Get your copy of the Lord of Water Trilogy and more straight to your inbox
Today all five of us shared breakfast. We’re right on the key location now and there is no way possible that any one of us could possibly sleep through this day. We have one chance. To miss this window means coming back next year. Not a hope in hell. This time next year I am going to be fully chilling. This planet is loafing paradise and with a woman like Mila, there is not a single way I can think of better doing so.
Close the door on this now and we have the rest of our life.
I briefed Gary on how the day will go down.
"All I am doing is to check that the calibration is all clear and this big beautiful planet will drift around this gorgeous Lady-Sun for another million rotations. My dorsal pilots will ensure my protection with the greatest of confidence. They are pacing below in anticipation for a day that will set them free and guarantee more generations to come than either one of them can comprehend.
All I ask of you, Gary, is that you hold our Hi-Sun in tight on the highest point while I do my work. We have a larger gang of slicer sharks that have somehow tracked in on us, waiting to consume my remains. It is not going to happen, but I never underestimate the vicious potential of such entities. Our dorsal pilots know what we are dealing with, even though the slicers play their role in the chain of life on this planet, they too are aware of their strange knowingness and will never let their guard slip against those cold, scavenging creatures."
Mila smiled and showed no sign of fear. Gary stood solid and placed his hand on Hi-Sun to reassure me that she was completely up to the task. Our little deckhands, Max and Pei, just kept the flow of food moving and cleaning up as we spoke. We shared mill tea and joked for a while before I stood to take the lead and spoke.
"Well, Gary, I suppose it is time to show you how I will reach the depths of the ocean. We are today at the highest peak of water. Within a few hours we will be sitting closest to the sun that is possible for any one point on the oceanic surfaces of the planet. But this planet is unique. At this very moment each year we have a perfect equilibrium of our three moons. The largest of our trio will itself sit directly above us holding the tide in it's full draw pulling the tides of the planet towards her. At this very moment of equilibrium we have an inner peak of the orbital ellipse. From then afterwards, every single particle of us and all that is part of this planetary mass will fall away and continue to do so for half of the year to come until we begin our journey back to this high point once again. The eclipse is coincident with the equilibrium of our orbit. This has been occurring now, perfectly, for billions and billions of years.”
We all sat with our biggest moon high in the sky and drawing in closer with our Lady-Sun closing in towards midday. Below, the dorsal pilots slowed along with Hi-Sun holding the space around our keel. The slicer sharks had again grown in numbers and seemed more aware of what was taking place. More than I could ever have imagined for such spiritless hunting entities. There was a certain hum of energy about their circling pattern. They were holding their wall of attack close at bay, waiting for what looked like an inevitable strike.
I know these dorsals and I know that they are worthy of this task. Otherwise the slicers would have already taken the keel area. The respect, or more so fear, the slicers had for our dorsals was an inherent emotion set by millions of years of evolution. It was a part of them. The large moon drew in closer and began to cast a shadow across the span of the horizon.
I looked to Gary and Mila. We knew that it was almost time. I stood at the very point of Hi-Sun’s bow with my feet spread shoulder width across the point of the joining balustrades. The moon closed in under the sun and would be within moments casting a full black sky directly beneath Lady Sun. I pointed my body like a spear. Hi-Sun slowed into position and I dove a high arch out over her and turning down towards my dorsal pilot escort awaiting on the ocean surface below.
I held my line and drew up directly to the front of my main dorsal. To the sides of my vision I could also see the instant closing of the slicer sharks pressuring the outer limits of our area. My main man was waiting for me calm and solid. As I struck the water, a clear, sharp air bubble formed around me. I pierced long and deep as my dorsal friend hugged in against my chest and became a part of me. We drove down deep and fast into the darkening blue below.
The other dorsals all formed in around us as we pushed into the depths. Our time is very limited, but I was confident as we drove down into the blue with constant speed.
Could such an intense dive with such unwanted and vicious company go smoothly for our Lord of Water?