A new ship, a journey begun…
“Papi, come up to the deck!” Megal called to his father from the roof of the Residency. “This is a ship from the old Terran books! Come up, it is beautiful!” Francos slowly made his way up the stairs to the observation deck.
Entering the harbor was an apparition from an old book. Two tall poles supported billows of cloth, some cream as raw wool, some obviously rough hemp fabric. Sailors climbed ropes all over the sails tying them up. The ship was slowing as it headed for the pier.
Francos grinned at his son. “It is just like the old books from Terra.” The ship had been noticed in the city and a crowd was gathering along the steep street in front of the Residency. “It must be Captain Okapie. Only Port sailors could handle all that sail, but where in the world did they find that ship?”
The ship slowly drifted to the dock and was tied up. Megal recognized the captain among the sailors securing the ropes and tying down the many large sheets of sail. He hurried to greet the visitors and bring them to the Residency. Francos had remembered the name of the ship from his precious Terran story books—a brig was what they had called a two masted sailing ship. He made his way slowly down the stairs, trying to remember which of the books had the story.
Megal took a couple of the security guards with him and brought Blackie and some others up to the Residence. Serept quickly opened the main reception room due to the crowd.
As people gathered, Francos welcomed Blackie. “Captain Okapie, that ship is right out of my precious copy of Two Years Before the Mast. To see it sail into our harbor! Where in the world did you get that ship?” Francos spoke loudly enough to still the conversations across the room.
“That is a long tale. But briefly, Utopia’s Ship Master Redmond O’Malley had been wanting to build this ship for years. The authorities in Utopia said they could not spare the time or resources.” Blackie had everyone’s attention at this point. “He hid the hull in the jungle near Southmost and worked on it as he had time. When we went to get help for some of our children, and repairs for our ship, he invited us to help rig the sails. We all learned a lot about sails. Julie and I have never sailed a ship that is as fast and as graceful as this beauty.”
Julie picked up the tale. “We named her O’Malley’s Dream and we have learned a lot sailing her from Southmost,” Julie added. “Here’s our official captain, Master O’Malley’s granddaughter, Catherine O’Malley. The ship belongs to the family O’Malley, but we have some ideas of what we can do with it and anymore like it they build.”
“Have things changed so much in Utopia that the family owns the ship?” Sarita asked.
Catherine was as sunburned and windblown as the rest but beaming. “My granddad said that if the prince and the Assembly didn’t want to sponsor it, we would declare it our own under the new charter. Since Blackie and Julie helped, they are part owners. We have a lot to talk about regarding how to use this fast ship.”
Julie recounted her sail around the planet much to the amazement of the group. The idea there was more land where settlements could be made excited many.
“As soon as we can restock the galley, we can head for Northwest Trade City,” Blackie said. “It’s actually closest to Amaurot. Spacer has let me know he has contacted the new prince about having a meeting about trade. Right now, we need to get food to Port. They have a ship headed this way with more baskets and tree nut meat. The fishing has been disturbed by this last storm and they have some hungry folks down there.”
“That is what I have stressed to Francos and Megal,” Rita said. “If we humans are going to survive here, we need to work together.”
Francos had gone to his library and carried his precious old book down so everyone could see what an ancient sailing ship looked like. “For now, celebrate that beautiful ship.” The O’Malley’s Dream was not exactly like it, but close enough.
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