my story everyone was exhausted from all the implied work, it was like a good scenario covering everything except how to avoid a treaty violation.

As we nuzzled in for the night Megan took Mich.e.l.le's spot sleeping next to me and whispered in my ear, "Rob, I need you to shave my legs tomorrow." I replied, "Okay." and kissed her on the cheek. Athena threw her leg around my hip from behind me, and draped her arm around my chest before she hugged me as we went to sleep. The curtains we had woven for the cabana were swaying more than usual and I expected a change in the weather.

The next morning the winds were low with heavy cloud cover and there was a cool humidity about the air. Tim and Mitch were making planks and Michael and I were placing them. At the rate we were working the hull would be complete in two days.

I couldn't understand where the time had gone, the sundial had a trace on several stars and the small circles indicating north were nearly complete, as were the large circles indicating south.

There was also a heart shape forming that I was unsure of. It had been nearly a year. The line we fastened to our sundial pole's tip had been lined up with the stars and we had noted in the circles that the chart is of course upside down. The note read, "North is at the bottom and the whole world is upside down"

Chapter Twelve.

Mercury sets to sea It had been a year the ship was complete and the celebration and launch of the ship was in a few days. Building up the rations took time and the fish were preserved as a dried fish meal, the sorghum floor and yeast would be prepared onboard in a small galley. Seasonings would be on top of the fishmeal cooked atop a hand sized ration of bread. The leeches were both dried and fresh kept in fresh water. Rations of fresh water were stored in barrels but the ship had a still and a mountain of charcoal.

My computer design still lay in odd components, sprockets, ladder-chain ropes, scales, levers, pulley wheels with intentional slippage and self-adjusting tensioners. But in my frustration I did take leave of the project and worked out a small model of a hot air balloon.

After the launch of the ship we would build the elevated platform, to watch for their return with help. We had planned for them to attempt to sail all the way back, but should they come in contact with any merchant traffic they could call for help. I had left this out of the scenarios but I reminded those we selected for the crew. I had to stay, I was still the governor and seemed adept at coming up with solutions to our problems here.

As I tested my small hot air balloon I tested how much weight it could carry and saw it as a crane, a nice sky hook. As for my computer idea, I struggled. What would it do? I was the governor and had certain responsibilities, and from those we had come up with appropriate laws through the senate. But I discovered people like to change the laws as they see fit and had to argue that's what precedence setting incidents are. It happened this was our communities' solution and we had to stand by that answer forever, by using that response every time the defense can prove it is a similar situation...no special cases.

So, back to the idea of it being a tarot card deck with an animation. It will predict outcomes and guide us back to law, and it will present as a manifestation of one of the original twelve G.o.ds of ancient Rome. We had no crime on our side of the island but the actions of the senate and the decision as to labor force application and consumption of island resources had to be a matter of law; Or the decree of a G.o.d.

After I finished working out the model of a hot air balloon by stacking stones with it, I sat and narrated my thought looking at the 'computer' parts I had made. I spoke with a melody as though I were about to break into song, "Zeus was theology and we may need him, but not yet. Vulcan was an engineer, Hades was a surgeon and mortician, Mars was agriculture and military science, Demeter was hunting and botany related to animals, Apollo was philosophy and arts; Hera was marriage and civil law. Civil law? Oh G.o.d, an island run by Hera...those nightmare stories are over a thousand years old and are still told. Let's stick to Apollo."

Between mechanical representations of logic gates, push rods and levers, a cam for clock pulses, scales that catch water and compare the weight, slipping pulley wheels with a lever system that adjusts their tension, I was absolutely not above using a papier-mache puppet as an interface.

Tammy and Mich.e.l.le were putting finishing touches on the ship, they were making a smooth deck cover with the knotweed by shaving it into veneer like strips. The deck was being coated with the tree sap and with the ship up on the wooden 'x's just above the water she got wet every time she took slats out to Michael up on the deck.

