Chapter One: Round the Bend — Part 2

Aboard Edgewind: 27 Days Prior . . .

Joe keeps expecting to feel nauseous, but it never quite happens. He’s been at the helm for six hours, and by now the Edgewind has twisted round the arch to a point where the horizon is now showing a distinct thirty degree deviance relative to his sense of up and down. The sky is still ‘under’ him, and he still finds himself instinctively checking his security hitch, as if at any moment gravity will realize it has totally forgotten to check up on the crew, and he will fall from the ship’s deck into the ocean below. Yet despite this constant feeling of dread and disorientation, not one of his crew is exhibiting any signs of seasickness.

The Edgewind is also really quite smooth to sail, now that he knows the trick. The ship likes to list a bit along its spine, back and forth between port and starboard. Slight changes in the wind cause the shift, and Joe has gotten good at adjusting the stabilizing sails in regards to the eventual wobble. Mostly though he tries to keep it on a slight list, which seems to be the most stable position for the ship to sit. Another thing that astounds him is the ease at which the Edgewind takes the arch. There is no drag of water, so the ship porpoises a bit as the sails push against the steady speeding wind. The wind rips by him as he heads forward, and George is about to report it with the bi-hourly report on their progress and relative speed.

George and Jude are currently plotting their position relative to the moon and sun, both of which are visible, using a sextant and a stopwatch to determine all kinds of things about their location and trajectory. The two are arguing about what they’re finding out, Jude outside the door and George hiding within. The two squabble continuously, but it is generally in good humor, because the two are mostly in agreement. Joe’s got most of his face covered against the wind with a thick, heat trapping scarf, and is mostly oblivious to anything but the regular whistle of the forward watch. For six hours, every fifteen minutes, it has been a marked whistle call of ‘all clear.’ Blake will be up soon, to take over for six hours, and then Daria, who is resting with Jynx, will take a six-hour leg, followed by Jynx. Joe has decided this based on their natural skill at trimming the sails, and because they were first to volunteer. Now that the ship is on the arch, keeping it moving forward requires little effort, and it will be good practice for the both of them.

Joe tightens one of the pulls, causing a minor shift in front right guide, and the ship tilts just a hair closer to level. Jude hugs George and heads down to rest. In a moment Blake is tapping his shoulder, stepping in, and Joe steps out, unclasping his hitch from the post just long enough to hitch it to one of the mast ropes, walking the short distance to the control center, which ironically, could not be designed to house the rigging. In there Jude has plotted their distance. Six hours in, he has written the time, followed by a list of details about latitude, longitude, speed, and projected landing. The Travel log has twelve entries, initialed by George and Jude as accurate, with a follow up mark from Blake, who has put a smiley face next to the last couple, the final one with a tongue lagging to the side.

“So, what does your arcane science tell you?” Joe asks, knowing that he can set the course true, but that Navigation is more Blake’s department.

Jude smiles a bit like the Mona Lisa, a realization that proves disturbing to Joe, if only because Jude is so somewhat weathered and bald. “What we’ve discovered is that the wind is pushing us at around 20 knots per hour. However, we’re covering close to 40 knots per hour relative to distance traveled by surface, which puts our relative speed much faster. This should be impossible, given that we are in an arch, and rotating around the center of that arch, and so our distance traveled is much greater than the same distance we might have to travel if going across the surface of the Earth. It is as if a significant portion of our inertia has been nullified, and the arch is pushing us toward the other side. We are still gaining speed, incrementally, relative to the plotted distance.”

“The wind isn’t our governor, is it?” Joe asks.

Jude has to think for a moment about just what Joe is asking. “The wind may be speeding us along, but even in a dead wind, we would be moving through this arch. Every hour we gain more speed, yet the wind relative to our travel remains somewhat constant.”

“How?” Joe asks.

“I can’t tell you the how, I can just try to explain what we’re seeing. The wind around the ship seems to slow and push by us at a constant. The pressure change is visible. When the wind leaves behind us, there is a stretch of that same air, causing a noticeable pressure drop. So even though we should be outrunning the wind, whatever is affecting our travel through the arch, whatever is pushing us, is also affecting the air in the arch around us. We have traveled 240 miles in six hours. We should cover a greater distance in the next six.”

“That explains the man and the horse.” Joe says, thinking of Tomas, “Any idea where we’re coming down?”

“Our best guess is the Midway, ” Jude says, “But we can’t be sure. We could end up south toward Hawaii, or somewhere North. The arch isn’t a straight rise and drop, it has a strange undulation to its path, and we’re also spinning around its axis, which affects our relative distance traveled and really screws with our ability to plot the route.”

“How long before we hit ground?” Joe asks.

“We should know once we’ve cross of the top of the arch. But we are thinking seven to ten days.” Jude says.

“We had calculated months of travel. If what you are saying is true, this circular route could be cut in half, or more.” Joe sounds both excited and cautious.

“Or it could take just as long or longer as previously predicted.” Jude warns.

“For this first run, we’ll have to make certain it does.” Joe says, looking away from the map. “I’m getting some rest, I’ll check up on this when I come back on shift some time tomorrow.”

Joe sounds chipper, and for some reason, that makes Jude nervous.