by Don Fern
The Sea Explorer
Copyright 2014 Don Fern
The year was 2017. The cruise ship Ocean Galaxy left Fort Lauderdale, Florida, going to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Matt and Kim were on the top deck, deck 15, at the front of the ship, taking photographs of the beach as the ship left Port Everglades to enter the Atlantic.
A lady, standing nearby, wearing an ankle length dress, a dark color jacket, and a brown hat, asked Kim where she was from.
Kim replied, "South Carolina."
The Lady said, "Oh. I've been there."
Once at sea, Matt and Kim took the Ocean Galaxy tour. They were given an introduction to the ship and it's safety features. Their tour guide said the ship had the full capacity of 7600 passengers on board. After completing the tour, the guide asked if there were any questions.
A young girl, on the tour by herself, asked, "Why doesn't the ship have a deck 13?"
The tour guide answered, "Because the number 13 is unlucky. When the sailors first started to explorer the world by the seas there were many hazards and they needed all the luck they could get. So nothing unlucky was connected with the ship. Now it's has become a tradition not to have a 13th deck."
The young girl then asked, "How do you go over the edge?
The guide responded, "What edge?"
Girl pointed to the distance horizon where the blue sky met the water, "That edge."
The guide gave a puzzled look and explained, "The Earth is round. It only looks like there's an edge since you are seeing far away and see the curving of the Earth.
With this answer the group filtered away.
As leaving Kim said to Matt, "That little girl that asked, How to go over the edge of the Earth, was saying the Earth has an edge."
Matt, "She sees the curving of the Earth as an edge."
Kim, "No. She wasn't. She was saying there is an edge and asking how to go over it."
Matt, "It's all the same.'
Kim, "No. It isn't."
That evening Matt and Kim went to a restaurant for dinner and then stopped by the casino.
After walking around the casino, Kim sat at a slot machine and started playing it. Matt continued around the casino and played other slots machines. When Matt returned, he found Kim still playing the same slot machine.
She was frustrated about not winning and said, "You think you could win something."
Matt said, "Casinos make the odds to give some of the players wins some of the time, so they keep playing. The chances of winning, on a ship, are really low."
Kim said, "Well. If there was a one in twenty chance of winning. If you tried twenty times, you would win."
Matt, "That's not how it works. Each time you try it as if you have never tried before. What you are talking about is probability. Probability is different than odds. The casino makes the odds so they win most of the time."
A little later they decided to go to the late night entertainment, where DJ music was played. They remained there until early morning and then called it a night.
The next morning Matt and Kim went to the buffet for breakfast.
After breakfast, Matt and Kim walked up the stairs to the top deck. The young girl, from the tour, was sitting by the pool.
Kim stopped and asked her, "How did you like the tour yesterday?"
She replied, "I found out a lot of things. But some things I forget to ask about."
Then she looked at the horizon in the distance. The young girl said, "One thing is about the edge of the Earth. I was wandering if the sea monsters are over the edge."
Kim replied, "There's no edge to the Earth. The Earth is round. The sea monsters were made up by the early sailors, as they explored the world. It wasn't known then if there were sea monsters or not."
The young girl, "You can't know about monsters until you find out for yourself."
Then the young girl left the pool area. Kim watched her as she went around the corner. Kim was thinking of how the little girl was talking about sea monster and the Earth's edge as if they were real.
After getting photographs of the clouds on the horizon, Matt and Kim went to the fitness center on deck 9. Matt and Kim entered the fitness center and were looking at the ocean view from one of its large windows. Suddenly the ship made a sharp turn to its right. The distance horizon appeared to be getting closer. In seconds it appeared to be less than one mile away. Both Matt and Kim rushed to the elevator, to get to deck 15, to see what was going on. Once in the elevator, Matt pressed the button marked 15.
The elevator went up. Just as it was reaching deck 15, a blue light filled the elevator compartment. The elevator then stopped. The doors remain closed. The elevator moved down. The blue light faded. The elevator stopped. The doors open.
