Unbroken Ocean

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 46070

There's no sign as yet of anywhere to put down for the night, Astra projected once they had descended through a sheet of medium level stratus and she had a clear view. Her eyes were keener than those of the others, so she would be expected to spot land first.

Do you feel tired? Sartoma asked.

No, and I doubt that I will do so however long we are airborne. The balloon is doing almost all the work. But I am worried that when it gets dark, in a few hours time, I might become sleepy. If I should doze off, then I won't be able to keep the air in the balloon hot, and we will start to descend. So though we had to come lower to look for land, I think that when it gets dark we should ascend again. Not only will we cover much more distance that way, but it will also give us a greater safety margin should I nod off.

Yes, though so long as any of us in the gondola remains awake, we will be able to hear you each time you breathe fire. If too long passes without our hearing you, then I can project a wake-up call to you. I think that I can do that powerfully enough to wake you. But let's hope that it doesn't come to that. It will be better for all of us if we can pass a relatively comfortable night on some island.

I was wondering whether, if the worst came to the worst, we could use the gondola as a boat. The trouble is that if I fell asleep in it, I would almost certainly turn back into my dragon form, which would probably sink it.

Yes, and anyway it isn't designed to be a boat. As you know, it's woven like a basket in order to keep it as light as possible, so it's not watertight. Though I don't think that it would sink, it would quickly become waterlogged, so conditions would be very unpleasant.

  1. Several hours later, just before it became too dark to see, Astra spotted land.
  2. Night fell without any sign of land.
  3. Night fell without any sign of land. But then Astra saw a bright light almost directly ahead (and below, of course). Surely it could not be a natural phenomenon? Was it an inhabited island? Or perhaps a ship?

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JH

9/30/2004 12:42:17 PM

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