by Lyz Russo
Solar Wind, 10th May
Hey, hey! Brand new diary!
Ailyss suggested I keep one. Got me the book in Atuona. And the pen too! Maybe she thinks I’ll talk less if I write more…
Aargh, land madness! I’m only so glad we’re back at sea. We’ve all had a bash at it! Wolf got himself shot. Ro has gone morose, wonder what’s eating him. Rushka has gone weird, opens her long hair everywhere now, good luck to her with all the tangles. Shawney running away like that, and stealing that gadget and dumping Federi and Marsden so deep in trouble they could have died. And myself – boy, all I can say is I’m glad we’re back at sea, much more of that land and I’d have gone crazy. Back here on the deep blue, thank goodness we’re all just normal crewmembers again, shipmates, team mates, friends… it was getting too awkward for words! Loaded, I’ll tell you!
Wolf is over the worst. Sheesh, that could have gone wrong. But Federi is right, Doc Judith knows what she’s doing, and Federi has promised me to help me check on Wolf around every corner. Wolf is a nice guy after all, I knew it. But not Rhine Gold! Hell, that Reinhold is a rat! He was in the same pub as Wolf, and he told me all about it, someone called Federi some ugly stuff and Rhine Gold feels it’s actually deserved! So he sat there looking on while Wolf stood up and defended Federi’s reputation! And now he’s on his high horse calling Wolf a hot-tempered lout and being smug-faced about being so sensible! Well, I hope Federi lets him peel potatoes until they come out of his ears! (Or anagram of same.)
Cut Ronan’s hair today, Shawn wants his long like most of the crew. I wanted to cut my own a bit too, it gets tangled in the wind now, and there’s Federi suddenly and borrows the scissors and forgets to return them! Tzigan trick! When I demanded them back, he told me very seriously that there’s a moratorium on women with short hair on this ship! Ordered me as my superior to leave my hair alone and let it grow! Cor! But an order is an order. Didn’t know there’s a sort-of reverse, anti-military dress code going on the Solar Wind! Hey, the only ones who have short hair are actually the Captain, Marsden and Ronan! I think all the others are competing with Rushka. Wonder if Federi’s forced Rushka to grow her hair too! Wonder if it’s a Rom thing… Going to grill Federi a bit about the Tzigany. Want to know more; not going to step into that particular hole again! Hurting him is like… torturing a wild animal. Totally unfair.
Noticed something about Federi. When he doesn’t know what to say to you, he’ll make you coffee. So to get him to make coffee, you go into the galley and start a conversation and let it dry up. Shawn & I will test it again tomorrow morning.
Kathal.
Paean D.
24 - Rodriguez
The Solar Wind ploughed onward through the blue Pacific, towards Hawaii. Paean stood on the raised jibs deck, leaning on the rail by the bowsprit, at the figurehead. She had seen it now, from the motorboat, in Atuona: There were indeed two electronic eyes mounted into the Mermaid’s face. Black eyes. And they were capable of moving, changing their angle. She had not imagined it! And it was a mermaid. Carved by Federi. Intentionally vague. You could only see it from a certain angle. He had explained to her that he didn’t enjoy carving compounding so much. It wasn’t alive in the same way that wood was.
She peered at the horizon behind them to starboard, in the southeast, just where the end-of-afternoon fog started. At the faint light of that other ship. That ship that had been visible now several nights in a row.
