Land Yacht

Astra noted the places of interest around the lagoon - the current, the brig, the grove of trees and steamy island near the rock wall, and the flashes of light, and regretted that nobody in the party could explore for long periods of time. She started to feel the limits of her new body. Fred suggested that they could stay and see if there was a pattern in the flashes, but Astra pursuaded him to continue the circuit of the lagoon. Velus wished that they would take advantage of their form and explore the interior of the lagoon. (Although for deep water exploration, the mammalian portion of Fred's and Astra's bodies would suffer from limitations as well.) Not being able to talk, he had few ways of making his will known. Besides, he had to consider that there might be unknown predators in the lagoon that would dine on dogfish, and so he chose the safety of the company of Fred and Astra.

Fred thought that the coast was starting to look familiar, and that they were nearing to end of the circuit. They entered a small cove that cut into the land. There was a johnboat that was large enough for Fred, Astra, and Velus to fit in. It was weatherbeaten, but looked seaworthy. Inside the boat were two long, thin poles, almost as long as the boat itself. Fred guessed that whoever had owned this boat used the poles to push against the bottom and navigate the shallows of the coast. Nearby there was a large wooden handtruck, about two-thirds of the length of the johnboat. On the handtruck were barrels and clay pots that may have once held bait, but were now empty.

Fred waddled on shore, and examined the handtruck. There was a handle attached to one end of the platform that could be pushed, and the handtruck would roll. It was a bit awkward for Fred when he did this, but he noted that the wheels appeared to be in order. He had a plan.

"Astra, this boat has a flat bottom, and I think that we might, if we worked at it, lift the boat onto the truck."

"I do not see why you would want to do that."

"I think that we can overcome the limit of our range that the fish end of bodies imposes on us, by inverting the normal use of this boat. If we could get the boat on top of the truck, and fill it, or some of these larger vessels, with water, we could keep the fishy part of our bodies wet and bring Velus along with us. I think that we could use these poles to propel ourselves across the beach and any part of the land that is not rocky. We would be piloting a sort of land yacht."

Astra put her hand on her chin, and gave the matter some thought. "I will grant that the boat would fit with some of the bow and stern jutting out from either end of the handtruck, if you removed the handle. And looking at it, it appears that the handle is designed to be removed, so we might be able to do this. But it seems that the boat would be rather heavy with the water required to keep us alive."

"It might not be that much, and the boat itself does not appear to be that heavy. I think it would be worth a try, at least."

1. Fred and Astra successfully lift the boat on the handtruck, and are able to explore.
2. Fred and Astra encounter an obstacle.

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