Artimus was out on the militants fishing boat and had finally hardened his circle. Artimus said, "Looks like I'm a Captain again." Smity glanced over to the boat and asked, "What do you mean?" Dave Artimus smiled a crooked smile and said, "I've tolerated all this craziness by my own choice. I have been in control and in command all along. And now they did just what I wanted them to do, I have a ship again and they made sure it was suitable to get them back." Milson was the third man on the boat and he asked, "Will you be taking Koleson with you?" Artimus laughed, "No...I'm taking you guys and a couple more. And don't p.i.s.s me off, because that's the only reason I was beating up that guys guts with my d.i.c.k. And I guarantee that smart a.s.s cabin boy knows his place now." Smity inquired, "On his knees with your d.i.c.k in his mouth?" Artimus replied, "Your G.o.d d.a.m.n right." with all the infliction and self- satisfaction of a new lottery winner.

Athena had always loved playing the 'bad girl' she had tugged my heart strings so hard it felt as though my heart had been ripped from my chest. Now with the ship near complete she wanted to cross the tracks to the militant camp and celebrate with a little exhibitionism of power. In the late evening she slipped out of the gate and back to the militant camp. She was a little leery so she took our 'holy relic' knife with her. She found her friend Amber and said she had missed her, but with a wipe of her forehead and an exhaustive exhale she said dramatically, "I've just been so busy. We finished our rescue ship, the Woodenpeg. I've just been dying to see you and catch up on old times, how have you been." Amber accustomed to that level of drama which a.s.sured her in the past she was in fact speaking to a woman rather than a d.y.k.e replied, "I'm the football queen cheerleader, they fell in love with my pompoms. Dave suggested a prom. You should come!" Athena thought to herself, 'All the d.a.m.n parties I've managed over there and no one even thought of a prom?' Amber noticing her silence and dismay said, "Can you show me how to make one of those dresses?" Athena gleamed an overwhelming smile and replied, "Totally!"

As they collected plant fibers to make the cloth from the whispers began. Amber asked, "You sure the boat won't sink?"

Athena replied, "We absolutely worked it out. And we'll test it, but the provisions are already to go, and the navigational circle says now is the time or we will have to wait out the winter."

Amber chuckled, "I didn't even notice last winter. You get a husband over there?" Athena tucked her head down as she collected the fibers and said, "Not that much has changed, it was only about a month ago that we saw each other." Amber replied, "I know. But while you guys were building the ship we didn't see any of you for a year and we sent someone over to make sure you were still alive and they found the fence and the wall but found a way to look over it and saw how well the ship was coming; so Dave asked us to give them some time."

Athena still speaking in a hush asked, "I thought you guys removed him from command." Amber replied, "We did. But, what else are we going to do?" As Amber and Athena started to laugh and giggle in girl talk the guys noticed Athena was dressed very much like a native. They set a perimeter around them and signaled Amber they were on alert. Amber nodded with an intense look to her eyes and a false smile and Athena noticed and got a little jittery. Amber in turn noticed the nervous tension and changed it into s.e.xual tension by teasing her about boys. And the laughter continued, Amber knew that if she continued teasing her about s.e.x and guys that once Athena was hot enough to smell her musk she would be fine.

The militant's clothes we're tattered and they had all lost weight and muscle ma.s.s. Some looked like Irish coalminers and others like Aborigines, but they knew her. She helped form a loom with Amber shirt was tattered, her bra intact, her pants shredded below the knee and a torn just under her left b.u.t.tock.

While Athena wore a skirt and tank top that seemed to be a knit of green burlap with trace poke dots of red and when her body position and the wind were opposed in just the right way it became evident that she had no underwear. She had used the tie strap streamers like us all, but in her work her body position did leave a chance for the wind gust to expose her and we'd all just learned to accept our circ.u.mstance.