A large group of people started entering the elevator. Matt and Kim slid their way out and stood along the wall, by the elevator doors, as the remaining waiting people pushed their way onto the elevator. The doors closed and the elevator went up. Matt and Kim are alone in the hallway now. They both look at the wall across from the closed elevator doors. They see a large 13 on the wall.
Kim quietly said, "Ships don’t have a 13th deck. It's unlucky."
Matt quietly replied, "I know."
They walk down the hallway turn the corner and see the stairs with a large number of people walking up. They climb the stairs to deck 15. They walk through the passageway, with the group of people, all going the same direction. As they walk onto deck 15, the first thing they noticed is the large swimming pool. Beyond the pool, the back portion of the ship, has 12 additional decks, that were not there earlier that morning. Each deck has a row of windows facing the pool. Above all the decks is the name, Sea Explorer, in large letters.
Kim said, half-way serious, half-way joking, "The elevator's a time machine. We're in the future."
People are standing along the railing watching as the horizon, now in front of the ship appears to be getting closer. Matt and Kim make their way to a railing, where they can see better. And they realize the ship is moving slowly toward the ocean edge. The sky beyond the edge is no longer blue with white clouds, but black with reddish clouds. The ship is slowly moving towards it. The people watching are just watching. They are not apprehensive at all. It appears they are experiencing a unique but not an unusual event
Kim asks a passenger, "What's going on?"
The person replies calmly, "We're crossing over."
The ship continually was getting closer and closer to the edge. Nobody was concerned and everybody had a camera photographing and recording the event. Then bands of green light came from the water and encircled the entire ship.
Matt and Kim got as close as they could to the front of the ship. The front of the ship was slowly extending out over the edge of the water. The bands of green light now encircled even the hull of the ship as it extended pass the waters' edge. The ship entire front end was out in the nothingness. Then the front of the ships slowly tilted down. Below the tilting ship was another ocean. The ships' front slowly positioned itself on this ocean. The back end of the ship rose into the nothingness. The ship moves forward on the new ocean. Then the entire ship was floating on the new ocean and the horizon was at the back of the ship. Matt and Kim watched as the ship increased speed and the horizon extended into the distance and the blue sky met the blue water again.
Kim said, "We went over the edge of the Earth. It has a edge. What's going on here?"
Matt relied, "I have no idea."
Kim, "Don't you think we should find out?"
Matt, "That might not be a good idea. This is a little to strange."
Kim, "It can't hurt to ask."
Kim walked over to a crew member setting up chairs on the deck and asked, "What just happen here?"
The crew member helpfully answered, "We just crossed over. We'll be doing it again on the way back."
Kim, "Crossed over what?"
The crew member answered, "The edge."
Kim replied, "What edge? The edge of the Earth?"
The crew member turned serious and said, "I would like both of you to come with me."
Matt and Kim went with the crew member. They walked behind a food stand and entered a door to a storage room.
Once inside the crew member said, "Stay in here a little bit. I'll be right back."
He left and shut the door behind him.
Matt then went to the door and then turned the doorknob to leave and said, "He locked the door. It can't hurt to ask. Hu."
Just then the door open.
A female crew member entered the room. The male crew member follower her in.
The female crew member said to Matt and Kim, "I'm Carrie. This is Shan."
Then Carrie looked at Shan and asked, "What is going on here?"
Shan nodded at Kim and told Carrie, "She mentioned Earth."
Carrie turned to Kim and asked, "What do you know about Earth?"
Kim answered sarcastically, "It's the planet we're on."
Carrie said to Shan, "They don't know their here."
Kim said, "We know we're here. In a store room."
Carrie asked Kim, "What's the name of the ship your on?"
Kim, "The Ocean Galaxy."
Matt spoke to Kim slowly, reminding her of what they both know, "No. The sign. It said Sea Explorer. We got off on the 13th floor."
Kim, trying to put together what they know, replied, "Oh. No. You're right. Where are we?"
Carrie, "You're on