Atrisia had lost so much weight it was hard to recognize her, she caught a glimpse of Athena's a.s.s and walked up after figuring out what they were doing. Atrisia asked, "Hey can you make me one too?" Athena replied cheerfully, "Sure, I think ambers going to start a work group." Amber interjected, "A work shop." Atrisia looked to amber and nodded. The nod signified she hadn't taken offense that she should make her own but in truth Athena's cheerful demeanor was genuine and taking as such which meant on the otherside of the island that kind of insinuation did not amount to a 'f.u.c.k off'. Atrisia asked, "How'

Tommi doing?" Athena said rea.s.suringly, "She's fine. We're all just working really hard. But you know...work hard play hard."

Randy Brosuer called over a chipper as he could manage, "Ya, us too. that's how decide who leads every month. With a football game." Athena glanced over with a smile but knew Chief Brosuer and recognized the look on his face as a cry for help. She said, "Our boat and crew heads out soon and we should be outta here in a few months. We don't want to get anyone's hopes up because once they've left if there is no rescue in six months then they had to have died at sea. And, that's pressure they don't need and how the h.e.l.l we would cope with that and move on is pressure we don't need. The boat takes eight and they will get our rescue here."

Smity walked up and asked, "How's this 'workshop' going to work ahh...Amber?" Amber said with her head hung low and in an apologetic tone, "We need a bunch of plant fibers." Smity replied, "Okay." Then turned to the various groups on the beach and said, "Okay, this is this month's leadership, form work details for collection of plant fibers; anyone on half rations just sit back we'll get clothes made for you."

Hudlow peeked out from a bush and said in an odd comedic feminine tone, "I'm on half-half rations" Smity replied, "Ya, I know you psychopath. Just..." and with an inquisitive look Smity continued, "...stay in the bush." Athena knew not look back and to quicken her time. It had become like visiting a neighbor that turned out to have redneck racist incestuous cousins living with them in an overcrowded house.

As Athena flaunted our accomplishments with our gate open, we were repositioning the crane for the final swing of the ship into the water. Tim was sitting up on the cranes support structure with his legs spread looking down at everyone looking up at him in confusion. He said, "What!?" Tammy replied, "We can all see up your dress!" Tim looked away ashamed and said, "It's a kilt and crossing my legs would look gay. So take it all in baby." Tammy laughed and said, "I have." and laughed hysterically. Tim climbed down and walked away in embarra.s.sment. He said to himself as he walked, "That chief at medical told me, the navy fantasy was a copping mechanism but it becomes a culture and you actually brainwash each other. And that if we didn't keep the balance it would fail and the ship would some claustrophobically small. I give up on the brainwashing and this is a dress, keep it and it's a kilt but...navy. All those 'But...Navy's have destroyed my life."

As Tim walked pa.s.sed Mich.e.l.le she interjected, "Tim...you've got a nice package up that dress and I don't mind seeing it. So relax." Tim flashed back for an instant to when Mich.e.l.le was actually one of his subordinates and briefly smiled, then it occurred to him she had caught him masturbating at least ten times over the past year.

Tommi was quick in her step and hadn't been far from Joseph since the island clothing became absolutely necessary.

She swung around him and held him then leaned in and whispered, "If you forget about me after we get back home, I'll cut your nuts off and choke you with them." Joseph got that look that really defined their relationship, it was the pitiful look of 'I know what you mean to say but your saying all wrong.' and he kissed her. Not unlike a young Pilipino wife speaking with her young American sailor husband while he learns Tagalog.

Athena had returned and after entering the gate she turned around and waved with a pleasant smile and said, "Good bye guys...close the gate." Michael ran over and closed the gate and said, "I didn't see anyone." she looked at him and teared up. She said, "I thought I might have been followed." and knowing Athena, she wouldn't want to present with the weakness of ignorance. Athena said, "It got even worse over there."

The ship was ready for a morning 'test flight', she would circle the island all day long testing steerage and sail then tie up for the following days deployment. The boat was well secured and anch.o.r.ed. we all sat and watched the sunset behind the Woodenpeg it was a picturesque scene. Dave miles used what dyes we had to capture the moment on his vest by finger painting it.

That night we could hear the difference in the surf, the slapping of the waves against the hull, the creaking of the supporting Wooden 'X's we had moored her to, it was hypnotic.

We heard a nymph laughing and giggling just outside our wall as we slept. But when we awake we realized that laughing was Atrisia and in a panic we rushed out of our cabanas and saw the truth of Artimus.

As the 'Artimus gang' slipped through our wall, Atrisia giggled surprised she had been told of the hole before. Artimus had been spying and preparing all along, else wise we would not had been able to go so long unmolested.

Our navigation circle had been destroyed and more stores than what we had loaded had been stolen. Mr. Deckly arrived at the gate soon after we woke and knocked at the gate with a long heavy stick with a stone weight tied to the end. We answered and before we could ask what the h.e.l.l had happened Bruce Deckly informed us, "You are all put on notice the Captain intends to seek criminal charges on desertion, consider yourselves under arrest and confined here to your side of the island."

Mich.e.l.le collapsed and Athena Ran away. I stood up and retorted, "Wait a second the mother f.u.c.ker steals our boat and you expect to arrest us." Mr. deckly stated angrily, "You are still property of the united states navy!" I yelled back, "Wrong branch motherf.u.c.ker, this isn't the army, I am not from Mississippi, nor have I ever been there during my service...I am not a slave or property and my state of origin ratified that amendment long ago!" Brosuer stepped out from behind him as deckly realized the implications of what we both had said.

Brosuer said, "Please understand I had nothing to do with this but I do ask you don't attack us. The captain bated us into football games to determine who the leaders would be month by month, it seemed like a game but it got out of control and 'Football' isn't violent enough of a term to describe what it became."

I replied, "None of you over there has ever managed to not disappoint me. Stay clear of our walls and gate and stay clear of us in the waters, do not interfere with any of our 'operations'.

Now go back to h.e.l.l you made for yourselves."

Deckly smirked and sounded like a Halloween character as he leaned forward and asked, "And what if he comes back?" I looked at him shocked and replied, "First I'm counting on that he would still report the stranded. Second, you seem to have forgotten he lost a G.o.d d.a.m.n destroyer!!!" Deckly again looked stunned, then a bit dizzy and he and Brosuer walked away. As we closed the gate Athena yelled, "Make sure your drinking clean water you look too f.u.c.ked up!"

Everyone was distraught, he had betrayed us at every opportunity...he had created opportunities just to betray us again. He was vile and loathsome even before he had lost the ship. When we received calls to the ship he used the message board to hara.s.s our callers, be they wives or husband, girl friends or boyfriends or even parents and siblings.

He had managed to fail evaluations by the navy by doing things his way rather than insuring compliance with the navy's ways.

He found fault in individual strengths that an immediate superior was lacking but the subordinate had acquired. He made sarcasm of training deficiencies in the subordinates and invited mockery by superiors when they actually knew the subject matter. He split personality types by creating sibling rivalries based on navy rates when the personality types got along with each other and demanded that the personality types that did not get along learn to work together through special projects for the captain intended to solicit a shared pride in their captain rather than their own accomplishments. He stole from our lockers claiming it was his ship and he would confiscate anything he deemed necessary which only complimented his opening our mail in a voyeuristic fashion. As we vented our hatred of him, our individual stories coalesced in the nightmare image of David Artimus Commander United States navy, Captain of USS Paul F. Foster.

I only remember seeing red the rest of the day. And just outside our walls the remaining militant's originally planning G.o.d knows what heard our stories and realized they had the same experiences with the b.a.s.t.a.r.d. They left our walls and we found were the Artimus gang had entered and sh.o.r.ed up our walls and fitted our gate with a quick release. We saw their foot prints and the hand and face prints they left pressing their faces to the wall to hear us, which I took as another stupidity it wasn't drywall in an apartment. The slings we had used for boar hunting were made ready for defense. And once again I had to reveal a secret project risking looking like a fool.

I said "We're all to p.i.s.sed off to talk about it now but we need a lookout tower and you're going to think the method is crazy but we may be able to do some other things with that method as well." Michael collapsed down and asked, "How bad is it Rob?" I replied slowly and monotone, "I built a very small model tower, with a model hot air balloon" Tommi laughed and smiled hysterically, and Megan blurted out, "Holy Jesus!!"

We strolled over to my shop spot and I explained, "I really need this weather tower, and were not going to be able to fly home on one of these, but during world war two the j.a.panese successfully bombed the west coast of America with balloons that released sand bags based on altimeter readings and the last sandbag was actually a bomb. So may be a mayday an S.O.S. or even a h.e.l.lo Kitty could be sent, but I'm afraid it would actually end up in brazil and I don't speak or write Portuguese." Michael said, "Let's just get a tower going and that patio deck we were planning on." Tammy said, "Okay and I need to kill one of the militant douchebags." Athena asked, "Anyone in particular?"

Tammy replied, "No, but at least one." Athena said, "Okay, let just hold on that one. Hey Tommi, Atrisia asked how you were yesterday." Tommi reached over with a slight tremble and took joseph's hand and said with notable uncertainty, "Okay, didn't know her too well, but don't want to see any of them now."

They all stood there and looked at my set up. I took the charcoal and put it into the ceramic disc and used the small paper bellows to fan it until it glowed just right. Then I held the balloon in place and added un-burnt charcoal and watched the balloon fill and rise. The tether was still attached and the test weight was moderate for what the balloon had been capable of resulting in the balloon rising slowly. The test weight was attached to a loop of twine and once I untied it they saw that I could raise and lower it like a crane. That was my proof of process. Michael came over for a closer inspection and Athena walked up and shoved me aside saying, "Let us play with it." Mich.e.l.le stepped beside me and kissed my cheek then smacked my b.u.t.t and said, "Good boy...go tend the boilers so we can figure this out." I kissed her back on the lips and said, "Okay."

Tammy stepped in front of me so I stepped aside and waited then walked forward and she did it again, then she kissed me on the lips and I kissed her back she giggled and stepped out of the way and I went to tend the boilers.

I returned to our camp site and heard rustling sounds outside our wall. I knew the boar had been penned in so it must be the militants. I peered through a small peep hole in the gate and figured they were looking for the hole. So I ready a sling and surrounded myself with spears stuck in the ground for a ready grab. The noise subsided and I was in a braced stance when Tommi and Joseph came up behind me. Joseph asked, "They out there again?" I replied, "I think so. Looks like we're going to need to get more serious about making that wall a more dangerous place to be." With Tommi and joseph there I walked around the wall but on our side it was braces, mountings, and frames. So said I was going to open the gate and joseph ready a couple of spears and Tommi had a couple behind him but was ready to run for reinforcements.

Once I got out there it was Francesco and Monica and they explained, "We were just getting the football?" and smiled oddly. I looked at the fence line it looked unmolested but Monica looked somewhat molested and aroused. So I nodded and went in and closed the gate. I told joseph it was Monica and Francesco and they seemed to be making out getting the football, they were all supposed to stay away from the wall but I had worked with them both and they didn't seem to have changed too much. Tommi had also worked with them so she and Joseph patrolled the fence line while I tended the boilers.

After the raid and theft we needed to refill the cistern and vases, back on full production.

Out under the blue sky and upon crashing sapphire blue waves laced with foam the Woodenpeg was flying at eight knots away from us, our work, and our team with a crew comprised of whining dogs and whimpering mules. Mike Elper sat at the bow near the fixture point for the triangular sheet and its mast. At the till were Eric Milson and Gunner Smity, Midship starboard side sat Atrisia Wells and down below were the Captain and Ensign Clarkson, with Cabin boy and Senior Chief Johann.

They all were a gleam as Gunner Smity charted in relation to wind direction and current using our s.e.xtant, our line with a floating bob, and the streamer on a staff they he held up sitting next to the till. Measure of time was a trick, no one watch survived the depths we had all tasted when the ship was lost.

They had used charcoal and paper to copy down our navigational circle before destroying it, which also destroyed our farmer's almanac information we needed to watch our farm of sorghum and knotweed sprouts. They were joyful to be a sea again and the experience of the fishing boat did not compare. On the fishing boat to lose sight of the island could have been fatal.

Now they intentionally headed north east cutting hard and flying fast as they could. It was a run for the money and a race against the clock of rations stored.

I stood on the beach next to our kiln and said, "I guess I don't need to worry about an hour gla.s.s after all." Athena responded, "Nope" I added, "I was going to do the gla.s.s work for the ship while they tested it around the island today."

Mich.e.l.le replied, "Ya, but now we're on boiler tending and ultrafine textiles for your balloon babe." I looked at her with a big smile, she had never called me babe before despite the fact it was my habit to call the females I liked babe. Athena walked by and gave me an encouragement groping of the a.s.s with a wicked smile. At least I was still hopelessly in love with more than one woman at a time.

There was an onset of cold breath in the wind and on the horizon the clouds gathered for a circling of the wagons before their flanking maneuver. On the landing site beach stood the shadow of a former navy sailor, a sh.e.l.l of what he once was. The silhouette spoke out into the breeze and over the water, "I was a fire controlmen, my recruiter told me, 'It's a simple job. Go there, press a b.u.t.ton, become a hero.' he said it was the result of technological advancements." Now he stares at a rolling ocean and wonders when he will fade into the sea, left for dead, by ship, by captain, by mate.

Brosuer wandered the beach and walked into the pentagon, and Clarkson blurted out, "Excuse me, you aren't allowed in here." Brosuer mopping about asked, "Are you serious? We built this thing. And that a.s.shole stole the ship they built. And you think you're special?" Clarkson replied, "I remind you, it doesn't matter who won the football game this area is for the selected only." Brosuer stepped out and went to a spot familiar to him and returned with his hands full. Clarkson asked, "Did you forget something chief?" and Brosuer threw his feces at her.

Deckly got up and walked out and Clarkson crawled out of Brosuers way, as he began throwing around the lean-too pieces.

Brosuer sat amid the chaos uttering, "He wins, he wins, the captain loses his ship, strands his crew on an island...so, he wins."

Branson had realized how bad things got when he woke to find out Artimus had left. Chief Dotz had been informed by Milson he and the crew selected by the captain would be confiscating the native boat and setting in for friendly waters for a rescue. It should only take a week, the captain had rea.s.sured Milson. Branson had headed back to the enlisted club before everyone knew. He found it easier to maintain a leadership position when you are only available when success is a.s.sured, if upper management is AFU then be busy with something that requires your personal attention. This had been his modus operandi, on the ship and his voice was reserved for issues he knew we be resolved.

With Branson tucked away, and the Artimus circle hiding in the pentagon, and his gang with him on the stolen ship, there was no longer any social order what so ever. It was Hudlow's time to shine. Everyone's water had been contaminated by adding salt water to 'extend water rations' by the Artimus gang that is with the exception of their water.

Becky Clarkson and Jane Spayner sat off and away at the tree line smelling of v.a.g.i.n.al fluids, they had bathed so infrequently so as not to appear wet their approach was unsettling to the men and agitating to the women. Their clothing was torn and tattered with rips in the b.u.t.t and bloodstained near black at the crotch and inner thighs. Jane asked, "You think he really left?" Becky replied, "Ya. ya, he did." Jane said, "We need to make those cloths." Becky responded, "You give a little, you lose a little, they take a little, and you're left with very little.

We have uniforms."

Jane got up and walked to where they had made some of the island clothes after Athena had showed them how and started working. Chief Dotz called over to her, "Hey Ensign, they're gonna' have a rescue here in a week." Jane replied, "A week of something wearable sounds okay to me chief."

That night we slept in grief for our loss of hope. It was as though not one but all of us had died. We were betrayed, cast away, and possibly forsaken. I slept not nestled between Athena and Mich.e.l.le, but with Athena and Mich.e.l.le held snuggly in my arms. They needed me again and now I was less of a toy for distraction then I had become.

Chapter Thirteen.